I don’t know where I caught it from, & I’m not gonna lie: Getting Covid was a blow to my ego. As someone who spends so much time & effort focused on health & fitness, being the first in my family to catch the virus was humbling. Thankfully, I had a very mild case. This is probably because of my ongoing efforts to stay healthy in just about all aspects of my life. In addition to a strict workout regimen, I’m incredibly fortunate to have access to really good nutrition & supplements. I was able to eat nutrient-dense food & rest while I was sick.
I think it’s fair to say that Covid took us all by surprise, & when the news started reporting so many severe cases & deaths many of us became a bit fearful. Luckily, we’ve seen, with time, that more & more people are successfully recovering from it. That said, I did NOT want to experience it firsthand. I like to think I’m a health-conscious & responsible person, so testing positive for the virus in January 2021 was a tough pill to swallow. Not only was I the first in my household to test positive, but I went on to infect everyone in my home! Of course, this was unintentional & happened before I was aware & went into quarantine. Nevertheless, within a week of my positive test result, five of the six people living with me also tested positive for Covid.
So, in hopes of sparing you a similar experience, I want to share some takeaways from my journey with Covid. Before I start, I want to thank Cyndi Ventry, a nurse practitioner & member of the MIXFIT family, for sharing her own Covid experience with me. The knowledge she imparted about supplements & tips for a quicker recovery was immensely helpful. She was a great source of information & comfort, I am sincerely grateful for her help.
Upon getting the positive test result, I was shocked & immediately flooded with questions. Where did I get it? When was I exposed? How long have I had it? How many people have I possibly exposed? Who do I need to notify about possible exposure? Then, after racking my brain with those questions, the sickness ramped up. I started feeling awful, & then the next series of questions started. Am I going to have a mild case or is this virus going to put me in the hospital?
Obviously, I can only speak to my own experience, but I can wholeheartedly say that taking care of the body is the single most important thing we can do to live a good life — Covid or not. I have never been more thankful for having a healthy body than during my two-week battle with Covid. Truthfully, I only had 2-3 days of flu-like symptoms. I stayed in bed & slept for most of those days. After that, I began to recover very quickly. I lost my sense of taste & smell, but those returned after about five days. At no point was I in any severe pain. Headaches were probably the worst of the discomfort, but those were relieved with Tylenol. I was congested for a few days & had typical cough & cold symptoms.
Of the six people in our home, ranging in ages from 17 to 47, we all had slightly different experiences. However, we all had rather mild cases & recovered quickly. I should mention we are all normally very healthy with no chronic health or weight issues –factors that seem to affect the severity of this virus. Most of us never had a fever; half of us lost our sense of taste & smell. We all experienced congestion & were tired for a few days. Some of us had a cough & cold symptoms, but for the most part, we all just felt “off” & lacked our usual levels of energy to complete normal daily tasks. Those symptoms only lasted 5-7 days for most of us, with only one family member having a slight relapse on day 10 with some fatigue, irregular heart rate, & low pulse oxygenation. Those subsequent issues resolved themselves after a day.
As a family, we were determined to do everything possible to help our immune systems fight off this virus. Here are some of the things we did that helped us recover very quickly:
- Slept & rested as much as possible upon onset of symptoms.
- Drank lots of fluids. This helps flush the system & helps with irregular heart rates; Pedialyte was a good option since it provides electrolytes without the sugar that’s found in Gatorade.
- Took a decongestant every day. We took Mucinex DM for congestion & cough or Sudafed for congestion only; Mucinex Nightshift was good for stopping the coughing & enabling us to sleep.
- Acetaminophen or Tylenol was taken for headaches & body aches.
- We took the following supplements: C, D, Zinc, Elderberry, etc. Specifically, Airborne & Emergen-C for extra C, Zicam lozenges & nasal swabs for extra zinc, & an immunity support multivitamin that has C, D, zinc & elderberry in it. https://vivanaturals.com/products/immunity-support
- Some of us adults took a baby aspirin every day & used a steroid nasal spray as well.
- Above all, we kept moving — even on the days when we felt pretty bad, we did our best to get up & walk around a few times.
In no way am I offering medical advice or suggesting that the tactics & tips shared here are guarantees that you’ll have a similar experience if you test positive for Covid. Rather, I’m sharing our experience with the hope that this information can help you or someone you know. If you are fortunate enough not to get Covid, or if you have already had & recovered from it, I hope you walk away with a greater appreciation of the gift of good health.
Health truly is everything! Take care of yourself & each other.