As the world continues to grapple with the horrors of COVID-19, our friend Deeptanshu Shukla, a stalwart in the battle for men's rights, along with the whole of his family including his parents also got infected with COVID-19. The whole of his family fought and won against the deadly virus within a week. Now, back to uninfected normal life, Deeptanshu has prepared a 'Corona Survival Guide' with his firsthand experience.
Reproducing the same below for the information and knowledge of all men who also carry the responsibility of taking care of old age parents.
How we fought and won against the deadly
Wuhan Coronavirus Covid-19 within a week
Deeptanshu Shukla, B.Tech (IIT Kanpur), LLB
Twitter @deeptanshukla
We took all possible precautions – washed hands regularly, wore masks, avoided crowds, washed vegetables and fruits with soap before consumption, disinfected all groceries, wiped the floor with Lizol daily, even kept clothes worn outside separately. However, despite all these precautions, our family of four of which my parents have comorbidities (diabetes and heart disease) was affected by the Wuhan Corona Virus Covid 19 (let’s give the Chinese their due credit!).
The following things helped all of us practically recover within 7 days of being infected. These tips should not be taken as medical advice and the tips particularly relating to medications should be followed under medical supervision only. Moreover, each person may respond to the prescribed medication differently depending on his/her immunity and extent of infection before the medication starts. With these disclaimers out of the way let us move straight to what we did to recover within 7 days.
If you have a fever, dry cough, lost sense of taste/smell or have difficulty in breathing, get tested immediately. Early detection is key to recovery. The earlier you detect, the lesser the damage Wuhan Virus does to your lungs and the faster you can recover.
Get a Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT, RAT or simply rapid test) done first, the results of which are obtained within one hour. If detected positive follow the tips given in and after point 4 below.
If detected negative in RADT despite symptoms, in order to ensure that the result is not a false negative, get an RT-PCR test done. The results will take longer up to 48 hours but the test is more reliable. If detected negative in an RT-PCR test, most likely you are negative and the symptoms are of normal cough and cold. If detected positive follow the tips given in and after point 4 below.
Firstly identify a competent doctor close to where you are home quarantined. Intimate your neighbours as a social duty so that they can protect themselves and also be of assistance to you when necessary. Ideally, the doctor should be residing or have a clinic within one kilometre of your house so that in case of emergency he can be of immediate assistance. Also, identify a hospital nearby which accepts Corona patients and keep a track of the available Oxygen-Support Beds and ICU beds in that hospital. The MP Government has done an excellent job to list down the covid hospitals along with current data of the available number of Oxygen- Support Beds and ICU beds. The list can be accessed here http://health.mp.gov.in/en/treatment-facility
A confirmed corona positive patient with co-morbidities should necessarily get an HRCT scan done to gauge the extent of lung infection. Those who have significant damage indicating pneumonia might have to get additional medication and also be hospitalized. In our case, none of us had more than 15% infection in the lungs and hence were advised to stay at home. The doctor may also prescribe additional tests like C-reactive Protein (CRP) Test to know the level of infection/inflammation in the body. Typically if the medications are effective, a repeat CRP Test will show reduced CRP levels. If the CRP levels either increase or remain stagnant, hospitalization may be necessary.
Get the following (for each infected person) delivered to the doorstep without any delay without moving out of the house (or ask a Covid Negative acquaintance to deliver them to you):-
Ivermectin 12 mg (3 tablets), Doxycycline 100 mg (5 tablets)
VeeCee-Z (40 tablets) or Immuno-C (40 tablets) & Vitamin D Capsules (pack of 4 capsules), Paracetamol (10 tablets)
Steam Inhaler / Vaporizer (2 nos so that you have a backup available in case one stops working – they often do !), Oximeter (1 no), Thermometer (1 no), Digital Blood Pressure Monitor (1 no)
Coronil Kit by Patanjali, Chyawanprash (any brand), Trikut Churna
Sufficient quantities of fruits (apples, oranges and pineapples are good choices) and vegetables (must include seasonal veggies and beetroots, tomatoes and leafy veggies) to last a week. Lemons and Coconuts must be included.
Oats, Dalia, rice and moong daal
Turmeric, Ajwain, Paan (Betel Leaves), Ginger, Black Pepper and Dates (Khajoor)
Even if you are detected negative or during the time you are waiting for test results, you should obtain the abovementioned things and except for (i) which should be used only if you are detected positive, start using the rest.
Keep monitoring body temperature, blood pressure and oxygen (SPO2) levels. A significant drop in SPO2 and blood pressure can be a cause of alarm. Inform the doctor immediately if SPO2 levels drop below 94.
Take ivermectin once per day for three days. Take Doxycycline once per day for 5 days. Take these only if it is confirmed that you suffer from Wuhan Virus or are in close contact of someone who has it. These medicines are to be taken strictly by prescription and under medical supervision only.
Start taking VeeCee-Z or Immuno-C tablets both of which contain Vitamin C and Zinc, twice a day. Start taking Vitamin D Capsules once per week. These supplements can be taken as a preventive measure also. So feel free to consume these even if your test is negative. Doctor’s prescription is not necessary for taking these supplements.
Coronil Kit can be used as per directions on the kit. In our case, the Coronil medications did not interfere with the rest of medications and in all possibility aided the recovery process. Other than Coronil kit, consume turmeric with trikatu churna in warm water twice a day. Eat Chyawanprash (any brand) twice daily. Diabetics should consume sugar-free version of Chyawanprash.
Drink plenty of water and other liquids. Drink ONLY warm or hot water. Do gargles at least twice a day with warm saline water or with Betadine Gargle. Do Jal neti with warm saline water to clear the nasal passage twice a day. Take steam through nose and mouth at least 5 times a day. Use floss and mouthwash along with brushing twice daily. Clean the nose thoroughly during bath/shower.
Proper nutrition is a must for recovering from Wuhan Virus. Start the day with Lemon water. Have coconut water and two seasonal fruits per day. Fruit juice if consumed should be taken without any added sugar. Eat easily digestible food like moong daal khichdi, Dalia and oats along with well-cooked vegetables. End the day with hot soup with ginger and black pepper. Avoid sweets, stale, oily and junk food.
It is helpful to delegate tasks to each family member – one takes care of hydration (drinking water), one takes care of turmeric/trikatu, one takes care of medicines, one of the gargles and Jal neti etc. That way nobody forgets any important task because one particular person from the family is assigned the task and is solely responsible for making sure everyone does it.
Take plenty of sunlight (at least 3 hours at a stretch or in parts) with minimal clothes preferably along with oil massage. I could find a visible improvement in our health after we started sitting/lying in sunlight. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant. Moreover, warm temperatures have been known to fight the flu virus which is why the body naturally raises its temperature through fever during viral infections.
It is pertinent to mention that we had avoided taking paracetamol unless body temperature rose above 99 F because a higher temperature helps fight against the virus. However, it is also important to know that a very high temperature increases oxygen consumption in the body and can thus be fatal. So avoiding paracetamol is not advisable for temp above 99 F especially for people with co-morbidities.
For cough, consuming betel leaves (after thoroughly washing with RO water) and chewing ajwain helped. Non-diabetics can also eat mildly roasted dates to reduce cough. Prefer curd over milk and rice over wheat during the early recovery period in order to avoid cough.
During the entire recovery period, mild exercises especially those involving the heart and lungs (pranayam) were very useful. Try to check oxygen levels (SPO2) before and after pranayama and you can see for yourself the difference that it makes. Deep breathing and pranayama are excellent both to increase oxygen levels as well as to exercise the lungs for better recovery. It goes without saying that plenty of rest including 8-10 hours of undisturbed sleep is necessary for recovery. Avoid exposure to chilly weather and cold water which will delay recovery.
Acknowledgements: The above information is based on my first-hand experience as a corona positive patient. The medicines listed in (i) and (ii) prescribed by Dr G. P. Gaur (MD Medicine), Bhopal of Sparsh Clinic worked like magic. Timely advise by Shri (Addl. Adv Gen. MPHC) Vivek Dalal on getting an HRCT Scan done helped detect the extent of damage early to determine the right course of treatment. ’Somewhere in the middle of our corona recovery journey, I read a document/ppt titled “Avanindra Singh – My experiments with Corona” which contains a very good summary along with reasoning for many of the above tips. The advice in the document to avoid sweets, milk and wheat (initially) was particularly useful to reduce cough. The home remedies for the treatment of cough by my wife also worked like magic, so also the excellent nutritious food provided by her. My mother the strict disciplinarian helped us follow the tough regimen without fail. The atmosphere of positivity with a spirit that we will win the fight together created by my parents was especially helpful in our battle. Despite having comorbidities, their positivity and lack of stress were astounding.
I wish none of you gets infected with the Wuhan Corona Virus. God forbid, if you do get infected, hope this document helps you recover quickly with minimal damage!