Shortly before Christmas, Simi Valley’s 43-year-old Juliana Shain tested positive for COVID-19. Five days later, the same thing would happen to her fiancé.
“I felt beaten. I felt really hungry,” she said. “We had pain, then coughing and then sneezing. At the end of it we had trouble breathing.”
The fear of being admitted to hospital soon. Dr. Aamir Iqbal, specialist in internal medicine, at Agoura Family Practice says that he received several calls a day from enraged patients.
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“If you have tested positive, it’s a great moment. A lot of people get very scared and nervous about what’s going to happen,” he said. “What do I do? Either my husband tested positive, or my spouse tested positive or my child tested positive and now I live with them.”
The first suggestion from Iqbal is to buy a pulse oximeter without a counter.
“It’s a small device that attaches to your finger and at the top right of the screen it has a percentage,” he said. “If you get below 94%, the flags start throwing up. And any number below 90% is a big red flag.”
He suggests hydrating with drinks such as Pedialyte or Gatorade. Shain’s doctor told her to take a cocktail of supplements.
“The doctor gave us a bunch of vitamins,” she said. Shain started taking vitamins C, B12, D3 and zinc.
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“Some of these home remedies can actually help. We know it can not hurt you,” Iqbal said.
He also prescribed medications such as paracetamol, mucus thinner and a baby aspirin to prevent blood clots.
“While the baby aspirin is not equivalent to a whole blood thinner medication, it can offer you protection,” Iqbal said.
Studies show that sleeping on your stomach helps to get more oxygen into your lungs. Iqbal said if it is comfortable, try it, but he tells his patients that it is not a requirement.
Some advice online includes waking up every two hours to get your blood circulating. Thereupon, Iqbal said that quality sleep is much more important. When it comes to eating more bananas, avocados or asparagus, he believes that good nutrition is important, but food alone cannot stop the worsening symptoms.
A month after her infection, Shain is back at work
“I feel exhausted and still have a brain defect,” she said.
She did not gather enough energy to take down her Christmas decorations, and Shain had to postpone her wedding day. But she is thankful that she is recovering.
“Just be kind to yourself. “Take it one day at a time and you will get through it,” she said.
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