The world is facing a health crisis unlike anything most of us have ever seen before – the coronavirus pandemic. The novel coronavirus, and the disease that can develop from it – COVID-19, has spread rapidly throughout the world and has left everyone scrambling for answers, ways to protect themselves, and ways to heal themselves so that we can eventually get back to some semblance of normalcy in our daily lives. It is first important to discuss what symptoms you should be on the lookout for and when it is important to seek professional medical attention.
COVID-19 Symptoms Include:
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Body aches
- Nasal congestion
- Sore throat
- Loss of taste and smell
- Headaches
- Periodic fevers
- Fever – 2 degrees above your normal body temperature or above 100.4 F
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Vomiting
While individuals may experience all or some of these symptoms, some patients experience virtually no symptoms or have a significant delay in symptoms from when they become contagious – making it very hard to contact trace and isolate appropriately to stop the spread of the disease. Because of this, most governments have instituted stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the disease and ‘flatten the curve.’ While MANY individuals who do get COVID-19 will recover fully without any need for professional medical treatment (most can recover at home like they normally would from a cold/flu), there are many still that will need to seek professional medical attention.
***If you experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing at any point, it is imperative that you contact your doctor and seek professional medical attention as quickly as possible. Additionally, signs you may need to, at a minimum, call your doctor include significant headache or severe fatigue.
It is also important to note that certain demographics of society are more at risk of developing serious complications if they contract COVID-19 including: individuals over the age of 60, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anyone that has any sort of lung condition, and anyone that is immunocompromised.
Everyone in the world and those in the medical and research community are scrambling to determine what, if anything, can be done to prevent the contraction of COVID-19, treat it once it has been contracted, and/or stop the spread of the disease. The jury is still out but one thing we know is that having a healthy immune system is imperative. When your immune system is under attack from the disease, your body naturally produces a severe inflammatory response and that is what can escalate the severity of the disease and symptoms in patients.
A healthy immune system begins first with what you are putting into your body. In naturopathy, we believe a healthy, well-rounded diet that is full of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory foods including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and more. Additionally, a holistic approach to your health will likely include nutritional supplements and herbal supplements to support your immune system and prevent inflammation. With the assistance of a naturopath, you can get the holistic attention to your unique health that you need and formulate a plan that is specific to your health needs. Further, many are seeing promising results with high-dose intravenous Vitamin C. We all know that Vitamin C is great for combatting illness but a glass of orange juice or even a Vitamin C supplement is unlikely to pack the punch that you are looking for in combating COVID-19. In naturopathy, we have long used high-dose intravenous Vitamin C for patients because we know that it is most effective and efficient way to deliver the optimal amount of Vitamin C necessary and now many holistic and naturopathic doctors are seeing excellent results in preventing and even treating more mild cases of COVID-19 with the assistance of some high dose intravenous Vitamin C. As always, we highly recommend contacting your doctor before making any changes to your diet or nutritional supplements but when you want to take a proactive and holistic approach to your health during these uncertain times, naturopathy may be the ideal route for you to maximize your health.