Shortly before Christmas, 43-year-old Juliana Shain from Simi Valley tested positive for COVID-19. Five days later, the same thing will happen to her fiancé.
“I felt beaten. I really felt hanged,” she said. “I had pain and then coughing and then sneezing. Indeed, at the end of it, I had difficulty breathing.”
The fear of being hospitalized soon arose. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Aamir Iqbal, along with Agoura Family Practice, says he receives several calls a day from frantic patients.
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“When you have given positive results, it is an important moment. Many people are very scared and are nervous about what will happen,” he said. “What do I do? Either my husband tested positive or my husband tested positive or my child tested positive and now I live with them.”
Iqbal’s first suggestion is to buy a pulse oximeter.
“It’s a small device that attaches to your finger and has a percentage right at the top of the screen,” he said. “When you get below 94%, it starts throwing some flags. And any number below 90% is a big red flag.”
He suggests hydration with drinks like Pedialyte or Gatorade. Shain’s doctor told him to take a cocktail of supplements.
“The doctor gave us a lot of vitamins,” she said. Shain started taking vitamin C, B12, D3 and zinc.
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“Some of these home remedies can help you. We know they can’t hurt you,” Iqbal said.
He also suggested over-the-counter medications, such as acetaminophen, mucus thinners and aspirin for children, to prevent blood clots from forming.
“While baby aspirin is not the equivalent of a thin whole-blood drug, it can give you some protection,” Iqbal said.
Studies show that sleeping on your stomach helps you get more oxygen to your lungs. Iqbal said if it is comfortable to try, but he tells his patients that it is not a requirement.
Some online tips include waking up every two hours to get your blood circulating. For this, Iqbal said that quality sleep is more important In terms of eating more bananas, avocados or asparagus, he said that good nutrition is important, but food alone can not stop the worsening of symptoms.
A month after her infection, Shain returned to work
“I feel exhausted and I still have some fog on my brain,” she said.
She didn’t gather enough energy to get her Christmas decorations and Shain had to postpone her wedding day. But, she is grateful that it is being repaired.
“Just be kind to yourself. Take it one day at a time and you’ll go through it,” she said.
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