Getting Through Long Covid
I’ve had Long Covid twice, and completely recovered so far, once. I’ve learned a lot about what brings on a bout for me, and what I can do to recover. I believe what I’ve learned likely applies to you too..
My Long Covid History
The first time I got Covid was right at the outset of the pandemic on March 14, 2020. I was sick for 3 weeks, first with a headache, then a sore throat, followed by coughing, shortness of breath, then unrelenting fatigue. Then I got better. I enjoyed good health for two months, then for no apparent reason, and with no positive Covid test, I got all the same symptoms back and cycled through them again. For a month. Then I got better. Symptom-free, I was back to my old self. Until two months later after I ate two gluten free chocolate chip cookies one night. Then wham! the Covid symptom,s were back with a vengeance, this time with vomiting and diarrhea. I was worse than before. Still no positive Covid test. I got better after a month of bedrest. Then two months later, I stayed up too late, until 2am and let myself get overtired. The next day the Covid symptoms were back, and I was bedridden with that unrelenting fatigue for another month.
This time, I took vitamin C on a schedule, pushing an extra 1000mg every 2 hours all day for a month until I was better. After that bout, I gingerly tested my resilience with a cheat here (some rice), a cheat there (a little fruit), a bigger challenge here (a cookie), another there (a glass of wine). My body responded like it used to pre-Covid, with no ill effects from these small dietary challenges.
Unfortunately I got Omicron in May of 2022 on a trip to Disneyland. I so wish I had worn a mask on that trip and saved myself this trouble! I recovered from the very mild bout of Omicron in about two and a half weeks. I learned during the recovery process that I seemed to have the same Long Covid sensitivities to dietary challenges as before, so I became very careful about what I ate. I ate only low-inflammatory foods: Meat, poultry & fish, vegetables, yams, winter squash, and beans. In particular, I cut out grains except a little white rice, alcohol, and sugar.
For two years I stayed on this diet. While I still had Long Covid, I didn’t have any symptoms as long as I “walked the straight and narrow” of this diet. As a “side effect” of this diet, I lost 20 pounds and all my arthritis symptoms went away.
After two years, I had gum surgery. As a part of the surgery, I had to go on a course of harsh antibiotics, in this case Flagyl. After a week on the antibiotics I started to get a little cough.
That symptom—coughing even once—is enough to tell me my immune system is reacting and I need to take extra good care of myself. But I had recently joined an outrigger paddling team, and our first regatta was the next day. I attended the regatta, paddled in the 44-miniute race (my boat won!), ignored my worsened coughing symptoms—just didn’t notice I was so distracted—and was flattened by Omicron fatigue for the next 5 weeks. I am just now pulliong out of it.
What is going on here?
Diseases of Inflammation
Based on my lived experience that I described above, I believe this disease has one basic feature in common with other chronic diseases that we know much more about: obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and autism. What do all these diseases have in common? They all are diseases of inflammation (https://doi.org/10.2174/138161282601200225102049). In other words, they don’t take hold unless global systemic inflammation is present.
How Do I Reduce Systemic Inflammation?
Based on this knowledge, I believe those of us who want to reduce our risk of chronic disease, including Long Covid, need to do everything we can to reduce systemic inflammation. Here’s a list of actions to help you on your way:
Eat plenty of vegetables
Eat protein at every meal such as meat, chicken, and fish.
If you do not have thyroid problems, you can also eat tofu.
If you are particularly hungry, supplement your meal with beans, yams, or winter squash.
Take plenty of vitamin C to your bowel tolerance.
Eliminate grains from your diet. Grains are high in pro-inflammatory anti-digestives called lectins and should be eliminated. This includes the especially pro-inflammatory grains wheat, barley and oats which contain gluten.
Eliminate dairy from your diet. Dairy is one of the most pro-inflammatory foods you can eat.
Eliminate sugar from your diet, including jam, honey, and chocolate.
Eliminate fried foods such as corn chips, popcorn, nachos and taquitos.
Eliminate starchy foods from your diet such as potatoes.
Exercise moderately, not to excess
Learn to pay attention to your body’s response to what you eat. If you do, you can optimize your diet to enjoy a lifetime of good health.
Have you tried this method to free yourself of Long Covid symptoms? What has your experience been?