Coronavirus is a Respiratory Illness

Here are some pointers from a retired respiratory therapist for those infected with the coronavirus.

Improve your chances of not ending up in the hospital on a ventilator. This applies to the otherwise generally healthy population, so use discretion.

1. Only high temperatures kill a virus, so let your fever run high. Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, ibuprofen, etc. will bring your fever down, allowing the virus to live longer. Doctors are saying that ibuprofen, Advil, etc. will actually exacerbate the virus. Use common sense and don’t let your fever go over 103 or 104. If it gets higher than that, take Tylenol, not ibuprofen or Advil, to keep it regulated. It helps to keep the house warm and cover up with blankets so the body does not have to work so hard to generate heat. It usually takes about three days of this to break the fever.

2. The body is going to dehydrate with the elevated temperature so you must rehydrate yourself regularly. Gatorade with real sugar, or Pedialyte with real sugar for kids, works well. Why the sugar? Sugar will give your body back the energy it is using up to create the fever. The electrolytes and fluid you are losing will also be replenished by the Gatorade. If you don’t do this and end up in the hospital they will start an IV and give you D5W (sugar water) and Normal Saline to replenish electrolytes. Gatorade is much cheaper, pain free, and comes in an assortment of flavors.

3. You must keep your lungs moist. Best done by taking long, steamy showers on a regular basis. If you are wheezing or congested, use a minty toothpaste and brush your teeth while taking the steamy shower and taking deep breaths through your mouth. This will provide some bronchial dilation and help loosen the phlegm. Force yourself to cough into a wet wash cloth pressed firmly over your mouth and nose, which will cause greater pressure in your lungs, forcing them to expand more and break loose more of the congestion.

4. Eat healthy and regularly. Keep your strength up.

5. Once the fever breaks, start moving around to get your body back in shape and blood circulating.

6. Take deep breaths on a regular basis, even when it hurts. If you don’t, it becomes easy to develop pneumonia. Pursed lip breathing really helps. That’s breathing in deep and slow then exhaling through tight lips as if you are blowing out a candle; blow until you have completely emptied your lungs and you will be able to take in an even deeper breath. This helps keep lungs expanded as well as increase your oxygen level.

7. Remember that every medication you take is merely relieving the symptoms, not making you well.

8. If you must go to the ER, remember that you will be entering an area full of people with the virus and other illnesses. You are putting yourself at risk by going there.

Please, stay home, quarantine from others if you have any symptoms, practice good hygiene, drink fluids, and take vitamins. If you are not in the high risk categories, you will survive. Do not risk infection by going to an ER to be “labeled” if your symptoms are no worse than the common cold or flu.