What Helped Our Family Get Through COVID

The way I’ll probably always remember my 2020 birthday is the week we all tested positive for COVID. Happy freaking birthday to me…

If it hadn’t been for Maverick just starting basketball and David’s parents having a trip scheduled to come help us with our addition, we probably would have just self-quarantined and not bothered testing, but we wanted to be able to work from a more established timeframe.

We had various symptoms day-to-day, which was weird enough, but by far the worst part was being tapped into the subconscious network of fear that has been so built up around the whole thing.

I have plenty of experience with hypochondria and all the fun that goes with that, but the emotional rollercoaster and tormenting crazy thoughts were new for David. I was doing my best to stay strong for him, but by the second week I was emotionally hanging by a fraying thread.

Thankfully, David was doing well enough to take over the adulting on the day I was at my worst. I hadn’t had an appetite for several days, and although I was forcing myself to eat, I just felt like I couldn’t get any energy back.

Being mentally, emotionally, and physically drained, and not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel had me at the lowest place I remember in a really long time.

Thankfully, things continued to slowly get a bit better day after day. Slooowly, mind you, with lots of ups and downs that made it feel like we were stuck in the twilight zone, but somehow we are now able to look back at that time as in the past.

I still wonder how much of it was mental; probably most of it, tbh. I was feeling major PTSD from a super crappy cold/flu thing I had while visiting my parents in Tijuana years ago that dragged out for like 5 weeks before I couldn’t take it anymore and ended up getting steroid shots in my butt that I wished I’d had week 1. The prospect of things dragging on and on and being emotionally jerked up and down from day to day, not knowing what to do or if there’s something you should do = DRAINING.

I’ve talked to others who continue to deal with mental crap after their physical quarantine is over, too. What we listen to MATTERS, and most of what’s out there is TOXIC AF. I didn’t think I was paying attention to it prior to this experience, but it was apparently getting in there anyway.

COVID Symptoms One or More of Us Dealt with

• headache
• body ache
• fatigue
• loss of smell/taste
• complete loss of appetite
• loss of strength/energy
• annoying throat irritation/cough
• sinus congestion
• icy throat and not able to tolerate cold air or food/drink

Things that Helped Us Get Through it All

Keeping up with all this stuff and dosing out to everyone multiple times a day was exhausting! I would highly recommend having these things on hand in your medicine cabinet, especially since some of them can be difficult to get quickly.

• walking around our house for around 10 minutes once or twice a day or 1/2 to 1 mile/day (going outside is great if it’s warm)
• staying/sleeping upright (and I’ve since learned that self-proning is beneficial as well – simply laying on your stomach while you’re watching tv or whatever instead of being on your back)
• lung exercises
• coconut oil drink (soothing throat and cough issues)
• vitamin D drops* (getting sun is better if that’s an option)
• zinc*
• elderberry/mushroom immune support* (We really like this, and it lasts a long time!)
• vitamin C powder*
• colloidal silver (Sovereign Silver*)
• whole-food-based multivitamins (and these for kids – our kids have used them their whole lives!)
• probiotics*
• breathe balm (David loves and uses this a lot)
• oregano stuff for respiratory health (HIGHLY recommend!!!)
• sinus spray (for David – antifungal, fights infection)
• natural antibiotic (also highly recommend!)
• cleansing worship (We actually “worship-marched” around our home in an effort to actively change the atmosphere when we were at our lowest!)
• affirmations
• SoakStream while sleeping or as background encouragement throughout the day
• lots and LOTS of prayers and moral support from family and friends (Please let me know if you need support!)
• ?low dose aspirin? (We didn’t know about it at the time, but it might be worth talking to your doctor about potential for blood clots and preventative use of aspirin. There is a natural one here that could be worth having on hand.)

*These are the brands recommended by our naturopath doctor, and she is the one who we got the vitamin C through. I can connect you to her through a free health chat consultation if you want access to that vitamin C or have any health challenges you would like input on. She can also order hormone panels and stuff like that. Invaluable resource!

Lung Exercises

Deep Breathing/Breathing Through Your Diaphragm – increases the oxygen in your body, the diaphragm must be strong and efficient for overall respiratory health

This is the main thing I did – holding for a count of 10 as I inhaled fully, exhaling, and repeating 10 times about once an hour.

I found out I was normally a very shallow breather, as it took effort to learn to fully expand my lungs and breath properly!

How to do it: Standing up, sitting down, or lying down, hands on waist, relaxed. Inhale deeply, making sure your waist expands instead of your chest. Hold for a few seconds and exhale, contracting to fully empty your lungs.

Resistance Breathing – increases oxygen intake/decreases carbon dioxide, strengthens lungs, easier to fight shortness of breath

How to do it: Standing up or sitting down, inhale through your nose for about 3 seconds. Purse your lips and exhale slowly through your lips. Exhalation must take twice as long as inhalation. Repeat 5 times.

Straw Breathing – more difficult, quicker results, increases lung capacity

How to do it: Lying on your back, nose plugged, straw in mouth, breathe only through the straw for five minutes. Repeat every day for a week before moving up to two straws for a week and then three.

Anuloma Viloma Pranayam – helps control breathing, increases immunity, and boosts lung power

How to do it: Empty your lungs of all air. Close the right nostril with right thumb and breathe with the left nostril. Now use the ring finger of the same hand to close the left nostril and breathe out with the right nostril. Repeat 10 times.

Sources:
https://www.thehealthsite.com/news/managing-covid-19-power-your-lungs-with-these-breathing-exercises-736765/
https://www.westlondonphysio.co.uk/news-articles/two-easy-at-home-exercises-that-make-your-lungs-stronger

Soothing Coconut Oil Drink

3 times/day (This recipe comes from a natural health-focused group I’m part of, and I was made aware of it by my friend, Shonna, who also used this drink in getting through COVID herself. I think she made her own adaptations with adding the essential oil and colloidal silver, and I did as well, as you can read below.)

• 2 tbsp organic, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp raw honey
• 1 tsp Sovereign Silver
• 1 drop Immunity Boost essential oil (Thieves alternative without the middleman pricing 🙂 )
• vitamin C crystals
• unsweetened pineapple juice (to sweeten/make liquid enough to drink everything through a straw)*

Heat coconut oil and honey in a double boiler manner* (microwaving destroys the nutrients), stirring until melted.

Add the rest of the ingredients and drink.

*I actually just used our electric kettle to heat a bit of water and used that warm water to melt the honey and coconut oil and mix the vitamin C crystals. Because of that, and our vitamin C already being sweetened with stevia, I didn’t use any pineapple juice, but I’m sure it would include some added benefit. We also didn’t use straws, but they can help make it more palatable for those bothered by the oil.

Positive & Healing Affirmations that Encouraged Us Through COVID

Over the years, I’ve learned how much of our own experience of reality we create through the programming that’s always at work in our subconscious mind/heart. With that knowledge, however, comes the perception of a weighty responsibility to try to change that programming. There are many tools for doing so, but there’s only so much pulling yourself up by your bootstraps you can do when you’re completely overwhelmed in the really low points of life. It’s a good reminder that the work of Jesus didn’t just cover stuff we’ve done, but also has the power to cover that crappy programming. That’s why it’s the focus at the beginning of these affirmations!

Reading over these now, I feel like there would be better options, but for some reason, these are what came out and meant the most for us at the time.

*compiled

Atmosphere Cleansing

Here are some of our favorite sources for boosting the atmosphere when you’re discouraged or while you sleep!

One song we especially used for our cleansing marches was this one. It’s a bit older, but has a good hype up part in the middle 🙂