How I Survived Covid-19 in December of 2021

Intro

Saturday and Sunday, December 11 & 12, I started a network upgrade project at my work. It was a significant upgrade involving a lot of work, basically recreating a new internal Active Directory Server domain using a new domain controller server. I worked almost all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. Most of the work was successful, although there were significant repercussions that occurred and which I did not anticipate. The most difficult of these was the accounting server was down and I had much trouble figuring out what was causing this. I had to enlist support from the software vendor and even with this help it took several days to get working again.

In reality I did not finish this project until the following Wednesday, December 15. I had put in significant work time at the office and I was quite stressed and drained by that time. The next day, Thursday, I was feeling under powered with low energy and by mid morning I had developed a head ache. I stayed in bed most of the day. The next day, Friday, I was feeling better and I really thought I was on the way to recovering and did not at this time believe that I had the Covid virus although I did think it was a possibility.

Seems to Improve

Saturday I was feeling better although perhaps having a little less energy. The following Sunday night I was supposed to help out with the Lessons and Carols program at my church. I was a little reluctant to go and after discussing with our music director, he suggested I do a test. He happened to have a rapid at home antigen test which I went and picked up from him. Sure enough the test showed a positive for the virus.

Continuing Symptoms

By Sunday evening I was beginning to feel something like a head cold coming on. Mainly sinus blockage. This blockage continued for the rest of the week. It became fairly strong and continued for a couple of days until it gradually began to subside by the Sunday after Christmas day. Throughout this time I registered no temperature and my oxygen levels remained strong with not noticeable drop.

Other than taking some sinus decongestant for a couple of those days I did not resort to any other drug. But I did do several things that I think were a significant help to my recovery:

  • Eat lots of bone soup with lots of vegetables included
  • Took lots of vitamin C and tried to maintain bowel tolerance (indicated by passing gass).
  • Took 5,000 IU vitamin D every day (which is what I normally take even when well).
  • Practiced nose irrigation (3 or 4 times per day) using saline water with a slight amount of hydrogen peroxide added.
  • Gargle with 50/50 water/hydrogen peroxide mix (3 to 4 times per day).
  • Used nebulizer with 4/1 saline/hydrogen peroxide mix (3 to 4 times per day).
  • Continued regular supplement routine: fish oil, lysine, magnesium, zinc.

I started having some chest congestion and at this time I upped my intake of Niacin to 1,500 mg every day in divided doses. This seemed to help reduce the symptoms of chest congestion.

The congestion in sinus and chest gradually subsided. On Monday, December 27, I did a PCR test and the results came back positive on Wednesday. However, by this time I was feeling almost fully recovered. Was this the omicron variant? I do not have definitive information on this. The symptoms certainly correspond to the descriptions available. But whatever version it was I am thankful that my nutritional practices as well as my fitness routine most likely helped contribute to a manageable illness not requiring a visit to the hospital or urgent care facility.