
POST COVID SYNDROME- NATUROPATHIC MANAGEMENT APPROACH
COVID -19 or corona virus disease discovered in 2019
is responsible for the global pandemic and is caused by a virus called novel
corona virus or SARS-CO-V-2(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2)
which is similar to that caused SARS outbreak in 2002.
This
disease causes symptoms like fever, dry cough, soreness of muscle, soar throat,
loss of smell and taste, headache, diarrhoea, etc. in cases person may
experience symptoms like difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, chest
pain or pressure etc.
After recovering from COVID
19 it is seen that some people aren’t fully recovering from the virus. this
idea has been in the periphery for a while, especially because other corona
viruses are known to have lasting health effects, but incoming data are pushing
it more into central focus and raising concern even for those who did not have
a severe case of disease. Its little early to understand just how long the
long-term symptoms left. They are called as COVID LONG HAULERS; it is called as
POST COVID SYNDROME.
Dr. Natalie Lambert of Indiana university is studying COVID-19 LONG
HAULERS, the individuals who have reported suffering from symptoms even after
weeks of recovery from the virus. In the report states that the long haulers’
COVID19 symptoms are far more than what is currently listed by the CDC. They
reported to have 26.5% of symptoms to be painful.
Long term symptoms were recently reported by researches from Italy after
assessing 179 patients who has been discharged from the hospital following
recovery from the virus, at approximately 60days after symptoms had begun, only
12,6% of patients reported being symptom free where as 32% gad 1-2 lingering
symptoms and 55% had 3 or more.
Another study by JAMA cardiology, in a group of 100 German COVID -19
patients, 60 of them still had inflammation of the heart when imaged a mean of
71 days after testing positive, 36 patients reported general exhaustion and
shortness of breath that was not prior to contracting virus. In contrast to
previous study, the majority of these patients had cases that did not require
hospitalisation, meaning long term symptoms are not definitively linked to
severe disease only.
A data from the COVID symptom study, currently suggests that somewhere
between 10-15% of people don’t recover within couple weeks.
In short, the long haulers may experience symptoms like
·
Fatigue
·
Muscle
or body aches ·
Brain
fog ·
Headache ·
Anxiety
·
Memory
problem ·
Dizziness
·
Persistent
chest pain or pressure ·
Cough ·
Palpitation
|
·
Diarrhoea ·
Sore
throat ·
Night
sweats ·
Partial
or complete loss of sense of smell and taste ·
Fever ·
Hair
loss ·
Blurry
vision ·
Congested
or runny nose ·
Nausea
and vomiting, etc. |
NATUROPATHIC MANAGEMENT APPROACH
Let’s briefly discuss the management of these
symptoms. There is no definitive treatment as known from WHO. Nature
cure provide an excellent way to manage and cure these symptoms in various
different ways.
Diet plays an important role in the recovery after a disease and for improving the overall health and to restore
all those lost nutrients after a period of illness. It is essential to have a
healthy balanced diet including all the essential macro and micronutrients
such as vitamin- A, B6, B12, C, D, E, copper, zinc, selenium, iron, magnesium, etc. Food having these nutrients has shown to improve the immune function of
the body. Uses of herbs such as Tulsi, peppermint, etc are shown to improve the
health of the upper respiratory tract.
It is also recommended not to consume
any meat or poultry products as it increases the inflammatory cytokines in the
body which worsen the persisting condition. Rather consume foods like lentils
and pulses to meet the protein requirement. Stay away from processed foods too.
So, it is advised to consume food that is plant-based such as fruits and
vegetables loaded with nutrients, water, dietary fiber, phytonutrients, etc.
Another important key food to be
included in our diet is probiotics. It is essential to take care of the gut
microbiota as our gastrointestinal tract produces a major portion of the immune
cells. Similar to probiotics it is much needed to include dietary fibre in our
daily diet. Our gut bacteria feed on this and these fibre helps for easy
elimination of fecal matter.
Always stick to 8- 10 glasses of water
a day but now be extra cautious and have boiled water, make it to a lukewarm
temperature and drink it. Or whenever possible drink it hot as enjoying a hot
tea as the temperature helps to ease the respiratory tract. Avoid any kind of
bottled beverages, carbonated waters etc, as they contain sugars and other
flavoring agents and additives which are proved to produce adverse effect on
our immune system.
A simple and effective way to improve the health
is to take sunbath for 10- 20 mins every day this will improve the vitamin D3
in the body which is very good for immunity. We can be accompanied along
with a walk which will improve the muscle strength and blood circulation
throughout the body.
Yoga practice is one of the basic and
effective practice to keep the body and mind healthy and calm. In the physical
aspect, the practice of kriyas such as jala neti, sutra neti, vamana etc helps on
removal of the excess of sputum and acids from the body and it cleanses the epithelial
lining of the respiratory and digestive tract respectively.
Practice of different loosening
exercises and asanas like tadasana, vrikshasna, ustrasansa, shasaankasana,
bhujangasana, etc can be done for 10-20 mins every day. These practices will
allow chest expansion and improve cardiopulmonary function.
The practice of pranayama like Nadi
shodhana will increase the lung capacity and it also increases the oxygen
saturation which is generally affected in COVID -19. Pranayama practice will
reduce the sympathetic activity and stimulates the vagal activity which reduces
the stress and anxiety.
It is very much needed to keep our
mind calm to make our body to gain the immunity to fight the virus, for that
practicing deep breathing and deep relaxation and meditation will be helpful.
Always practice social distancing and
self-hygiene practices like hand washing for at least 20 seconds whenever
possible which is always superior to the use of sanitizer.