So you’ve come down with COVID, and it’s a mild case you can manage at home isolation. These are 7 things that I found helpful when I got COVID last month.

Rest

The body needs lots of physical rest while it’s battling the COVID virus. There is so much that the body is doing internally, so it’s best to rest while the battle is raging inside you.

While I had a mild case of COVID I found that I still spent the first 4 days in bed. I was feeling miserable and napped a lot, rested a lot and spent some time reading. The body does a lot of it’s healing when you are asleep.

So it wasn’t until day 5 (of my 7-day-isolation at home) that I began to feel more energetic and was getting a bit restless.

2. Hydrate

Keeping up your fluids is so important to replenish any fluids you have lost from having a fever or running a temperature. Keeping well hydrated helps your body to flush out any dead viral particles and keeps your mucus membranes moist to provide relief from a sore throat or a dry nose (as well as being an important part of your immune system) .

In Chinese medicine, hot and warm drinks are best for the body especially when feeling unwell.

These were my go-to fluids during isolation:

Warm water- I filled up a thermos with warm water which I took to the bedroom with me. This helped minimise the number of trips into the kitchen area. I sipped the warm water throughout the day, and it was lovely to have a warm drink in bed after waking from a nap. I made sure to refill the thermos at least 3 times a day during my whole 7-day isolation period.
Fruit juice mixed with coconut water and warm water (I used a 1 : 1 : 1 ratio). I found this to be soothing refreshing drink that provided some sweetness and was a change from water. The coconut water helps to replenish any electrolytes that are lost via sweat and fever. The juice helps provide some vitamin C and other nutrients. I added the warm water to bring the drink to room temperature, and to dilute the sweetness of the juice for my taste.
Hot tea with honey - I found warm honey tea to be really soothing for my dry sore throat and helped with my hoarse voice.
I sadly had to skip coffee for the whole week of isolation as the coffee felt too sharp and painful for my poor throat.
Soup - This was a nourishing and easy-to-digest meal choice for my body during the first few days of COVID. Luckily my kitchen cupboard was stocked with a variety of soups. They were warm and delicious while providing fluids. Soup didn’t feel too heavy in my belly so I could easily snooze afterwards if I needed to.

If at any stage you notice that your urine has become a darker color, it indicates that you have become dehydrated. You just need to increase your fluid intake until your urine is a light yellow color again. It’s recommended to have at least 2 litres of water plus other fluids over the course of a whole day if you are feeling dehydrated.

3. Acupressure

I used a number of acupressure points to ease the symptoms I had with COVID. Perhaps these acupressure points can be helpful for you:

This acupressure sequence helped ease the sinus congestion and sinus headache that I had for the first 1-2 days of COVID.

Start at the inner eyebrows; you can do a few gentle circles or gently push upwards towards the hairline. Then gently stroke across the eyebrows until you get to the temples. Do a few gentle circles at the temples to ease the sinus headache. Repeast 3 times. Your head should feel clearer.

Acupressure to ease sore throat — Sore throat relief

These acupressure points helped to ease the sore throat I had for 4 days during COVID.

The first acupoint is near the elbow crease on the outer elbow. Cradle your elbow in your hand, and the thumb naturally falls onto this acupressure point. Gently press on the acupoint with your thumb. Continue pressing for 3 breaths. Repeat for your other elbow

The next acupressure point can be tender as you will be using your thumbnail to gently press into the corner of the nail on your pointer finger. You are aiming for the nail corner that is closest to the thumb. There should be an immediate effect on your sore throat. Repeat on your other hand if needed.

Repeat these acupressure points as needed if the above symptoms are present.

I only needed to use these acupressure points for 2 days (mainly because I forgot about using acupressure on myself as I was trying to work out if I was well enough to do self-acupuncture; it’s ok I’m a trained professional).

4. Fun and Interesting Projects

Make sure to have some fun projects available for you to complete while in isolation, as you will begin to feel better as the days progress. The low energy improves and the foggy-headed brainfog does lift.

I completed a wooden jigsaw puzzle over a couple of days. It was a a fun project to complete, and challenging enough that I noticed the brainfog was lifting. I felt a sense of accomplishment when it was completed.

I did watch too many social media videos as they were short, interesting, funny or cute.

5. Golden Throat lozenges

These amazing chinese herbal throat lozenges helped to soothe my throat, and ease my sinuses. At one stage they were the only things that helped ease my extremely sore throat.

They contain chinese herbs to reduce inflammation in the throat and sinuses (jin yin hua, qing pi and luo han guo), eucalytptus oil plus other aromatic oils to clear and open the sinuses, and finally sugar for sweetness and provides a bit of energy. These lozenges are vegan friendly.

The Golden Throat lozenges are available for purchase at the clinic.

6. Sunlight and fresh air

Getting outside into the sunlight and fresh air is important if you can safely do so without exposing others to COVID.

Sunlight provides the body with some vitamin D which is needed in many processes in the body including the immune system. Fresh air is a change from being stuck indoors, enlivens the senses and encourages deep breathing. Deep breathing helps to release stress and tension from the body, encouraging the body to relax and heal.

I did hang out in the backyard soaking up some sunshine and fresh air for a few hours during the last few days of my home isolation. The animals followed me outside and enjoyed sunbaking in the mild sunshine we experienced in Melbourne during May. I made sure to dress warmly.

7. Keeping others COVID safe

Whenever I left the bedroom (my isolation space in the house), I used hand sanitiser and I wore a facemask before venturing into other areas of the house. Thankfully no one in the house caught COVID from me. I used a HEPA air purifier on maximum setting in the bedroom for my whole isolation period.

I also made sure that I had two negative RAT results before I returned to work at the clinic. This was important to me for my peace of mind that I was safe to return to work, and that I was able to continue safeguarding the BNH team and clients.

I do my best to safeguard others around me from COVID at all times. This has been one of my values since this pandemic began.

I’m glad I’m back in the clinic and able to provide acupuncture care for you. Any post viral fatigue I experienced was well managed with the use of Chinese herbs and moxa. There were no lingering symptoms of COVID for me.

7 tips for managing COVID in home isolation

Rest