Home Treatment for COVID 19

Dr. K. Raja Meghanadh

India is right now experiencing a peak of second-wave coronavirus. The number of people who are getting hospitalized is more than the first wave. Getting a bed in a hospital is challenging. Even if you get a bed, getting a ventilator is tougher. Hospitals are charging more as their operating costs have gone higher. Even if you get a bed, ventilator, and have money, finding necessary drugs like remdesivir is even more challenging. The oxygen supply is tight.

Instead of playing the blame game, it is better to avoid getting into this circle for the time being. The steps mentioned below can help you fight COVID 19 staying at home, and these steps can help control the infection and prevent hospitalization.

1. Immediate testing

We have to suspect COVID 19 in the peak of this second wave peak when someone has any one of the following complaints.

· fever

· body pains

· loss of smell

· change in taste

· cough

· pain in the throat or neck

· skin rash

· eye redness

. runny nose - a distinguishing common symptom of Delta variant

The immediate action is to test and isolate yourself and continue the isolation even if the test is negative. ( RTPCR test is negative in 40% of covid 19 confirmed patients).

2. Start Medication ASAP

Your complaints are more indicative than the RT-PCR test result during the peak of the wave.

The author has witnessed some RTPCR negative patients having complaints and spent valuable time in false well-being without treatment and suddenly collapsed. Immediately consult a doctor irrespective of the results and start medication that stops replicating the virus in the body. A combination of the drugs mentioned below is generally used to arrest the replication of the COVID 19 virus.

· Favipiravir

· Ivermectin

· Doxycycline

· Colchicine

· Azithromycin

· Budesonide by inhalation

NOTE: Please consult a doctor for medication. Do not consider this as a prescription.

The early you start, the earlier you will recover and the safer you are.

Patients who began these medications within a week are less prone to severe disease, hospitalization, or death.

3. Regular check on oxygen saturation with finger Pulse Oximeter

Beware of low-quality and fake pulse oximeters in the market.

Pulse oximeter normal range is above 95

· Take a six-minutes brisk walk without a break and check the pulse oximeter reading immediately. · For every two hours, check the oxygen saturation of the patient. Do this twice a day.

When the reading touches the lower limit of 94 in either case, you have to plan and reach the hospital before it goes below 93.

4. Prone position

Sleeping on the abdomen is called a prone position. Sleeping in a prone position, the blood circulation and ventilation of the lung fields will go in a perfect ratio which will help improve the oxygenation by 3 to 4 percent after few hours.

A man sleeping in prone position

5. Breathing Exercises

3-ball incentive spirometer

Breathe in using the nose and breathe out using the mouth. Use as much as a possible force in breathing. You can use a three-ball incentive spirometer for this exercise. This simple breathing exercise can improve oxygenation by 4 to 5 percent.

Just prone position and breathing exercise can increase your oximeter reading up to 10 percent.

6. Wear Mask

To keep the infected family members in good shape, the non-infected ones have to be safe. All the family members should wear an N95 mask only. Cloth, surgical and double masking may not be sufficient.

Learn how different types of masks protect you here.

7. Air purifier with a HEPA filter and a negative ion generator

More and more studies are proving that COVID 19 is an airborne disease. So air purifiers can be pretty handy. Air purifiers with a HEPA filter and a negative ion generator bring down the virus content in the atmosphere and reduce the risk of spreading and getting the disease.

Written by

Dr. K. R. Meghanadh