How to help yourself when you’re on quarantine

Help yourself when you’re on self-quarantine. Improve your immune system and get yourself healed for whatever symptoms you may have so that you can end it well.

Why you should be on self-quarantine 

I mentioned in my previous post that STAYING HOME is the best way to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. Remember, vaccinated and unvaccinated can equally get the virus and the disease. 

Remember, too, that there’s no assurance yet that the efficacy of the vaccines will last long. How long each vaccine will last has also not been established yet.

Thus, staying home is to help control the spread of the virus and the disease. When you do, you are helping yourself and your family to AVOID the virus causing the COVID-19. You are also helping the nation and the world.  

However, as we know, many people have to continue working outside of their homes to continue serving society. Many people do not seem to see the urgency of following health protocols. Hence, the possibility of the virus circulating in the population remains. 

I will classify the people doing self-quarantine into three groups.   

Group 1: Those who have been working regularly or for a long time outside of their home. They want to make sure that they won’t transmit any virus to their families. This group can include front-liners, those in the essential sector, the actors who had done lock-in taping for TV shows and so have to do self-quarantine for 14 days before joining their families.  

Group 2: Those who have been in close contact with people who have symptoms or are confirmed to have the disease. Even if they haven’t had symptoms yet, they need to do self-quarantine. 

As mentioned in my previous post, ‘the virus is MORE CONTAGIOUS “2 to 3 days before symptoms start.” On the other hand, it is “MOST CONTAGIOUS 1 to 2 days before” the infected person feels sick.’

Group 3: Those who have noticed some symptoms of the COVID-19 disease. They may have elected to do self-quarantine while waiting to be tested or for the test results. Though they may also have wanted to go to a hospital or clinic, they have to do self-quarantine instead. 

This advice to do self-quarantine may be to prevent them from getting infected in the hospital just in case they’re not COVID-positive. This advice may also be because the hospitals and quarantine areas are filled and can no longer accommodate them. 

Help yourself by staying in an ideal place for self-quarantine that

1. Is a room only to yourself to lessen contact with other people. 
2. Is with toilet only for yourself, there’s less risk for others to get the virus.
3. Has good ventilation. If possible, it has a balcony or a wide window. The balcony and wide window will allow air to flow and for you to be able to breathe in the fresh air.  
4. Is with windows and a balcony facing the morning sun so that you can get sunlight. The Vitamin D you get from the sunlight will help you strengthen your immune system. The balcony can also be the place to do exercises. 
5. Has sink with water supply for you to be able to wash your utensils. 
6. Is near a garden or at least has some plants inside. The garden or plants will help refresh the eyes and the mind. It also contributes to helping improve the air quality in the room.  
7. Has other things you need:

• cellphone to be able to communicate to your “runner,” loved ones, friends, doctors, and authorities
• contact numbers of families and friends, online doctors, mentors, pastors, and others 
• television, books, internet, laptop/desktop to keep your mind busy or entertained 
• water boiler for steaming and your hot tea and warm water drink
• table utensils for use for having meals
• toiletries, linens (towels, blankets, etc.), clothes. You need to change and wash them well regularly.
• thermometer to check your fever
• disinfectants.  

Even if you are alone, you need to disinfect the air and things around you. In case you are COVID-19 infected but starting to get healed, you should avoid breathing in again the virus in the air. 

Help yourself by strengthening your immune system

We should all do this even when we are not on self-quarantine. How? Improving the immune system is common knowledge, but we need to remind ourselves now and then.  

1. Avoid food and drink that are harmful to your health and cause you to be sick of other diseases. These are sugary, junk, and oily food, food with no health value, etc. 

2. Eat healthy food, or balanced meals, with plenty of vegetables and fruits.  

3. Do physical exercises. You don’t have to be in the gym or the park or have gym equipment to do exercises. 

4. Get sunlight. The best time is from sunrise to 9 am and 3 pm to sunset.  

5. Drink plenty of water.  

6. Take food supplements. There are many which are available in drugstores and online. 

Here are what I suggest: Vitamin C, D (4,000 – 5,000 IU), NAC, zinc, selenium, magnesium, Malunggay Life Oil, and flaxseed oil (Omega 3, 6, 9), If you can, add E, A or Beta-carotene, B-complex, iron, calcium, Bee Propolis, and Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO).  

7. Sleep well with 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

9. Get yourself entertained, motivated, and encouraged. 

Watch videos or read books that will make you laugh or motivated. Best of all, read the Bible to be encouraged and to strengthen your faith. Pray, of course, for strength and healing.  After all, God is your source of life.

Help yourself by getting yourself healed for some symptoms you may have. 

Once you’ve noticed some symptoms like weakness and cough,

• Have the swab test.  
• Start treating the symptoms even without the result yet. 

Sometimes the result gets delayed depending on your location. In some areas, some clinics may do the test but send the specimen to the city. 

• If you test positive, call your doctor for any outpatient treatments. Follow your doctor’s advice, but continue with supplementation.

Let’s start with the initial symptoms based on the pathways of the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 virus. Then with the severe ones.

For cough, sore throat, and runny nose

One morning when I woke up with something thick on the upper part of my throat, I could suspect that it was because of a virus or bacteria. There was no phlegm, and the throat didn’t feel sore, but the difficulty of swallowing was there. Here are the few things I did that removed the thickness in my upper throat. 

• Gargling with warm saline solution (water with salt)
• Drinking a lot of warm water
• Drinking hot ginger and turmeric tea
• Taking a lot of hot soup or broth
• Breathing in the steam from the water boiler or the cup 

In my case, these actions helped in keeping my throat moist and hydrated and killing the bacteria.  

I’m not sure about the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 virus, but I believe these actions will lessen the multiplication as your body becomes able to fight the virus. 

Breathing in steam helps open the airways for easier breathing. 

Even if you don’t seem to have any symptoms, we know that symptoms can appear later. Thus, doing the above will still be beneficial to strengthen the body.

• Take cough medicine, an expectorant if you have a wet cough with mucus, or a suppressant if you have a dry cough. 
• If coughing is painful, take acetaminophen or paracetamol. Acetaminophen is a pain reliever. 

For Fever

• Take acetaminophen or paracetamol to reduce fever.  Ibuprofen is quite controversial on whether it can be good for fever which could be a symptom of COVID-19.

For shortness of breath

• Breathe slowly. Inhale and exhale slowly to help you breathe again slowly. 
• Couple this with a prayer to help you calm down and avoid anxiety. 

Try this prayer and repeat it many times as you inhale and exhale slowly: 

“Father God, thank You for your grace, for it is by Your grace through Jesus Christ that You heal and save me. Be it done to me, Father, according to you plans and purposes for me. In the name of Jesus, amen.” 

Please don’t think that salvation is only for those on their death beds. Nobody knows when our time to leave the earth will come, so we need to be sure about it. If you want to be sure of your salvation, visit this other post: Do you want to be left behind?

Help yourself with these strong Reminders

References (Retrieved on August 23, 2021)

• Here’s what we know about Ibuprofen and COVID-19
• Symptoms of Coronavirus 
• Treating Coronavirus at Home