WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Hey folks, Sally Riggs here, Psychologist, fellow long hauler and your Long COVID coach, and welcome to another Wellness Wednesday.

This week, I had lots of people reaching out to me after the last video saying, please can you do a video on How not to get COVID? And what to do if I do get COVID. So very timely, very popular right now, I'm going to take a minute slightly off topic to answer that question.

And of course, please remember, I am not a physician. And this is not medical advice. So any of the protocols that you see me mentioned on here, please do discuss with your doctor and make sure that you are not taking something else that is contraindicated, there are lots of drug interactions, especially when it comes to Paxlovid. So please, please, please get advice.

But the message is there is a lot that you can do. So I'm going to start off talking about what to do in order to avoid getting COVID because that is the most important thing that we can do right now. And I touched on in last week's video, How COVID is still a big deal? And for those of us with Long COVID, we really want to avoid it at all costs. Our bodies are not in a position to be dealing with it again. And so the number one thing that we want to do is make sure that we don't do it again.

And despite what the world is saying right now, unfortunately, there's a lot of COVID minimizing going on. And so to avoid getting COVID, we are not talking about just washing your hands and smiling as we were told last week by a lovely woman who works for the CDC in the US. But there is a lot that we can do and more than we originally knew in the beginning. And so I'm just going to go through that piece by piece for you here.

So the first one, this is no surprise masking reduces COVID spread. And again, I know there's been a lot of pushback against this and people who say derogatory things, call them face napkins and all the rest of it. But despite what Cochrane says, actually masks have been a very effective way to reduce infection for decades. And in the US here where we still have TB are very, very commonly used.

If someone is admitted with TB to make sure that all the other staff members don't get it to great effect. And there are some key things to keep in mind. When we talk about masking. Firstly, you want a good quality mask, just those blue surgical things where all the air comes around the edge is unfortunately not going to be good enough. You want something that is well fitting. And I'm going to talk a bit more about that in a second.

But we're talking about N95 or better. And I'm going to put a lot of links in the notes at the bottom today because there are a lot of things on here that you can get from specific places. Sadly, Amazon is not a reliable place to be getting your masks anymore. So I'm going to put a link for a place in the US that is good and a place in the UK that is good. If you are watching this in other countries, please pop in the comments. If you have links to places in your country where you can get good quality masks.

You want to fit test that mask and that means you want to make sure that it is sealing around your face, around your nose especially and under your chin especially so that no particles can get through. When I first was in the US working in hospitals, because they do still have tuberculosis here, eventhough I've had a BCG and technically cannot get TB myself. It is mandatory that when you first start working in a hospital in the US, you do a FIT test and what that means is that you put on your mask which they refer to as a respirator and a man sprays very close to your face a particular spray that has particles that are thin enough that will get through if there's not a good fit.

And it has a smell and if you can smell or taste anything your mask doesn't fit and you need to go down in size. Or if you're wearing a smaller size you need to consider taping around the edge of your mask. So making sure that you have a mask that is good quality and that fits correctly is really crucial. And then, as we have spoken about a lot before, do not remove the mask when you are inside not to drink anything, not to eat anything.

Only eating outside, which I know as it gets colder is tricky, but this is how we avoid our acute infections. And if you are wearing a mask for a long period of time and you're worried (to get) about getting dehydrated, especially if you are on an airplane, you can actually buy SIP valves that you install into the mask yourself that have been tested that you put a straw through and you can sip and it's still safe and fits correctly.

So some important things there in terms of masking that we can just up our game a little bit from just popping on a surgical mask and assuming we're okay. Especially if there's only one way masking, I/We're the only ones and the majority of other people in the room are not wearing a mask. The next thing to think about is nasal sprays. And we have some really good evidence now that certain sprays because the acute infection is primarily getting in through the nasal cavity, and up your nose and into your brain.

Unfortunately, that if you use a nasal spray that lines the nasal cavity, it can reduce the likelihood that if COVID particles go up your nose, they will not get into your system. And these lovely slides, that Berlin Buyers Club who are on Instagram and do a lot of great Long COVID education stuff and also research put out a few months back, really talk through the options. I'm going to talk these through if you want to pause the video on a particular one to read it in more detail. Please do so that's why I put those in here.

So there are a number of different nasal sprays. And they go through in this series of slides. Price point brand names and how effective they are. So the first one is Xylitol nasal sprays. In the US I believe the brand is Xlear if that's how we're pronouncing it. Not too expensive around 12 bucks and reasonable risk reduction. Not brilliant, but Okay. Next one is Nitric Oxide.

This has gotten a lot of discussion recently, Enovid is the popular brand a lot of people are buying. This one is very expensive, but it has you can see a higher risk of reduction. Hypromellose nasal sprays, again, a good risk of reduction and a reasonable cost. And the one that I've been using for this whole time, Carrageenan nasal sprays which are available in the UK as the boots own brand dual defense that is way cheaper than that I think it's about five quid in the UK. And that is what I've been using this whole time and may well be why I haven't gotten an acute infection again.

Now, we don't know that for sure. But that gives you a lot of options there. Again, I will try and put some additional brand names for other countries in the comments. And again, if you're watching this and other countries and you know the brand names, please pop those in your comments. Enormously appreciated to crowdsource on this stuff. If you use your nasal spray right before you go out and then you can also use it again when you come home. And I will also talk about you can use it if you get COVID.

So, next one mouthwash. So there's a couple of ingredients if you're thinking about it, the nose is the primary space where the virus is getting in. Second space is going to be in through your mouth, a couple of ingredients that are important here. I may be pronouncing these wrong, Chlorhexidine or Cetylpyridnium Chloride. And those are in scope act or crest in the US or Colgate plaques in the UK to point out with scope and crest and act. They're not in every version. Oh my goodness in the US are like 400 different varieties of mouthwash. So do make sure that you've got these words written down and when you go to the store, just double check the back that the one that you're buying has the right ingredient.

I do find that it tends to be the ones that are this disgusting blue color, which obviously is not great, but we're not swallowing this. We're just gargling. So that's a rule of thumb. But make sure you're double checking the ingredients. Or you can use eucalyptus, menthol thymol, which is in your Listerine. I only had this recently, I've only been going with chlorhexidine or sitarparadeniam chloride. And or if you can get a hold of 1%. Povidone Iodine, you can also use that.

And again, this is for rinsing your mouth out off to you leave. Sometimes I do it before I go, when I get back in, rinse my mouth out, you can also brush your teeth. But the rinsing is really important. HEPA filters, again, much talked about when the world was opening up a little bit at the beginning of the pandemic, but really, really crucial. Now if you have to be inside, and there's only one way masking, you've got your good quality mask, how can you make an even better HEPA filter? I have a portable one, I'm going to put that in the links too.

For example, Friday, I went to get my hair cut. And they are not masking in my salon anymore. They were for a long time, but they just recently stopped. So I sat with a HEPA filter in my lap the whole time kind of blowing up towards my chin. And that is just doing as much as I can to collect any of those nasty particles that might be in the environment before they get into my face, and nose and mouth. And of course ventilation is super important. If you are going to be inside and thinking about what the ventilation is. And one way that we can get a read on ventilation is to check the CO2 levels. So very cheaply on Amazon, you can buy CO2 monitors.

I think there is a particular one that a lot of people recommend that I will also put the link for. And again, if you think about it, carbon dioxide comes out of our mouths when we breathe out. So the more people have breathed out in the space, the more carbon dioxide there's going to be and if there is not good ventilation and or HEPA filters, that isn't going to be absorbed, and it's going to be left in the room. So it's a quick and dirty way of determining, is there enough ventilation in here.

Those of you who have kiddos and are looking at this list and thinking well, it's all very well you can say that I can do all of these things. But my kids are in school every day, breathing in COVID. And they come back and they give it to me. Really just to give you the support that many, many people do still take care with COVID. And that includes having their children follow these. So I know that masks in the UK were never really used for kids. But they're not actually dangerous or bad. And kids in the US were masking and many of them still do now.

So if you want to send your kid into school with a mask on, you are not going to do them any harm. And you certainly can have them use the nasal spray, use the mouthwash, take a portable HEPA filter with them. And make sure that the windows are open in their classroom and check it with a CO2 meter. So these things are doable. And I know that many people because they weren't supported by the rest of society have gotten into the habit of just throwing up their hands and saying my kids have to go to school. I guess I'm stuck with infection after infection. It doesn't actually have to be that way. And many people are following these in families with kiddos. And that is okay.

So this is me giving you permission if you want to try that any of these things on here are going to be better than nothing. And that can dramatically reduce your risk. Now, if you do test positive, and again, I just want to make clear because there has been a lot of messaging in the Long COVID community in the last year, that we just need to relax and trust our bodies to do the thing that they need to do. And like I said in the video last week, how did that work out for you last time, our bodies don't seem to be equipped at fiting off the spike protein and we really do need to help them out. And there is a lot that we can do now and giving you the encouragement to reach out to medical professionals and get things prescribed that you can to really really maximize your chances of a fast recovery and not relapsing in your Long COVID.

So first of all, all of those things that we just discussed with the mouthwash and the nasal spray can dramatically reduce your viral load and make your infection much, much less worse. So brushing your teeth twice a day in between those two times. Rinse your mouth with that mouthwash at least another two more times. And then rinsing your nose with a saline spray and then in between using those other sprays, again as often as you want. Now, if we are gargling with the mouthwash, which is what we're supposed to be doing, and I got into trouble with this a few weeks back, it is going to give you a little bit of a scratchy throat and do not think that that is COVID infection, which oftentimes has a sore throat is just because of these preventative measures.

I was doing this in London a few weeks back and got really worried that I was getting COVID. But no, it was just too much Colgate plaques that I had been gargling with. If you are not already taking your H1 or H2 antihistamines, then you want to go ahead and restart those as soon as you test positive. So that is your Famotidine and one of the other traditional antihistamines, Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra, et cetera. And if you can add in there any other mast-cell stabilizers you can get a hold of high dose Vitamin C is mast-cell stabilizer, Ketotifen which many people are taking anyways, Sodium Cromolyn. Sodium Cromolyn is a horrible medication, if you can stand to take it, good luck.

But if you're already taking it, then keep on or maybe take a little bit more. Lactoferrin is showing good evidence for reducing the likelihood of infections taking hold really seriously, particularly respiratory stuff. So if you can get your hands on that, that's going to be really helpful early on. We are also obviously all of us or many of us are already taking Nattokinase. If you're not, start taking it that's going to help bust up any of the clotting that will start forming from the spike protein. And most are doing well with 6000 units, but really as much as you can tolerate but obviously with medical support and being careful.

Baby aspirin, which many of us are already taking if you're not, at that in quick again, that's going to help with the clotting. Paxlovid, if you are in the US, you are eligible for Paxlovid. Many unfortunately, providers will try and tell you that you are not. But people with a disability are on the list and you do not need to specify what your disability is. Anyone who has a disability is eligible for Paxlovid. You may have to be slightly assertive with whoever you're talking to 311 local community health whatever who are prescribing Paxlovid in acute infections, but anyone who has a disability which you do under ADA, you are allowed to get Paxlovid.

So please, if you're told no, tell them again that you want it and you can have it or try a different provider. And you need to get it within that five day window of symptoms not of testing positive. Metformin is showing some wonderful evidence and you may have heard that it's going into trials for Long COVID. But it definitely is showing that it prevents Long COVID. So if you have an acute infection and don't want your Long COVID to get worse, Metformin. In the US that's relatively easy to get a hold of if your primary care physician or a Long COVID Doc won't give it to you. I'll put a link down below there are some online places that will prescribe it.

In the UK, I don't know really what's happening with GPs right now. However, I was really pleasantly surprised I had forgotten one of my medications when I was over in the summer and I was able to get it prescribed by Superdrug online doctors without even talking to a doctor directly. So there seem to be a lot of online pharmacies that you can get prescriptions from right now and Metformin is super old and super cheap. So, give it a go and maybe you can get a hold of it.

That is the protocol that most people are using for acute infections. However as an alternative, the FLCCC protocol looks like I missed off a 'C' there. Again, I will link for this in the notes. A little bit controversial, they are still using Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Melatonin, Doxycycline and Prednisone. However, I know quite a lot of people who have taken this protocol recently, it does seem to be very effective. Full disclosure, I have also personally taken Ivermectin.

Obviously, again, you want to double check for any drug interactions, etc, etc, etc. But if you are in the US, and you can get somebody to prescribe that, maybe because you couldn't get Paxlovid. That is an alternative, discuss it with your treatment team. But again, definitely something that is available. Again, in other parts of the world. I know this is massively variable. I know in India, it's super easy to get a hold of Ivermectin, and probably the rest of the things on that list. Other parts of Europe not so sure. But please do post in the comments what you know, you can get a hold of in your countries.

Because that's going to be super helpful for people who are watching this. And all is not last. Obviously, some of those things we can get a hold of Nattokinase, Baby Aspirin, H1 H2 Blocker without prescription. And there's a whole ton of supplements that we can also get a hold of without prescription. They're going to be helpful, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and high doses, Zinc, Selenium, Quercetin, NAC which was much discussed at the beginning. Curcumin, Nigella Sativa, which you can get on Amazon, sometimes called black seed oil. It will give you a nasty taste in the back of your mouth.

But again, who cares at this point, and Melatonin. I know Melatonin is not available in the UK. But if you have any friends in the US who are coming over, have them bring you bottles and bottles. I'm always being asked to do that when I come over. So there's a lot of things there that you can also be adding in to really try and dampen down that inflammation and reduce the spread of that horrible spike protein in the body. So lots of information.

Again, please do discuss with your doctors. But the message that I really, really want to share is, this is not a hopeless situation, there are a lot of things that we can do. And a lot of things that are available treatment wise, despite the message that the media is pushing, which is COVID is just a cold and you want to just sit home and do nothing. That is not true at all. We have a lot of treatments available now even if you have to kind of scratch around and piecemeal put things together. And we have a lot of really good things to prevent COVID.

Many of you who are watching my videos over the summer know that I was in Norway, and I actually took a cruise to get up there. Cruises are notorious for COVID. And many people on the cruise were testing positive. I did not because I followed a lot of the things on that list. And also just to throw in there and I know this is controversial, but again, talk to your team.

Ivermectin, there is some evidence that it does prevent the spike protein from attaching to your body. And that's why I was taking it preventatively and a lot of people in the US seem to be doing that to good effect.

Again, don't take my word for it, read the papers, talk to your trusted physicians. But lots of things that we can do to keep ourselves safe. Please don't give up. Please don't throw up your hands and sit back and allow yourself to keep getting infected over and over and over. Please take care of yourself. And all of this stuff fits into our polyvagal work which will continue to support your nervous system. I hope this was helpful. I hope we managed to avoid a few COVID infections this week.

And I hope your week is tolerable. Until then I will see you next week. Take care!