What I Did With Huntington Disease and Covid-19 in 2020

Regimen (what I did my first 4-5 weeks)

Food: I drink hot tea with pepper and chicken broth with pepper, even though I can’t taste it. I eat greens and yogurt every day. I drink half a dose of BCAAs and 2 servings of rehydration powder every day. I keep superhydrated.

Meds/supplements: allegra and lexapro. I restarted my rx singulair for asthma to improve lung function. A full dose of guaf, every 4 hours. The prescribed prophylactic dose of antimalarials prescribed for my trip.* Half the recommended dose of decongestants (sudafed). A quarter of the recommended dose of acetaminophen when I need it for fever/pain. I don’t want to overload my liver. Vitamin C every 4 hours, alternating plain C with airborne (C/zinc). I take my usual glucosamine, calcium, multivitamin.

Physical: I’ve mostly been horizontal, on one side or another. I go upside-down a couple of times a day as airway-clearing therapy. I’ll do percussive ACT if I start to get congested. I take a hot shower daily. Run the diffuser constantly with eucalyptus (and sometimes clove, cinnamon, and lemon). Gargle with salt water and clean my sinuses twice a day, trying to reduce the amount of postnasal drip. And keep my mouth clean, brushing a few times a day and using hydrogen peroxide rinse and directly on the toothbrush afterward.

Timeline

Symptoms started 3/19/2020.

Day 1 -(March 19) felt ‘off’ all day and had fever by bedtime. It wasn’t super high – 100 to 101.

Day 2 – I had fever and slept all day and had the runs. Body aches, especially spine. Headache.

Day 3 – Fever and body aches the same, diarrhea worse. Can’t smell or taste anything. Not essential oils or garlic or clorox. It is profound. I had a chocolate for a treat and it had the texture of a bar of soap and the taste of water.

Day 4 – diarrhea, but low to no fever. Felt faint and like vomiting by bedtime. Worst day so far.

Day 5 – some nasal and lung congestion, but no productive cough. No fever. Moderate diarrhea.

Day 6 – fever is back this evening. Diarrhea, nausea. Feel faint if I get up too quickly. Sleeping a lot, supertired. Haven’t been up to writing or even sitting up much until today.

Day 7- no high fever, but sleeping most of the time- diarrhea is still a thing. Sweaty. Nasty head congestion, is a bigger thing if I miss a dose of decongestant. Trying to physically keep the virus out of my lungs. Only a little asthmatic.

Day 8 – no fever or diarrhea, Head still congested. Doing breathing exercises. Felt slightly better. Still tired.

Day 9 – Ugly yellow head congestion, no fever. Still sleeping more than half the time but not quite as tired.

Day 10-11 – congestion is actually worse. No high fever, but still feel bad, overall. Still can’t smell/taste.

Day 12-14 – congestion is still bad, green thick (sry). Have a little shortness of breath. Sleep 14-16 hours instead of 20. Still no smell/taste. Thought the runs were gone, but no.

Days 15-27 – not a lot of energy for stuff like documenting how things are going.

Day 28 – had a negative test, but have swollen lymph notes, headache, sinus infection, fatigue.

Days 29-117 – lingering sinus infection and fatigue. Wiped out on the couch, some days not even getting up to cook or eat. Smell comes back at about 25% – can’t smell cooking chicken, soap or shampoo, clorox, most essential oils, or coffee. I can smell other strong things on and off, but not intensely: brussels sprouts, onion. My asthma is out of control, every day. Worse than any allergy season before covid.

Day 118 (July 18) – 141 – Positive antibody test. Sinus issue limited to the right node behind the cheekbone. Fatigue. Even when pollen is back to almost 0 and the AQI is good. Even on singulair, albuterol, and antihistamines . I wake up to my heart racing sometimes. Got a watch to track it.

Day 142 (Aug 10) – Present Got a prescription for corticosteroid inhaler. Three days later I can breathe again. My heart still races occasionally when I sleep. It wakes me up. Taste/smell is still limited.

Still positive for antibodies in September.