COVID: “I had terrible throat pain and insomnia”

My mom tested COVID positive on 23rd April so I thought to get myself tested as well. I tried speaking to testing labs but nobody was ready to visit my home for a test. After trying for 2 days I got my test done on 25th April and as I had feared, I was COVID positive as well. It was really shocking as we didn’t expect this to happen to us. My mom got her vaccination done and right after that she tested positive. We are still in a thought, if she got the virus from the vaccination centre. I had no symptoms when my mom got positive so I maintained distance from her completely but, somehow I got the virus too. I follow social media very actively and almost everyone was posting things related to COVID and every minute, my mobile’s notification was related to it only by which I started getting depressed and I started overthinking on everything which actually took me to the stage of mental breakdown and I had no one to share these feelings with as I had to take care of my family as well.

I developed severe chest pain and headache, which I thought was not related to COVID and I took it very lightly. It continued till 2-3 days and I still ignored it. Surprisingly, I got a fever the next morning and lost the sense of smell and taste. My headache was so dangerous that I had tears in my eyes all the while and turned me into an insomniac. The throat pain felt as if someone was holding my neck hard and not letting me breathe. I had a scratchy throat, and a fever, with this sweeping kind of fatigue. The new mutation of the second wave is more dangerous and deadly. Also, I lost almost 5-6 kgs in a week, so weight loss is also a symptom that I witnessed. I immediately consulted my doctor who advised certain medications, given to all COVID patients. I had a lot of pain in my chest due to cough so I took steam thrice a day which gave me some relief. I have done meditation almost daily to stay positive, mental health is really important for us. I believe 40 % of the people are losing their minds by watching negativity going around in the world and I am one of them.

I didn’t realise how the quarantine period passed as in this state, I was cooking food for my family and other household work as we had sent back our servants so that they can stay safe. I used to wake up around 8 a.m in the morning and till 10pm at night I had to take care of myself and my family single handedly. Somehow I managed to do meditation daily just to calm myself and ignore the negative thoughts running in my head all the time. I used to watch a lot of videos related to COVID before sleeping on how to get the sense of smell and taste back. I truly believe that God has been with me in this and gave me a lot of will power to fight against COVID alone and also take care of my family…

Dietary precautions

I consulted a nutritionist so that I can take a balanced diet. Early in the morning I used to take lukewarm lemon water with 1/4 tablespoon of giloy stave from Baidyanath with 5 almonds and 2 dates and one tablespoon chyawanprash. In breakfast I used to eat besan halwa and after an hour 2-3 kiwis. In lunch I used to eat khichdi/ biryani, either of them and after an hour one cup of green tea with 2 pieces of dates. In the evening, tomato soup and papaya were the best combination for energy. Then for dinner, I just had haldi milk. This diet can help everyone to stay fit while they recover from COVID.

While I am on my road to recovery, I want to tell all COVID+ patients to not give up on hope. Yes, the situation is bad, but nothing can be stronger than your willpower. That’s the biggest weapon in hand to fight coronavirus. Talking to yourself, positive thoughts will help you recover. Don’t let the negative thoughts rent space in your head. As I would say, start masking your ears too and protect yourself from all kinds of negative energies.