Survived COVID...

[McCamy Taylor]

...even though I have severely impaired Vagus Nerve function already (no diagnosis yet despite months of trying. I recommend that no one ever get a zebra disease during a pandemic because no tertiary care specialists will see you and you cannot get tests).

Things I researched and was already taking in advance---1) nicotine (do not smoke or use tobacco) because it ameliorates the symptoms of low vagal tone. The Vagus nerve is tricky, you cannot do a nerve study on it to check for damage however an indirect test is cardiac variability---take a deep breath and breathe out slowly and the pulse should drop. Without nicotine I had no cardiac variability but as soon as I would use a lozenges, I would recheck and variability was restored (pulse would drop 5 while exhaling) which is a pretty good indicator that nicotine fortifies the vagus. Titrated up to the 14 mg patch and supplement with lozenges prn. My neurologist approved of this therapy which I started myself (I am a physician and read lots of interesting articles about the vagus nerve and nicotine and how pre-loading lab animals with nicotine before vagotomy prevented the inflammatory reaction that would quickly kill them).

2) Niacin (relatively high dose 500 mg bid) which is also a powerful anti-inflammatory. Get mine OTC at the health food store. Not for everyone--ask your doctor first.

3) The usual Vit D, zinc lozenges and melatonin.

4) External vagal stimulation device. (Got mine on Amazon) You apply it to the outer ear at a tiny area that the Vagus Nerve innervates (sort of like acupuncture) for an hour a day. Anecdotal studies have showed slightly improved COVID recovery time as well as a fall in blood inflammation factors. Be aware that if you use it too much it can make your hoarse by overstimulating the Vagus nerve.

Also got my asthmatic lungs to the hospital quick and got on Decadron, oxygen and remdesivir which is the hard part now that hospitals are in crisis mode due to certain people's refusal to wear masks or follow social distancing guidelines. I have no idea where or how I got this--I do not go anywhere.

[dawg day]

1. Glad you're back with us.

I hope this complication resolves with these treatments.

Vit D and Zinc are my preventives now.
Niacin is also good? I took that once for cholesterol, and my face got very flushed! no other problems, but it was an odd reaction.

Thanks for the info!

[iluvtennis]

2. So happy to hear that you made it through. nt

[malaise]

3. Glad to see you back

Take care

[BMW2020RT]

4. Same here. How did I get it?

My wife was initially worried I would infect her. My reply was this:

"I was confined to our house with a shingles outbreak for nearly three weeks before testing positive. You, on the other hand, left the house almost every day so you probably infected me."

That got some raised eyebrows. Right now we are thinking she was infected, but largely symptom free before passing it to me. I seem to be recovering after some minor coughing, headaches, and nasal congestion.

[Karadeniz]

6. My mother had shingles. She said it was the worst! We got the shingles vaccination.

[Karadeniz]

5. Thanks for the interesting suggestions. My husband used to have a vagus nerve problem. His

Manifested strangely. If his bowels were giving him trouble, he'd just about pass out! However, he was diagnosed with a heart valve problem, got that fixed and no passing out since!

Glad you're taking care of yourself. Keep up the good work!

[safeinOhio]

7. I've had a hiatal hernia for about 20 years.

I think that has caused problems with my Vargas nerve too. Hard to find much info on it.

[Laurelin]

8. Glad you're recovering!

Keep taking good care of yourself.