My COVID Story
Many of you have encouraged me to tell my tale with COVID last fall, and write about how I healed my body, and got my health back. It was a long process.
Last year was a stressful year, in general, as we prepared for a move, said goodbye to friends, and picked up and moved from Alabama to North Carolina. It was a happy move because we were able to buy our previous, much beloved house back, where we used to live 20 years ago.
We raised our family in this home and enjoyed our neighborhood and longed to move back all these years. We even kept the ½ acre lot next to this house, knowing…hoping…that someday we would go back.
Those that work with me and know me well, hear about stress, and its ugly effects on the body. There is internal stress (stress from inflammation and illness), and physical stress (injury and physical hardships). I am no stranger to stress, and even though I did everything I could to protect my body from the stress, I still began to pay the price.
Stress from all that happened with the move began to rear its ugly head. My ulcer flared, insomnia kicked in, my hormones began to play tricks on me, moodiness, depression, anger and irritation set in. There was sooo much to do that I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it.
And there were many repairs on the “new” house that needed to be done before moving in. AND, I started a part-time job working in another location after our move. Working in another office was new to me since I had been working my business from home all these years.
I started my new job just one week after our move, and we were still in the midst of house repairs and boxes.
AND one week after starting part-time work, about the 1st of September 2021, I caught COVID.
Because I knew these changes were going to take a toll on my health, I was doing everything to keep my immune system up. I was eating right (or trying too), exercising (I was running 2 miles every day), and taking my immune boosting supplements (more on this later).
But I still caught COVID…and catch it I did! I believe I had the Delta strain but not sure how important that is.
You can be doing everything right, health wise, but if you are living a life of stress (such as I was during this time), your immune system takes a hit, and you find that you still are run down, and begin to feel it too!
Covid didn’t express itself in my lungs or with my sense of smell. It was just like a very bad case of the flu. And I haven’t had a cold hardly these past few years, much less the flu!
I was down sick for 2 weeks…never been sicker. I slept nearly all day during that time, had no appetite, yet couldn’t get over the extreme emptiness in my stomach, and dryness in my mouth. My stomach literally hurt from hunger, yet I couldn’t eat. The only thing I could take was ice water, which felt so good with my fever and sore throat.
COVD started with a bad headache and sore throat, and fatigue. I have never had a sore throat like that before. In fact, the 2nd night, it was so bad, I thought I was going to have to wake my husband to take me to the emergency room. It was through lots of prayer and cough drops that helped me through the night and the next few days until the sore throat subsided.
After the first week, the headache and sore throat finally began to ease, but the fatigue…oh. the fatigue…never seemed to get better. I have literally been fatigued since then and am just now getting to where I don’t need to take such long naps every day!
In fact, even though the headache and sore throat got better, I soon began to have other symptoms. Symptoms from past ailments began to pop up: my ulcer flared and is, really, I believe, what kept me from eating. I never lost my sense of taste and smell, (thanks to my high intake of zinc), just my appetite.
I came down with a bad UTI, and candida! I know it was candida when I tested myself in October.
Eventually, it was the back ache, and kidney ache that sent me to the doctor. Never had a backache like that…thought it was my kidneys, or kidney infection. The funny thing was the doctor wouldn’t see me because I had COVID. I was sent home to deal with it myself. And I did! Taking my Functional Medicine knowledge, I put myself on a protocol, and got over my backache from what might have been a kidney infection in just 2 days. Will tell you how next time.
Even though my COVID was over in 2 weeks, and I was able to return to work, it was the fatigue that continued to plague me. I felt completely depleted of nutrition and had to work hard to replenish my body with what it needed. As I got over COVID, I was finally able to start eating, and I started back with juicing and smoothies, as those were easy and delicious things to consume. I continued with my immune supplement regiment.
The first thing I did to restore my health was to run functional lab tests on myself to see what my nutrition and mineral statuses were. I discovered that I was low in most of my minerals, and completely deficient in magnesium and zinc. Huh? I was taking zinc, loads of it every day for weeks. COVID depletes the body of zinc, so imagine if I hadn’t been taking it all of this time. I might have been one of those needing to go the hospital.
I also discovered extremely high copper levels (hence extreme brain fog, mental state, yeast infection, chronic fatigue, UTI, headaches, cold hands, dry skin, and aching all over). We now believe the high copper was from our old, rusted pipes in our NC home. We have since had our pipes replaced, and the whole house replumbed. My copper levels are not back to normal. I am sure COVID contributed to these symptoms as well.
My labs showed extreme adrenal burnout, imbalanced hormones, and extremely high toxic levels in my body. I am sure this toxic exposure was from all of the house repairs (painting, hardwoods refinish, crawl space encapsulation, house replumbed, and more).
Most of us don’t realize the negative effects this type of work can have on our health, especially if we are in the area or home when the work is being done.
I immediately put myself on a protocol to eliminate toxins, lower my copper levels, and remineralize my body. This not only involved nutrient-rich foods, but a supplementation regimen to help continue to rebuild my immune system, replace lost nutrients and minerals and balance all of the systems of my body.
Illness and disease play an enormous part in lowering the immune system and robbing the body of much needed nutrients. COVID, especially is depleting to the system. After an illness, it is especially important to work to bring the body back into balance.
Many people live their lives in a depleted state all of the time. So, when disease hits, the body has no resources to fall back on, and therefore, the anti-bodies cannot keep up with the illness, causing inflammation. When under stress (any stress) the body becomes depleted of minerals in an effort to get back into balance. Magnesium and zinc especially are depleted, and this lowers the immune system even more. We become a walking time bomb!
Thankfully, my immune system was intact, and I was able to bounce back from COVID quickly, in spite of the fatigue.
As a result, I have developed a COVID and Flu protocol to help others prevent viruses. I outlined what to do and take before (prevention), during, and after.
Stay tuned, and I will share my personal protocol with you next time.
I would love to hear from you. Respond to this email with any questions or comments.
I would love to hear how you survived COVID.
If you are struggling with COVID, or an illness and just can’t seem to kick it and feel better, then let’s talk. I am offering a FREE 30-minute consultation to you to see if working together can help you once and for all get your energy and life back. Let’s chat.
Take care,
Veronica Worley
FDN-P, CHHC
