Treating COVID-19 Symptoms at Home: Doctor SoCal Explains What You Need to Know

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Once you’ve tested positive for COVID-19, what should you do next? Doctors say staying on top of any changes in your symptoms and taking appropriate precautions is a good start, but doctors who treat patient recovery at home say there are other things you can do to help. strengthen your immune system.

Shortly before Christmas, Juliana Shain, 43, of Simi Valley tested positive for COVID-19. Five days later, the same would happen to her fiancé.

“I felt like I had been beaten. I was really hung over, ”she says. “We had aches and pains and then a cough and then sneezing. Really in the end we had difficulty breathing.”

The fear of being hospitalized soon set in. Internal medicine specialist Dr Aamir Iqbal from Agoura family practice says he receives several calls a day from distraught patients.

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“When you test positive it’s a great time. A lot of people are very scared and nervous about what’s going to happen,” he said. “What should I do? Either my husband has tested positive or my partner has tested positive or my child has tested positive and now I am living with them.”

Iqbal’s first suggestion is to buy an over-the-counter pulse oximeter.

“It’s a little device that attaches to your finger and right above the screen it has a percentage,” he said. “When you drop below 94% it starts to throw flags. And any number below 90% is a big red flag.”

He suggests hydrating with drinks such as Pedialyte or Gatorade. Shain’s doctor told him to take a cocktail of supplements.

“The doctor gave us a bunch of vitamins,” she says. Shain started taking vitamin C, B12, D3 and zinc.

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“Some of these home remedies can actually help. We know they can’t hurt you,” Iqbal said.

He also suggested over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen, blood thinners, and a baby aspirin to prevent blood clots.

“Although baby aspirin is not the same as a complete blood thinner, it can give you some protection,” Iqbal said.

Studies show that sleeping on your stomach helps get more oxygen into your lungs. Iqbal said if it was comfortable give it a try, but tells his patients it doesn’t have to be.

Some online tips include waking up every two hours to get your blood flowing. For this, Iqbal said that quality sleep is much more important. As for eating more bananas, avocados or asparagus, he said good nutrition was important, but food alone couldn’t prevent symptoms from worsening.

A month after his infection, Shain is back to work

“I feel exhausted and still have brain fog,” she says.

She didn’t muster enough energy to remove her Christmas decorations and Shain had to postpone her wedding. But, she is grateful to be on the mend.

“Just be nice to yourself. Take it one day at a time and you’ll have it,” she said.