This post is a continuation of my previous posts, Covid Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2.
In my previous posts, I said that I didn’t think my diet was proving to be especially pivotal, apart from avoiding things that might make this worse, but I don’t think that’s entirely true.
When you improve your diet over a long period of time to support your brain and body, you begin to take certain habits for granted, forgetting that other people don’t eat this way.
One of my habits could be especially important, and that’s eating cultured and fermented foods daily. I typically eat yoghurt in the morning with walnuts or pecans and some kind of fruit or jam or a touch of preserved lemon purée.
Since Covid can attack one’s gut and even replicate in one’s gut, eating in this way could be very important. In at least one study, patients hospitalised with Covid who were given probiotics fared better than those who didn’t.
However, my understanding, based on information presented at the Huberman Lab, is that it’s better to eat 2 to 3 servings of cultured and fermented foods daily than to take probiotic pills, which can actually be problematic and can even cause brain fog in some people.
Covid Day 3
I wake up feeling better than I did the day before, with energy levels near normal, a very slight hint of sore throat, easily provokable dizziness, and a sense of heightened or slightly altered visual acuity.
In other words, I feel a bit like I’m on Light Mushrooms.
I also have a low-grade, steady-state headache (not throbbing or escalating, just there) which feels centred in the brainstem area.
I open up all the windows and doors in the house to get some fresh air in for 45 minutes before it begins heating up on a day with a 100-degree high in the forecast.
I have a cup of coffee. My headache goes away (I don’t have daily caffeine withdrawal headaches). About 45 minutes later (after shutting all the windows and doors against the rising heat), I take my morning supplement stack, plus the Longvida Curcumin, along with a shot of espresso.
My wife wakes up. She doesn’t feel very good. Aches everywhere. My son also had a lot of aches early on. I had a general feeling of lowered muscle tone and energy and some occasional aches in old injury spots.
Previously, I mentioned that my wife is taking a number of things that reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. For the past few weeks, one of the things that have been added to that regimen is an antihistamine. And since she does have some autoimmune issues, we believe this could be a very important thing for her to be taking as her immune system fends off Covid. Based on my genetic profile and background, it’s probably not something I need to take (I don’t have autoimmune issues).
She and I go outside and do 4 rounds of breathing. She coughs quite a bit at one point. After breathing, I notice what looks like a baby bee, the smallest pollinator I’ve ever seen, flying from one tiny yellow flower to the next, and I imagine how incredible that would be, to spend your days flying from one flower to the next.
I go back inside, where I find my son now awake. He looks and sounds completely recovered. He says he feels mostly normal, with some residual sore throat and muscle soreness, and energy levels nearly back to normal.
I take a cold shower.
For breakfast, I eat plain Greek yoghurt, pecans, and one nectarine. My wife has roasted tomatoes on toast. My son has mac and cheese.
My son does a 20-minute session with the Vielight X-Plus body module (nasal and thymus).
After sanitizing the nasal applicator, my wife then does a session. Meanwhile, I do what I normally do every day, a session with the Vielight Neuro (at 40 Hz).
My son and I return outside, where we do three rounds of breathing together. When he doesn’t watch the timer, his retention times (after exhale) improve dramatically, with his final round reaching 1:39. For context, my average max retention time (after exhale) hovers between 2:00 and 2:15 and I have larger lungs.
In the early afternoon, I take a dose of the SynaQuell.
I spend most of my day working on my computer and at my desk, including typing some of these notes. The eventual onset of mental fatigue arrives slightly earlier than usual but doesn’t feel like a significant dropoff.
I take a break at 4:30 to do another breathing session with my son outside, where it is nearly 100 degrees. This brings my total for the day to three, two with him, and one with my wife.
In the late afternoon, I take a second dose of the SynaQuell (I’ve now taken the recommended daily dosage, and again, this isn’t the SynaQuell+, but just the regular SynaQuell). My son takes one scoop, a 1/4 daily dose, the same amount he took the day prior.
A few hours later, a moderate and very localised headache (around my right ear) persists long enough that I take two naproxen sodium tablets. The pain goes away, but I feel irritable for a few hours.
That night, my wife says she has what seems like a “Light Mushroom” feeling. Slightly heightened visual acuity, etc. I push back on the fear that these sensations are tied to the death of neurons.
In my next post, I will share the notes I took on Covid Day 4. If that might be helpful to you or someone you know, please subscribe and share.
Brainwave is an informational resource for people whose symptoms haven’t resolved after a concussion or mTBI. I aim to present this information in a clear and concise way, spelling out what’s backed by science and what remains unknown. Nothing here is meant as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. I am not a physician or a healthcare practitioner of any kind; I’ve had a lot of sports-related concussions and had to learn this stuff the hard way. If you found this information helpful or know someone who might benefit from it, please share and subscribe to Brainwave.