I usually publish content on this blog several times a month, at least. So…where have I been?

The short answer is, Jonathan and I contracted COVID-19 on January 11.

We followed Stephen Buhner’s herbal protocol for acute Covid-19 infection, plus we included high dose vitamin C and D.

Jonathan recovered quickly and fully (within 3 days), which we are so thankful for.

It seemed like I was recovering after about ten days, but on January 22 I started developing post-Covid complications.

My shortness of breath came back, and I developed severe fatigue, lightheadedness, chest pain, heart palpitations, arrhythmias, dry cough, throat swelling, and an esophageal spasm plus acid reflux flare up that didn’t respond to my usual remedies and worsened to full-blown GERD and caused an esophageal ulcer.

To put it plainly, I was in bed for weeks, unable to think clearly or function most of the time.

On February 2, I was hospitalized for these post-Covid heart complications. My EKG results from the ER came back abnormal, showing the signs of an oncoming heart attack.

The good news is, my echocardiogram and blood tests from the hospital came back normal, and I did not have a heart attack. Nor did I have any weakening or damage of the heart or lungs.

The problem turned out to be Hyperadrenergic POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

POTS is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system, where the veins in the lower half of the body do not respond appropriately to the nervous system’s signal to constrict after a person sits up or stands.

This means the blood supply in the extremities of the body does not return to the heart quickly enough. In response, the body releases adrenaline and norepinephrine and the heart rate drastically increases.

On my orthostatic test results, my heart rate was in the 80s lying down, 110s sitting up, and 140s while standing.

When a person with POTS stands up, they develop symptoms like a racing heart, arrhythmias, chest pain, shortness of breath, brain fog, lightheadedness, severe fatigue, and sometimes even fainting.

Some people develop POTS at an early age, while other people develop the disorder after a trigger like a viral illness. It’s becoming one of the more common post-Covid complications.

At home, people can increase their fluid and salt intake and wear compression stockings to help increase blood flow. This sometimes reduces the severity of symptoms. Some people need to take prescription medication like beta-blockers to get enough control over their symptoms. While it’s extremely difficult to do at first, POTS-friendly exercise like the CHOPS protocol can help control symptoms, too.
*Update – I had to start with floor stretching, and very slowly was able to begin walking. Now I can take 15-20 minute moderate walks and do a 10 minute (light) strength training workout a few times a week.

Sometimes in POTS, the autonomic nervous system is so dysregulated that it dumps adrenaline into the system at inappropriate times. Such as at night while a person is trying to sleep. These are called adrenaline surges.

In addition to inappropriate releasing adrenaline, my adrenal glands are overproducing cortisol. Probably in response to the chronic stress of these Covid-19 complications. My evening and night cortisol levels are too high, and all of this together has been causing severe insomnia.

So, what am I doing now that I have post-Covid complications?

1. GERD, Esophageal Ulcer, and LPR

I’ve seen both a gastroenterologist and pulmonologist, who confirmed the diagnoses of GERD, esophageal ulcer, and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) with observable damage to my trachea and vocal cords. While I wait for my upper endoscopy, I’m doing several things at home to help.

I tried several types of medication while in the ER and hospital, and I could only get temporary relief through GI cocktails with lidocaine. The pain was so severe even when I didn’t eat, that I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t barely drink anything for about one week. This started to negatively effect my electrolytes, so I begin to feel desperate for a solution. As a last resort, I tried the following:

Supplements:
DGL (a special type of licorice root)
Slippery elm and marshmallow root (cold infusions)
Manuka honey
Probiotics
Mastic gum
This combination of products helps soothe, coat, and repair the esophagus and normalize the gut microbiome.

Diet:
After starting the above supplements, on February 6 I was able to add back in smoothies, gluten-free toast, and pureed soup with no seasoning other than salt and the severity of my pain went down dramatically.

After that, I tried the Acid Watcher Diet. It’s a low acid meal plan designed to help prevent the reactivation of pepsin in the esophagus, throat, vocal cords, trachea, and lungs. The initial phase is 28 days, followed by a reintroduction period.

*Update – The Acid Watcher Diet worked near miraculously. I’m now able to keep my GERD and LPR symptoms at bay 100% of the time by eating halfway between my normal diet and the AWD maintenance phase. My symptoms only return if I eat oranges or grapefruit multiple days in a row or if I overdo tomato-heavy meals.

2. POTS

I have an appointment to see cardiology about POTS treatment on March 1.

In the meantime, I have increased my fluid and salt intake and bought a pair of compression stockings to help.

These remedies aren’t magic, but they have helped me get to the point that my heart rate only goes into the 120s when standing now instead of the 140s. Not only that, I can be up for a couple of hours at a time, getting a project done here and there.

*Update – After my initial cardiology appointment, I decided to pursue POTS treatment (neurological rehabilitation and physical therapy) with a functional neurologist instead. You can read more about my progress through functional neurology here.

3. Adrenal Dysregulation and Insomnia

This third post-Covid complication didn’t occur at its fullest severity right away. During my acute COVID infection and while in the hospital and shortly after, I experienced disrupted sleep but it wasn’t unmanageable.

Then the night of February 24, I stopped being able to sleep almost completely out of the blue. I was awake all night and only slept fitfully for 45 minutes around 6 am. The night after, I was sure I would sleep better, but I didn’t. I got maybe 1-2 hours of poor quality sleep in the middle of the night and nothing else.

At this point, I began to panic. The next two nights, I tried everything I had at my disposal to improve my sleep, but nothing made a difference.

By March 3, I was so physically sick from sleep deprivation that I couldn’t take care of myself anymore and I was experiencing torturous mental symptoms that I’d honestly rather die than ever go through again. Hysteria, uncontrollable crying, listlessness, psychosis, and suicidal ideation.

After a grueling trial and error period where I took several medications that did not help, I finally found one that worked – Klonopin.

I took Klonopin short term (8 days), and it helped me get 6-8 hours of sleep a night so I could finally start recovering from the sleep deprivation.

March 16, I saw a sleep specialist.

*Update – After my sleep specialist appointment, I took 100 mg Gabapentin a night in addition to the supplements below for 2 months. Starting in June, I was able to stop the sleep medication.

Once I got my cortisol and neurotransmitter test results back from ZRT Labs, I stopped the Klonopin. I then started taking 300 mg Holy Basil and 1000 mg Seriphos at 4:30-5 pm and again around 9:30-10 pm every night. I also added liposomal GABA and MyKind Organics Sleep Well Spray before bed every night. Together, these supplements helped lower my cortisol in the evening and night and stop my adrenaline surges.

I’m making sure to give my body lots of nutrition to heal – liposomal vitamin C, 8 oz of coconut water daily for extra potassium, sea salt, magnesium citrate, D3 (the functional neurologist did lab work that showed I had extremely low vitamin D, so I’m on 5000 IU daily for 3 months), omega 3 oil, whole food multivitamin, and probiotics. (In addition to a nutrient-dense diet).

I’m reducing stress as much as possible, to reduce the load on my adrenal glands and immune system.

Experiencing post-Covid complications has knocked me off my feet, but I’m thankful for the progress I have made and hope to be functioning again very soon.

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