Recovery from COVID-19 and How do you Avoid Reinfection

Caviarlieri | Published October 07, 2020

According to the Johns Hopkins University, more than 26.6 million people worldwide have been infected with CoVID-19 till date and around 17.7 million have recovered from the coronavirus.

For those who have had the illness, recovery to normal health can be a slow journey. And even after you’re feeling better, there can be a period of uncertainty with persistent lingering symptoms.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stated that recovery times tend to be about two weeks for those with mild disease and about three to six weeks for those with severe or critical disease. However, newer data now show that recovery varies for different people, depending on their age and overall health. Fatigue, headache, and breathing difficulties were the symptoms most likely to linger.

Recovery After Suffering from Severe Symptoms of COVID-19

Some people who have severe COVID-19 suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which can damage their lungs, making it hard for them to breathe normally. Damage to the lungs or other organs could also stretch out the recovery time much, much further, months further.

Many patients who spend time in the Intensive Care Unit lose weight and strength. The more invasive the treatment and the longer it is performed, the longer recovery is likely to take. Spending a long time in a hospital bed leads to muscle mass loss. Patients will be weak and it will take time for them to build up their muscle strength again. Some people will need physiotherapy to walk again. Because of what the body undergoes in the ICU, there’s also the possibility of delirium and psychological disorders.

Some COVID-19 patients may also be at risk of developing the neuroimmune condition-Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that depletes one’s energy. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which leaves 75% of those affected unable to work and 25% homebound or bedridden, impacts 15 million to 30 million people worldwide, and symptoms may be triggered by an infection, according to the United States National Institutes of Health.

There have been reports of patients from China and Italy recovering from COVID-19 experiencing “whole-body weakness”, shortness of breath after any level of exertion, persistent coughing and irregular breathing. These patients also require a lot of sleep.

Can I Catch CoVID-19 Again?

Researchers in Hong Kong say they’ve confirmed that a person can be infected with COVID-19 twice.

The new evidence comes from a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong who first caught COVID-19 in March. He was tested for the coronavirus after he developed a cough, sore throat, fever, and a headache for 3 days. He stayed in the hospital until he was twice tested negative for the virus in mid-April.

On Aug. 15, the man returned to Hong Kong from a recent trip to Spain and the U.K., areas that have recently seen a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. At the airport, he was screened for COVID-19 and he was tested positive, but this time, he had no symptoms. He was taken to the hospital for monitoring. His viral load which is the amount of virus he had in his body reduced over time, suggesting that his immune system was fighting this secondary infection.

Doctors then sequenced the genome of the virus that infected him during each of his hospital visits. They were surprised that the virus had mutated in the 4 months between his infections. This proves that the coronavirus can infect the same person twice.

There has been other compelling evidence demonstrating that the Covid-19 virus can mutate again after recovery. Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Centre, at Rockefeller University in New York, recently used a key piece of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — the genetic instructions for its spike protein — to repeatedly infect human cells. Scientists watched as each new generation of the virus went on to infect a new batch of cells. Over time, as the virus copied itself, some of the copies changed their genes to allow them to survive after scientists attacked them with neutralizing antibodies. Those antibodies are one of the main weapons used by the immune system to recognize and disable a virus.

Their findings suggest the virus can change in the ways that can help it to evade our immune system. This means that reinfection is potentially possible, especially in people who have a weak immune response to the virus the first time they encounter it.

Even though experts say that these finding should not cause an alarm, it does have important implications for the development of herd immunity and efforts to come up with vaccines and treatments.

It also suggests that immune-based therapies such as convalescent plasma and monoclonal antibodies may be of limited help over time, since the virus might be changing in ways that help it outsmart those treatments.

Convalescent plasma is essentially a concentrated dose of antibodies from people who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection. As the virus changes, the antibodies in that plasma may not work as well for future infections.

Just like the virus can become resistant to natural immunity, it can also change in ways that help it to outsmart lab-created drug treatments. Some drug companies that are developing monoclonal antibodies to fight COVID-19 have already prepared for that possibility by making antibody cocktails that are designed to disable the virus by locking onto it in different places, which may help prevent it from developing resistance to those therapies.

Monitoring and Improving Your Health After COVID-19

Exercise

“To maximize recovery from COVID-19, we recommend that patients work on strengthening their breathing muscles and the muscles in their arms and legs,” said Dr. Farah Hameed, a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Centre.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is part of the recovery process, since COVID-19 is an illness that targets the respiratory system. The program is a series of exercises that helps patients improve shortness of breath, increase their exercise capacity, and improve their quality of life.

Exercises include:

  • breathing exercises to strengthen chest muscles
  • muscle strengthening exercises to address muscle loss after a long hospital stay

Doctors also encourage patients to walk, even if they are at home, as walking can improve overall conditioning.

Dealing with Mental Health After COVID-19

COVID-19 doesn’t just take a toll on the body. It also can take a mental toll, since there’s so much fear centered around the threat of the virus and its disease. And for those who were hospitalized or intubated, the disease may have been a traumatic experience.

In fact, those who recover from COVID-19 may be struggling with how to mentally process everything that their bodies have been put through. They may even develop signs and symptoms of an acute stress reaction, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Typically, doctors diagnose mental health disorders only if certain criteria are met. But now we’re living in a situation that has touched everyone, and the expected response is yet to be determined.

Anyone can improve their mental health in the age of COVID-19, whether they have had an infection or not, with a variety of mood-boosting behaviour:

  • Engaging in regular communication for social purposes while in isolation.
  • Avoiding caffeine in the afternoon.
  • Avoiding alcohol.
  • Avoiding blue light exposure for at least 1 hour before bedtime.

For people who may require additional support, professional help is recommended.

The Importance of Strengthening Your Immunity and Controlling Inflammation after COVID-19

Even for people who have officially recovered, feeling 100 percent back to normal may be a long process. What are the steps to take to avoid a potential secondary infection?

Eat healthy foods

If you feel like eating, fuel your body with the vitamins and nutrients it needs to get better. Limit sugary or highly processed foods like cookies and sodas.

Drinks lots of fluids

Do this even if you don’t feel like eating. Water is always a good pick.

Rest

Have plenty of rest . Ample sleep supports the immune system, which reduces the risk of secondary infection and can improve outcomes for people fighting a virus.

Use Medication

Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen if you have a temperature or body aches. Be careful not to take more than a total of 3,000 milligrams every 24 hours. That includes acetaminophen alone as well as in medications like cold and flu pills and syrups.

Take Scientifically Proven Supplements

Nutritional supplements like vitamin C and D and supplements packed with strong antioxidants may help in the post recovery process and avoid a secondary infection.

Why take Caviarlieri – Swiss Caviar Food Supplement for Immune Health?

It is proven that having essential nutrition can play an important role in the functioning of the immune system and there are strong evidence that show that deficiencies in certain micronutrients can alter the immune responses.

Caviarlieri is formulated with potent bioactive ingredients like Sturgeon Caviar DNA cellular extract and high quality marine peptides which are extremely rich in DHA and EPA (essential fatty acids) known to enhance B cell activity, which can be useful for those with compromised immune system.

Manufactured using a proprietary Swiss cold extraction technology, Cellularix, the ingredients are kept “active” so that the chemical integrity and potency of the micro nutrients are not destroyed or compromised. This will help optimize our absorption of the micro nutrients and maximize the outcomes and results.

Caviarlieri is made of peptides which help to escort the nutrients into our cells for protein synthesis which is an important process to accelerate cellular renewal and repair versus damaged cells. If essential nutrition is provided at the cellular level, it will definitely help to maintain or strengthen the functionality of our immune system.

The scientific studies on Caviarlieri published in peer reviewed journals have proven that it has powerful antioxidant properties which can potentially prevent damage to immune cells by neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are substances in the environment that can damage cells and reduce immunity. Supplementing the body with Caviarlieri can also help increase the activation of cells involved in regulating our immunity.

Another active ingredient of Caviarlieri is Selenium. This potent antioxidant keeps our immunity in check by identifying and warding off potentially harmful threats, like viruses, parasites and bacteria. It is also known to help regulate our immune responses and protect us against infectious microorganisms.

Caviarlieri is scientifically proven to help reduce the Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha which is an important inflammatory biomarker for metabolic syndrome conditions. In addition, Caviarlieri can also reduce the C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood test marker for inflammation in the body. CRP is classified as an acute phase reactant, which means that its levels will rise in response to inflammation.

Last but not least, Caviarlieri also helps in the following areas – significant increase in energy levels, mood elevation, reduction in joint pain, enhancement of sleep quality, improving brain health, reduction in inflammation and many others. These are important benefits which will potentially protect us from the malefic effects of COVID-19. The many certification and accreditation of Caviarlieri also validates its premium quality and safety standards.