Surviving Covid-19, blanket treatment not the answer

Always scared of the virus that affects the lungs, I got my mother and father (a stage-3 cancer survivor with lung being affected) vaccinated by the end of March. We had already bought a pulse oximeter and a handheld thermometer and prepared ourselves to face the beast.

In mid-April, my sister-in-law, who works in a grassroots NGO, developed fever and headache. She got tested immediately as she was the most susceptible among us to get Covid—she visited her office often to help the marginalised children get some study time amid the pandemic.

The result was negative. But the fever returned along with diarrhoea and headache. On April 20, both my sister-in-law and brother tested positive.

We immediately isolated them and gave them everything they needed, including a kettle for hot water, a steamer, extra masks, pulse oximeter, vitamin C and zinc tablets and paracetamol.

The BBMP did not call them, so my sister-in-law called the 14410 helpline. A doctor advised her to take an anti-allergic tablet and an antibiotic as well.

The next day, I had started feeling feverish. The moment I saw my temperature going up, I stopped going into the kitchen and common areas, stayed inside my room and took paracetamol. We called the lab again, requesting sample collection from home for the rest of us—going to a testing centre is always risky.

The guy who came to collect our samples for Covid test told me, "This time it's very serious. Out of 15-16 samples I collect every day, at least 10-13 turn out positive. Last time it was not like this, so you all be very careful..." He told me to consider myself positive and get isolated.

On April 24 I tested positive, and the rest of them, negative. By then my fever had subsided, but I had a cough, sore throat, headache and fatigue. My pulse raced at 110 even when I was resting but oxygen level was normal, ranging between 96 and 98.

I took plain paracetamol or a decongestant tablet, a bronchodilator cough syrup and rested for almost three days, waking up only in the evenings to work — how else could I take my mind off things? But I had no energy to call any of the helplines or find any doctors. The medicines I was taking kept the cough and phlegm from blocking my lungs.

By 27th, the sixth day of my symptoms, the cough only got worse the moment I skipped cough syrup and tablet. My heart still raced at 110 beats per minute, and I had shortness of breath which did not let me sleep at night, though I had normal oxygen levels.

Finally, I tried calling all the helplines and got through to 1075. The doctor there told me to take an antibiotic and anti-allergic drug for my runny nose, along with vitamin C and zinc tablets. He asked me to stop eating sour items like curd, lemon items etc, especially at night, saying they would worsen my cough problem.

He recommended nothing for shortness of breath. From what I had read, antibiotics did not help combat the virus—it only helped reduce only secondary infections. I followed his dietary advice, but instead of taking an antibiotic, I texted my kid’s pediatrician to ask what medication I could take, as I was not sure what was causing the shortness of breath.

She told me to inhale a steroid in low doses, thrice a day for three days. I had a nebuliser handy at home and followed the doctor's advice. On that night I slept peacefully for the first time in days.

Over the next two days, I got better. At the end of the third day, by April 30, my cough had vanished, and resting heart rate fell to 63, indicating relief for the body.

By now, our diets had gone haywire, with only two people attending to the needs of three isolated people, my bedridden father and a 10-year-old child. Unable to wait for 21 days, I got myself tested again on May 5, hoping for my isolation to end with a negative result. But the result turned positive for both me and my sister-in-law, and negative for my brother who was asymptomatic.

The shock was that my mother tested positive this time! But she had the single-dose vaccine protection and no symptoms. We isolated her too, shifting the tasks she handled to my brother.

After the second test, we were assigned a new BU number, a number that is essential to receive admission to a hospital for Covid. This was unnecessary because we were getting tested to make sure we were negative before we could tend to my lung cancer survivor father. But who can tell this to the state machinery where the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing?

The second round of positive results brought a surprise--One ASHA worker and two BBMP staff visited home with home isolation kits for all three, and scores of medicines.

The kit included an antiparasitic drug, an antibiotic, paracetamol, a truckload of vitamin tablets, 10 masks and a sanitiser bottle. Antibiotics were recommended from the first day itself.

Who will tell the government not to give blanket treatment for all cases, like this, with isolation kits treating everyone in the same manner while everyone has different health conditions and different reactions? I have not taken any of the medicines from the kit—I did not need any in my current condition. This is almost equivalent to self-medicating, but is there any other way?

I did not inhale steam or take vitamin tablets but ate hot food, water and homemade food filled with pepper, cumin, ginger, garlic, turmeric etc which help reduce congestion and provide temporary relief to the throat.

It has been uneventful since, and we are all out of isolation. I have lost the sense of smell partially. It feels weird to cook without being able to smell the Maillard reaction happening to spices and seasoning. My daughter helps me with it. With time, I am told it will return.