My Omicron Covid Journey

Sharing Stories

April 9, 2022 at 6:33 p.m.

Brad and Ariele in their beloved Ocean area.

...by Ariele M. Huff

My Omicron Covid Journey

The Covid experience differs a lot between variants and vaccination status, age, health, and curatives that may be used. I’m telling you about ours because it’s a story I haven’t heard yet in public writing.

And one of the solutions for dealing with Omicron is one that I hadn’t heard of being used before.

(This is my disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or health care professional. The methods I was given by doctors or friends are not recommended to any reader without the help of his/her own doctor.)

My husband and I have been fully vaccinated and boosted so we are breakthrough cases who have finally gotten Covid—the first Omicron variant—which starts in the nose, not the throat, AND I tested negative in the first and second months of having it…something my doctor tells me is quite commonly happening now.

Beyond that, we are having the symptoms for quite a while. Again, this is something our doctor tells us is quite common with the Omicron variant that we’ve gotten. She says symptoms, commonly, can last for weeks, even months after coming down with the virus.

About a month after my first negative test (mid-January), I began to wake up yawning hungrily for more air. Each morning was worse, and the symptom lasted all day long with a tight or heavy feeling in my chest. On the 20^th of February, I went to the ER where I spent four hours being tested for heart or lung difficulties. I frequently shared with nurses and docs that my husband and I had developed the same symptoms at the same time.

The “day” doctor on call when I arrived cleared me for heart issues and did a lung Xray, saying “Your lungs look okay too.” He did say he could give me an inhaler and that might help, but he wasn’t sure it would and that the side effects might be an issue. During that period of time, my breathing and chest symptoms had retreated, so I accepted what he was saying.

By the time the “evening” doctor had signed in and come to visit me, I felt worse again. When it sounded like he was ready to send me home with nothing to address the presenting symptoms I’d arrived with, I told a nurse that if they sent me home, I’d be back right away.

The evening doctor then tried a “breathing test” on me…about fifteen minutes of breathing in some albuterol through a fat plastic tube. I was impressed with how relaxed and less painful my chest became during that, so I was given an inhaler and a plastic attachment to make the inhaler operate better. So, I’ve used that since February 20. The second doctor struggled for a diagnosis, finally saying that this must be a bronchitis that my husband and I had. He also shared that my Xray looked like "hyperextended lungs."

On February 28^th, I did a follow up with my doctor. She immediately diagnosed my symptoms as really common ones for the first Omicron variant. She explained that our vaccinations and booster added to the likelihood of getting a false negative test, and she said the tests weren’t sensitive enough yet to pick up that variant. (We became sick five months after our booster shots. Many experts are saying immunity can wane in about that period of time.)

My doctor specifically suggested using the inhaler as many as six times in a day to get chest and breathing symptoms under control. She said this solution is being used by many people with Covid (who often have hyperextended lungs).

I thought the inhaler seems almost like the step before hospitalization and a ventilator. I’m surprised this solution hasn’t gotten some publicity. It seems like a pretty brilliant easier solution…as long as it works.

My doctor did, cheerily reassure me that our Covid cases were “quite mild.”

As of March 25th, I’d been using the inhaler one to five times in a day—at least four to six hours apart. Sometimes, it seemed to help; sometimes it felt worse for a while. A few times, I haven’t needed the inhaling for a full day, once for two days, this week only once in six days!

Frequently, at first, I got some mood side effects that required listening to calm and positive CDs with relaxation and breathing exercises. (I do, highly recommend deep breathing exercises. The name of my CD is Letting Go of Stress).

Brad and I had typical Covid symptoms…that came in waves. We’ve felt like we went through the “coming down with it” stage followed by the other “worsening” stages at least three times. Plus, one day, we’d feel like we were getting better and the next one, we’d be coughing more, breathing heavily, having headaches, dizziness, chills, muscle aches, exhaustion, gut stuff—including food tasting or smelling weird, runny and/or stuffed up noses, earaches, and brain fog—I drove to the store one day wearing my close vision glasses and wondering why everything looked so weird.

We got some comfort from hot showers or inhaling steam, sometimes with eucalyptus. We took plenty of zinc, Vitamin C, and a product called Phytogen (echinacea, astragalus, and some other herbs). A friend who is also suffering from prolonged Omicron recommended NAC (N-acetyl L-cysteine) and Quercetin. I’ve used both previously for immunity help, so we added those too.

Beyond that, resting is a must, plenty of fluids and chicken soup has felt satisfying. We’ve noticed that we really needed more protein, and fresh fruits have felt good in our mouths and throats.

Early April, my naturopath suggested a nebulizer treatment a few times a day to make me less dependent on albuterol. He sent me the nebulizer and kit as well as a couple of bottles of fluids to help get rid of remaining bronchitis symptoms. I followed all the rules but got a burning sensation a couple of times with the first treatment, though I did notice that my chest felt better for a couple of days. (The solution recommended included hydrogen peroxide and a drop of iodine.)

My regular doctor suggested taking a tablespoon of raw honey and letting it “slide down my throat” to calm the burn sensation. Delicious and immediately soothing.

My nebulizer treatment recommendations then changed to just saline solution and only a couple of minutes of inhaling as well as letting the nebulizer run for a minute before I used it and only for less hefty “full breaths.”

I’ve done that twice with no discomfort. I feel this practice seems to help me minimize use of the albuterol inhaler, which is great as I’ve now noticed headaches seem to come on nights after I’ve had that treatment.

A weird sidenote: Covid dreams. Almost nightly, both of us had really intense dreams…long, lots of plot twists and turns. But this is the real surprise—the dreams are euphoric…really happy, really positive. We woke up sharing these delightful interludes.

Those dreams and wrapping up warm, cuddling, watching our funniest DVDs, eating when and what feels right, and doing some weird writing projects…like this…those things have helped.

Oh, and we thoroughly appreciated our four cats, our six deer (fed apples and deer corn), our chipmunks and our birds (fed peanuts and bird seed). Neighbors, family, and friends have been supportive and comforting too. Even Covid can have some up sides.

My best news is that I’ve gone six days with only one albuterol inhale. My energy and stamina are back to usual, I rarely cough or blow my nose, I’m back to eating and enjoying a good amount of food.

Brad is a bit behind my progress—still some mucus in his coughing, but he too is doing more and enjoying it, eating plenty and tasting it. We’re both pleased that the occasional temptation to be crabby has also subsided. And, though we continue to have some of that chest symptom---we have been told it can last for months after Covid passes.

So, for that and many other reasons, we’re off to have our second boosters on Monday at the suggestion of Medicare and our doctors.

My advice: talk to friends as well as doctors, try different solutions from DIY home remedies to the best your doctors have to offer. Stay in touch by phone, ZOOM, Skype, or around the neighborhood. Feeling the caring and support of others really does help.
Ariele Huff is a lifelong Washington resident, writer, poet, editor, and teacher of writing.
She is not a doctor or medical professional.

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