Healthy immune system for Corona Virus

[specialmom]

I'm interested in a discussion about how to keep my immune system top notch to help fight the corona covid 19 virus should I get it.  Should we use more vitamin C? Drink fluids? Vitamin D?  Suggestions?

[genoolli]

If you can find any of these foods, they might help:

https://www.medicinenet.com/immune_boosting_foods_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

You might be able to find tea, broccoli, or make some chicken soup?

[specialmom]

We have plenty of produce here and tea but man, chicken is hard to come by these days!  I have some frozen for now.  I have been shocked at the way things are going down in the grocery store.  Thanks for the additional link to look at!

[specialmom]

I started Emergen-C Immune Plus with Vitamin D chewies.  Big dose of Vitamin C with other things to help with the immune system.  Never have been a huge believer in that but this is the time to try to be proactive if I can be.  

[mike_no]

List of vegatables and fruits to boost your immune system:

1. Citrus Fruits
2. Red bell pepper
3. Broccoli
4. Garlic
5. Ginger
6. Spinach
7. Turmeric
8. Kiwi
9. Green Tea
10. Papaya
11. Almonds
12. Chillies

[specialmom]

Thank you very much mike_no!  

[mike_no]

You're welcome. Stay safe :)

[Emily_MHManager]

Don't forget sleep and exercise.

Sleep is so important in your immune system, and even if you have to exercise in your house to a youtube video, continue your exercise, or start (though start slowly).

And don't forget that stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on your immune system.

[specialmom]

Yes, you know that it occurred to me with teenagers that force me to wake (and they do as well) at 6 am most mornings, we are able to get more sleep right now with school being called off.  That sounds silly but I know getting rest makes me healthier and better able to fight off illness.  Not sure if it would help with corona but it certainly can't hurt. And as to exercise, for many, regular exercise is like medicine for their heart.  With coronary heart disease and hypertension as risk factors for fatal outcome for corona, it is wise to do all you can for heart health right now.  

[R Glass]

Regardless of what others may say, I am a firm believer in Vit C. I know it's not the "Miracle Cure" I am excited to read that China is Experimenting with  IV. VitC.treatments. I am equally disappointed in all  Hoaxes and False Claims going around. specialmom, try not to worry so much, it's not going to change anything. Remember it's the Media's job, to have you panic. Going Down Town is far more dangerous than the Corona Virus.

[CurfewX]

Going downtown doesn't have quite the death rate that COVID19 has had.  Excess Vit C won't generally do any harm, but it is water soluble, meaning any excess that you take will not be absorbed, but excreted.  This can result in diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration, which is absolutely not what you want when you have a viral illness.   The experiments in China are just now getting underway: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=228745

I agree that it's not time to panic.  Panic leads people to make foolish and drastic decisions, and a level head and reasonable approach are what's warranted at this time.  

[Ken_PA]

R Glass, IV megadoses have indeed been used versus sepsis and its offshoot of ARDS.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/01/766029397/mixed-results-for-a-test-of-vitamin-c-for-sepsis

"If you read the study summary, vitamin C didn't help the patients. But if you dig deep into the paper, you will find that the people who got the treatment were much more likely to survive." Then things are mired in statistical significance or not.

[Chima7]

All I keep seeing is how many infected and how many died but no one is providing the numbers of people who have recovered! Although I did see one stat that said 98% recovery rate. But I don't trust ANY source at this point because I feel like there's way too much misinformation out there to know what's true and what's false. So we're all just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop and see what happens in the coming days and weeks.

[AnxiousNoMore]

CNN lists recoveries in their worldwide covid updates blog and they do worldwide coverage with a focus on America. I have seen it on other sites too so it is readily available. Here is a good site but some of their articles are Canadian focus. With a lot of cross border traffic it has some relevance to the US.
https://www.healthing.ca/?orderby=post_date&order=desc&s=coronavirus

[R Glass]

It looks like things are finally getting back to normal, I just don't think I could take any more of the Corona Virus scare.

Man wanted in heroin death of a woman from December, EBRSO  

Police have arrested a woman accused of shooting and killing her husband Thursday afternoon off Staring Lane in Baton Rouge
.
After Baton Rouge sees four homicides in less than 48 hours, police working to find answers

Wyndham Hotel on Bluebonnet catches fire; 5th Baton Rouge blaze in 24 hours

& Authorities arrested at least six people suspected of driving while intoxicated in EastBaton RougeParish and booked them into parish prison

                                             .It's starting to feel normal again

[specialmom]

I understand Glass.  It's a lot to take in and all of our other real world problems still go on.  I'm sure the news is full of all sorts of things besides corona virus and unfortunately, times of economic strife and chaos usually leads to more of that.

[R Glass]

Hello Specialmom, it's been a while. If you live an average healthy lifestyle and have no underlying health issues, you will be fine. It's us older and sickly that are at risk. Don't get caught up in all the hype and use common sense. I saw on one report that a mild to average case of the flu is stronger than the Corona Virus. This is why it's mostly the weak that fall prey to it. I read yesterday, only 2 small children died in China. It's good to see you again.

[AnxiousNoMore]

It is only age and underlying conditions that matter when looking at covid risk statistics. Lifestyle may cause or prevent underlying conditions before you get Covid, but once you have them your risk goes up.
A healthy lifestyle in itself does not affect covid risk, because you can still have underlying conditions despite your lifestyle.

" a mild to average case of the flu is stronger than the Corona Virus." Well, anyone in ICU is fighting for their life and a high % go there with Covid, so you must be referring to the 80% in China who have mild cases. Regarding the remaining 20%, in China 5% do not require hospitalization but 15% of TOTAL Covid people required hospitalization and 5% ended up in ICU. Italy has a whopping 50% hospitalization rate with 10% in ICU.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-answers-covid-19/

[R Glass]

Interesting The CDC reports, as yesterday there has been Total cases: 1,629 Nation Wide. The Total deaths: 41. If you were to contract Corona Virus, you would have a whopping ,025% chance of death. Now if  10% ends up in ICU, that is roughly 163 people NATIONWIDE. that doesn't sound like a high % going to ICU due to Covid. But what does The CDC & Italy know?

[AnxiousNoMore]

Patients don't die immediately so those numbers you are using can't be used to calculate death rate. That job has to be calculated by people working with all of the data, taking into account time frames etc.
The 1,629 is very understated since the US has only conducted 11,000 cases to date compared to S Korea testing 250,000 with a much smaller population. Besides US is 2,800 now, and be prepared for a very fast large ramp up in the next days. The link says viral cases will double every 6 days, but that would be if they had any idea how many had it today - unfortunately in the US that isn't available until much more testing is done.
The test kits for the US have been delayed because the US chose to create their own instead of using the ones that other countries were using. Unfortunately the US test kits have been plagued with problems week after week which has been documented in the news, and the latest I heard is the admin is not even answering questions about when the kits will be available anymore.

Google Heidi Klum who has symptoms but can't get a test from the 2 doctors she called so you get an idea of how scarce the kits are. That is not my source of any of the above - it is just is an example of the testing problem for citizens.

[AnxiousNoMore]

I don't think there is much known for sure about how to improve the system, because it is a system and has so many unknown interactions that might be required to maintain a fine balance. I read in Harvard Health that it seems logical that if you take probiotics that it would be a good idea but that is just a theory, and in fact your immune system might perform worse if you increase one facet of it because it may require a balance that you are throwing off. They said just sleeping properly was the best thing you can do but that was a 2014 article. You can still google it today if interested.
Lots of nutrition health research has been contradicted by later studies so I'm thinking we will not know the answer for years because nutrition and human bodies are so complex. I don't think Vitamin C has been proven useful other than to prevent scurvy so it would be pretty hard to be deficient in C today.