She instructed me to take thirty tablets right away, another thirty in one hour, and thirty more the following morning. I hate swallowing pills. But I did as she said, and the pneumonia finally lifted by the next evening. ~Stacy V.

Mom has been social distancing and wearing masks, washing hands, taking her clothes off in the garage, and showering after every outing since 1983. She was possibly the first person in our community to be seen in public, wearing surgical masks. Before the pandemic, people laughed, stared at, and whispered about her in public. Little children boldly pointed and asked about her, parents shushed and turned them away. She spoke out about the invisible threat of viruses for decades before we heard much about Covid and other viruses in the news. She continually taught others about self-protection and traditional medicine ways to combat viral illnesses that do not respond to antibiotics and typical medical treatments.

Who could believe that her experience would become the norm in 2020 and beyond? Mom  learned how to survive in isolation and to heal after outings for essential services and products. She’s been un-served by the mainstream medical world, which at first didn’t believe she was sick, then attempted to treat what she supposedly “didn’t have” with experimental drugs that would have killed her. My father carried her out of the hospital in his arms, and they never went back. They thought they were bringing her home to die.

Mom found naturopathy after that. She could only eat one food at a time to discover which were tolerated and which ones triggered autoimmune attacks. Dad trapped rabbits in our suburban backyard and hunted in-season to stock our freezer with safe wild food. She sought organically grown foods before it was common, not as a political act or show of prosperity, but for survival. During the covid-19 pandemic, she held steady. Her normal day to day existence was unchanged, and she had her regular good and bad days.  She continued teaching others virtually as she had done for decades, about herbal, nutritional, and homeopathic methods to deal with the imbalances of the current world.

Mom understood all too well that the nutrients in food grown in the 2000s vs. that grown in the 1800s is depleted and not capable of sustaining health under the onslaught of harmful chemicals that exist in today’s environment. Our bodies can not sustain life under the normal, old-fashioned ways of eating. She knew that she and many others needed more than what regular food could provide. We need supplements, sometimes plant medicines, sometimes in larger that comprehensible amounts.

In my late twenties, I contracted walking pneumonia as a college student, breastfeeding mom, and a midwife’s apprentice. For thirty days, I functioned normally during the day and fell into exhaustive, uncontrollable fits of coughing every night.

I attempted, for weeks, to self treat with herbs, vitamins, teas, and OTC products and finally called Mom in utter despair, asking what more I could do. She said, “Stac, you’re so depleted of minerals, especially potassium,” and told me to go to Kmart, get any brand of potassium, and start taking mega doses of it. She instructed me to take thirty tablets right away, another thirty in one hour, and thirty more the following morning. I hate swallowing pills. But I did as she said, slept through the night for the first time in weeks, and the pneumonia finally lifted by the next evening.

We do not often need mega doses of vitamins. It would be unhealthy to do that for long periods, but sometimes, our bodies cry out for greater help than we would normally need. It wasn’t necessary to keep taking thirty or more potassium tablets after the first couple of days, but that’s what my body needed to get over the hump. That is nutritional medicine, not simple nutrition. Certain medical organizations spread the notion that nutritional and herbal remedies do not work for COVID-19 and to not attempt them because they might cause harm. This warning was based on a lack of understanding of the virus and traditional herbalism. The recommendation was also uninformed about nutritional deficits in the contemporary diet and of the human drive to give self-care while waiting for other medical assistance.

Natural health practitioners did not have great experience with Covid-19, but neither did mainstream medicine. Likewise,  mainstream medicine did not have strong experience with the myriad viral conditions that people like my mom have learned to deal with in isolation and without medical assistance. Herbal and nutritional medicines are not proven with COVID-19, but there is a long tradition of understanding among herbalists around plants and nutrients that support lung health, immune function, and wound healing, all of which are components of Covid-19. Those medicines do help our bodies to heal and have value in the battle against Covid.

I was sick with pneumonia in February 2020; it was probably an early case of Covid-19, as we now know that Covid was present in the U.S. since November 2019. At one point, I felt hungry but could not finish eating a small meal because the energy of chewing interfered with my ability to breathe. I sought medical care, and the antibiotics offered did not help because this was a viral pneumonia, not bacterial. I used Mom’s knowledge of nutritional and herbal medicine to comfort and strengthen myself while the virus ran its course. I used a tincture of lobelia rubbed on my chest and trickled in my throat to loosen up the cough. I used homeopathic arnica to reduce inflammation in my bronchial passageway. I used Nature’s Sunshine’s VS-C, a Chinese herb combination to help my own immune system fight the virus and several vitamin and mineral supplements to sustain my strength while I couldn’t eat. Chest percussion, postural drainage, and a foam rolling broke up the tightness in my chest fascia. Eucalyptus helped my breathing and drinking copious amounts of water, juice, and broth provided sustenance.  I added ginger, lime juice, capsicum, and garlic to my broths and felt nourished.

Self-care is a strong family tradition for us. Self-care is necessary for all during pandemic conditions and into the foreseeable future. I share this humbly and will not tolerate naysayers, as this is our lived experience. Stay home, take precious care of yourself and loved ones. Wear masks when you must go in public. Be like my mom. If you or someone you care for is experiencing unmitigated physical symptoms that doctors and specialists have not been able to diagnosed, The Undiagnosed Diseases Network may be able to help you.