Covid came to my home for the first time almost 2.5 years after the start of the pandemic. It was May of 2022. Some might ask how did we go so long without getting Covid? I’d like to say OCD-type precautions from all 3 of us: the hubs, our daughter, and Moi!

[And yes, I actually started to write this a year and a half ago, didn’t post it, and then felt it wasn’t relevant anymore. But now I guess it is again, because we’re talking about new strains of Covid and all…]

Back to the story…

We are that family that was wearing N95s on a flight to NYC in February of 2020 when nobody else was. We had the wipes on the plane which prompted the lady next to us to bring out her wipes as well. I wondered if she had been reluctant to bring it out because she didn’t want to be the only one. But we don’t think like that. We set trends. And we did not care that we stuck out like a sore thumb and got a lot of stares, like aliens.

The Mask

Throughout the time when the consensus was that we didn’t need to wear masks and cause a shortage for healthcare workers, we did in my household. When we got tired of wearing N95s ( and paying for them!!!), we switched to KN95s. I bought 2 boxes of surgical masks that we have not used at all because I knew it was nonsense. I knew that, even when the recommendation was to wear a cloth mask or surgical mask. We wore our KN95s proudly until the consensus became, to wear KN95s for adequate protection.

Would you believe that it got to where I was buying KN95s in a wholesale box that contained about 200 masks? The upside to that was when there were shortages and the cost went up, we were fully stocked. 😂

We took on sheltering in place like champs. Haven’t been anywhere since that NYC trip.

Having been to Asia and seeing what they do to combat pollution and infections, and with Covid starting in China, we decided we would do what they were doing that worked from very early on. Also, having also partly grown up in Nigeria (hubby and I), we have a great deal of respect for the devastation that communicable diseases can cause, over and above our autonomy as humans. We have seen Cholera, and dysentery wipe out hundreds from an outbreak.

The world was told to stop masking, though, for many, the world had opened up for more than a year now.

But I have to say that in the last month or so, we got tired of the mask too. Right now I do feel like it’s a chore.

Covid unfortunately is here to stay, like the flu, and we have to figure out how to live with it.

Immune Boosting Foods

The hubby and I eat very healthy and eat a lot of veggies and fruits. Particularly, we eat nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods which in my case, include avoiding known triggers from my food sensitivity panel. I pride myself in having a variety of colors on my plate. My Instagram page is proof.

The kiddo on the other hand has sensory issues with taste and texture from being on the autism spectrum, a condition known as Sensory Processing Disorder SPD. She does not eat a healthy diet. We try our best to modulate the versions of what she eats such as her milk is pasture-raised rather than conventional, and stuff like that.

Immune Boosting, “Anti-Viral” Supplements

We all take supplements in the family because you cannot get all your nutrients from food these days. Then the hubs and I get lots of sunlight almost every day.

In particular, for Covid prevention/ support, we have on hand the Xlear nasal spray which is reported to possibly be effective against Covid and other viruses. And I have to say that each time I felt a viral illness coming on such as a tickle in my throat and I used it, I felt better instantly.

Since then however, there has been a study published that proves this to be true. Xlear nasal spray significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection by 62% among health care workers.

We also have Sambucus Elderberry (with Zinc and Vitamin C) on hand. I found that elderberry shortens the duration of viral illnesses. I discovered this when my kid was a toddler and it has been on rotation in our house since. We used to take another herbal preventative supplement for travel but they did not have a kid version. That’s how research led me to elderberry with zinc.

Now, the initial consensus on elderberry with regard to Covid was to avoid it, because it would supposedly rev up the immune system and cause a cytokine storm. I didn’t believe or agree with it, but this NYT article expresses the general messaging around elderberry at the time.

And guess what? We finally have evidence that it not only does it prevent and treat viral illnesses in general but specifically, it inhibits replication of SARS-CoV-2.

Good old Vitamin D also deserves an applause. In January 2023, the NIH finally agree that it prevents the need for ICU hospitalizations. This is from the same NIH who in September 2022, said they could not recommend for or against Vitamin D. More research…

I have a lot of antioxidants on hand for regular use as part of managing multiple sclerosis MS symptoms. Some I take daily, and some I take when I need a boost of something to counteract acute inflammation.They proved to be invaluable for navigating the Covid landscape.

This is pretty much how we went 2.5 years without actually getting sick from Covid, by utilizing easily accessible natural products and practices. Pretty impressive even if I say so myself.

Supportive Devices

Steam inhalation was something I did several times during the pandemic as well. It is a modality that was reported early on to allegedly help kill the virus in the nasal as well as lung passages if you do deep inhalations. Some people had a mixture of antioxidants such as turmeric/ginger/ garlic and similar ingredients as the liquid that they inhaled.

I went with just the steam from distilled or filtered & boiled water and found it effective. I essentially did the steam inhalation anytime I took Sambucus elderberry to ward off whatever was trying to start. We forget that all the other viral infections and the flu did not take a hike just because Covid showed up, and the same basic principles work for them too.

Incidentally, there is now research supporting steam inhalation. Imagine that! Holistic practices that were initially touted as folkloric and shut down, now proven by research, like almost everything else with Covid. I first learned about it from Nigerians in the UK, especially those with asthma, who swore by it.

I tested it out each time I felt I was coming down with something and it was simply magical. So I held on to it in my toolbox. I always had this machine anyway as my mother was big on inhaling Vicks when I was little and it stayed with me. She would add Vicks to hot water, have me lean over the steam and cover my head with a towel. The fancy machines came later. But I now use Eucalyptus oil rather than Vicks if I want to add some kind of menthol to it.

Links to all of these products can be found by clicking on each photo.

Vaccine

The key I believe was staying prepared and staying ahead of Covid, rather than reactive. But there is more than one way to skin a cow.

We are all double-vaccinated for Covid but not boosted. The vaccine became less appealing after I had a serious reaction to the second Covid vaccine. Also, as much as western medicine says vaccines do not cause autism, there are components of vaccines that our kids on the spectrum are sensitive to and cannot process or detox as well as other folks can. I did not like that the Covid vaccine contains polyethylene glycol (PEG), a chemical I try to avoid putting on my skin or hair. And I strongly believe that is what I reacted to in the vaccine.

According to this CDC article, under a subsection titled If You Are Allergic to an Ingredient in a COVID-19 Vaccine or Had a Previous Severe Allergic Reaction, it states:

• If you are allergic to polyethylene glycol (PEG), you should not get Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
• If you are allergic to polysorbate, you should not get Novavax COVID-19 vaccines.

Well, I guess I’m allergic. And so are a lot of people. That is not a chemical that should go into the body.

Thank God for knowledge of biohacking which is what helped stop that reaction from being a full-blown MS thing (I don’t have actual flares because of the nature of PPMS! But I get really decompensated for a long time. Sometimes several excruciating months. But I digress). That vaccine led to a cytokine storm and a very fast downward spiral of acute inflammation for me. I talk about what I did here if you’re interested, in a series of posts curated in my IG guides under biohacking.

The 1st Covid Experience

My daughter and I had a cold of sorts the week prior, and that got better over a few days. I honestly considered Covid at that point as we had both been to an art show in her school a few days prior. So I first tested her for Covid then because she goes to school and has gone to school in person since August of 2020. But it was negative and she got better and made it back to school. Allergies were also affecting a lot of people at the time.

On Sunday, she developed a sore throat and said she felt like she had strep. And on Monday she missed school. Come Tuesday morning, her first words were, “I feel like I’m dying.” That’s when I knew she was very sick. I grabbed another one of those at-home Covid tests the US government kindly made available to us via USPS. Grateful!!! 🙏🏾

Her Covid test lit up, on contact. You’re supposed to look for 2 lines, one for the test itself (T) and the other for the control (C). It most certainly was 2 lines immediately! I still timed it for 20 minutes as instructed but it didn’t change, and I did not expect it to.

As I tried to figure out how to tell her and stop my husband from going to work, he came down the stairs. I had no choice but to go, “I’m so sorry babe but Jordan has Covid. You can’t go to work.” This man had on a nice suit, decked to the nines as always.

Our Covid tests were negative, for the hubby and I. Thankful. We were also symptom-free except for what seemed like allergies for me.

What Now?

We all went into isolation, and started to order groceries to be delivered or when necessary, pick up outside the store in my vehicle without contact with any human.

Mama went into carer protector mode. Xlear, Zarbee’s elderberry gummies. Extra Vitamin C. Usual meds and supplements for kiddo included Vitamin D, Zinc several days a week, and Magnesium.

I stressed the importance of hydration to her from the start, as you need to flush out toxins that are being released as you kill off any organisms that are making you sick. Vital!!!

For hubby, he started to take a double dose of Elderberry capsules and the Xlear nasal spray. This man has the best immunity y’all. He’s been back at work for what seems like forever, with several Covid breakouts at work. But he was also the most careful of us all. He did not play, especially concerning masking up.

I also double-dosed Elderberry capsules, took Xlear, Astaxanthin, Garlic, and Ginger. My regular daily medications contained Turmeric, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Magnesium, and Liposomal Glutathione. If you want a breakdown of what I consider the most beneficial anti-oxidants for managing MS symptoms and inflammation in general, you can access the resource titled Top 10 Antioxidants for MS here.

Another thing I immediately did was steam inhalation with the Vicks personal steam inhaler, with just steam from water.

We started to order everything as delivery, or do a pick-up in which I’d stay in the vehicle.

The teenager with Covid started to feel better within hours of loading her up, but she still slept all day. She had that crummy feeling you have with a viral infection. The crud!!! The next day she was able to take a school test online, and another test she had missed the day after.

Things slowly returned to normal toward the end of the week.

Any Negatives?

There is one downside to the Xlear (Xylitol) nasal spray. I am particularly sensitive to its gut microbiome suppressing properties. It thus constipates me. The good thing is this is temporary and the very first day I don’t use the spray, my bowel movements are back to normal. TMI? We keep it real over here. 🤣

Boy, is it hard to isolate yourself from your kid?!

The 2nd Covid Experience

It was September of the same year. 2022. Hubby and I were invited to a big party in downtown Atlanta on a Saturday evening by a friend who had paid for a table at a fundraising event. I was happy to be out. It was a huge ballroom and there was not a mask in sight.

We had a blast and saw tons of old and new friends. I met some IG friends in real life. IRL as the kiddos say.

Within 2 days, I had the runs but it was mild. A 24 hr virus I thought, as it had let up before my much awaited concert.

Nothing was going to stop me from going to my Backstreet Boys concert on Tuesday evening that had been rescheduled from during lockdown. I was ecstatic. And it was so much fun, even though I was seeing the exact same DNA World Tour for the third time!

Vegas. Atlanta. Now Alpharetta.

All gut symptoms were gone and I was ecstatic. Why couldn’t I shake this headache though? It kept intensifying as the hours went by during the concert. And I was just so thirsty. I kept drinking those $6 concert waters, wondering why I was so parched.

By the time I got home, I knew I was sick. Wednesday morning, I took the Covid test from the government and it was positive. Yikes!

What Did I Do?

I contacted everyone I’d had contact with at the party. Turns out the friend who I’d held hands with while saying hello and who also sat right behind me at the next table, had similar mild runs along with her husband for a few days now, preceding my symptoms.

Shoot! I caught it from her.

I also remembered that for the first time since the pandemic started, I didn’t use my Xlear nose spray after possible exposure. I’d gotten comfortable. My guard was down, like Covid had left the building. But it hadn’t.

And it took me a few days to think of Covid because it started in my gut because my exposure was touch, and not my nose or my throat if I had primarily inhaled it. The respiratory symptoms came later.

And I know the Xlear would still have helped my gut where it started because I always end up swallowing it anyway.

So I isolated downstairs away from everyone else. I started to throw everything but the kitchen sink at it.

Elderberry with Zinc. Xlear. Hydration and more hydration. Steam inhalation. Astaxanthin triple dose. Tons of vitamin D. Turmeric. Magnesium. Vitamin C. Garlic. Ginger. Cinnamon. Liposomal Glutathione. Infrared light treatments. Structured Silver. Essential oils like Eucalyptus. Prayers. Meditation. Visualizations.  A lot of sunlight. EFT Tapping. An unwavering belief that I would beat it and it wouldn’t beat me, and I would not have Long Covid most especially. 

While in the thick of it with Covid-19, I found out that silver nanoparticles at 20ppm was effective against Covid-19, while I was taking structured nanosilver at 30ppm.

Not only are antioxidants like Astaxanthin good for vaccine reactions, Astaxanthin is also good for Covid-19 infection. It is effective at

I felt really bad for a day and a half, then it start to lift and I was left battling bronchospasms and a cough from deep within my chest.

I did not go to the doctor, or urgent care or consider Paxlovid. But then again, I am a doctor. I was going to fix it naturally however. And except for a few pills of Medrol which actually did nothing for my symptoms, I was able to keep to natural treatment.

Most importantly, nobody else in the house caught it.

Any Sequelae

Covid did not affect my MS much except for the initial few days of fatigue and laying around, for which I’m thankful.

But I did notice one thing. I developed MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) at least for a while, and it kicked up the leaky gut a notch, during which time I had to go back to eating cooked vegetables over salads, because I wasn’t digesting them well raw.

That slowly calmed back down over time, especially with the help of Serum Bovine Immunoglobulin, SBI Protect by Orthomolecular. That, was a Godsend.

There are many articles linking MCAS to Long Covid. Articles such as this. It makes me even more grateful because I know that if I hadn’t known how to handle Covid properly, I might have ended up with long Covid too.

But even with all that, how the Covid infection made me feel, wasn’t as bad as how the vaccine reaction made me feel. That cytokine storm reaction from the Covid vaccine was from the pits of hell and threw my MS into a tailspin.

I don’t ever want to feel like that again.

Masking Now?

I stopped masking after my Covid episode and subsequent research supports the fact that natural immunity provides stronger and longer lasting immunity than vaccines and that boosters were not exactly necessary for the general population and in fact increased the risk of a cardiac episode in young men. I continue to be safe and practice good hand hygiene.

However, if I went into a place like a medical establishment which required masking, I still complied.

I even still use those pesky wipes at the grocery store on the carts just to be safe. And if I feel like i’ve been exposed, been in a crowd, or I feel a tickle in my throat, best believe I’m grabbing my Xlear spray to chase it back where it came from, followed by at least a few days of Elderberry with Zinc. 😆

In Conclusion

I am grateful that nobody else got Covid each time, and the kiddo and I got over it pretty fast, considering some people have long-haul Covid for months to years past the infection. Our habits helped. Our tools also greatly helped. Those tools were information, expertise, and access. I do not take any of these for granted.

Good nutrition is key in boosting your immune status. This I believe is largely responsible for me not getting Covid till I let my guard down, despite living with primary progressive multiple sclerosis PPMS, and being on an immune-suppressive treatment (Ocrevus) which is like chemotherapy.

I’d be remiss if I did not speak on the role of a higher power in all of these. It’s not all habits and behavior and being careful. I do feel like God who is the higher power we plug into (yours might be different), has protected us. It is vital to be connected to a higher power, pray, meditate, spend time in nature and appreciate it, exercise, do yoga, and ground yourself in the earth beneath your bare feet.

One thing I know for sure about Covid-19 is that there is still so much we don’t know at almost 4 years in. And people are very passionate about their belief, whatever it is!!!

I try my best to follow the evidence. And while waiting on evidence, I used logic, experience and anecdotal evidence from trusted sources.

Till next time, stay healthy and safe my friends!

DISCLAIMER!!!

Lastly, check with your doctor before implementing anything new. I am NOT your doctor, though I am a doctor.

This is purely educational, not giving you medical advice, and it is certainly not tailored specifically to you because I don’t have enough information on you to do that.

I am Dr. Folake Taylor, and I live with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis PPMS. After 15 years in internal medicine primary care, while battling disability/ PPMS for the last 7 of the 15, I found myself diving deeper into holistic health for answers. Now I’m turning my lemons into lemonade. I refuse to allow physical and cognitive disability to stop me, from fulfilling my destiny of using my voice to benefit the world with my knowledge, which I did prior to my illness. Sharing what I have learned and am still learning about the body’s ability to heal itself, which is quite different from what I learned in medical school, is now my mission. I created an online self-paced course for MS recovery called MS Mastery®, and I will continue to take you along with me as the daily journey continues.

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