Curbing fear, anxiety and depression with positive affirmations

April 6, 2021 Delainne B.

COVID-19 can cause inflammation of the nervous system interrupting hormone regulation, including serotonin and melatonin absorption. This is a lingering symptom of the virus and will resolve with time and the proper medications.

The power of positive thinking, distraction and affirmations

The key to recovery is to refocus our thoughts on positivity. They say repetition is the mother of all studies. It’s the same with negative thoughts. The more they repeat themselves, the deeper engrained in the psyche they become.

Do you ever repeat things to help you remember them? This is called learning, even if you are doing it at home to remember to send a birthday card. The same concept applies to sadness, grief, depression, anxiety and trauma. When you repeat negative or fearful thoughts, they become engrained in your memory. One of the most effective tools to heal from these things is to intentionally work on positive thinking, distraction and saying affirmations (even if you don’t believe them).

Music

Music is a great way to build new positive thoughts. It uses your voice, exercises your lungs, and forces you to think about what you are singing. An additional benefit of singing is that is forces you to breath and breath work is extremely important in calming the nervous system. Music requires total concentration and interrupts the fearful thought process and releases happy hormones like serotonin and endorphins.

Make up a song to sing with a positive message like: I am strong, I will overcome, I’m getting better every day
Listen to a happy song like Don’t Worry, Be Happy (play it all day long and definitely sing it at bedtime, encourage others to sing along).
Throw a little dancing or swaying in there to get your blood moving.
If nothing else, try tapping the rhythm with your toes and fingers.

Other distraction techniques:

When you fill your mind with other thoughts, you cannot focus on fear or negativity. Some suggestions include:

Silly or funny movies or books. Stories that don’t require a lot of thinking to follow and aren’t too sad or emotional.
Crafts or hobbies that require focus like a paint by numbers, puzzle, rock painting, a new recipe, anything you have to focus on while you work on it.
Visit or talk with a friend or family member.
- Caution: Avoid talking about your sadness or illness for extended lengths of time. That’s not to say you can visit the subject, but make sure it’s not the only thing you talk about. This will be good for you and help to sustain your relationships.

Self-care

You are the only person who can truly take care of your feelings. Practice self-care. It can be hard at the beginning, but once you learn the skill, you will feel better.

Surround yourself with positive people and experiences.
Purposefully avoid thinking negative thoughts.
Limit your time with people who stress you out either with toxicity or because they are going through a tough time too.
Don’t engage in arguments\, especially at the end of the day.
Don’t let yourself get offended by others - ignore their negativity.
Take time every day to recognize your accomplishments, no matter how small.
Get good sleep.
Eat healthy foods and hydrate with plenty of water.

Medication protocols for long COVID prevention and treatment

Talk to your MD, ask about antidepressants linke SSRI or SNRI medications, tools that can be used until the inflammation subsided and the neural pathways can function again. A lot of people are using medications like Wellbutrin and other similar meds with GREAT success.

Top 4 concerns: Histamines, Inflammation, Depression, and Blood Clotting

The antihistamine protocol: Seasonal allergy medicines like Allegra or Zyrtec (H1 blockers) and antacids like famotidine or Pepcid (H2 blockers) to counter the histamine cascade.
The anti-inflammatory protocol: Such as steroids in severe cases, or NSAIDs like ibuprofen or other prescription medications to reduce inflammation, pain, and the risk of damage to nerves and organs.
The antidepressant protocol: SSRI and SNRI medications to reduce depression, anxiety or fatigue.
The anticoagulant protocol: Aspirin, baby aspirin or prescription medications to prevent micro-clotting or deep vein thromboses (DVT) that can cause neural damage, organ damage, or stroke by blocking the flow of blood to vital organs.

Things you can do to help yourself

Minimizing physical & psychological stressors is essential in recovery from Long COVID.

Nutrition: Try to eat protein and fresh vitamin rich foods daily and avoid chemicals, preservatives, sugars, fast foods, prepared foods and high histamine foods.
Don’t skip meals. Your body needs protein, vitamin C, and vitamin D to heal from any injury or illness. A low histamine or low carbohydrate (sugar) diet is recommended by doctors treating Long COVID (PASC), and many people report a reduction in symptoms within 1-3 days of the diet change, including decreases in sneezing, itching or hives, irritable bowel syndrome, body pain, along with a reduction in swelling and inflammation.
Hydration: A minimum of eight 8 oz glasses of plain water daily is recommended.
Avoid drinks with chemical additives. You can easily make a fresh electrolyte drink yourself by adding a dash of mineral rich Epsom salt and a piece a fruit like a raspberry for flavor instead of spending money on commercial drinks like Gatorade that contain chemicals and sit in plastic bottles for long periods of time. Remember that caffeine and alcohol have dehydrating effects.
Sleep hygiene: Getting 7-9 hours of sleep so your body can repair itself. You need at least 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep to get into the restorative phase of sleep.
Avoid stimulating activities after dinner like thrilling movies or books, arguments, negative news or frustrating stimuli.
If you wake up frequently or with a startle, you may be experiencing drops in your oxygen level, which signal your brain to release adrenaline to force you to take a breath. This could be a temporary inflammation issue or more enduring sleep apnea. Ask your doctor for a sleep study to evaluate your need for a CPAP or BiPAP, a machine that pushes air into your lungs when it senses an apneic episode (periods of not breathing).
Stress management: Stress affects every component of your life.
The only thing you can control about stress is your reaction to it. Try to avoid or minimize your exposure to stressful situations: Turn off the news, make family visits that end unpleasantly short, wait for the morning to have intense discussions, let go of things that annoy you but don’t really matter in the big scheme of things, avoid intense conversations or entertainment in the evening.
Exercise within tolerance: Pace yourself and do not push your body to extremes in any way.
For some this may mean seated breathing exercises, walking to the mailbox. Rest when your body says to slow down. Gradually build on your activity endurance as your body cues you to progress. This can be hard to gauge, because when you feel good you naturally do more, but if you do too much you may experience symptom flare ups 1-3 days later as the post exertion inflammation builds. Some people describe this as post exertional malaise, others experience severe recovery set backs.
Breathwork: You can literally stop the fight or flight reaction by taking slow deep breaths.
Deep slow breathing shuts down the adrenaline flow, slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure and decreases stress related histamine release. When you do this, your blood reroutes back to your brain and nervous system to allow you to think clearly. It also allows your body to use its energy and oxygen to heal your inflamed nerves and organs.

Long COVID Support

Keep moving, keep breathing!

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