Functional Medicine COVID Protocol for a Healthy Holiday Season.
Staying healthy during the Holiday Season can be a challenge during the best of times, and with COVID still circulating and RSV rearing it’s head and affecting older children and adults, it’s more important that ever to stay on top of healthy habits. The Institute for Functional Medicine has published some helpful botanical and nutraceutical supports that can help to reduce viral load, and quell inflammation. Reducing inflammation is an important component to healing because of the way the body responds to the COVID virus. The body’s innate immune response, called the inflammasome, can be over stimulated, creating an uncontrolled release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which can result in severe respiratory and vascular damage. This may also be the reason so many folks are finding themselves still having symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and depression many months after testing Negative.
So let’s get to the suggestions, I’m a big fan of not focusing on just the scary symptoms, but to offer supports and protections too!
Zinc 30 mg daily- Zinc has shown to be effective at reducing viral attachment and replication as well as reducing duration and severity of symptoms.
Elderberry-500mg by mouth for up to 12 weeks. Prevention of early infection of respiratory virus’s. Can be helpful for RSV as well and well tolerated in kids!
Vitamin D-5,000 IU’s Vit. D has shown to be a super star as an immune system modulator that reduces the expression of inflammatory cytokines and increase white blood cell function. Vit. D is also great for prevention and can support mood during the winter months. Its good to get your levels checked yearly if you supplement, just to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
Vitamin A- up to 10,000 IU’s daily. Vit. A is known as an anti- inflammatory vitamin because it plays a critical role in regulating the cellular immune response as well as protecting the epithelium and mucus barrier.
Vitamin C 1-3 gr. by mouth. this is a big dose, so watch for loose stool and adjust your dose accordingly. Vitamin C appears to both prevent and treat respirtory system infections and has been used in hospital ICU’s to support COVID treatments.
NAC N-Acetylcysteine 600-900mg 2 times a day. NAC supports glutathione production which is a super anti-oxident. It has clinically been shown to reduce phlegm production.
Quercetin 1 gr. 2 times a day, up to 12 weeks. Quercetin, an naturally occuring anti-oxident, has antiviral effects against both influenza and coronavirus as well as herpes virus. It also has strong anti-histamine properties for digestive reactions and mast cell activation.
Curcumin 500-1000 mg 2 times day. Curcumin extracted from Turmeric, has been shown to reduce viral replication and modulate the inflammasome.
Resveratrol 100-500 mg Resveratrol is a naturally occurring plant extract shows many health benefits and modulates the inflammasome.
The good news is that nature has created some wonderful supports to help us get through this Holiday Season and by following this or a version of this daily, you can not only reduce the likely hood of being infected, but that if you do, you’ll shorten the duration and hopfully protect yourself from developing Long-Covid symptoms.
For a Link to the FULL SCRIPT Recommendation to purchase this protocol just click this link or copy and paste it to your web browser to access your fillscript account and purchase this protocol.
https://us.fullscript.com/protocols/deirdre-kelley-lic-ac-covid-protocol
If you’re new to Full Script, its awesome and any supplement or product you purchase is 20% off market price! Free shipping on orders over $50, and sent directly to your door.
Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!
Love, Deirdre Kelley LicAc Dipl Ac. CHt
