Two Weeks of COVID & Essential Oils: When an Aromatherapist Gets Sick
In July 2022 I enjoyed a lovely concert in Toronto, living out my high school music days with my inlaws and husband. It was a fabulous night, we stayed in a hotel, we had a lovely breakfast the next day and everything seemed hunky dory!
Two Days Later: Is it Lovely Allergies or Something Else
Two days later I started to have symptoms of what I believed to be allergies. I always get mid-summer allergies when the pollen is high. I didn’t know anyone else that was sick and besides a slight itchy feeling on the top of my mouth, I had no reason to suspect I was coming down with anything more than a slight pollen exposure. This all started to occur in the evening after we made a trip from Toronto to 4 hours north and then back 2 hours south. Before this point, I was fine.
Three Days Later: I Might be in Denial or Unaware
I broke all the COVID protocol, throwing caution to the wind after spending 2 and a half years isolating and in lockdowns and reluctantly shared a cupcake with my sister. Oddly enough I said “Are you going to cut it so we can share it” and she shrugged it off, so I went with it. At this point, the pandemic has basically taught us that being within 6 feet of anyone you're prone to get COVID and it's highly contagious so you probably will get it just by hanging out. So I didn’t think anything of it and we enjoyed a delicious gluten-free chocolate cupcake with lavender icing. I did warn her that I was having allergy symptoms, but the allergy medication seem to help so I had no reason to be concerned about anything.
Four Days Later: Hello Summer Cold
Now I’m exhausted and feeling like maybe those allergies are a developing cold, ugh! It's summer and I have lots of plans that involve cottage weekends, watersports on the lake, evening fires and all things fun in the sun. At this point, we are packing up to go home after being away for 4 full days and 3 nights. My only thought was I let myself get too little sleep and now I’m sick, I should have prioritized sleep more. If you know me, I live to prioritize sleep, so being exhausted and unrested is kinda a big deal for me!
Five Days Later: Mountains of Laundry & Exhaustion
We came home the night before and started in on what felt like 100 loads of laundry because I was so exhausted. I have a family of 5 kids, two adults and 3 dogs, laundry happens every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day. So being away for 4 days, and the kids for 5, left us with at least 5 loads of laundry and 5 sets of bedding.
I got up that morning, took my one son to summer camp, and had a meeting with a friend over a business matter (which I choose to do masked because something in my mind thought I might be getting a cold or bronchitis again, I just got over a bronchitis episode 2 weeks earlier) and then went home. When I tried to sit down to work, I was feeling a little cold and tired. So I decided I would take an early nap and make the rest of my day as productive as possible.
A Hypothermic Cocoon of Blankets: I Just Might Freeze From The Inside Out
I crawled under my covers and shivered for two hours, continually getting colder and colder by the minute. Finally, after two hours I braved the even colder air of not being under the covers to put on a sweater blanket I only wear in the winter at the cottage when it takes 12 hours to warm the place up. My son brought me more blankets, as I texted him to turn the air conditioning off and my daughter brought me another blanket. It was 24C in my home and I was full-body shivering under 3 blankets with pants and a sweater blanket on. Even worse, my body temperature kept registering as low, because anything below 32F won’t measure, it just beeps LOW at you.
At this point, I was sure I was having major PMS symptoms and messaged my aromatherapy sisters about how awful I was feeling. One of them suggested using geranium to balance my hormones. So about 30 minutes later I mustered up the courage to brave what felt like an ice storm in the air to grab a bottle of geranium. I threw all safety caution considerations out the window and just applied 2-3 drops neat and figured I’ll dilute it later or make a proper roller bottle when I’m not experiencing arctic cold temperatures internally.
Interestingly, 30 minutes later my body did actually start to warm up enough to remove one blanket and I felt less intimidated about leaving the covers for a few short minutes.
My husband called from work to make sure I didn’t sleep through the alarm to wake up and grab my son from summer camp. I explained what was happening and he without hesitation left work in a hurry, worried, even though I kept saying, I think I’m okay, I’ll just put on pants and a sweater to pick up my son. He’s like: It's 30C outside, I’m coming home!
After all this, it finally dawned on me, that maybe I should do a COVID test. I realize some reading this are probably thinking, duh, why didn’t you do a COVID test when you experienced allergy symptoms? The truth is, the allergy pills helped and a doctor told me they wouldn’t for COVID, I didn’t know anyone else sick so had no reasons to suspect anything, and last time we had COVID move through our home we ran out of tests (and stores have been running low lately), so we have been using testing kits sparingly and only as necessary.
So I took the test and for the first time ever for me personally, that T line lit up dark red with a blazing positive for COVID immediately!
I was shocked! I immediately called my sister and told her I have COVID. Her whole family does the test and BAM, she is asymptomatic, but also has COVID! My husband arrives home with my son, I break the news and we start implementing tests, isolation protocol for the family, and trying to keep the kids calm.
Activating Aromatherapist Mode:
Project Sanitize the Environment and Promote Health
I immediately, masked and freshly sanitized hands, walked around to every diffuser in the house and added my favourite illness prevention blend:
2 drops Sweet Orange
1 drop Cinnamon Bark
1 drop Rosemary
1 drop Eucalyptus Radiata or Globulus
1 drop Clove
My whole house smells like the aroma of fall.
My husband starts cleaning to help keep the infection contained.
I go through some holistic protocols I got from a homeopath (tinctures, vitamins, supplements, etc) with my children, and give them all instructions to take Vitamin D3 and probiotics every day.
I started drinking lots of fluids, tons; water, orange juice, iced tea, herbal teas with echinacea and honey and kombucha tea.
In my bedroom I started diffusing my favourite I’m sick blend:
3 drops eucalyptus globulus or radiata
3 drops lavender
I also put together a 3% frankincense roller bottle just in case I developed a fever. Frankincense is my favourite oil for addressing a fever. I don’t believe in treating a fever unless it's causing other issues, like muscle aches and seizures.
I slept and rested for the rest of that evening.
Six Days Later: Arctic Cold to Sweaty Sauna
My cold chills subsided without return after I started implementing all my aromatherapy protocol, yay! But now I’m sweating through my skin like I’m still wearing layers but I have very little actually on.
This is when I instructed my family to return our air conditioning to 22C.
In the morning I did a temperature check and yep, running a fever of 38-38.7F all day. When I applied the frankincense roller to my spine, my fever went down slightly.
But my body was aching big time, oh was it aching. The pain was like I had messed up my back, which happens a lot actually because I have a 30 years old fracture injury from my young days of figure skating that I am managing.
What a Pain!
So I went back to work, sweating profusely now, to create my favourite pain blend to help with my aches. At this point, I assumed my aches were more caused by either COVID or laying around in my bed for a day than anything else.
Here is a recipe for the pain blend I made into a serum or massage blend, one of my favourites for pain:
30 ml bottle
Carrier oils are arnica & jojoba (sometimes I do calendula)
5 drops Marjoram
5 drops Frankincense
5 drops Siberian Fir
I get my hubby’s help rubbing this all over my body and my fever slowly works its way out of my body.
Seven to Ten Days Later
My fever broke by the next day, day seven, my husband tested positive by this day and the rest of the next 3 to 4 days were a sleepy blur. Like I slept almost non-stop, waking only to eat and use the bathroom, noticing I lost half my sense of smell and taste, then sleep again. I didn’t even know I could sleep this long.
Around days 8 and 9 my daughter tested positive for COVID, but aside from bloodshot eyes, a headache she claims and a fever for a few hours that day, she didn’t have any other symptoms or reasons we would believe she had COVID.
By day 10 I tested negative, but exhaustion after carrying on for weeks has been overwhelming. My hubby tested positive for what we believe was 14 days, so he had it longer than anyone else. My daughter was surprisingly only positive for 3 days.
More Aromatherapy Tips and Tricks to Help You go From Unwell to Healthy
I like to use a technique Mark Webb called aromatic armour, where you apply eucalyptus in the shower using an aromatic medicine technique. Alternatively, if you can’t access an aromatic medicine practitioner, I do feel rubbing 2% diluted eucalyptus all over your chest before your shower, then allowing the warm plain water (don’t wash yet) run over your chest will have a similar effect. Or you could grab some fresh eucalyptus or grab/make some shower steams.
When my sense of smell and taste started to fade, I kept a bottle of clove, peppermint and eucalyptus with me. I kept smelling from the bottle, as I was too tired and weak to go dig out an aroma inhaler, and some don’t suggest using them this way for this issue. I suggest checking out my partner Nikki’s blog about this.
When I read about why this happens, a study indicated COVID indirectly affects the ol-faction neurons, but the loss or reduction is almost always temporary.
Finally, I am now using essential oils to rebalance my sleep. The sleep all day for days cycle ended, then I struggled to sleep for many nights feeling unrested for well over a week. To encourage good sleep here are some blends I like to use (I have more than one):
Bye Bye Freddy (for nightmares)
2 drops juniper berry
2 drops cedarwood
2 drops lavender
Val’s Rooting for Sleep Cousin (because spikenard is a valerian root ‘cousin’)
2 drops spikenard
2 drops lavender
3 drops cedarwood
You may want to decrease the drops if you find these blends strong and overstimulating. Make sure you have plenty of air circulation too in your bedroom.
In the future, I would have some of my aromatherapy blends ready and well stocked, nothing like searching for that one missing oil while freezing or sweating like crazy! I would also keep a 10-14 days stock of COVID tests for all household members. You’ll want to keep testing so you don’t keep spreading.
Make sure you work with your doctor, COVID may not behave as expected in our bodies. I had contact with three medical doctors during my infection because it went straight to my lungs and I manage my asthma normally, but respiratory illnesses have been known to put me in the hospital. So I always work with my medical team and keep everyone fully informed of all my holistic approaches too.
But ultimately, aside from the first two days and the longer recovery after, COVID is nothing to fear in my opinion. Some of my previous pneumonia infections were much worse. Just keep your body healthy and moving and I’m sure most people will recover with little to no issues.
Will I ever share a cupcake again? Probably! I don’t need to live isolated in a bubble. Our immune systems work better when we give them ample opportunity to get sick and recover. But I might be hesitant more if I feel allergies or cold symptoms coming on or near.
References
JIANG, B. K. (n.d.). How COVID-19 causes loss of smell. Harvard Medical School. Retrieved August 7, 2022, from https://hms.harvard.edu/news/how-covid-19-causes-loss-smell
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