Keeping an eye on your daily symptoms can help you and your doctors make better decisions about whether a visit to the hospital is required. Day 5 covid treatment is most important. 

Compiled by

DR. UMA RAVISHANKAR

Dr. Krishan Dudeja

Department: Dentistry

Location: Sector 47, Noida

Qualification: BDS

Dear fellow friends, We are not an authority on the subject but we have compiled the following information to help better understand the Covid-19 and its treatment.

These are the general guidelines and in no way can replace the specific medical advice.

1 First of all, Covid will not come to you uninvited.

Let us all take a pledge to save ourselves and our families from the infection by strictly adhering to the Covid protocol.

We all can stay indoors, we can avoid parties, sacrifice family meetings/gatherings, etc.

No interaction with outsiders without a mask/double mask.

Anyone who is not a part of your immediate family living in the same house, whether a close friend or close relative, should be considered an outsider.

Despite all precautions, one may still get infected.

2 Most Important – DO NOT PANIC

Isolate yourself without waiting for a test/test report.

It is our moral duty to save our family and fellow human beings.

It is getting difficult to get RT-PCR done these days and false-negative results are also difficult to rule out, so  Symptoms like fever, cough, tiredness, body aches, sore throat and loss of smell and taste are equally important at this time of the pandemic.

In kids, headache and diarrhea can be predominant symptoms along with fever.

Most of the cases do not require oxygen/hospital support.

3 GENERAL HOME TREATMENT

1. Rest & Positive Attitude are most important.
2. SPO2 monitoring and breathing exercises at regular intervals.
3. Take Plenty of fluids.
4. Paracetamol/Dolo 650 (6-8 hourly) depending upon the requirement. Don’t hesitate to add Mefenamic acid (Meftal) in case of high fever and body ache.
5. Good diet is important but diabetics must eliminate sugar from their diet by eliminating potatoes, rice, chapati for at least 10-14 days. Fruits, fresh juices, nuts like almonds and peanuts are beneficial.
6. Vit-C, 500 mg twice a day; Vit-D 1 tablet/ sachet once weekly; Zinc and multivitamins, 1 tab once a day.
7. Tab. Ivermectin may/may not help (12mg once a day for 3 days).
8. Tab. Azithromycin (500mg once a day for 5 days), Tab. Doxycycline (100mg twice a day for 5 days) is used to counter secondary infection or undiagnosed sore throat.
9. Cetirizine/Allegra/cough syrups (Zedex for dry and Brozedex for wet cough) may help.
10. Steam, kadha may help as throat soothing agents.

4 Important Points

•  Remember Day 5 covid treatment is the most important. Virus stops replicating after 9 days, so any little role if Remdesivir or any antiviral drug has in the treatment of disease is only in the first 7-9 days not beyond. Not even a single study to date has proved that it helps in improving the survival of the patient.

•  Plasma therapy also has no/very limited role in the initial stages of disease only.
•  No need to exhaust our resources on Remdesivir and Plasma
•  The more we start inquiring about these, the more panic is created giving a chance to few people to indulge in black marketing.
•  No need to rush to get the chest CT scan done before day 5 as the virus enters the chest only after D5.
• The timing of treatment is crucial in #Covid.

• Most important is to identify the start of symptoms i.e Day 1 If we are able to identify our initiation of symptoms(D1) and Day 5 accurately, most of the patients can be treated at home only with medications with minimal/no oxygen requirement.
• So, the Onset of any symptom like sore throat, headache, body aches, cough, fever should be duly noted.
• Fever/Breathlessness persisting/increasing beyond D5 indicates pneumonia and warrants immediate intervention with steroids in consultation with the physician.
• The most commonly used steroid is Medrol. The usual dose is 1-2mg /Kg bodyweight of the patient.
• Steroids are the only drug that has been proven to be a lifesaver in the case of Covid and should be started if symptoms persist/worsen beyond D5. The rise in death rate is mainly because patients are missing Day 5and are waiting longer before starting with the lifesaving steroids by the time situation had already worsened.
• Physicians may also recommend an oral/injectable anticoagulant in case of pneumonia to guard against cardiac complications.

5. Red flags/critical signs requiring immediate medical attention:

1. Temperature > 103 F without paracetamol or 101 even after paracetamol
2. Persistent cough
3. Sudden onset of shortness of breath (SOB)
4. A rapid increase in CRP (C-reactive Protein, an indicator of inflammation in the body)
5. CT Chest score >13/25
6. Spo2 less than 94%

The bottom line is that once you have covid symptoms do not panic and recognize your Day 1. And if you are on Day 5, then observe your symptoms according to the above information. If you need to consult your physician for further treatment, do that immediately. Day 5 to Day 10 are the most important days for you. The treatment has to be done within these days if required. Day 5 covid treatment is most important

An articulate Dr. Mathew Varghese of St Stephens Hosp, Delhi explains succinctly.👇🏼
Seriously recommend everyone to watch this. Treatment, timeline and intricacies explained in a very simple manner.

Disclaimer: It is meant only for the purpose of educating people regarding the illness and a piece of specific medical advice from a physician/Pediatrician is strongly recommended.

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