Respiratory Illness Protocol

Most important: start the following the instant you feel that “I’m weirdly tired, am I getting sick?” feeling. I’m convinced prophylactic forced naps have saved me from days of symptoms. Sleep/Rest Get in bed and close your eyes and try to sleep, even if you don’t feel like it. More important than anything below. Let your body send its calories to your immune system. If symptoms are keeping you awake, don’t be afraid to use symptom-relieving drugs to get good sleep: Vic’s, cough drops, Advil, belt of whiskey, whatever. But I recommend unbundling combo drugs like NyQuil. I usually just want the antitussive - which you can buy separately - to let me sleep, while the antihistamine it’s bundled with reduces my sleep quality. Zinc acetate lozenges Suck on 80+mg per day of zinc acetate lozenges That’s ~5 of the ones linked below. Yes it’s a lot. Suck, don’t swallow. Zinc works as an antimicrobial in your throat. The goal is to coat your throat. Zinc will make things taste funny for ~1 hour after the lozenge dissolves, so don’t use right before meals. I buy these. Zinc acetate is supposedly better than gluconate, but probably both fine References https://acesounderglass.com/2021/09/27/consider-taking-zinc-every-time-you-travel/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5418896/ Any nasal spray I’ve tried plain saline, xylitol, cofirx, iota carrageenan, and nitric oxide/enovid. They all seem to work the same, and all beat not using one. I use them ad libitum, though some have usage guidelines. You can also do the neti pot thing, but my compliance is higher when I just use a nasal spray. E.g. I’m not going to neti pot in an airplane bathroom. (And pray nobody else is.) References https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lansea/article/PIIS2772-3682(22)00046-4/fulltext https://www.cochranelibrary.com/content?templateType=related&urlTitle=%2Fcentral%2Fdoi%2F10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-02239918&doi=10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-02239918&p_p_id=scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay&_scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay_action=related-content&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_mode=view&type=central&contentLanguage= (optional) Vitamin C and D, or maybe just a multivitamin b/c who knows what you’re deficient in? Unclear whether they do much, but they might, and won’t hurt Careful with cough drops Great for acute relief while the cough drop is in my mouth, but I find any brands that aren’t the OG Ricola honey ones make the symptoms worse than before once I’ve finished the cough drop, which leads to a chain-smoking-like spiral of always needing another lozenge. YMMV. For treating specific symptoms Consult this article, since most cold/flu medicines are BS Feel better soon!