I seek the blessings of my beloved Swamiji and wish all Os.me members a very good health.

With the almighty’s grace, I managed to make a few special dishes for Prasad and finished the puja on the Gudi Padwa day. Since there was some civil work ongoing at my place I decided to send the prasad with my son and husband, to my Mother-in-Law where a family lunch for all  members was in place.

On their way back, my husband got a call from his ex driver.

He said ” Sir please work from home for this month. You remember Sir , I met a very close family when I dropped you at Ahmedabad. They are all Covid positive and the head of the family who was just around 50 years has passed away. Sir please cancel your ticket and continue to work from mumbai.” 

I firmly believe in ‘Silent whispers of the universe’.

In-spite of the driver pleading with both of us, when my husband left for Ahmedabad, I was beginning to see that some problem is about to arrive.

So he left on the 13th of April from Mumbai and came back on 18th  morning. He was active for most part of the day ( except for some intermittent cough) but by night he complained of body ache. Checked his temp which was normal, but all the same gave him a crocin. He woke up without complains and got ready for his office work by 9. Since the painting was going on, he had already isolated himself in one room. I went to his  room when he was on a call and soon he signaled me that he had got fever.

Now the alarm bells rang. It was already 12 noon. I had no idea, as to which doctor to consult or to get which specific tests done. We typically don’t have a family doctor, as we both consult some specialty doc ( in the 2 hospitals nearby) or office doctor for general medicine. I had asked my son to search the internet, before he left for office. So as per him I did the CRP test in the afternoon and talked to one distant doctor cousin of mine. The result came positive  with a value of 6.9 by evening. My husband was very surprised and wanted to prove me wrong that this marker was good enough to assume that he had become Covid positive. He believes in black and white results, and hence got done his Rtpcr test done the next day. The result came positive when it was almost 10 pm, and we had lost another one day.

The next day he consulted his office doctor and one local doc and got started  on the below medicines.

  • Ivermectin 12 mg – once daily for 5 days  ( which inhibits replication of virus)
  • Doxycyclin 100mg -twice daily for 7 days (antibiotic and anti inflammatory)
  • Favi Flu 400mg { recommended only after his liver and kidney function tests were found to be okay} – Day 1 ( 5 tablets after breakfast, 4 tablets after dinner) , Day 2 onwards ( 2 tablets after breakfast and dinner) . This is an antiviral medicine.
  • Here Day 1 means the day he got started on the meds.
  • Zincovit- one daily for 15 days (Zinc supplement)
  • Pan D Antacid

His Ct score in the RTPCR test showed 17. This meant that he had a moderate to high level of virus load.

Based on the multiple discussions I have had with my family members and colleagues, I realized that most of them did not know about the markers that can be used to track the severity of COVID once they are infected by it. A majority of the COVID cases can be prevented from turning into severe cases if people are alert about the day their symptoms start showing up, track the below markers and get the right medication without significant delay.

I request  you all not to wait for the results of RTPCR test, and as soon as symptoms start showing up-  get the following tests done and report to your nearby doctor.

Please take the time to understand about each of the markers as seen below, I have also provided links to short videos that provides brief explanation of these markers.

«  All the videos attached below are from Dr KK Agarwal’s Youtube channel, he is a Padma Shree awardee India Physician  current President CMAAO and President of the Heart Care Foundation of India »

I would be using terms such as Day 1, 2 ,3 etc  in the below paragraphs, to understand it better please watch the below clip

 C Reactive protein (CRP test)- (This test requires a blood sample and usually costs around Rs 400 to 500 bucks)

As you would understand after going through the video( [1] Proactive Management of COVID), the levels of systemic immuno-inflammation and clotting that may take place inside our body are the two most important parameters to determine the severity of damage being caused by COVID.

The CRP test gives the value C reactive protein in the body and its value is directly proportional to the amount of inflammation in the body.

A CRP value of greater than 10 mg/L needs to be seriously and needs immediate attention in the form of anti-inflammatory drugs.

The thumb rule is we need to bring down CRP less than 5mg/L by day 5, if that does not seem possible then CRP less than 10mg/L by day 10

D Dimer test- (This test also requires a blood sample and costs around Rs 1200 to Rs 1500)

A D-dimer test looks for D-dimer in blood. D-dimer is a protein fragment (small piece) that’s made when a blood clot dissolves in your body.

A D dimer value of greater than o.5 mg per liter or greater than 500 ng per ml needs attention. Anti Coagulation drugs are usually prescribed to bring down high D dimer values.

A high D dimer value may indicate thrombosis/clotting in the body and this may lead to future complications.

( Day 4,day 5 and Day 6 are the most crucial  days, Dr KK Agarwal recommends to get tested at least twice -for example on day 4 and day 6 to understand the trend)

*Please keep in mind that the D dimer values may also be high in cases of pregnancy, heart disease, and recent surgery.

CBC test – (same as before this is also a simple blood test)

According to Dr KK Agarwal, a low lymphocyte count has consistently been seen in almost all COVID cases.

If the absolute lymphocyte count drops below 1000/microL, it should grab our attention and it could be a sign of oncoming inflammation.

I say oncoming inflammation as this drop in lymphocyte count is seen even before there is an increase in CRP levels.

A low platelet count with high CRP is also an indicator of clotting in the body, would need a D dimer to confirm.

Conclusion: Like many others I also thought that I will not get Covid and did not read or prepare myself to do any firefighting. Lost 3 full days before I could start the medicines. Else I simply could have had things under control by the 5th day . My husband’s CRP came down to less than 10mg/l by the 10th day. Got his tests repeated every few days (as per the above videos). Right now our focus is to bring down the CRP levels below 1.5mg/L before we  declare that we are out of danger.

If you do get the time please go through this almost hour long video, it covers all the above point plus other important information in a easy to understand manner.

[1]Proactive Management of COVID

Be safe and act fast.

Jai Shree Hari