Temporary Change To Our Illness Policy
Usually we welcome sick people into our office so I can help patients reduce their symptoms and get over their respiratory illnesses faster. However in an effort to help keep our community safe from the rapid spread of coronavirus COVID-19, I’m asking you to stay home if you may be sick with a respiratory illness or have been exposed to respiratory illness. If that means you need to cancel your appointment, we’ll waive the late cancel fee.
Because there are so many unknowns and the situation could change quickly, this means using your common sense about the best public health practices for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Please stay home if you may be sick with a respiratory illness and cancel your appointment if any of the following are applicable to you or anyone in your household:
- Fever (oral temperature 100.4° or higher) or symptoms of fever (such as chills or body aches) within the past 24 hours. Please do not consider yourself fever-free until your temperature has been normal for at least 24 hours without the use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Advil (ibuprofen).
- Shortness of breath and/or cough that is not known to be caused by another condition (for example congestive heart failure or allergies).
- Travel within the past 14 days to areas that have people known to be infected with Covid-19 such as China, Iran, Italy, Japan, and S Korea
- Close contact with a person known/suspected to be infected with COVID-19 within the past 14 days.
- Healthcare workers who have been in contact with patients known/suspected to be infected with COVID-19 within the past 14 days.
I know many of you have come to depend on acupuncture and cupping to treat your viral and bacterial infections, so it’s difficult to ask you to stay away at this time, but your extra caution could help the community in our office and at large. Prevention really is the best medicine right now with so many unknowns.
What We’re Doing To Keep The Office Safe
We are committed to keeping things clean and safe at the clinic. I’m certified in clean needle technique and we have procedures to prevent the spread of pathogens. That’s why we normally welcome sick people into the office and my staff and I never feel like we are getting sick from work or that patients are getting sick from our office. We’ve increased our cleaning, disinfecting, and safety procedures. We will continue to stay up on the latest information and update our procedures to keep us all as safe as possible.
What You Can Do To Take Care Of Yourself
The most important things you can do to support your immune system are really basic:
- Don’t panic. Stress is bad for your immune system. It’s normal to have worried thoughts. Just don’t entertain them for too long. Make some time to do something enjoyable each day and connect with loved ones.
- Wash your hands frequently and don’t touch your face unless you just washed your hands.
- Get enough sleep. Turn off the screens and start winding down a little earlier.
- Drink lots of water to support healthy mucous membranes as a first line of defense. Hot water and tea have been shown to inhibit viruses in our throat.
- Eat more nutrient dense whole foods, soups, and bone broth.
- Eat less inflammatory foods: sugar, industrial seed oils, processed foods, alcohol, and foods you are sensitive to (wheat, dairy, eggs, nightshades etc.)
- Support lung health by doing some even breathing, preferably outdoors in fresh air, to move circulation and clear out toxins. Breath in through your nose for a count of 5, hold for 1, then out through your mouth for a count of 5, hold for 1. Make the counts even and not too long that you struggle.
If you want to add to your immune boosting routine, I recommend you choose some of the following:
- Acupuncture is the number one way I support my immune system and I’ve been adding immune boosting points in everyone’s treatments. You can even book an appointment focused on boosting your immune system or reducing your stress–see above about how important it is to reduce your stress. Get in touch or book online here.
- Immune boosting and antiviral herbs! We have lots of herbs to boost your immune system and kill viruses. We’re stocked up on simple pills and we have powders to mix into your custom formulas. Just let us know you are interested and we’ll figure out the easiest way to get you some.
- Probiotics are an important part of your immune system. They are available in fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, raw sauerkraut, specifically labeled pickles, miso, kombucha (careful because it can contain lots of sugar and some caffeine). I recommend supplementing with a concentrated pill or powder. We carry a high quality, shelf stable probiotic in the office only available from medical providers. Let us know if you want to try it or replenish your stock.
- Elderberry syrup is one of my go to recommendations for antiviral support that you can get at Oliver’s or Whole foods.
- Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Zinc are also good supplements to boost your immune system.
While they say the risk for COVID-19 is currently low in our area, I want to use an abundance of caution to protect our immune compromised patients, help slow a potentially rapid spread of COVID-19 that could overwhelm the healthcare system, and continue to serve our community without interruption.
