Steve Penny

I was in Thailand in February 2020 when the Corona Virus first appeared outside of China and flew to New Zealand to avoid the flu season in the Northern Hemisphere.

By March international travel was breaking down and borders were closing. I had to buy two tickets to get one off the island of New Zealand because there were so many canceled flights.

I was the only Caucasian wearing a mask among thousands of people in the Auckland airport. I fully realized I was taking a risk getting on an airplane. But I also understood that every day that passed it would become more dangerous and figured if I got the virus, I’d rather be first in line at the hospital than last in line.

It's just a roll of the dice who you are seated next to on an air flight. Before we even took off there was a guy sitting a row behind me who couldn’t stop coughing – wasn’t wearing a mask – and I wondered if I was receiving my death sentence. That lasted for hours on a long international flight where you can’t open the door at 35,000 ft and get fresh air!

Five days later which is the average time symptoms develop I began experiencing involuntary twitches all over by body from head to toe. A feeling I’ve never experienced in my life followed by fever, headaches and acute fatigue for the next four weeks until my fever broke.

I was lucky. I didn’t end up in the hospital. But months later I still don’t have full mental functioning, brain fog, problems concentrating and word recall that stops me dead in mid-sentence for someone who has been a professional speaker all my life.

I want to share with you my first hand experience of Covid-19 - 3 Simple Tips That Can Save Your Life that are my biggest take aways from actually having had Covid-19 rather than simply reading about it in terms of what to expect if you get the virus - and why you want to do everything you can to avoid getting Covid-19 to and the long term neurological affects that are unlike any flu you’ve ever had.

1) Recognize that Covid-19 is as much a mental challenge as a physical challenge.

The disruption of people’s lives and social distancing has already taken a heavy toll on everyone’s feelings of safety and well-being. However, if you actually contract the virus this ramps up dramatically while the symptoms intensify for the first 5 to 7 days because there is simply no way of knowing how bad it will get.

It’s a virus unlike any you have previously experienced with a tremendous variation and intensity of symptoms for different people. Both in the short term if you are going to end up in the hospital in the first 5 to 7 days, as well as the long term affects like brain fog and difficulty concentrating that can last for months.

Or, if it is going to kill you - which naturally weighs on anyone’s mind!

Know you will have to summon all your mental resolve and resiliency to overcome these unknowns and expect that will be as great a challenge as the fevers, coughs and body aches you’ve experienced with other more common flues in the past.

2) Lack of mental clarity, cognitive ability and neurological problems are some of the prominent symptoms of this virus.

While symptoms for some by day may not be as bad as the average flu its been said “The beast comes in the night!”

Like waking up not knowing where you are at 4:00 AM with hallucinatory dreams, trembling and terrible night sweats. Or difficulty concentrating, thinking clearly or being able to finish sentences lacking normal word recall.

In worst cases, feeling your lung capacity suddenly falling off and the fear and panic that can set in not being able to fully catch your breath.

3) Know what your normal healthy baseline lung function is by counting how many seconds you can hold your breath.

Simply take a deep breath and count how many seconds you can hold it right now while you are healthy. This may save your life come 4:00 AM and you cannot think straight of what is “normal” if your lung function suddenly starts falling off.

If you know what your normal healthy lung function is you will have an accurate comparison of how quickly it is declining by doing this same simple test at regular intervals and knowing if you need to call 911 and get to the hospital.

Every hour you wait during that critical emergency that can often occur around the 5th to 7th day of symptoms may save months of difficult recovery time and keep you off a ventilator if you don’t wait too long.

Ignoring these symptoms at the same time as you aren’t thinking straight as a result of the virus can result in your death!

Knowledge Drives Out Fear

You need to expect Covid-19 will be as much a mental as physical challenge. Knowing your normal healthy lung function with a simple test anyone can perform of how many seconds you can hold your breath will be your grip on reality with Covid-19 when you have to expect you will not be thinking clearly!