The Crash Protocol

Table of Contents

• Crashing

• Quick Summary of The Crash Protocol

• More details

  • Antihistamines
  • Humming (5-10min)
  • Breathing exercises (10-20min)
  • Perrin technique/Lymphatic Drainage massage (3 min)
  • Fasting (12 - 48 hours)
  • Low histamine diet (several weeks)

Crashing

When we crash, we've pushed our bodies too far, either by physical, mental or emotional exertion.

Through my journey with Long Covid, I've developed the following protocol that have helped me immensely. I am still tweaking it, but I wanted to share it with you in case it can help you too.

In this protocol, we take steps to calm down, reset and recharge or body. Physically we are lowering our heartbeat and respiration rate, increasing our depleted O2, and NO supplies, stimulating the Vagus nerve.

Quick Summary of The Crash Protocol

You want to start as soon as possible. Here is the short version of the protocol:

More details

Antihistamines

I immediately take 1-2 antihistamines to calm down the immune response. Currently, I take an H1 antihistamine called Allergex (1 x 4 mg chlorpheniramine maleate) as well as an H2 antihistamine called Pepcid (1 x 20 mg famotidine) which I had to import from Amazon. I have found that antihistamines help me calm down and feel better. I have also found that I have a histamine intolerance, so this may not work for everyone.

Humming (5-10min)

It may sound silly, but as soon as you feel the crash coming on, start humming(even better if you do this along with relaxing music)!

Although you might not feel like doing anything at this point, after about 5-10 minutes of humming, you should start feeling better. Humming increases Nitric Oxide(NO) (opens in a new tab), slows down our breathing rate naturally and stimulates our Vagus nerve (opens in a new tab). Limit your in-breath and humming(out-breath) to nasal only.

• Cold Shower (30s-5min): Cold showers calm you down through Vagus nerve stimulation (opens in a new tab). You can start with a normal warm shower, then do 30s to 5min ice cold (or as cold as you can muster) to end your shower.

Breathing exercises (10-20min)

We are bringing control and calm to our respiratory system and diaphragm, taking long and deliberate abdominal breaths through the nose. In a study by the University of Leeds (opens in a new tab), a technique called resonant breathing was found to be effective in reducing symptoms of Long Covid.

Resonant breathing consists of 4-second inhales and 6-second exhales; this pattern of breathing changes the breathing rate to 5.5 to 6 breaths per minute, which some suggest is the optimal breathing pattern.

Doing this exercise twice per day will have immediate as well as lon term benefits:

After 4 weeks of the HRV-B intervention, patients experienced a reduction in symptom severity by 20% (6-point reduction on 30-point scale); patients also reported better sleep and physical functioning. Overall, the intervention improved global health, quality of life, and autonomic symptoms. Most patients said that they will continue exercises after the study.

I used and Android app called Awesome Breathing: Pacer Timer (opens in a new tab)

• Meditation (10-20min): We are calming down and resetting the mind and body. In doing this we will burn less O2. When we are in a state of calm, our brains burn 10-20% less oxygen.

For meditaion, you can use the Insight Timer (opens in a new tab) app which offer great free meditation exercises. If you are on iOS, you can use the Calm (opens in a new tab) app.

Perrin technique/Lymphatic Drainage massage (3 min)

Fasting (12 - 48 hours)

I immediately stop eating as soon as I suspect a crash coming on. This is by far the best thing that worked for me to get out of long term crashes.

For this crash protocol, I fast for 1-2 days, and then slowly introduce food back in. I start with bone broth, then add in some vegetables, and then some protein. I avoid any carbs and sugar for the first 2-3 days. Typically, I feel much better around day 2 of fasting.

Low histamine diet (several weeks)

If any of the histamine related steps above helped you in any way, especially the antihistamines and fasting, you might have a histamine intolerance. I have found that a low histamine diet has helped me immensely. I avoid all high histamine foods, and I avoid all fermented foods. I also avoid all foods that are high in histamine liberators.