From my many conversations with patients this week, I’d say we’re all just a little freaked out. It’s a combination of the bad things that have already happened (stock market, layoffs, closings, increasing coronavirus cases) and the uncertainty about the bad things that could happen in the future. If you’re freaked, you have every excuse to be that way.

Last weekend, I went through some pretty dark moments myself. But I realized that a way out had to exist, a way to thrive and prosper despite the apparent collapse of the society around me (and not being able to find toilet paper).

Here’s what I came up with: I have to CREATE my way out of this situation. “Trying harder” and “keeping my nose to the grindstone” are pretty useless approaches to this problem. What’s needed is to look at the situation as it exists and see how I can create new opportunities and solutions. How can I help more people more effectively? How can I help them despite the limitations we’re living through right now?

By Monday afternoon, I had created enough answers to start feeling a little excited. I know it’s probably bad form to have any happiness right now, but thinking about how I can make a difference in my patient’s lives while they weather this crisis DOES make me happy! [Here is my plan that is making me happy]

I recommend that you look at your situation. Hunkering down and hiding isn’t going to work long-term. What can you CREATE in your life to improve your happiness? Answer this question, and you might be on your journey to come safely out of the other side of this disaster.

The First Things to Do:

1. Don’t do “nothing,” which is always the wrong thing to do.
2. Don’t try to keep your life the same as it was before.

Hey! Look around. You’ll have to make some adjustments, stop doing some of the things that you used to do, and change your priorities. Hiding, pretending that this all blowing over in the next few weeks; these are not going to help you.

Here’s a list of the changes I have made for my family. I recommend that you come up with your list and implement it.

The Second Things to Do

List out the things that could bite you, and CREATE (remember that word?) solutions to all of them.

Examples:

• Losing my job.
  • SOLUTION: Get fully informed of any assistance or insurance you are eligible for and work out how to live off this before it occurs (or quickly if it’s already happened).
  • Get inventive and create a new source of income that will work in the current society (the only way you can’t do this is if you are sure it’s impossible).
• Getting sick.
  • SOLUTION: Short term, find out how to boost your immune system in your specific case (there are generic answers to this, but they aren’t nearly as effective as tailoring a protocol to you). [Here is how]
  • Immediately implement personal policies to reduce your exposure [Here is my personal list].
  • Longer-term, get on an effective health improvement program. Healing and improving bodies respond entirely differently to stress and infection than one that’s plateaued or getting worse. [Here’s How]
• Being stressed.
  • SOLUTION: Create your program of self-improvement and stress reduction. This could be a great time to take an online course, write poetry, short stories, or a novel, or organize your family photos for posterity.
  • Physically, take walks, do yoga, stretch, but do this every day.

It’s kind of miraculous how just starting to move the needle on this whole messed-up situation will change your outlook for the better.

Let Me Know What You’re Doing

Leave a comment below, or email me at PatientServices@AlternativeHealthAtlanta.com and tell me what you have created and what you’re doing to overcome the stress and disruption to your life. I’ll publish the best ones as an inspiration to everyone.

My Coronavirus Plan that is Making Me Happy:

I know it’s probably bad form to have any happiness right now, but thinking about how I can make a difference in my patient’s lives while they weather this crisis DOES make me happy!

Here’s my plan:

Create a safe clinic so patients can come in, be relaxed, and improve their health.

Doing this stressed me out at first. There was so much to do and so little guidance. Now that it’s done, I feel so much better, and I know that everything that could make my patients and staff safer is being done.

Continue to improve the health of every patient— despite the disruption.

I’ve been practicing for 27 years, but the stakes have never been higher. I know that every week that my patients complete on their treatment programs makes them a little safer. I understand that each new patient that starts a program goes from getting worse to starting to improve. A healing, improving body naturally resists illness, whereas a body that is getting worse is a magnet for trouble.

Create immune-boost supplement programs for patients and also for their families who aren’t patients.

The research is rolling in on supplements that improve the immune system generally and specifically for corona-type viruses. But what will work depends a lot on the person and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I’ve been able to put together groups of supplements to boost immunity, and even more importantly, I have found available sources of these supplements that are the highest quality.

Create a full-service online practice that includes supplement and diet consulting and acupressure treatments that are done at home to keep all my patients improving when they can’t leave home.

Whether you could or should leave your house has become unpredictable. Also, some of my patients should stay home, period. Also, we aren’t allowing patients with any kind of illness into the building. My responsibility is to continue to help my patients keep their health improving and thus be resistant to infection— no matter what. Thankfully, I have been researching how to do acupressure treatments using homeopathic patches for several years. I worked out the final details over the weekend and plan to “go live” as early as next week.

My purpose is to help my patients to have better lives, and with my “happy plan” I can continue to do this despite the insanity.

Dr. Billiot’s Coronavirus Family Policies

I have found it very helpful to put some order into my family life to counter the overwhelming upset and confusion. By following these rules, we all feel safe and more in control. I recommend this for every family!

• Everyone gets a temperature check each morning. Anything more than 99.6 would mean that person gets quarantined to a room.
• All of us are taking immune supplements daily, along with our regular supplement programs.
• We are reducing our exposure to infection by using online or pick up grocery shopping. If we can’t do this, then we restrict shopping to one trip to the grocery store per week instead of several. We bring wipes to the store and wear gloves. Other than the grocery store, we don’t get out much!
• We’re keeping wipes, hand sanitizer and gloves in each car.
• Hand washing rules: Wash hands after restroom use, after playing with pets, before eating and after going out in public places.
• Everyone does exercise of some kind. I’ve been doing online yoga. I’ve seen a lot of free online exercise classes from gyms, the Y, yoga and Pilates studios. Walking is also great. We walk our dogs and cat every day (it’s weird, but our cat loves to come along on the dog walks, highly amuses our neighbors).
• Self-care is important for everyone as well. When we’re this busy at the clinic, it’s easy to fall into a work-work-work pattern. If you can’t work, it’s easy to fall into a monotony of TV or internet browsing. We all need to do something that is important to us: reading, writing, art, music, whatever you do for you.
• We have a family chart on the fridge where each person marks off each daily activity. The chart keeps our attention on the important things we need to keep doing.

Took all their supplements

Exercised

Slept 8 hours

Self-Care (did something just for themselves)

Create Things (art, music, writing, flower arranging, gardening, etc.)

Avoid stressful media and people

Dr. Billiot’s Personal Safety Rules

1. Wash hands a lot.
2. Keep hand sanitizer, wipes and gloves in the car (all needed for grocery shopping).
3. No one comes in the house unless it’s essential (the plumber!) and not until I’ve questioned them on the phone: “Are you or have you been ill recently? Is anyone in your family ill? Are you coughing? Have you or your family traveled recently? Have you or your family had any exposure to the virus?”
4. Wipe down the car interior “touchables” regularly and wear gloves when gassing up.
5. Grocery shopping:

• • Best to use pickup or delivery service.
  • Go to the store and look: if it’s crowded, come back later.
  • Wear gloves.
  • Use self-checkout to stay away from other people.
  • At home, wipe everything down before putting it away (soap and water work fine, you don’t need disinfectant). Remember that all the veggies and fruits have been touched and squeezed—Wash them! Cardboard is almost as bad as plastic and steel for hosting the virus, so clean the boxes as well.
  • When you’re back at your car after shopping, pull your debit or credit card out and wipe it before you forget.

I have spoken with many of you who are anxious and upset about the Covid-19 virus. Though this is understandable, I hope to dispel some of your anxiety and give you actual data and accurate information on what the virus is and what you can do to protect yourself and your family.

ALSO: Read these articles for practical information:

Help Your Body Fight Disease

Simple Immune-Boosting Diet that You Can Do

What to Do About COVID-19

Recently, there has been much misinformation online and in the media about this virus. I have seen even well-meaning people and professionals quote unreliable sources and false information. Unfortunately, this type of false information sharing can cause many people to make unwise health decisions. I have had patients express extreme frustration at the public health measures being taken by the government and private industry, not understanding why extreme measures are taking place. As faith in our leaders and government is at an all-time low, I do understand. However, you can learn the truth despite the noise. As I have explained the public health perspective of this illness to individual patients, it has helped them to understand what is happening and why.

Despite the false information, I have much truth to share and also good news that I want to give you. Right now, things seem very much out of control. But knowing the truth about this pandemic and how to take action will make you feel more in control. I will cover some of the bad news and then tell you what we know and what we can do to be responsible for ourselves and others. This event affects all of us. Together, we can make a difference for all of us.

First, the bad news:

Coronavirus or Covid-19 is now in our country and has community spread. “Community Spread” means that patients are becoming ill who have not traveled to hotspots like China or Italy. Covid-19 is not “just the flu” or a “bad cold.” It’s an extremely dangerous virus, especially to the elderly and those with health conditions. It can cause severe double pneumonia in some cases. Presently, there are no medications or vaccines for the virus.

Hospitalization and respirators may be needed for some people, mostly those 60 and over, and especially those 80 and over.

There are limited hospital beds and staff and respirators to go around. We need to protect ourselves against overloading the health system so that we don’t inundate our hospitals and health care providers. Please visit this link https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/11/flattening-curve-coronavirus/. Together this is how we will beat this virus in a public health sense.

Children and younger adults usually get only a light infection. Still, they can transmit the virus to the older, more fragile population, as well as those who have lung disease and are otherwise immune-compromised. This virus is not “nothing.” If it moves into your lungs, you may develop double pneumonia, which is a serious health condition and potentially life-threatening.

From a public health perspective, every individual that is exposed endangers many others. Public health is just that. It is about the actions we take as individuals to keep ourselves and our families and our communities safe. It may be inconvenient or even stressful, but it is these best practices and best actions that, when taken, keep us all safe.

Best Practices, Best Actions

The “horse is out of the barn.” Covid- 19 is in our midst, but we don’t know exactly where it is because of previous testing shortages. Lack of testing is now being remedied through public and private labs. More information will be forthcoming from scientists, doctors, and public health officials as it is learned.  This is a fluid situation and a new virus, so we learn new things about the genome or the genetic aspect of the virus daily.

Now for the good news:

• There are accurate and truthful sources that you can follow for information and updates regarding the Coronavirus:
  • IMPORTANT: endcoronavirus.org a complete list of Early Outbreak Response Guidelines.
  • https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/01/23/coronavirus-outbreak-mapping-tool-649-em1-art1-dtd-health/ near real-time mapping of cases.
  • https://www.statnews.com/tag/coronavirus/  medical site with lots of current information.
  • https://www.cdc.gov/ CDC latest information.
• We have tools! Social distancing, hand hygiene, and isolation when sick work to protect ourselves and others.
• We can start now to implement these actions. These small actions, humble though they may seem, are our best defense.

Here is what to do to control this virus in your own life:

• Reduce transmission opportunities—this includes touching, coughing, sneezing, and close contact.
• Stay home if you are sick.
• Cough into your arm.
• Wash your hands all day, especially when you arrive home or after touching public surfaces like the grocery cart at the store, a counter at a bank, or another store.
• Always wash your hands before eating, and after you use the bathroom.
• Wash your hands before touching a fragile person.
• Use a tissue for a sneeze, dispose of it immediately, and wash your hands.
• Stay home at the slightest illness, especially if you have a dry cough or a fever. (A fever is a temp above 99.8).
• If you are sick and are going to a doctor, call ahead and let them know you are ill and what symptoms you have. If you have been exposed to someone who has or may have Covid-19, you should self-quarantine, and call your doctor or the health department for guidance.
• You can also call our office for help.
• Stop going to large events, especially if you are older, these include church, concerts, plays, and similar events. Stop all nonessential travel. Older and immune-compromised people should not travel at all. DO NOT GET ON A CRUISE SHIP (CDC cruise ship recommendations)
• NO ONE should get on a cruise ship no matter how old you are. Ships are breeding grounds for viruses and you have no idea where the thousands of people on the ship may have come from. There is also the risk of weeks of quarantine should just one passenger test positive for the virus.

Boost your immunity, keep yourself and your family safe

Remember that no matter what we do outwardly to avoid the virus, we must keep our internal biomes healthy and strong. Are you stressed out, not sleeping and not eating? Are you eating junk food and sugar snacks and desserts, drinking soft drinks, and lots of alcohol? Are you watching the news and following social media nonstop and feeling anxious because of this? Are you expecting the worst and searching stores and the internet in vain for toilet paper and Lysol?  These are all ways to make your physical and mental state inadequate to handle an immune challenge.

Here is what to do: 

1. Minimize (or just stop!) watching the news and social media. Go out for a walk or a run or read a book or play with the kids.
2. Find ways to handle your stress. Download apps like “Down Dog” (a yoga app that’s free until April 1. This is my favorite yoga app.) Or try “Calm” (a relaxation app) and distance yourself from the chaos for even 10-15 minutes. Practice mindfulness and realize we will get through this. We need you calm and rational for all of us to do our best for the rest of us.
3. Start eating whole foods and get rid of junk food. If you are working from home, try some new recipes. We have a full list of them at the office. Call us, and we will send them to you.
4. When you come in for your visit, ask Dr. Billiot to test you for immunity supplementation. She will recommend what you need to keep your immune system in tip-top shape.
5. SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP! Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Sleep is one thing that you can do that will increase your immunity and keep your body healing and happy.
6. If we haven’t seen you for a while, call and make an appointment.  Find out how to maximize your immunity and get your body and immune system functioning at a high level.
7. We will have immunity packs of supplements to keep you and your family supported. We also have Dr. Billiot’s custom herbal remedies, Be Strong, and Be Calm available as well for you to pick up.
8. Fear begets more fear. Love begets more Love. Be kind. Love each other. We will get through this. Breathe in, Breathe out.
9. LOVE and leave a couple of rolls of toilet paper for me out there. OK?
10. Be Calm and Wash Your Hands 
11. Please call if you have questions or just need support.