Maintaining healthy lungs post Covid

Healthy lungs are vital for survival and with the prevailing pandemic, ensuring the health of one’s lungs is paramount. Hence, Health Capsule consulted Dr. Neranjan Dissanayake, Consultant Chest Physician, Teaching Hospital and District Chest Clinic, Ratnapura to get a better insight into how this goal could be achieved. 

Tips for healthy lungs
Avoiding smoking is important to maintain healthy lungs. The inhalation of environmental pollutants and unnecessary substances, assuming  it will help one safeguard against the disease should be curtailed. Thirdly, one must be attentive to one’s general health. A nutritious and balanced diet will definitely help boost the immune system and will eventually improve the general health.

“We should avoid inhaling harmful substances such as cigarette smoking, inhaling air pollutants like kerosene oil, burning substances such as wood and even the excessive inhalation of incense. Especially, in humid places, you can have a lot of fungi and fungal spores in the houses. Therefore, keep the environment clean and if someone is engaged in a job involving a lot of dust and pollutants in the environment, it is always better to practice appropriate safety measures to prevent the lungs being further damaged. 

“Secondly, it is unfortunate to note how some are promoting various substances to be inhaled during Covid. When steaming, people add various herbs and chemical substances in the belief that it would help in preventing Covid. I have seen several patients with lung damage due to the use of these substances. People inhale these substances in households as a routine even before they contract Covid, in the hope of preventing the disease. We don’t agree with the use of balms such as menthol, being used along with steam because these are also chemical substances. Such practices will lead to the lungs being inflamed due to chemicals. Although some people might not face any problem, in certain people it can result in damaging their lungs including the mucosa which is very sensitive.

Therefore, I don’t advise on steam inhalation as it is not scientifically proven. To destroy the virus, you have to reach a certain amount of temperature and if that type of temperature reaches the mucosa, the mucosa will get damaged. Therefore, it is advised not to pursue such remedies. Oral consumption of such substances may be effective but inhalation is definitely not recommended as it could harm the lungs. We also see patients with post covid syndrome with abnormally destroyed lung areas, in which case you can get other infections like fungal infections” Dr. Dissanayake explained.

When steaming, people add various herbs and chemical substances in the belief that it would help in preventing Covid. I have seen several patients with lung damage due to the use of these substances

Vulnerable groups & take home message

Detailing on the vulnerable groups, Dr. Dissanayake said that during the Covid epidemic, most patients with complications who succumbed had several factors common in them with obesity and diabetes being major culprits. Although it is advised to consume a nutritious meal, one must be more mindful of the food consumed post Covid, as patients tend to develop a strong appetite afterwards.

 “Those who are already obese, need to try and lose weight to minimize the risk of the disease. During the second wave, obese patients had a poor outcome as opposed to those who were non obese. Another major chronic disease that affected the patients was diabetes and patients with uncontrolled diabetes had a poor outcome in comparison to patients with controlled diabetes or non diabetic patients. The other group that is vulnerable is patients with renal impairments. Patients with debilitating lung diseases, malignancies and the elderly are also very vulnerable” Dr. Dissanayake added.

Conclusively, sending a strong message to the public, Dr. Dissanayake emphasized the need to maintain the general health by controlling one’s weight and sugar levels in order to minimize the risk of Covid. Additionally, curtailing smoking was encouraged and the inhalation of pollutants including steaming were not recommended considering the damage it could cause to the patient’s lungs.