Update: Down but not out

[Palouse]

Glad you are back with us coffee drinkers!
I found this informative, and it matches what my daughter experienced.
Grey and snowing in Alaska—sounds like a nice December day!
Cheers, Dan!

 

[Mike Buckley]

So glad to know you and your wife are feeling better! I hope your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal soon. Thanks for the update.

At first we weren't going to test thinking it really doesn't matter since there's no treatment etc.

One major reason the rate of death caused by COVID is lower than it used to be is that the medical community has learned lots of effective methods of treating COVID patients than they knew at the outset of the pandemic. That explains why I'm definitely going to seek medical help if it is ever determined that I probably have contracted the disease.

So apparently there's a fairly narrow window as the disease progresses during which a test will yield positive results.

I think it's more accurate to say that fairly narrow window exists during the period of time the patient is symptomatic. The important point is that if adequate testing was being done (it was never done in America at least according to every epidemiologist I've heard), patients that are asymptomatic would be more accurately diagnosed before the onset of symptoms. Also, patients that don't ever exhibit symptoms would be more accurately diagnosed.

 

[Randy]

Eat and sleep to help your body fight and I hope it passes wo complications. I tested positive in June and never had any symptoms

 

[Butlerkid]

Great update. Thanks, Dan.

 

[drr1531]

Glad you are back with us coffee drinkers!
I found this informative, and it matches what my daughter experienced.
Grey and snowing in Alaska—sounds like a nice December day!

It was horrible, Nick. I actually drank a few cups of.... TEA. Only did that because everything is frozen so I couldn't go scoop up a cup of ditch water

We're having a more typical winter this year after several with very low precipitation. Had a more typical(i.e. wet) summer as well.

So glad to know you and your wife are feeling better! I hope your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal soon. Thanks for the update.

Thanks, Mike. We used to be fairly serious athletes and monitored ourselves routinely. We noticed many years ago that the first sign of colds/flu coming on was elevated pulse rate a day or two before any other symptoms would show up. Also over training would cause elevated pulse. When those indicators return to normal we'll feel confident that we're truly over it.

... That explains why I'm definitely going to seek medical help if it is ever determined that I probably have contracted the disease.

I know the "medical help" doesn't necessarily mean hospital. But up here if you show up at a hospital and are symptomatic but not life threateningly ill they will turn you away. Basically tell you to go home and take an aspirin.

...The important point is that if adequate testing was being done (it was never done in America at least according to every epidemiologist I've heard), patients that are asymptomatic would be more accurately diagnosed before the onset of symptoms. Also, patients that don't ever exhibit symptoms would be more accurately diagnosed.

Until recently Alaska exceeded the WHO/CDC recommended testing rate(i.e. positive results less than 5%) for months. It made no evident difference in infection rates. We were at the bottom of the charts until late summer when numbers started to climb. Now we're middle of the pack of US states at around 80 cases per 100k population. Our testing rate is 2-3x most states and 10x some states. It hasn't had any apparent positive impact. No doubt the scientists would love to have the data produced by more testing. Question is whether it makes any practical difference in the here and now.

Eat and sleep to help your body fight and I hope it passes wo complications. I tested positive in June and never had any symptoms

Thanks, Randy. We appear to be on the back side of it and none the worse for wear. The only problem we have with the eating and sleeping is trying to avoid too much of either

Great update. Thanks, Dan.

Thanks for commenting, Karen.

 

[Mike Buckley]

No doubt the scientists would love to have the data produced by more testing. Question is whether it makes any practical difference in the here and now.

Agreed. Adequate testing in itself isn't beneficial unless there is an appropriate community response to the information provided by the data, such as effective, efficient contact tracing. The epidemiologists I've heard indicated at the beginning of the pandemic that testing was inadequate everywhere in America and that now it's basically too late for adequate testing to provide the benefits we would otherwise expect.

South Korea is regularly cited by the epidemiologists as an example of both adequate testing and community response to the data provided by the testing. That's partly because their and America's first known COVID patient were discovered the same day. Yet South Korea's infection and death rate per capita has been so much lower than in America.

 

[andreasb]

I think its great news you both are ok, who cares about the weather ;-)

As for testing I heard an American Proff suggesting we all would have the a bunch of rapid tests at home, if you take the test on a regular basis, it will show if you are in the beginning of having the Covid-19 virus with good accuracy he said. And if we tested positive and staid home if we where positive it would slow the spread.... I though it was an interesting idea, but then again what do I know....

 

[Pa]

Thanks for posting this good information about your experiences, Dan. It could be very helpful information for some of us down the line. Very glad to hear that you seem to be about over it.

Just out of curiosity, do you or your wife regularly take a zinc supplement? Zinc is reported to be important for immune system health. I have been taking a daily zinc supplement for quite a few years and I rarely get a cold and haven't had flu in many years. Correlation does not prove causation of course...

 

[gchappel]

Zinc is reported to be important for immune system health.

It is interesting you mention zinc. I was at my eye doctors last week. He is a strong proponent of some specific vitamins and anti-oxidants that may help with macular degeneration. I said sure, can't hurt anything. He specifically mentioned NOT to take supplements that contain zinc. According to him- and I have not done any searching myself to confirm but this is a pretty smart guy I have known for 30 years- zinc supplements have been associated with dementia including Alzheimer's disease.
Who knows? Certainly not me. I will say in my 40 years of practicing medicine I do not believe I have ever seen an active drug that did not have some type of side effect. You take the good with the bad, your choice.
gary

 

[Pa]

He specifically mentioned NOT to take supplements that contain zinc. According to him- and I have not done any searching myself to confirm but this is a pretty smart guy I have known for 30 years- zinc supplements have been associated with dementia including Alzheimer's disease.
Who knows?

Thanks, Gary. That's the first I had heard of such a link. This is important for my wife and I since both of our mothers had Alzheimer's disease.

When I left the hospital after my stroke last year I was given a list of daily supplements I should take. Zinc was prominent among them.

You prompted me to do some online research. I have found a number of very technical scientific articles about the possible role of zinc in development of dementia. But the results are contradictory. Some say zinc plays a positive role in suppression of dementia. Others say it promotes dementia. The jury is still out...

Each of us is an experiment of one.

 

[gchappel]

Each of us is an experiment of one.

Wiser words are rarely spoken. If we all knew and practiced that, we would understand more about the strengths and weaknesses of medicine and medical research.
Heck, now I find out a fair amount of material I was taught in medical school is now wrong.
We learn everyday.
gary

 

[Mike Buckley]

Each of us is an experiment of one.

Uncle Frank (now deceased) was admired by many here at the Cafe. When my nephew was born with Down Syndrome, Uncle Frank mentioned that every newborn is a throw of the genetic dice.

 

[Terri French]

So glad to hear you are doing better. Covid is rampant here in my area. We are trying to be so careful. We can't hide away.....Greg still works 60 miles away and has to ride a bus every day. We care for our elderly mothers and have to take them to doctor's appointments and such. Every trip out is a risk. We try to minimize that risk for sure.

 

[Phil K]

Wiser words are rarely spoken. If we all knew and practiced that, we would understand more about the strengths and weaknesses of medicine and medical research.
Heck, now I find out a fair amount of material I was taught in medical school is now wrong.
We learn everyday.
gary

I think the fundamental spirit of science and knowledge is that there is no eternal truth. I always tell my patients that the management options I recommend may not be the 'right' options, but they are the most appropriate options according to knowledge and technology at that particular time.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Covid is rampant here in my area.

I've been thinking a lot of you and Nick. That's because though your local communities were relatively devoid of the virus for so long, all of a sudden your state has had immense problems. So sorry to see that it finally got to your local area. Be safe and stay well.

The county I live in has the most disease of the 95 counties in Virginia. That's because it also has the largest population. However, the zip code I live in has consistently had the sixth-most disease per capita of the 45 zip codes in the county. That, in addition to the fact that I'm just days away from my 70th birthday, explains why my wife and I have been very vigilant from the outset when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.

 

[Palouse]

I've been thinking a lot of you and Nick. That's because though your local communities were relatively devoid of the virus for so long, all of a sudden your state has had immense problems. So sorry to see that it finally got to your local area. Be safe and stay well.

The county I live in has the most disease of the 95 counties in Virginia. That's because it also has the largest population. However, the zip code I live in has consistently had the sixth-most disease per capita of the 45 zip codes in the county. That, in addition to the fact that I'm just days away from my 70th birthday, explains why my wife and I have been very vigilant from the outset when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.

We in Moscow (Idaho) talk of living in a bubble within a bubble within a bubble. Traveling away from home within the state is rather scary in socio-political and health-related ways. It pays to be safe. This is probably the most conservative I've ever been in my life—yup, turning 70 is worth it!

 

[Clix Pix]

At age 75 and living in the same county and general vicinity as Mike, I am definitely being as protective of myself as possible, with trips out consisting of brief drives and quick stops at the library, the grocery store and the bank (the latter just once a month to make a swap of external drives from there to bring home to update, having placed freshly updated ones in the box). In the nicer, warmer weather, I would go out and walk around the boardwalk and the trail that goes around our little lake, but now it is getting too cold for that so I'll be spending more time indoors at home. Going to be a long winter!