"My Covid-19 symptoms have lasted more than 100 days..." Statnews

"As a relatively inexperienced physician, the bulk of medicine I have practiced has been focused more on the known than the unknown. As a psychiatry resident, I have become somewhat more accustomed to diagnostic uncertainty and clinically guided trial and error. Yet as my Covid-19 symptoms dragged on, my physician identity began blending into my patient identity. As I repeatedly encountered the term supportive care, I realized that this wait-and-see approach hardly seemed like care at all.

Doubt started creeping in. Mild and moderate cases resolve within two weeks, I kept telling myself over and over, while my body was telling me a different story. Soon, though, articles about the potential for prolonged symptoms trickled in, easing the isolation I felt from being an outlier and giving me some hope. At the same time, the guilt of being unable to assist my colleagues in a time of crisis lurked in the background.

My search for answers eventually led me to an online support group that included people like me with prolonged Covid-19 symptoms. In addition to validating my experience, I felt a strong sense of belonging to a larger community as I read through reports of others going through the same thing I was, sometimes even with the same emotional response.

Some in the group had prolonged low-grade fevers that didn’t respond to standard fever-reducing medications. Some experienced terrifying neurological manifestations such as memory loss and changes in their ability to recall words in a primary or secondary language. Others were battling exercise-induced fatigue, with attempts at walking around the block sparking a relapse of symptoms. I’ve seen people citing symptoms in the central and peripheral nervous systems, the gastrointestinal tract, the skin, cardiovascular system, and more."  statnews

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I have had some of these symptoms for months, but they have not been severe enough to force me into a hospital.   IMO, for an old man to let the medicos decide to intubate and hook him up to a ventilator is suicidal.

I saw my family physician two weeks ago for a routine visit and we discussed this.  He did not seem overly concerned about the old man.  Perhaps he is tired of me.

The media continue to rant and rave against re-opening the economy, opening the schools, etc.  This is pathetically, obviously, part of a "throw it all at the barn door and see what sticks" effort to raise the public's discomfort reaction  to such a level that enough of them will give the marxists and the machine Democrats the perhaps irreversible power they lust for.  Judge Emmet Sullivan is just another such operative in this game.  So far, their Goebbelsian campaign is working.

I did the arithmetic today on Florida's casualties to date.  Florida has around 20 million inhabitants and just over 4000 deaths attributed to COVID-19.  This yields a product number of .03 % death in the overall population.  The same arithmetic against deaths among those said to be infected (254,000) yields 1.6 %.

This is the Black Death?  I think not.  pl 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/08/my-covid-19-symptoms-lasted-100-plus-days/

Comments

[Jack]

Sir,

I’ve not been keeping up with the media hysteria on the Wuhan virus. While I’m in the high risk group due to my advanced age my current lifestyle keeps me bound to my ranch. I do however interact with those who work here. One thing I notice is a lot of contradictory articles and data with a lot of cherry picking and analysis to push whatever agenda.

I’m intrigued by the Swedish example. No lockdown and deaths down to single digits. Yet so many articles on why Sweden failed in its response.

Then there is this Swiss virologist.

https://medium.com/@vernunftundrichtigkeit/coronavirus-why-everyone-was-wrong-fce6db5ba809

And this one noting that 40% of the Wuhan virus deaths are in just 3 states - NY, NJ, MA.

https://fee.org/articles/3-states-account-for-42-percent-of-all-covid-19-deaths-in-america-why/

One thing I know, the school shutdowns have been a disaster for my great grandkids. Online learning does not work for elementary school kids.

[Fred]

Col.,

I agree, that is why the narrative has switched to 'cases'. The war against freedom continues, otherwise the powerful may be exposed by actual revelations from the Flynn case, the Russia collusion hoax, all the connections to China and various and sundry schemes that have defauded taxpayers for years.

[Nancy K]

Did your Dr. test you for Covid-19? My mother is in an assisted living in Cary NC and all of the residents have been tested. My mom is 95 and healthy and so far so good. My husband and I have been wearing a mask when appropriate and so far are healthy also. Hope you feel better soon.

[akaPatience]

Considering that science has yet to fully understand COVID-19, I wonder if it's certain that this man's sustained ailments are primarily caused by the virus? Isn't it possible that some other opportunistic/secondary disease or condition is causing his prolonged malaise? After all, he lives and works in NYC which is Ground Zero when it comes to cases and deaths due to COVID-19. If there were anywhere in the US that anomalous symptoms and/or conditions were to occur, I'd think it would be there.

Just a few days ago, I read of another NYC physician who was thought to suffer from COVID-19, and whose illness was chronicled on NBC, yet it turns out he never had COVID-19 to begin with:

https://freebeacon.com/media/nbc-contributor-reveals-he-never-had-coronavirus-after-network-documented-his-recovery/

[turcopolier]

nancy K

I am not interested in being tested. What, so I can contribute to the statistical data base for creatures like Fauci? Testing does nothing for you except condemn you to death among the old and the weak if you are positive.

[Deap]

I hope this person is not taking Vitamin E- supplements or other topicals, linked to many of these lingering malaise symptoms you describe - particularly the crashing fatigue.

Any "supplement" or "natural herbal" can cumulatively cause side effects over time. If it is claimed to help some part of the body, it also has the potential to harm another part of this exquisitely fine tuned and complex biological mechanism.

Best leave sell-cures alone with either alt-medicine. Even without contracting Covid-19, by sheer similar age, I recognize many of these same complaints. Coincidence is not always causation. Aging is not for sissies, that is for sure.

I also see many of the lingering malaise symptoms very familiar to any woman who has transitioned through menopause - a multi-year transition time where emotions, fatigue, memory ...all take different twists and turns. No one is talking about menopause any longer, yet the age of many "Karens" is ripe for this personal physiological exploration.

Decades ago it was a joke in an online menopause support group to call it the Cris-Craft disease - Can't remember S*** and Can't Remember an F***** Thing. We knowingly chuckled, even if use of those words was still taboo in our worlds.

[Terence Gore]

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-obama-admin-halted-state-h1n1-testing-complicating-bidens-attacks-on-white-house

"In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases," CBS News reported in 2009. "The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there's an epidemic?"

I've had the feeling for awhile that if we had a Democrat in the White house right now a few republicans would be screaming about a killer virus but in most of the media would be echoing "the sounds of silence"

[Alaric_E]

The changing narrative, false assertions, constant fear mongering using anecdotal cases, attacks on anyone with a different view, and promotion of an intellectually defunct binary mindset (lockdown/no lockdown) are evidence of intent. If they really wanted to help they'd also talk more about the side effects of their lockdowns and they'd push to protect the vulnerable and nursing home residents in particular.

Focusing on the nursing homes though, would undermine the scary narrative that "young healthy" people can end up in the hospital and die. Looking at deaths now that the number per day has fallen would also undermine said narrative so they push cases, cases. Never mind that PCR positives are not technically cases or that the percent positive is rising, at least in part, because of contact tracing.

The borg/Atlanticist media want a shutdown. Its what they always wanted and they're not going to let the truth get in the way.

Why?

Attacking trump and taking the spotlight off of Biden, who is clearly not aging well, are key goals, maybe "the goal" but I personally suspect there is more too it.

Is this their "drastic measure" to counter global warming?

They are resetting the inflated, bubble economy and stock market as well so they can reinflate and receive bailouts them without scrutiny.

Covid has been quite a gift to a number of opportunists including pharma and big tech as well. Pharma is one of the biggest advertisers on cable TV news so they're a powerful factor. Big tech controls the narrative and they've probably profited off of this as it makes people use their products and services.

IMHO the two main factors here are elect Joe and global warming.

[turcopolier]

Deirdre

No. More BS to serve the Dems. Go soak your head and see if you sprout new brains. I have no service people.

[Deap]

Now that I think about it, Joe Biden also has the Cris-Craft Disease. (See above) Guess it is not gender exclusive after all - just midlife and beyond.

[Babak makkinejad]

Col. Lang

Are the Florida numbers accurate?

Michigan has had almost 69000 infections and 6000 deaths.

Florida has had 270,000 infections and 4000 deaths?

Michigan has half the population of Florida.

They must be dealing with a different virus variant.

[turcopolier]

babak

The numbers are all bullshit. Can't you see that?

[turcopolier]

All

Deirdre O'Sullivan is the rich lefty Spanish kid now writing from the Basque Country near Bilbao. "Maureen O'Hara" would have been just as good a name. She/he/it they are funny. They think I have servants. This is her last shot under that name.

[Bobo]

As the wife returned from her periodic visit with the friendly doctor she tells the story that he sat her down and they had a talk about the Virus. His concern was that he is treating way too many people with increased anxiety, suicidal thoughts, delusional beliefs etc etc. then they got around to who recently passed on and other things. On her way out he gave her a prescription for happy pills and said “just in case”. His view is just as many people are passing from enhanced media anxiety than from the virus. Shut the TV news off and take a walk in the woods as it’s healthy. Good Luck and Be Safe.

[J]

Colonel,

I also will refuse to be tested, now they can stick that thingy in a cup of my saliva, but as far as sticking that thingy up near my brain, forgettaboutit.

Making up a batch of pull-pork for the week, should be done in a couple of hours. Meanwhile as I wait, I'll sip on an iced-coffee I just made myself.

Also no one really knows what's in the tip of these thingys that they so adamantly try to stick up one's nose. They could have a miniaturized mack-truck for all we know.

[Artemesia]

"Go soak your head and see if you sprout new brains."
You have no idea how much I needed that laugh, Col.; thank you!

My neighborhood is a very tiny enclave of gentrified historic Victorian townhouses. Our proudest landmark is a Methodist church designed by Louis Tiffany himself; the windows are magnificent -- including the (white) Ascending Jesus.

I worried about that window when I heard a BLM honcho declare that white Jesus has a target on him.

The head of our community organization and many others of my neighbors share Deirdre's brain disorder. In the newsletter distributed just an hour ago the President preached to us about our "moral obligation" to support BLM. "It's what all of us are talking about around our kitchen tables." (Well, No, actually, I'm concerned about the 18 year old Amish girl in Lancaster County who went missing June 21. FBI got around to offering a reward on July 10, and on July 11, a man (who is Black) was taken into custody & charged with kidnapping. The young woman was still not found and is believed to "have been harmed." That's what I'm worried about. On my scale of moral exemplars, the Amish and Mennonites, such as those who absorbed the mass shooting of their school children by tearing down then rebuilding the school, and continuing on with their lives -- they hold the top rank, not George Fentanyl-junkie Floyd. When a member of that community is violated, it's like raping a Vestal Virgin -- not that my SJW neighbors would understand the reference.)

The churches being shuttered, I guess someone has to occupy the pulpit. Why not the least informed, most ideologically-addled member of the community.

It made me furious.

I tore up (should I say "Nancyed") the newsletter & returned it to its sender.
Feeble gesture, I know, but if I'd said one-tenth of the thoughts boiling in my brain, it might have made the evening's news.

At least the walk did me good, and so did the hearty laugh at Col. Lang's retort.

nb. In my assessment of things, mention of BLM is not off-topic of Covid: they are serial manifestations of the same devilish agenda.

[turcopolier]

Artemisia

The original horse cavalry version learned from my father was "go soak your head in a barrel of horse piss and see ..."

[Fred]

Babak,

How many people died on a daily basis in 2018 or 2019? What's the difference between then and now, other than the power grab by the governor and the destruction of the economy in pursuit of power?

[Diana Croissant]

I simply became sick of not knowing whether or not I had contracted the virus. Most of the time I felt I had not. Occasionally, I had sudden sweats or even chills. But then I realized that summer had arrived and I would be walking in and out of air-conditiong.

I live in a state and county that has not really been hit hard with the virus except in some few "hotspots" at the beginning. But since the beginning of the panic, our numbers have really been the same.

So, I decided to keep myself from guessing--even though I know my situation could change suddenly. I asked my medical insurance provider to test me. I had sort of been hoping that I would find that I had contracted the virus and had developed antibodies. Instead, I simply discovered that I did NOT currently have the virus, a conditon which I had guessed would be true.

I know that can change if I suddenly, for some reason, do contract the virus. But, I am not afraid that I will since there is no reason that it will if my living situation does not change.

I am happy that I am not a psychiatrist. Being one might caue me to think too closely about my mental and emotional condition. I sometimes become more than annowyed at the restrictions I sometimes face because of this pandemic. Am I paranoid? Am I going to develop a negative emotional or mental condition because of this virus' existence? Perhaps sudden angry outbursts for small inconveniences because of this damned virus and because of the new rules I must follow.

Today is Sunday. I am a lifelong Christian. I went to church. I really enjoyed the sermon--and the Bible Study group earlier.

I feel much better from having put this whole time period in its place. The Bible study was from the book of Jeremiah. I don't have to worry about the Babylonians and what their terible influence might be on my kids---only about the terrible influence of indoctrinated teachers they may have.

The sermon was the fourth of a series on the book of Ruth. Very interesting. (She is the gentile ancestress of Christ, as many of you might know). The world will go on.

I do feel sad for the many people in our courntry who do not live in areas like the one in which I live, where we have simply not been as locked down and endangered as the people in many other parts of the nation.

[robt willmann]

There is another article in which Dr. John P.A. Ioannidis has participated, from Stanford University Medical School. He has tried to keep his eye on objectively verifiable information. The article is about how the 'forecasting' about covid-19 was flawed and failed--

https://forecasters.org/blog/2020/06/14/forecasting-for-covid-19-has-failed/

In some situations, it has appeared that oxygen therapy, as distinguished from intubation and being on a ventilator, can help.

I have the opinion that general health, which includes the all-important immune system, can be helped and maintained with vitamin and mineral supplements, being mindful of purity and dosage. Vitamins D3, C, A, and the B vitamins (B-12, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, and Folic Acid) can be useful. Zinc in small amounts, although getting it in an absorbable form is not easy. There are some others. Unprocessed, fresh food when possible; getting a little fresh air with a walk; and doing things you enjoy. The body is the hero.

[George Acton]

An important question is whether you have any loss of smell or taste. If so, a test is advisable. If it's been weeks, the virus may be undetectable but an antibody test would be positive.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

[Bill H]

"...deaths among those said to be infected (254,000) yields 1.6 %."

Which I'm sure you cite as being another meaningless statistic, since we have no idea how many actually are infected, given that we have tested only 1% or so of the population.

CDC says there are 10 times as many infected as currently revealed by testing (probably nonsense as well), which would reduce the death rate among infected persons to 0.16% (if CDC is right, which it probably isn't).

[PB]

Maybe the disabling chronic tendency of this infection in many is the actual end game, and not the death rate itself. Everyone focuses on numbers and stats surrounding death rates, but the quality of survival has greater implications for everyone's future, including with taxing and spending. Survival, particularly in the US ends up a very expensive, bankrupting proposition.

[Bobo]

According to the official numbers for 7/11/2020 Florida tested 121,412 individuals and 15,299 were deemed positive for Covid-19 or 11.2%. Now why were the other 100,00+ getting tested FEAR.

[Peter]

The weak will die and strong survive. Sic Gloria Transit Mundie. Those in working class areas have chugged along with little or no difference. The weak, cowardly and those with comorbidities should stay burrowed. I suspect the supposed Dr that wrote this piece falls into one of those categories. Shrinks are known to follow that field in order to manage or understand their own mental issues. Physician heal thyself, or at least save on doctor visits and scripts. All I know is that after 3 wars, which included tours as a combat medic, the last thing I worry about is a variation of the common cold