"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/
I'll add to Mr. Willmann's suggestions, the very best thing you can do for yourself is to run away fast from sugar. Sugar, not bacon and eggs, is what causes high cholesterol.
Posted by: BillWade | 13 July 2020 at 08:02 AM
Col Lang
Not testing does not keep you from having the virus it just allows you to use precautions and not give it to others. If you have it and don't test you are still going to die. Testing does not make the symptoms worse. I agree with you I'm not going into the hospital either and be put on a ventilator.
Posted by: Nancy K | 13 July 2020 at 12:37 PM
Nancy K
"Col Lang Not testing does not keep you from having the virus it just allows you to use precautions and not give it to others." IMO the population is saturated with this virus. What testing does is reveal this. The epidemiologists are engaged in mutual careerist masturbation. Are you not concerned with infecting others?
Posted by: turcopolier | 13 July 2020 at 01:57 PM
The antibody tests are shit. Even the CDC site says you could get a positive antibody result for previous reaction to any corona virus including the virus responsible for the common cold.
Posted by: Marc b | 13 July 2020 at 03:47 PM
There's some hanky panky going on in Florida. 333 labs testing here had 100% positives with no negatives at all. It's being looked into.
Posted by: BillWade | 13 July 2020 at 05:20 PM
Get well soon, Colonel!
Is there a possibility that the recent renovations or possibly decorating work used materials that can cause these symptoms? Some people react quite strongly to quite ordinary building/decorating materials when fresh, if exposed to them for any length of time. Thinners, turps substitute and some sealants sometimes have this effect and leaving the windows open usually clears the problem.
That's my story. SWMBO reckons that it's psychosomatic in my case and more to do with my reluctance to getting down to some overdue re-decorating.
Posted by: English Outsider | 13 July 2020 at 06:43 PM
Take 200mg of Celebrex and 5mg of Melatonin today. Lots of water with the Celebrex (celecoxib, unfortunately by prescription, but any MD will prescribe it for joint pain, it's supposed to be easier on the stomach, but it has unique favorable effects on the immune response.). 5mg of Melatonin is the "maximum" dose, but it is essentially harmless. It too has a unique, favorably effect on the immune response. Summary, both these medications are very widely used and not dangerous.
I was sick for two months. Slight fevers, felt sick every day, sick enough not to want to do anything. I took the cocktail above and got better.
Melatonin might aggravate preexisting diabetes but you're not going to be taking it for a prolonged time. I took it for about a week. I was very impressed the first day that it made me sleepy and fall asleep.
All the best.
Posted by: Stephanie | 13 July 2020 at 06:55 PM
Lyme disease?
Posted by: Flavius | 14 July 2020 at 10:32 AM
@ Stephanie
"unique favorable effects on the immune response."
Are you talking about using it before or after symptoms appear? IOW, is this for prevention, or mitigation? Of the so-called "cytokine storm"?
Posted by: Kilo 4/11 | 14 July 2020 at 04:07 PM
@ BillWade
..."the very best thing you can do for yourself is to run away fast from sugar."
They will pry my sugar from my cold, dead hands.
Posted by: Kilo 4/11 | 14 July 2020 at 04:11 PM
I posted back in March/early April about the research from China on the lingering neurological symptoms of this disease, and other strange symptoms found in otherwise healthy patients that had recovered(like very low testosterone). These effects can be compared to Long Term Lyme Disease , in the end I believe a similar percentage of people will be found to suffer from Long Term SARS COV 2 as you can find as a percentage for that former-mentioned syndrome
Posted by: Serge | 14 July 2020 at 06:49 PM