#feels worse than a cold but not as bad as the flu. covid test was negative.

[ccherrycolouredfunk]

hurricane milton is headed our way and of course now i’ve come down with some sort of upper respiratory infection

[realhousewives-fan]

I've Been Sick for an Entire Month!

I’m so sorry for the lack of activity on this blog lately.

You’re never going to believe my bad luck though. I’ve been sick the entire month of November now.

At the end of October me and my family were celebrating my mom’s birthday, what should have been her 59th birthday.

And immediately after, I got sick. I had gotten the flu, and I’ve been lying in bed for two weeks.

I was sick during BravoCon, but I still tried to stay on top of all the panels, gossip and news coming from Las Vegas.

I was also distracted by the earliest announcement of a Eurovision entry, ever! “Mon Amour” by Slimane for France. Aah, swoon! You’ve got to check it out.

But that made me go down the rabbit hole with reaction videos with the Eurovision community.

Not to mention my other trips down the rabbit hole with Kibbe body types, Kitchener essence, seasonal color palette, and the latest, but slightly more outlandish: Styles for your Zodiac.

But I’ve also been working for a week. And I’m taking the train to work, every day. 3 hours every day. And on Friday, I had a complete meltdown on the train ride home.

There was chaos and confusing at the train station because of last minute changes, and I was so stressed, so tired and so hungry. I just wanted to go home.

When the conductor asked for my ticket, I started shaking and crying uncontrollably. The conductor was a very kind man who fetched me warm cocoa, and stayed with me for the entire ride, comforting me. But it had taken a toll on me.

On Saturday I woke up feeling even worse than when I had the flu! My throat was burning, my nose was running, the fever was back with a vengeance, and my body was aching.

Had the meltdown reignited my cold from earlier this month? No. I tested positive for Covid.

Needless to say that the month of November has been an extremely hard one, and I’m exhausted.

[memorymessage]

AND I'M SICK

tested negative for covid. but it was a shitty at-home rapid test, so who truly knows. also negative rapid strep test, but i don't have the culture samples back for the strep test.

headaches, joint aches, heart pounding, fever, and throat is in the worst pain i have EVER felt in my life. like, i have been sick with the flu and cold a few times throughout my life, but this is by far the worst sore throat i have ever felt. i didn't even know it could get this bad. didn't even know it was an option.

mom has stocked me up: orange jay, MANY soups (so much soup, omg), throat coat tea, chloraseptic spray, and throat numbing lozenges. i sincerely regret not asking for flonase, because all i have on-hand is afrin, and i know that will only make things worse in the end by creating a rebound effect.

she also... got me a laptop? i was chatting the other day about how the new replacement charger for my laptop has grounding issues that cause feedback interference when using the trackpad and touch screen, and dell doesn't currently have any of their branded charges in stock. so she helped me try to find a non-knock off for awhile, which didn't work since the knock-offs look exactly like the actual charger. so she just ended with "well, i bought... something. let me know if it works."

and i was like "pls don't waste your money, i'm like 99% most of these chargers are knock-offs."

and then a whole ass laptop shows up the next day.

BRUH

i felt so bad, but i had to ask her to send it back, since my processor and graphics card are better in my laptop. i just- don't have a use for a new laptop that's not even better than my current.

so instead... she bought me a PHONE.

BRO???

genuinely don't know where/when to expect stuff like this. i mean, just last month i asked if my mom could buy me a package of pads (like $8) when she was going out to the store. she said no and told me to wear my period underwear (i only have 2). but i didn't press any further than that. i don't like to beg or ask for stuff or cause problems. i feel like i cause enough problems.

but then she'll randomly buy me stuff that i don't want/ask for? and now that i'm sick, she's buying me an overabundance of care products.

no idea. i get uncomfortable asking for stuff, but i get uncomfortable saying no to random gifts. i just don't get these weird...gift surges.

[amygdalae]

waaa i thought i was almost better but i forget how agonizingly slow recovering from a cold/flu situation can be

[bobendsneyder64]

:(:(

[clatterbane]

As mentioned in another post the other day, I've pretty much been down with some weird virusy bullshit for a little while now.

Which, in spite of one negative rapid antigen test so far? Seems pretty likely to have been a(nother) round with the ongoing plague. Most likely picked up whatever crud on the last trip to the university medical center. Though I did start feeling off within a day or two afterward, which seems pretty quick if I did catch it there.

Mr. C also felt under the weather for a couple days after that, with some sudden digestive symptoms mostly one night. Which I thankfully didn't get. But, with the timing he was also figuring that these were likely connected anyway.

Back to this post, from the end of January:

But yeah, BA.2 has very specifically been running through Denmark. Northern Europe in general, but with particularly high rates there. Somehow I doubt that's been been heeding official borders and staying on the other side of the bridge, when we are basically in Greater Copenhagen here.

One decent summary, btw:

Also, from Yale?

Early reports from South Africa indicated that most cases were mild—and that symptoms for this variant seemed to be different. “The reports show that patients in South Africa—many of whom were young—have had severe fatigue, but no loss of taste or smell,” says Lauren Ferrante, MD, a Yale Medicine pulmonologist.

Whatever this shit is, it didn't actually hit my respiratory system to even "normal" cold levels. (Just like that previous suspected-Omicron episode which helped complicate getting moved into this place.) I have mostly been getting a runny nose and a little congestion, and have needed to pull out the rescue inhaler a couple of times--for the first time in ages. Though, it is also prime tree pollen season, which is infamous for fucking with my breathing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Haven't really been seeing any maples locally, at least.

But, that has at least been a big relief, with the truly unpleasant history of frequent bouts of ridiculously unrecognized/misdiagnosed asthma "asthmatic bronchitis" from even the usual run of colds. *knock wood*

No, way more trouble (again) with nasty headaches, sore throat, and feeling feverish. With side orders of gross night sweats, dizziness, and flu-level body aches and muscle spasms which have also been sending some of the nerve pain into overdrive. 😬 All of which does kinda fit the reported BA.2 pattern, yeah.

Most of that has been more on a "meh, whatever, I've seen a lot worse" level, and I do seem to be coming out from under the worst of that garbage.

(Including my blood sugar going screwy and wanting to run high, as is common with any sort of illness. That also seems to be behaving better, and thankfully it never got that OTT with this crap. For that matter, viruses often help trigger autoimmune diabetes, to begin with--and this pandemic is looking particularly bad for that.)

The most concerning part, though? The damned fatigue and weakness/shakiness. 😵 To the point that I can't help but be glad that I am using a wheelchair now, and not trying to walk around between the rubbery whole body effect and lightheadedness. I'm just sitting here vaguely sweaty and shaky, and feeling like that is taking some serious effort right now. Will probably go lie down after I manage to get some food in, and probably fall asleep again whether I want to or not.

I mean, over the years I have dealt with a fair few viruses. And this shit has been dragging me out worse than any but a couple of them that I recall. So far, it's been giving that bout with suspected mononucleosis a run for its money. 😵

Which, again, would be more "meh, this sucks but whatever, guess my body just really needs to sleep this crap off"--if it didn't seem to be dragging on at such a level for longer than expected with something like this. The whole thing has been feeling just plain weird, in a rather worrying way.

I mean, I have been glad at the further illustration of how unusual the sick-fatigue is these days, now that the diabetes is finally being treated properly. It's been so good, not feeling like I've got the damned flu all the time with energy levels/stamina.

But, I really don't want to go back there! If not worse in some ways, which it kinda is right now. The muscle spasm/nerve pain screwiness also seems to want to hang around and keep it company.

It is early days yet, but I still cannot help but get more than a little concerned. NOBODY wants strange post-viral bullshit. But, I was just getting used to feeling much healthier again, in spite of some ongoing medical complications.

We'll just have to see, of course. But, it's honestly hard not to worry.

Not fishing for sympathy here, btw! It is what it is. But, that's why I have barely been around for a while. And I thought I should share the symptom info.

[inkybirdy]

I’m kinda worried, you talk about being tired a lot in recent posts. Please take care of yourself!

oh dear - I don't mean to worry anybody, but I really appreciate your concern! It's been a rough year but I'm okay, I promise. I'm working on taking better care of myself, even if the last few months have been fighting against me.

(though now that I'm thinking about it, I feel comforted when I find people with similar situations to mine that are open to offering their perspectives, so if you want an update/some frank conversation on lifelong chronic illness I'll put it under the cut)

I was super sick as a little kid (like, NICU ill, with RSV) and my family has a genetic cocktail of nonsense, so I've never been physically sturdy - and I didn't really have a consistent physician or medical care schedule so I ended up blindsided by a lot of things that got a lot worse as an adult because. Well, when you've always been chronically ill to some extent it's difficult to gauge what's normal.

(please keep in mind i'm absolutely an expert regarding medical stuff, and my medical care history has been... a varied patchwork with a lot of different people doing a lot of tests and guesswork.)

According to the doctors I saw when I started going in for regular check-ups in college, I was living with lungs and an immune system that weren't great to begin with and were otherwise kind of a time bomb. Basically, around the time that I moved out to live on my own and go to college, my health got significantly worse.

For instance, at one point one of my (extremely common) upper respiratory infections turned into pneumonia that lasted for over a month. I had to go in for breathing treatments and had to argue with my doctors against hospitalization because of insurance/school/work, etc. By the time I started recovering I was on a regular inhaler for the first time in my life and my reactive airways were more 'reactive' than ever with then-diagnosed asthma. Anything can set them off - changes in temperature, humidity, a cold, stress, exhaustion, dust, aerosols, etc. It's kind of like I'm one of those classic Victorian waifs ready to waste away from Ill Humor (tm), but I've got shit to take care of so I can't afford to lay around on a fainting couch.

Anyway, it kind of evened out to a new 'normal' for me for the last couple of years with minimal progression, until I got super sick again in December of last year. I never tested positive for COVID, but my doctors were pretty sure I had a fun salad of flu, upper respiratory and sinus infections, and pneumonia that lasted until like. February.

The fun part about being chronically ill and having an immune system that is constantly panicking is that it doesn't really like. Recover. Or, it takes a long time to bounce back. I have long-term damage from the pneumonia I had in college, and this was like that x4 - I've come to terms with the fact I'm going to be sickly for a long a time, and so far there isn't a whole lot that can be done about it.

Another doctor told me that when your immune system gets set back like that it can trigger other, 'dormant' conditions too - for example, a new thing that's developed since The Great Fuckening of December 2021 is a hypersensitivity to vitamin deficiencies and thyroid levels, which is a thing in my family but not something I've dealt with. Further, according to my latest doctor, straight-up narcolepsy. (Which like - I dealt with chronic fatigue a lot in college to the point that became a joke, but it was a lot less funny hearing it while sitting on an exam table.) But, because I'm already taking the highest amount of adderall that I possibly can for my weight, which I'm told is a pretty common treatment for it, there isn't a whole lot to be done about it at the moment to improve from where I already am in that respect.

So, altogether that means that at 'default' I'm very tired all the time, and I get sick pretty easily and pretty often. Like, oh-shit-another-bad-cold-every-three-weeks sick, or worse. It doesn't help that I have a pretty demanding job, which takes tolls on even very sturdy and healthy people that get into it. But. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I've managed to keep it from impacting my ability to do my job too much, but it takes a lot out of me. It impacts my ability to keep in touch with my loved ones, my responsibilities outside of work, my hobbies (I can't even count at this point how many times I've been too sick to run D&D or slept through it, or gotten really behind in my planning because I've been sleeping) etc. I have to be pretty careful about how I budget the energy that I have in a day if I'm trying not to overexert myself - it can be pretty demoralizing.

That all sounds very depressing, and some days are a lot more difficult than others - but it's also not all bad. For example, I was able to pick up writing Crown of Calamity initially while I was super sick, and being able to get into having fun with LoZ again has been great and something I've been able to do without a lot of time pressure.

And, most importantly, I'm an extremely lucky person. My two siblings are absolutely incredible. We have a lot of common ground with our struggles and a lot of understanding for one another, and I'm grateful that we're able to live close enough to one another that we can be there to help when one of us needs it. Not only that - but I have a job, and a place to live, and three annoying cats that I love, and very sweet online pals who check in on me.

So, while things have been difficult with my health stuff and everything outside of it that's been going on, I'm okay - or, I'm going to be. Every day I'm learning a bit more about my new iteration of 'normal' and I'm trying to get into better habits so I don't overwork myself, and I have family that I can ask for help when I need it.

I hope that this wasn't a big depressing dump - Instead, I hope maybe some of you guys can relate to it, maybe take some comfort in the idea that you're not the only one dealing with dumb chronic health stuff that doesn't really have a clear 'fix.'

And, I hope that you guys know how much I appreciate you! Whatever difficulties you're facing in this current iteration of "Oh Goddammit Why Can't We Have A Good Year" - please know that I'm rooting for you, and I care about you, too.

I don't really know how to end this, but - thank you again. Really, truly.

[soryualeksi]

Covid Update: Everyone is already doing a lot better. Big Kiddo only had like. One big coughing fit around midnight last night. Other than that, the kids get good sleep and have no more fever. I'm starting to taste a little bit again, other than BBQ sauce? BBQ sauce will probably retain a soft spot in my heart as my Covid Food. (I JUST GENERALLY LIKE BBQ SAUCE OK)

Guess we were very lucky, my siblings had it a lot worse.

Funnily enough, my husband testes with the BIGGEST FATTEST REDDEST line and has the faintest symptoms, he basically has only a throat scratch. Everyone else? Faintest line imaginable. Dry cough of doom and fever. (And so much mucus, Mini Kiddo produced SO MUCH MUCUS YOU HAVE NO IDEA I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE)

I think I was most worried about Big Kiddo, because he already has a tendency to develop weeks-long dry cough problems after a cold, like to the point of throwing up, and it was hard listening to him cough and cry in his sleep (he sleeps like a stone, his whole body shaking from violent coughs can't wake him, but he can still sob while not awake and it was horrific). (When he was almost 1, he caught a bad respiratory infection and I sometimes I just briefly remember his face of horror and his whole body trembling when he just. couldn't. expand his lungs to draw in breath and then my hair stands up and I just wish I didn't remember that, so the whole Covid experience just now, WHILE THANKFULLY """mild""" in relation to how bad it can be, was actually really triggering and, most importantly, really painful for the kids and I don't wish it on anyone.)

The coughing suuuuuucks, btw. It just sucks. You just have this ITCH in your lungs and have to cough and cough and cough, it's really. Not really like I remember the flu. A dry itch and you have these long coughing spells.

And we definitely were lucky. Like I said, my siblings had worse cases.

The kids are chewing the furniture like black lab puppies btw. They're completely understimulated just from not leaving the house alone. We're privileged in that we have (some) space and a billion of different toys, craft projects, media, games, TIME, ... And they are hyper and understimulated like nothing else. I'm glad we're all better (kids haven't tested positive as of yesterday, either) and they can get out again soon. Yesterday, Big Kiddo was just randomly stabbing a piece of crafting foam with scissors and we were like "HEY SINCE WHEN ARE WE STABBING THINGS IN OUR HOUSE" and he, in his complete earnesty, was like "I was bored and I wanted to entertain myself *perfectly earnest face*".

(Big Kiddo's hilarious honesty and earnesty is a story for another day, hello fellow autist in my family <3, he just. Doesn't bother lying, I don't think he sees the need. You say "hey you're cheating at this game" and he's like "well yes, I like to win, so obviously I'm cheating to get there *earnest face*". I think one day I'll get through that "nobody wants to play with you if you cheat" outweighs "I like the feeling of winning" and also that we don't cheat because fucking people over is mean lmao. /random aside)

Anyway. Everyone is recovering quickly. The cough sucks.

[littlelovingmouse]

ranting about being sick under the cut because it's kinda gross and you know me, i love a good long rant

sure excited for this syrup to finally fucking work after i tried tylenol, advil and buckley to stop coughing every five minutes; it's been an hour!!!

i have been sick for two weeks now, with what is apparently my first real flu since primary school

like

i usually (pre-pandemic) get two or three colds a year because of weather changes and a lower-than-average overall health

but it's NEVER this bad

i've taken 4 home covid tests so far and they all came up negative, so there's that, at least

but it still fucking sucks

my throat NEVER hurts when i get a cold, i always get, like, hay fever symptoms, basically, and exhaustion, but since monday my throat has been terribly sore and i have been coughing grossly

and my vocal chords have been out of order since thursday!!! my cat is sad because i can't meow back anymore!!! i can't go to work because my coworkers won't hear me in the loud as fuck restaurant's kitchen, i can't game on discord and roll20 because my friends won't hear me on my computer's microphone, i can't even call 811 to ask if should go to the hospital because the nurse won't hear me over the phone!!!!!!

and strangely enough i have not sneezed ONCE since i started coughing - it's like i have an entirely different disease than the week before

also my temperature has been staying under 36.5 the whole time, i even got 34 once, i was like 'okay but that is not physically possible, i should be dead' then i used the thermometer two more times and got 35.8, which is still weird but is at least plausible

i can't sleep because i have to get up every two hours to cough out a grape sized chunk of mucus the most disgusting green you have ever seen and then blow my nose non stop for twenty minutes

and after two weeks of blowing my nose constantly i'm starting to see a little blood in the tissues like, my nose has had enough

*i* have had enough

and i hate that i have to rely on my bf for errands because obviously even if i don't have a fever i'm not gonna show up to the pharmacy, the convenience store or the grocery store while coughing my lungs out, i hate it because i'm usually the errand person and i feel like a burden because i can't do much at home either, i barely have the energy to do the dishes, and i'm supposed to help my bf with his work for university but i can't focus on anything longer than a shitpost for more than five minutes

what's even weirder is that even after two weeks my bf is still not sick himself - like i'm a tiny bit bitter to be suffering alone but mostly worried because he usually gets sicker than me when we catch something...

also, what was the point of asking for my vacation pay as extra money if i have to take days off work anyway????

and on top of it i feel like an asshole for whining about this because my friend's 2 year old daughter apparently has the same illness and she's suffering because she's fucking TWO, like how hellish would all of this be if i was two and i didn't understand why it hurts to swallow my own saliva and why i keep coughing so bad i almost throw up every time????

(i probably got it from her, too, but i can't complain, she's been sick for a week longer and her parents are at their wit's end tbh)

i just hope i can at least go back to work on tuesday, though it seems unlikely at this point... i don't want to go to the hospital and wait for hours to see someone, or worse, actually catch covid

i keep flashing back to what little i remember of the whooping cough i got when i was 5 and the repeated laryngites i had as a kid, like, 'was it ever that bad??? i don't remember ever being this sick... but surely it was worse back then, right???'

meanwhile people are out there dying in droves while i'm sniffling and grouching on my couch like a wimp

at least those covid tests aren't as bad as people said, it just triggered a few sneezing fits (back when i was still sneezing)

okay i'm gonna try to at least wash the dishes before dinner so bf can cook right after he's done with work, whining over

[snarksandkisses]

What I think about COVID-19 this morning - Malia Jones, PhD, MPH

What I think about COVID-19 this morning

March 5, 2020

 Maybe I'm the closest thing you personally know to an infectious disease epidemiologist. Maybe not--I'm not an expert on this virus by any stretch, but I have general knowledge and training from studying epidemics that is applicable, so here are my thoughts. 

 First and foremost: we are going to see a tremendous increase in the number of US cases of COVID-19 in the next week. This is not because of some new pattern in the spread of the disease, but rather due to a major change in the requirements to be tested. Until yesterday, if you had flulike illness but had not recently traveled to China, Italy, South Korea, or Iran, you could not be tested. This is just the way healthcare works, you get tested if you meet the case definition and the case definition included travel.

 As of yesterday, you can be tested if you are sick and have a doctor's order to be tested. So expect things to feel a lot more panicky all of a sudden. We will see hundreds or thousands of new cases as a result of testing increases.

 Second: is that panic legitimate? Sort of. This is not the zombie apocalypse. The death rate of 30 deaths per 1000 cases is probably a wild overestimate. (The denominator is almost certainly wrong because it is confirmed cases--and we only confirm cases when we test for them). That said, even at 3 per 1000 cases, this would be a big deal. A very big deal. By way of comparison, the death rate for influenza is between 1 and 2 in 1000 cases. So, yeah. Roughly 0x to 30x worse than a huge global flu pandemic? That's a problem.

 Unlike flu, COVID-19 is not *particularly* dangerous for children, so that’s some happy news. It is dangerous for older adults and those with lung conditions, so we need to be extra careful to protect those populations from exposure. 

Also, for millions of Americans, getting any serious illness requiring a hospitalization is a major problem because they can't pay for it. And our health care system is probably going to struggle to keep up with it all. And with China basically closed, our global economy is going to take a huge hit and we'll feel the shockwaves for years. Those are real concerns.

 What can we do? Our focus should be on *slowing down the spread* of this disease so that we have time to get caught up. Here is my advice:

 1. Wash. Your. Hands. Wash them so much.

The current best guess is that coronavirus is transmitted via close contact and surface contamination. A very small study came out yesterday suggesting that the virus causing COVID-19 is *mostly* transmitted via contact with contaminated surfaces.

I have started washing my hands each time I enter a new building and after being in shared spaces (classrooms especially), in addition to the standard practice of washing after using the bathroom and before eating. Soap and water. Hand sanitizer also kills this virus, as does rubbing alcohol (the main ingredient in hand sanitizer).

 There is no need to be obsessive about this. Just wash your hands. A little bit more effort here goes a long way. 

 2. Don’t pick your nose. Or put your fingers in your mouth, on your lips, or in your eyes. Surface contact works like this: you touch something dirty. Maybe it's an elevator button. Virus sticks to your hands. Then you rub your eye. Then you touch your sandwich, and put the sandwich in your mouth. Now there is virus in your eyes and mouth. See?

 You may be thinking, but I don’t pick my nose because I am an adult! An observational study found that people sitting at a desk working touched their eyes, nose, or lips between 3 and 50 times per hour. Perfectly normal grown-ups, not lowlifes like my friends.

 2a. There was one note that came out suggesting that face masks actually promote surface contamination because you're always adjusting them--i.e., touching your face. I don’t know if that’s true. But face masks should not be worn by the public right now, unless you are the person who is sick and you're on your way to or actually at the doctor's office. The mask’s function is to prevent spit from flying out of your mouth and landing on things when you cough or sneeze. It flies out of your mouth and is caught in the mask instead. If you are the person who is sick and not on the way to the doctor, go home. Let the people who really need them have the masks. Like doctors.

 [ETA on 3/6/2020 honestly people I am getting so much push back on the mask recommendation!! The world is running low on masks. If everyone wants a mask so they can feel ok about keeping their Daytona Beach Spring Break plans and then hospitals in India can't buy them anymore, shame on us.]

 Coronavirus does not appear to be airborne in the sense that doesn't remain floating around freely in the air for a long time, like measles does. You are probably not going to breathe it in, unless someone is coughing in front of you. If someone is coughing in your face, feel free to tell them to get their ass home and move 6 feet away from them. (Yeah I know, if you have a toddler, you're screwed.)

 3. Sanitize the objects you and lots of other people touch, especially people outside your family--like door handles, shared keyboards at schools (brrr), salad bar tongs, etc. Best guesses are that the virus can live on surfaces for 2-48 hours, maybe even longer, depending on the surface, temperature, and humidity.

 Many common household cleaning products will kill this virus. However, white vinegar solution does not. You can make your own inexpensive antimicrobial spray by mixing 1 part household bleach to 99 parts cold tap water. Spray this on surfaces and leave for 10-30 minutes. Note: this is bleach. It will ruin your sofa.

 4. "Social distancing." You're going to get so sick of this phrase. This means keeping people apart from one another (preferably 6 feet apart, and sanitizing shared objects). This public health strategy is our next line of defense, and its implementation is what will lead to flights and events cancelled, borders closed, and schools closed.

 For now, you could limit face-to-face meetings, especially large ones. Zoom is an excellent videoconferencing option. If you spend time in shared spaces, see #1. Ask your child's school about their hygiene plan, if they haven't already told you what it is. If I were in charge of a school setting, I'd be hand sanitizing the s*** out of the kids' hands, including in and out of each space, and taking temperatures at the door. I am planning to email our school nurse right after this to ask if they need my volunteer help cleaning surfaces.

 If you can telecommute, do that a little more. If you are someone's boss and they could do their job remotely, encourage them to do that. 

 Avoid large gatherings of people if at all possible, especially if they are in an area with cases OR places that lots of people travel to. If you attend group events and start to feel even a little bit sick within 2 to 14 days, you need to self isolate immediately. Like for a tiny tickle in your throat.

 5. All your travel plans are about to get screwed up. If you are considering booking flights right now, get refundable tickets. ETA: most trip insurance will not cover cancellations due to a pandemic. Look for "cancel for any reason" trip insurance. 

 Considerations for risks related to that trip you’re planning: how bad would it be if you got stuck where you are going for 3 to 6 weeks? How bad would it be to be isolated at home for 2-3 weeks upon your return? Do you have direct contact with people who are over 70 and/or have lung conditions? If those seem really bad to you, rethink your trip, especially if it is to a location where there are confirmed cases. 

 6. If you are sick, stay home. Please! For the love of all that is holy. Stay at home. Your contributions to the world are really just not that important.

 7. There is a good chance some communities will see school cancelled and asked to limit non-essential movement. If someone in your family gets sick your family will almost certainly be isolated for 2-3 weeks (asked to stay at home). You could start stocking up with essentials for that scenario, but don't run out and buy a years' worth of toilet paper. Again, not the apocalypse. 2 weeks' worth of essential items. Refill any prescriptions, check your supply of coffee, kitty litter, and jigsaw puzzles.

 8. I do want to remind everyone that when public health works, the result is the least newsworthy thing ever: nothing happens. If this all fizzles out and you start feeling like ‘Wah, all that fuss for nothing??’ Then send a thank-you note to your local department of public health for a job well done. Fingers crossed for that outcome.

 9. Look, I think there are some positives here. All this handwashing could stop flu season in its tracks! We have an opportunity to reduce our global carbon footprint by telecommuting more, flying less, and understanding where our stuff comes from. We can use this to think about the problems with our healthcare system. We can use this to reflect on our positions of privilege and implicit biases. We can start greeting each other using jazz hands. I'm genuinely excited about those opportunities.

 There is a lot we don't yet know about this virus. It didn't even exist 90 days ago. So stay tuned, it is an evolving situation. The WHO website has a decent FAQ. Free to email or text with questions, and you can forward this to others if you think it's useful.

 May the force be with you. 

 Malia Jones, PhD, MPH

maliajones@gmail.com

 I’m an Assistant Scientist in Health Geography at the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I study social contact of humans, and spatial patterns of infectious disease, among other things. 

   P.S. The number one question I am getting is, did you really write this? Yes. I wrote this. 

 I didn't write it for professional purposes, so I didn't put my work email on it. It was really just meant to be an email to my friends and family in advance of what I expect to be an escalation in the panic level. But it was apparently welcome information and went viral on FB. I've decided not to edit out the swears, even though I wrote this with a much smaller audience in mind. 

 Thanks for checking your facts! Go science! 

[cafedanslanuit]

(Hey! I'm from South America too! Yayyyy!) What if Jumin got stucked quarantined with MC on her parents house and she got a cold (no covid symptoms) and MC's parents were the overbearing nosy type (you know, latino parents 😂)? Would Jumin side with them and their home remedies? What to do when you can't make use of all your money instead😱? Lol! Thanks! 🤡

I’m a simple girl, I see a request for a latina MC and I write it down <3 So yaaaay! So nice to have you reading my blog~ I had SO MUCH FUN writing these headcanons! I tried to make MC’s parents feel as a couple of VERY latino parents without falling into stereotypes and I think I got it. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it <3

important note: even if this is set in the current pandemic, it’s very light and fun, so have no worries! <3 and there are no mentions of the virus, so nobody feels triggered ~

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。

Listen, Jumin is a man of SCIENCE. He may not understand it completely but this man is a very preoccupied caretaker when it comes to MC getting sick. He has a personal doctor that will come at any hour to the penthouse and do a check up even if all she has is the stomach flu.

MC isn’t used to that, but he lets her husband take care of her. It feels nice to see how much Jumin cares about her well-being.

They were visiting her parents in South America, whom they hadn’t seen since the wedding. Jumin hadn’t really been to MC’s hometown before, so he was looking forward doing some sightseeing, tourism and trying new commoner foods he just had to try, as MC said. He didn’t know what the big deal was about this salchipapa, it was just fried sausage and french fries, but MC was really excited about taking him to a food truck and making him have a bite of everything.

But the pandemic started.

At first, MC was sad about they not being able to do any kind of tourism while on her country, as she was looking forward teaching Jumin about her culture. They planned to stay in a hotel, but MC’s parents insisted they both stayed with them to save money and also have their daughter close. Considering it would be a good idea to take care of her folks in that situation, they agreed.

Everyone had agreed to speak English in the house as he didn’t understand Spanish quite well yet and MC’s parents didn’t understand Korean at all.

Jumin didn’t understand latino parents.

And no, he didn’t mean in in a bad way. He knew how much MC loved her parents and it was obvious they loved her too, but the amount of boundaries they had broken and how unphased MC seemed was really confusing.

For starters, her mom would randomly knock their bedroom door and bring them both a warm drink made of oatmeal and apples. It’s sweet, warm and suddenly he’s not feeling cold anymore.

“What’s this called, my love?” “Quaker.” “Yeah, that’s the brand of the oatmeal but what’s the drink called.” “…Quaker” “That’s what you call it?” “…Apple quaker?”

Another day, he was reading on his Kindle in the living room, when MC’s mother approached him, asking him what he wished to have for dinner, as everyone had already had their favourite dish in the week. He was startled and didn’t feel comfortable saying he liked steak or any other dish he actually liked, considering he knew MC’s parents weren’t wealthy enough to eat what he did on a daily basis.

Thankfully, MC saved him and told her mom she should prepare bisteck a lo pobre, and that he would probably like that.

“Bisteck?” “Yeah, beef steak.” “…But you said bisteck.” “It’s steak with fried egg and fried bananas and rice. It’s actually really good, trust me on this.”

Jumin also found out they ate rice with every dish. And he meant it. Every. Single. Dish.

Bisteck a lo pobre was really good though.

After lunch, the four of them would always stay on the table and chat a little. MC’s parents would take that chance to ask him about their lives in Korea, how were you adapting to a married life, if you were planning to have children soon, what funny stories he could them them about C&R etc. (spoiler: he didn’t think there were funny stories happening in C&R) 

They also liked to tell him embarrassing stories about MC’s time in highschool, which made her blush deep red, even though he found those stories endearing.

He liked to see them taking care of you both, but couldn’t help but compare it to his relationship with his own father, who loved him as well but wasn’t as warm and… interested with his relationship as MC’s parents were. It was nice, but really new for him.

Three weeks into the confinement, MC came down with the flu.

Jumin asked MC’s father what was their number of their personal physician. He answered they didn’t have one, they just went to the hospital whenever someone was ill.

Jumin: ????

Since it was only the flu and nothing else to worry about (Jumin had ended up calling a private laboratory to test MC and she was negative), all they had to do was wait for her symptoms to go away. Jumin suggested they call a pharmacy and buy some pills, but MC’s mother called nonsense. There was no need for ingesting so many chemicals.

Jumin: ?????????????????

He was reading to MC in their bedroom, trying to get her to relax, when her mom knocked the door. After MC asked her to come in, she entered the room, smiling softly at the newlyweds. 

“Baby, it's time for your inhalaciones de eucalipto" “Yes mom, let me just grab a towel"

As MC stood up, Jumin looked at her confused.

“A towel? In... all-- what?"

"Oh, steam inhalations. My mom puts some eucalipto leaves on a bowl with boiling water. I sit on the floor and cover myself and the bowl with a towel and breathe deep” she explained, as she took a towel from the closet.

“Like a sauna?”

“Yes! Just like that. Eucalipto helps with breathing”

Jumin never thought he would see her wife grab a bowl of boiling water with leaves, sit on the floor and cover herself with a towel but there she was. Giggling at her confusion, she invited him under the towel, saying there was no harm in him being with you there. He obliged to her request.

Ten seconds later, Jumin stood up, coughing, as he felt ice on his lungs.

“What was that plant?!” he asked in between coughs

“Sorry! I forgot my mom also put Vick Vaporub in it”

“YOU’RE BREATHING VICK VAPORUB?”

“IT’S FOR THE LUNGS”

The same night, you spiked a low fever. As Jumin changed again the wet cloth on your forehead, he heard your mother knocking on the door again. She showed MC a white bottle with a red cap and immediately he saw his wife’s eyes widening in horror.

“No” “But it’ really good for--” “No, no way” “But MC…” “Mom, I can’t stand thymoline…”

MC explained to Jumin it was usual for people in your country to soak the cloth in thymoline, since it supposedly helped lower the fever, but you couldn’t stand the smell. Seeing you mother insisted it was better than just water, he decided to check if it really had such a bad odor as MC said.

No, it didn’t.

It was worse.

The next day, the fever was gone, but MC still had a runny nose. For breakfast, her mother replaced quaker with a suspiciously good smelling tea. And he was a sucker for new tea.

“What’s in there, dear?” he asked

“Hmmm, what was in it, mom?” MC asked, redirecting the question to her mother.

“Borraja, escorzonera, eucalipto, menta and muña” she explained.

“Ah, Eucalipto. The one you used for the sauna” he remembered.

“Yes, that one. Would you like a cup too? It could help you prevent from getting the flu too” MC’s mom offered.

Jumin looked at MC, doubtful

“It doesn’t have Vaporub, right?”

“It doesn’t” MC giggled. “This one tastes actually good”

“Yes, thank you.”

When MC was about to take a sip, her father cleared his throat, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What do we say before taking medicine?” he asked

“En nombre de Dios” MC sighed, and took her first sip. She then looked at Jumin and explained to him. “En nombre de Dios. In the name of God. Dad and mom always told me I should say that so the medicine works”

“Weren’t you an atheist?” Jumin asked. He couldn’t barely finish his question before MC began coughing loudly, gaining her folks attention. Once she regained her breath, she shot him a warning glare.

“Don’t say that in front of them!” she whispered. “They hate it when I say that. They think you made me convert back to christianity so let’s keep it like that”.

The symptoms disappeared in the course of three days with MC’s mom’s herbal remedies. Even if he couldn’t understand how MC could breathe Vick, he really enjoyed the tea her mom made for them both.

Jumin felt at ease chatting with her father or trying out new teas her mother made for him. He found out he didn’t have so hard to get along with them, as they were also welcoming him into their family.

Even if it was still new for him to see parents as invested in their daughter’s life as hers, he could see where did MC learn to be warm and caring as she was with him. Someday, he decided, he would go back again with his wife to do the tourism they couldn’t do this time and bring back as many of her mother’s herbal teas as he could.

[themedicalstate]

Identify the Different Symptoms of the Flu and Covid-19

With fears of a “twindemic” in the United States this fall, here’s a guide to understanding what’s making you feel terrible.

As influenza season approaches, some Americans, and especially parents, are worried that, if they or their children should become ill, it may not be easy to know which disease they have — the flu or Covid-19.

They are correct. Most symptoms of the two diseases are so similar that, short of a test — or two or three tests — it won’t be possible to know for sure. But there are some clues. (And it is possible to have both infections at the same time; some patients in China this year were found to have both.)

But first: get a flu shot.

It is not yet clear whether the United States will have much of a flu season this year. Flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, which is often predictive of activity in the United States, was 99 percent below normal during its winter. Epidemiologists believe that is because Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Chileans and other residents of the southern half of the globe were wearing masks, staying several feet apart and washing their hands to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. Those same precautions also prevent flu transmission.

Because there are very few flights between the Southern Hemisphere and the United States right now, there may be no opportunity for the usual four seasonal influenza strains to “reseed” themselves among Americans. If they do, masks and social distancing should limit their spread.

Nonetheless, experts urge all Americans to get flu shots. Before it ended abruptly during lockdown, last year’s flu season was on track to be one of the worst in recent memory. The number of children who died was equal to that in the 2017-18 season, which was the worst since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking flu-season deaths in 1976.

If you catch the flu, experts say, having had the shot makes it much less likely that you will be hospitalized or die.

Because of the fears of a “twindemic,” flu shots were made in large numbers this year and distributed to pharmacies and doctors’ offices beginning in August, which is early. As of late last month, some doctors reported difficulty ordering as many as they want, but pharmacy chains say they are getting steady supplies. To find a flu shot, try vaccinefinder.org or one of the chain pharmacy websites, such as CVS.com/immunizations/flu.

Assessing the difference between a cold and the flu.

There are at least 100 viruses that can cause the common cold, but only four that cause seasonal flu. Many people who catch colds assume they have the flu, but experts consistently say the same thing about how to tell the difference: “Flu makes you feel as if you were hit by a truck.” The fever, aches and headaches of a bad case of influenza are generally worse than a case of respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus or other common cold viruses.

Everyone knows the symptoms of the flu: fever, headaches, body aches, sore throat, runny nose, stuffed sinuses, coughing and sneezing — and, for infants, ear infections. Some victims, especially children, get diarrhea or vomiting too.

In severe cases, the most common complication is pneumonia. The typical signs of a flu pneumonia are shortness of breath, especially when you exert yourself, and unusually rapid breathing — doctors typically look for that in children — and sometimes pain in the chest or back.

Identifying Covid-19 by its flulike and ‘wacky’ symptoms.

Knowing whether you have Covid-19 is much more complicated because there are so many different — and sometimes pretty wacky — symptoms, many of which echo those of the flu.

The most common symptoms are high fever, sometimes with chills, a dry cough and fatigue.

The one sign that really distinguishes the two infections is that many Covid-19 victims suddenly lose their sense of smell — not because they have a stuffy nose, but because they don’t register even strong odors like onions or coffee. Not all virus victims get anosmia, the formal name for loss of smell, but one study found that 87 percent did.

Less common symptoms include a sore throat, congestion, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and feeling somewhat out of breath when exerting yourself. Some victims have red or itchy eyes, and some get redness or blisters on their fingers or toes — so-called Covid toes, which resemble chilblains.

More dangerous symptoms — which mean you should get immediate medical attention — include serious breathing difficulty; pain or pressure in the chest; blue lips or blue face; confusion or incoherent answers to simple questions; and collapsing or losing consciousness.

Adding to the disease’s fearsome nature is that it can cause blood clots that lead to heart damage, brain damage and lung damage. And even some cases that appear mild or asymptomatic create signs of what doctors believe may be long-lasting heart damage.

Another unusual aspect of Covid is that people sometimes develop pneumonia without realizing how sick they are. Doctors are unsure why; one theory is that the air sacs in the lungs are damaged in a way that does not cause the buildup of carbon dioxide, which creates that “desperate for air” feeling.

Many doctors recommend buying a pulse oximeter, a fingertip device that measures oxygen levels in the blood. Multiple readings below 92 percent should trigger a call to a doctor. The earlier pneumonia is caught, the better the outcome.

Understand that Covid-19 symptoms in children are similar to those in adults.

Children generally get through Covid-19 with few problems; for the youngest ages, it is thought to be less dangerous than the flu.

Children have the same constellation of symptoms that adults do, although parents may be more likely to notice it when their youngsters have runny noses, red eyes and the exhausted crankiness that comes from just feeling terrible.

Dangerous symptoms include difficulty breathing, bluish lips, confusion or inability to wake up, and intense abdominal pains or inability to keep down any liquids. If there are any sign of these, it is important to get a child to a doctor or hospital quickly.

In very rare cases, children can get multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which is thought to be caused by an overactive immune response and can cause shock and organ failure.

But doctors emphasize that it is rare and that parents should realize  it is highly unlikely their sick child has it.

Expect potential difficulties with testing.

For Covid-19, symptoms can begin two to 14 days after exposure, but most begin five to seven days after it.

However, as with diseases like measles, you can start spreading the virus two days before you begin to feel sick. So if you think you might have been exposed, it is very important to warn others and isolate yourself from them as soon as you can, especially if they are older or medically fragile.

It is an axiom of general medicine that when one disease is sweeping through an area and a patient has its symptoms, it is usually safe to assume that’s what the patient has and begin treating it, rather than waiting for test results. So unless both the flu and the coronavirus begin circulating heavily at the same time in your city, do not be surprised if your doctor does not recommend a test.

And getting tested for the coronavirus can be tricky, especially with so many test delays. The PCR type is more accurate than 15-minute “rapid antigen tests,” but it can take hours or even days to return results, depending on whether it has to be sent away to a central lab.

One positive test probably means you are infected, but one negative test should not be trusted; too many things can go wrong. Two negative PCR tests taken at least 24 hours apart are a better indication of whether or not you are infection-free.

If your insurance company will pay for only one test, you might consider paying for the second one yourself for the peace of mind.

Source: By Donald G. McNeil Jr. (The New York Times). Image Credit: Luci Gutiérrez.

[ak47stylegirl]

I almost forgot to write tonight, I’m sorry, I’m just feeling so exhausted and unwell tonight, the trip I took outside to get the COVID test really caught up with me. I feeling very not mentally or physically with it tonight 😩

As I mentioned before, I had a bad night sleep last night, which seems to be a theme of this illness. I really didn’t want to get out of bed today but I had too, though I stayed in bed as long as I could before leaving for the clinic.

I didn’t bother getting proper put together, I just threw on my bra, comfortable pants and a top, making my way there. I was just feeling so horrible that really who cares if I looked like a sick mess, I am a sick mess 😭

I had to wear a face mask and with my nose running, it was so uncomfortable 😩 plus just walking to the place was making me feel so sick to my stomach, partly nerves, partly my body saying it wasn’t okay with this. It wanted to be in bed, not outside were everything seem to make you feel sicker.

It had also started to rain, but I was lucky that I didn’t get too wet but I sort of wanted to get wet as the rain was cool against my feverish skin. It probably wasn’t actually a proper fever but it didn’t make me feel any better, feeling all hot and bothered 😫🤒

The actual test itself was so unpleasant! My poor nose was complain for ages afterwards. But the person that was testing me said that my symptoms line up more with the flu than a cold, which I guess is why I’m feeling so bad 🥺😭 I am planning to get another doctor appointment once I have my results, so I can get myself properly checked out. So hopefully in a day or two, I’ll get a text saying I’m negative. I do not want to get a phone call! Because that will mean it’s positive, and no one wants that 😖

Anyway, once I got home i changed into my pyjamas, and crawled up in bed, not wanting to move. It was around four/three ish when I realised that I hadn’t eaten today, but I just wasn’t feeling hungry, so just ate this banana.

I haven’t had the energy to get myself anything else, I know I should be eating more than that but I’m just so tired now that I can’t even be bothered to try and make myself something.

Also around this time is when I ran out of tissues, so I had to order some more. I’m unable to leave my room until the test results are back, so the building staff brought it up to my room.

Seeing as my nose had gotten a bit stuffy again, I decided to take a steamy shower to see if it would help. But I was feeling so dizzy standing up, I had to sit on a stool instead or else I would have fallen over. The shower worked partly, one of my noials were streaming while the other was dry as a desert.

But unfortunately a side effect of the shower was that the second I stepped out, I was freezing and shivering. I was able to bundle under my blanket, but cold wet hair and feeling sick so not mix.

Anyway what did I do after that? I don’t know, my brain isn’t really working, I think I just laid in bed missable, feeling really upset for some reason. This illness is really making me homesick and my mental state has truly taken a fall, more than I can probably explain.

I remember that I was able to email two of my teachers but I wasn’t able to email the others, so I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

I’m going to try and get a early night tonight but I don’t know if sleep going to happen, as these last couple of nights have shown, sleep isn’t easy to get with this illness and I’m worried my lack sleep could be making me sicker or at least be the why it’s taking me so long to recover 😫

I want to be better! I want to go back to Thursday and start over, so that this weekend never happened! 😭 this being alone while sick is just too much for me! 😭😭 I feel like this is my breaking point, I can’t deal with all of this.

During the day I’m able to distract myself slightly by talking with you guys on discord, which been a lifeline for me lately, I’m just feeling so lonely and seeing how I can’t leave my room at all now until further notice, I’m feeling even worse 😭

night time is when these feelings come back, attacking me as I try to sleep and I can’t handle them! 😭😭 I guess I would feel a bit better if I wasn’t stuck in bed all day and was able to do something but I just haven’t been feeling well enough to do so 😩😭

@godsliltippy @misssquidtracy

[wasthereamassshootingtoday]

COVID- 3/12 Update

Wow! A lot can change in so little time, can’t it? But not all for the bad!

Almost 63,000 of the 81,000 cases in China have recovered! Around 3,000 people have died and the rest are still recovering. Those are very good numbers! Especially considering that cases in China appear to have leveled off. This is a good sign.

As of 3/12/2020 7:16pm EST, there are 1,315 active cases in the United States. 373 of these have been in Washington State and 216 in New York.

However, only 7,695 people have been tested for COVID in the United States. This is an alarmingly low number and signals to me that we have many more cases in the US that re not yet reported to due to the lack capability of our current medical infrastructure to perform COVID tests quickly.

Per capita, the US performs 23 tests per million people. Compare this to South Korea who is running 3,692 tests per million people. Our testing capability is only 16,000. This delay in testing is dangerous and will lead to further disease spread. We cannot be truly sure of how many people in the US have COVID right now and we likely won’t have true numbers until the outbreak has passed. Visit this link for more information.

Please visit this website for the most up-to-date information, maps, and statistics.

As you have probably heard, there have been some major COVID developments in the news recently.

Firstly, Italy has entered a nationwide lock-down. All nonessential travel and group gatherings have been halted through April 3rd in an effort to curb the outbreak. My friend in Italy tells me there are high fines for being outside without a good reason. Many “nonessential” shops and services have been shut down.

This is in response to the spike in COVID deaths in the country, which killed almost 800 people in 24 hours. The current death toll is around 1,000. There are about 12,500 reported cases in Italy thus far. This appears to be an extremely high mortality rate, especially when the rest of the world is hovering at 2-4% and for Italy it is around 8%.

There are many reasons this rate appears so high and why the outbreak there is worse that in so many countries and this article explains it all well. Basically, Italy is older than many other European countries, the fact that the disease was going around for a while without people realizing, and they tested a lot of people recently explains a lot of the high rate of disease there.

I have a feeling that the number of cases will continue to rise but the death rate will decrease. People with mild cases tend not to go to the doctor and there are asymptomatic carriers transmitting the disease as well. So in times like this were the disease is still relatively new and tests can only be done so fast, many milder cases no diagnosed. This makes the death rate seem higher than it is. So don’t panic. Italy is having a pretty bad outbreak right now, but the mortality rate will even out and the government has input good disease control measures.

Second thing in the news: no more travel from Europe to the US for a month! (Except Great Britain) Trump inputted this measure to prevent further disease spread after being called out for his inaction. I hate to agree with Trump on anything and I find just about everything he has said about the disease insensitive and borderline inane, but I think this was a decent move.

Thirdly, sports. I know nothing about sports, but apparently the NCAA Tournament was canceled, the NHL suspended its season, and the MLB is halting spring training. So there’s that. This is part of something public health workers call social distancing. Basically, you stop large crowds of people from forming as not to further spread disease.

Fourth, the economy? Apparently the DOW is tanking. I know less about economics than I do about sports so I will let someone else explain this.

Next, hoarding! This is not the apocalypse so please stop buying mass quantities of soap, hand sanitizer, canned goods, masks, and toilet paper. It is not helping and is causing shortages. You won’t need all of it. Please stop. This is creating further panic and creating more stress and disruptions.

Lastly, WHO has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Don’t be alarmed. This is not a measure of disease severity, but rather just how far it has spread. This does not change the disease; it is merely a classification that will hopefully spur global action. We actually have several pandemics currently going on, such as HIV/AIDS and cholera, which has been ongoing for many years. The last declared outbreak was H1N1 in 2009.

Shout out to all my college kids out there! Following the lead of Harvard, many colleges around the country are shutting down, extending spring breaks, or moving to online classes. Personally, my university announced today that it is moving to online classes after spring break. I think this is an overreaction, but is is an effective means of stopping disease spread. So, there’s that.

Also, coronaviruses have existed for decades (they are the most cause of the common cold). Think of the term coronavirus like dogs, and COVID, SARS, and MERS and MERS are breeds of dogs. COVID is merely a sub-type of coronavirus. It is new and likely came from a live animal market.

So all those Facebook people declaring that coronavirus is governmental conspiracy because it appears on the back of a Lysol bottle are wrong. COVID was also not created in a lab, it was not designed to distract from an election, and it is not from bioterrorism.

Sometimes diseases just occur. It happens. It is actually very common for imaginal viruses to spillover and spread into humans. (COVID likely went from bat to pangolin to human, mutating along the way). It happens all the time; this virus just happened to be a bit more popular than the others.

Finally, the disease itself. It is not the flu. Please stop saying it is. COVID causes fever, cough, and shortness of breath. If you are young (<65) and not immunocompromised you will likely have a short illness and be fine relatively quickly. If you are in an at-risk demographic, then you have the possibility of developing pneumonia and having an extended hospital stay.

I know all of this sounds really scary! People are reacting very strongly, the media is stirring up panic, and our government is focused on the wrong things. But you will be alright. Just practice everyday precautions:

1. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds after touching your face, using the bathroom, coming in contact with a sick person, handling food, etc.

2. Wear a face mask ONLY if you are sick.

3. Don’t hang out around sick people.

4. Don’t be around other people if you are sick.

5. Avoid large gatherings and unnecessary travel when you can.

6. And above all don’t panic. You will be fine. Just use reasonable precautions and use your common sense.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

[macgyvermedical]

Email From My Parents’ Former Chiropractor, a Medical Review

I had to read that and now so do you. But guess what? I also get to tear it apart line by line with extreme prejudice. And not the bad kind. At. All. 

This went out to probably close to a thousand people.

People will die because of this email.

“We have been keeping up with the true data from the CDC and WHO that is giving very accurate information on this virus.“

I’m relatively neutral on this. The CDC and WHO are probably some of the most official sources. They’re a little behind (1-2 days for WHO, and both only update every 24 hours), but overall no one would fault him for citing them as sources. Here’s the source I’ve been using.

My biggest problem with that beginning is that the sentence structure is... alarmingly presidential.

“First, this is not a new virus. It's been known to cause respiratory problems since the 1960's.”

The group of viruses called “coronavirus” have been identified since 1965. But there are hundreds of unique viruses in this group, and 7 of them infect humans at very different severities. The most recent one, identified in December 2019 and now named SARS-CoV-2, is definitely a coronavirus, but it’s also definitely not one we’ve seen before.

“So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide.”

I mean, he’s technically right that it’s “more than” 100,000 cases. But this email went out today, when confirmed cases were a lot closer to 784,400 and deaths were 37,780 (see source above). Even the WHO numbers today are 693,224 and 33,106 respectively. So my best guess is he was writing this on March 7th (per WHO sitreps) and didn’t bother to update it before sending it out March 30th.

“In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season... Per the CDC data, the flu virus as far more contagious and deadlier.”

This info is also substantially out of date. Currently, these numbers are 38 mil, 400,000, and 24,000 respectively.

I have to say, I did fall for the corona vs flu false equivalency once upon a time, but I’ve learned and grown a lot since then. We’re prepared for the number of hospital beds we need for (seasonal-not-pandemic) flu. We know how fast spreads and we have a vaccine that offers at least partial protection from it. We have widespread testing for it. We’re relatively comfortable with it’s severity and mortality rate.

But you heard it here last: with the data we have right now, none of those things apply to covid-19. We don’t have the beds, ventilators, or PPE to take all of it’s excessive illness on, which leads to higher mortality rates. It's more contagious than flu (infecting 2-2.5 people per infected person, vs seasonal flu’s 1.3). We don’t have a vaccine or significant natural immunity. We don’t have adequate testing, so we don’t know enough to know if anything we do know is close to correct. All of that makes it much, much worse than seasonal flu despite numbers.

“What to do? First, all patients are responsible for their own immune system.”

I mean, sure, okay, you have the responsibility to make the best choices you can for you in the situation that you’re in. That’s fair. And generally people do. But saying you’re responsible for your own immune system seems to imply that if you get covid-19, it’s your own dang fault because you weren’t responsible enough?

If that stresses you out, rest easy in that you don’t control nearly as much of your health status (look up the Whitehall Studies) and immune status (look up the Pittsburgh Cold Studies and a paper that came out of them titled “Types of Stressors That Increase Susceptibility to the Common Cold in Healthy Adults” by Cohen et al, 1998), as people like to think you do.

“When a bacteria or virus enter the body, your bodies natural immune system will attack this foreign body by creating an antibody that will destroy these foreign viruses or bacteria's (sic)...”

Okay, sure, that’s not a bad explanation.

“...So, when someone isolates themselves, the virus will still be "out there" and vaccinations will not stop the spread of any virus. A vaccination will force your body to make antibodies, which is the body's natural response to a virus. In other words, the virus will populate the world.“

I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely understand what he means with this passage, but I’ll give it my best shot.

If you never come into contact with a virus, it’s certainly true that you won’t ever get antibodies from it naturally. You also won’t get sick, and won’t have the opportunity to spread it to other people. That’s, like... the entire point of isolation.

But if a vaccine exists, that gives you the opportunity to have the best of both worlds- you get to make antibodies, and you never have to get sick! Score!

And if a lot of people have the antibodies, the illness can’t spread through the population (”herd” or “community” immunity), meaning that very few people get sick. You don’t have to be exposed to the virus after being vaccinated in order to become immune. The vaccine is literally the part of the virus the body needs to be exposed to to learn how to create antibodies.

He then goes on to list the ways in which you can build a strong immune system to fight covid-19. These suggestions include:

“Eat Healthy Natural Foods: These foods have the vitamins and nutriatiants (sic) your body needs to build its immune system.”

Sure, healthy food is good for you. No one’s arguing with you there.

“Get Adjusted: Every tissue in the body depends 100% nerve supply from the brain. These nerves carry all the cells information to repair and regenerate injured tissue. When the nervous systems is interfered with, this communication system between the brain and the tissue cells is weakened, therefore causing decreased immune response.”

This isn’t wrong so much as poorly worded. The brain (and vagus nerve) is involved in healing injured or infected tissues, particularly as part of modulating inflammatory response and eliciting reactions like vomiting, mucous production, and coughing to get rid of irritating substances. The inflammatory response kicks off the healing process, and we know that if the vagus nerve has been cut or in some other way interfered with, there is not as much inflammation across the board (which is why vagus nerve simulators have been shown to work against arthritis).

I’m not sure if there’s literature on chiropractic care improving this, but I certainly don’t think it’s impossible.

May I, however, suggest an editor at this point?

“Sleep 7-9 hours per night: Cellular regeneration happens mostly a night. Drink enough water: Dehydrate causes stress in the body, that will weakened the immune system.“

Great!

“Take natural supplements: These will help your immune systems, if you are not getting enough nutrients and vitamins through your healthy diet.”

Supplements generally aren’t necessary for most people (unless they have a diagnosed deficiency), but if you just like taking a multivitamin no one’s stopping you. Just don’t go overboard.

“P.S. Our team at [redacted] Chiropractic is super healthy. We follow the above guidelines!! We are asking anyone who may be ill, to stay home, or even more important get adjusted in our office [emphasis added]. Just let us know you are not feeling well and we will get you in and out with minimal contact with others. We take pride in cleanliness with all our patients. Hope to see you soon.”

I just... felt the need to leave that last paragraph in it’s entirety. If you’re all the way at the end of this post, you really deserve to read it again and let it sink in that he’s ASKING SOMEONE TO GO OUT IN PUBLIC WITH COVID-19 IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC, IN AN AREA WHERE A “SHELTER IN PLACE” ORDER HAS BEEN ISSUED.

As medical facilities, chiropractic offices are allowed to stay open. I don’t mind this generally. A lot of people rely on chiropractic care for pain control and I would never want to take that away from them if there was another way.

But I work at a doctor’s office (sometimes). We are all but refusing to see patients in the office unless absolutely necessary to comply with social distancing rules and conserve PPE. If I were a chiropractor right now, I would be limiting my services to emergencies or people who really can’t get along without it, and encouraging people to NOT COME IN IF THEY KNOW OR SUSPECT THEY ARE SICK HOLY CRAP MAN STAP.

That’s like, the bare, bare minimum.

Thank you for reading.

[waspgrave]

Covid-19 experience

I’m but a commoner (like thousands of others right now) and can’t get tested despite my symptoms being very clear. The reasoning behind it is America has few tests (and a corrupt government who wants to keep reported numbers low) and can’t spare the resources on someone who can’t pinpoint the person who infected me or recently traveled to the major hotspots. 

Even explaining that I was a barista who worked in a high tourist/traffic area wasn’t good enough for them so MEH, I called urgent care and was instructed by a doctor to not come in unless genuinely suffering or potentially dying and to handle my symptoms at home and call if I needed help so hm, woo ‘murica.

Anyways so here’s what’s happening with symptoms through the last week for me. It’s pretty long, but I would’ve liked to have seen something like this as it was happening because my anxiety has been through the roof when I have had no clear answers. No real advice to be given aside from standard flu stuff.

Day 1 - i didn’t notice anything the day before and then it hit me like a truck. High fever (common symptom), dull ache in my throat (a rarer symptom). I think it’s the flu. 

Day 2 - about the same as when it first happened. Fever. Aches. Tired. Easily winded. Still think it’s the flu (denial, lol). I quarantine myself just in case because I live with my wife and next door to my grandmother and another older woman who I frequently talk to.

Day 3 - Loss of appetite. I’m exhausted. Lungs start to hurt and taking a deep breath becomes harder, but I can breathe, it just feels extremely uncomfortable. Pressure forms in my chest. Swallowing is harder. the HEADACHE, good lord the headache. Bad fever. Dry cough.

Day 4 - Mostly the same as Day 3. I can’t lay on my back because of the pressure forming in my chest so I sleep reclined or on my side and propped up with a few pillows. There’s a pinch in my lungs. It feels like the beginnings of pneumonia. No fever! Bad headache. Still coughing.

Day 4 - a little worse. Bad fever. Sweaty. Sensitive skin. Labored breaths. There’s a rattle in my chest when I breathe deeply. This one is harder to document because I slept most of the day.

Day 5 - shaky. Fevers, but not as bad as Day 4. Still achy all over and really cannot find it in me to move. My sore throat returned. Still a rattle in the chest. 

Day 6 - A little energy. Not much, but eh. Dizzy. Poor balance. On and off headache. Cough is still there, a little worse now and with a little reverb, but not coughing up anything. 

Day 7 - Pretty much Day 5, though my throat doesn’t hurt as bad. Now starting to cough up mucus, but it’s colorless which is a good sign. No appetite. Tired and slept 5 hours after driving to the market with wife to let her grab something real quick. Woke up. Slept another 3. 

Day 8 (today!) - more energy again, more so than Day 6. It’s hard to describe but I am slowly starting to feel a little better. It could change because I’ve had moments where I feel fine and then it feels like i’ve been beaten over the head with a really heavy pillow a few hours later. Idk if it’s a tolerance thing or what, but other people I’ve talked to with the virus say their symptoms can be a little turbulent as well. No fever yet. I’m still coughing up some stuff and my chest is very tight and there’s a persistent ache under my left breast and through my ribs/back which means my lung is now inflamed. I’m still winded. If I breathe in, there’s a pinch there so not good but it could be worse and I’m keeping an eye on it. I still have a headache that has pretty much lowkey been there through this all.

All in all, it’s a flu and it’s a gnarly one especially to people who are high risk and the elderly.  

For me (i’d consider myself a moderate?? risk), it’s toeing the line of pneumonia but is thankfully not crossing it. When I get sick, it typically lasts a long time so I expect this to either simmer down in the next few days or go to the reported 3 week mark which is when it may become serious. The symptoms (for me) are manageable, just annoying and frustrating especially in isolation where it gets lonely and boring. If they get worse, I’ll call urgent care to warn them and rush in. 

Things that are helping me right now, but i’m not using at the same time. Take my advice if you’d like, but call your pharmacist to consult potential reactions with medications or if these things are ok for you, personally, to take together. Given that I’m on Lamictal/Trazadone/Adderall, MY side effects may be different than yours. 

Dayquil/Nyquil help treat symptoms in this virus that correlate with a cold or flu. Be careful with a lot of medication because the combination can and will likely make you dizzy and sleepy. I’m not kidding with even common stuff like this, so call your local pharmacy to get a better input.

Mucinex which loosens up the chest. Be warier here, because this one can have a rare side effect with medications that can cause serotonin syndrome which sounds great in theory but is fucking awful and not something you want on top of Covid-19. I’m using this one right now given what’s happening with my chest.

Tylenol for fevers and headaches if i haven’t already taken Dayquil/Nyquil. I don’t think they have adverse reactions to each other, but again, better safe than sorry.

LOTS of water. This shit dehydrates tf out of you. Gatorade for electrolytes. Ginger ale for a queasy achy tum from not eating. I’m allergic to citrus but orange juice would be p poppin for that immune system, I’d imagine (don’t drink grapefruit juice if you’re on antipsychotics) 

That’s that! Scary, I know, because it’s so new and different and every report seems to tell a different story. Just know if you have weathered the worst flu of your life, then this one will likely be no different or even milder. Right now, i seems like the contagiousness is the scariest for us between the ages of 18-30, because even people who ARENT getting sick (idris elba or my wife for example) are likely carriers who can spread this to vulnerable populations and to other carriers, rinse and repeat. 

Stay inside, wipe every surface you can with disinfectant (if some sheephead hasn’t fucking horded it all) wipes or spray. Boil your toothbrushes and buy new ones and keep them from other household members. Wash your sheets. Clothes. Watch anime. Write fanfic.  Rest. 

Report your job if it’s non-essential to health officials if you get sick or are forced to come in despite you and your family’s health. It’s a health hazard and they’re putting thousands at risk with that one exposure.