[xyzcf]

New thread time.

Previous threads:
https://mlcforum.theherosspouse.com/index.php?topic=11420.0
https://mlcforum.theherosspouse.com/index.php?topic=11436.0

I am bringing  Nerissa's post over from thread #2 that she just posted. It contains information that I too read about yesterday that are very concerning.

Nerissa


Re: COVID-19, Coronavirus. Its real, stay safe! #2
#151: Today at 05:41:51 PM
Quote
Now as to Covid, each day my state and my county prints various number totals.  Our totals are running higher in younger people than older.  And the illness is seeming to last about 5 days, most not being terribly sick, most not hospitalized.  Does this mean anything particular?  I doubt it.  Our recovered 93 year old said she just kept moving so her lungs stayed clearer and she sat out in the sun in her yard.  I'm not sure that means anything either, but she's become quite the local celebrity.

I don’t know. But I’ve written elsewhere that I was studying online at the weekend with some physicians who said they were encountering episodes of psychosis in hospitalised COVID patients.

And then I’ve just seen a headline in the WSJ.  (Article behind paywall)
Quote
“Coronavirus Ravages the Lungs. It Also Affects the Brain.
As Covid-19 cases mount, doctors are seeing patients who are experiencing symptoms like seizures, hallucinations and loss of smell and taste”

Early on in this, I felt  relaxed for myself.  My parents and aunts and uncles live in the countryside and are kept an eye on by my brother and cousins.  My children are not of vulnerable ages and I’m fit and not quite in the at risk age group.  I’ve signed up for volunteering with the NHS and a local group but I have become more concerned because those I know who have had it at my age are recently over it and are very wiped out. They don’t know yet if there will be lasting problems, but lung scarring and subsequent reduced lung capacity has always been noted as an after effect.  That isn’t a nice prospect.  I’m not too thrilled either about the thought of potential neurological effects, post infection.

It’s fine while in lockdown - the rules about contact are clear and I can be in control of myself for the time being.  When it is relaxed I’ll need to make decisions daily about what I do, who I see and where I go and how.  I think that may become very wearing and I think the effects of deciding which friends have been able to be cautious about their movements and contacts and which have not is going to be quite stressful.

[lawprofessor]

My neighbor just called in a panic, fever, sweating, etc.  She wanted me to take her grandson.  I frantically put on my shoes etc and headed over.

On my way over she called again.

"False alarm.  I was having a hot flash."

Women around my age will understand.

Lp

[Nas]

My neighbor just called in a panic, fever, sweating, etc.  She wanted me to take her grandson.  I frantically put on my shoes etc and headed over.

On my way over she called again.

"False alarm.  I was having a hot flash."

Women around my age will understand.

Lp

😂😂😂😂

LP, thanks for the bit of levity.

I get the most awful hot flashes from chemo and a few times in the past few weeks even I have had one and immediately taken my temperature and had to pause and tell myself, “It’s just the chemo, it’s not coronavirus!” 🤦‍♀️

[MyBrainIsBroken]

Nerissa's post reminded me of something I read when I was younger. I can't remember it exactly but it went something like this.

I've read so much about the ill effects of smoking and drinking and carrying on with wild women that I've decided to give up reading.

Not exactly the same situation as Covid-19 but regardless, I've been trying to limit the amount of time that I spend reading about Covid-19 since so many of the articles seem to be filled with speculation about dire consequences. Most people who test positive for Covid-19 seem to recover eventually with no ill effects but those stories don't seem to make it into print (or pixels). From what I've been able to find, though, it sounds like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson and Pink and her son are doing fine now.

[MyBrainIsBroken]

I just learned that my cousin, who is also my favorite ER nurse at the main hospital we transport patients to, has been hospitalized with Covid-19. One of her children has also tested positive and they've been told to assume the whole family has it. They aren't testing the rest of the family.

The county where I live has just 32 confirmed cases. The county next to us, where she lives, has just 35 and her hospital has only 3 Covid-19 patients. The numbers dont tell the true story.

I'm pretty overwhelmed. She's still in her 30s.

[xyzcf]

It is vastly different to read about the “cases” and to know the people personally. Please keep us up to date. I pray for her complete recovery as well as for her family and you.

[Treasur]

I'm so sorry to hear the news about your cousin and her family, Brain. You are all in our thoughts and we hope that she recovers with good hospital care. Please take care of yourself too. X

[marvin4242]

MBIB: so sorry to hear about your cousin, here is hoping for a speedy recovery. Do you know how many days in was she hospitalized? Does she have any potentially complicating other factors? From what I am reading there are more and more tools being used around the world to treat people after hospitalization but before pneumonia sets in and intubation is necessary as we go. I was wondering about when steroids would be started to modulate overactive immune response, and I just read they are starting to, the challenge is dosing correctly to allow the immune system to fight off the viral damage but modulate enough to prevent or stop the Cytokine storm.

You are absolutely correct, the numbers are yet incomplete and don’t show what is happening. There is also hidden cases (including raise in mortality that hasn’t been directly assigned to Covid).

[marvin4242]

And then I’ve just seen a headline in the WSJ.  (Article behind paywall)
Quote
“Coronavirus Ravages the Lungs. It Also Affects the Brain.
As Covid-19 cases mount, doctors are seeing patients who are experiencing symptoms like seizures, hallucinations and loss of smell and taste”

Found and read the article, it is from April 14. The headline is a bit more “dramatic” than what the content says. Essentially it lists some common neurological symptoms reported previously (loss of small, burning in nose, numbness, etc). And states that it is not yet clear whether it is from the virus directly effecting nervous system or a side effect of immune reaction. I am sure this will become clear over time. It also states how certain other viruses and diseases (HIV, measles) CAN infect the brain and cause neurological symptoms or conditions. So this is all hypothesis, and the numbers reported are not high enough for this to be a primary mode for the virus (maybe).

Another thing that will be sorted out, but right now I personally wouldn’t be too concerned for this being a huge part of the pandemic. I think the dangers are still the comorbidity with other factors (which more and more seems include people who live in high air pollution areas) and the immune system overreaction. I have already seen discussion of whether the current pollution reduction seen because of reduction of activity needs to be somehow capitalized upon to reduce pollution for health.

I also read how dangerous this is for coal miners suffering from “black lung” syndrome. That combined with the economic conditions in those areas can be a very bad combination unless those communities isolates the spread.

[Nerissa]

The headline is a bit more “dramatic” than what the content says. Essentially it lists some common neurological symptoms reported previously (loss of small, burning in nose, numbness, etc). And states that it is not yet clear whether it is from the virus directly effecting nervous system or a side effect of immune reaction.

Thanks for the explanation, Marvin.  So much yet to be found out.  I’m annoyed with our flailing government’s lack of transparency.

Brain, I do hope your cousin and her family will get well.  Medical
Staff are being asked so much at present and they are so incredibly willing to give in circumstances where they aren’t properly protected.  There are calls here to cancel university fees for nurses.  I think it’s going to be the least they deserve.

 Are you working as a paramedic during this time?  my friends  daughter is working as a paramedic in  London.  She was almost certainly infected early on and is back at work dealing with the frightened and vulnerable.  Her mum has come home from living overseas but can’t live with and care for her daughter or see her own mum who is in a home.   There is loss for people on so many levels.

Today there is a roadside vigil for a local Vicar at my childhood home.  He died of a heart attack and with covid.  He was in his fifties - wife and three daughters the youngest of whom is 19.  In the absence of holding a proper funeral, his hearse is being driven around the five parishes he served.

A potential Vaccine trial begins here tomorrow, tested in real people.

https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/amp/Article/2020-04-22-latest-on-oxford-s-fight-against-covid-19?__twitter_impression=true
Keep safe everyone!