OT: Discussion about COVID 19 if you have had it or think you might have it

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Tue May 05, 2020 6:18 pm

Who knows--WE may have infected the Chinese!

That would be ironic since some say the 1918 epidemic started here.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC340389/

In Feb. my brother in law turned 70 and we went to celebrate his birthday in Malta.

There were about 40 of us at the party, mostly inside because the weather was not good. All eating from the buffet that had been set up, often drinking from the wrong person's glass as one does at parties after a drink or two!

Guests included folks from Canada, the UK, Spain, France and of course, many Maltese. About 10 of us had had made the trip from other countries, specially to be at the party.

During our visit we went to Valletta and there were several cruise ships in the harbour, Valletta was packed with visitors as it always is, and the streets were jammed full of tourists, including us wandering about.

One can see how this virus spreads so easily through travel.

We returned to Canada on Feb. 20. Going through border control at the airport we were asked if we had been to Wuhan, China. There were no other questions about our health.

I had a mild cold a few days after we got back. Nothing serious. I checked my temperature daily but it was unremarkable. My husband didn't even have the sniffles.

However a friend who traveled with us had an extremely severe cough and chest cold for about 10 days after getting back (her throat started getting sore in Malta before we left). She doesn't think it was Covid19 however because I think she took her temperature daily and it never spiked.

If we had been in Malta later, and come back on March 20 for example, I would have considered being tested for Covid19, and my friend too, probably.

However, in the last week of February there was virtually no Covid19 officially reported in Ontario, and not a single case in Malta.

I tested negative for it 2 days ago...had a mild case of bacterial pneumonia. still haven't had an antibody test to see if i ever had it in the past.

Getting an antibody test tomorrow.

jnk... wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 12:00 pm

Getting an antibody test tomorrow.

I wish I could but it's not available in my area yet.
Hell,....people that are sick can't even get a "do I have it" test so they can get back to work because they don't meet the criteria to get the "do I have it test".

So the "anyone who wants a test can get a test" statement....not true in my area. Big surprise there...cough, cough.

A woman working in a local manufacturing facility got a fever....employer wants to know if she has the Covid...but when she went to get a test...the fever itself isn't/wasn't enough met criteria to get the "do I have it test". How the hell are we supposed to know anything if we can't get a simple "do I have it test" so we can go back to work and not put co workers at risk..

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 12:16 pm

.cough, cough.

Hope you're wearing a mask.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 12:16 pm

I wish I could but it's not available in my area yet.

I didn't ask for it. I think I must have been randomly selected. Either that or someone "volunteered" me behind my back. It was voluntary and easy for me to do, and I assume it may give a data point in combination with others that will be valuable to the local county and the state--so hey why not? (I didn't mention the feds because data doesn't really seem to be their thing at the moment. )

Frankly, I don't expect that the results, positive or negative, will change anything whatsoever about my behavior, since my understanding is that no test is 100% accurate and there is no real evidence about any immunity of any length of time at all, even after a full-blown COVID-19 sickness. I'll still be at home on lockdown here with my laptop, avoiding what's left of humanity out there somewhere, either way. Safety first. Live dog vs. dead lion. And all that jazz.

Maybe I'll learn more next week when my primary wants to Zoom with me about the results. That way she gets paid.

We'll see.

Posting this here since the other Covid-19 thread has moved on to different topics.

I know OSA is a risk factor for Covid-19, and I assume CSA would be as well. But do we know anything about how high risk CSA makes you compared to other health conditions? Do we know if having CSA make you higher risk than if you only had OSA?

(Luckily I'm much younger than the high-risk age range!)

jnk... wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 2:14 pm

I didn't ask for it. I think I must have been randomly selected. Either that or someone "volunteered" me behind my back. It was voluntary and easy for me to do, and I assume it may give a data point in combination with others that will be valuable to the local county and the state--so hey why not? (I didn't mention the feds because data doesn't really seem to be their thing at the moment. )

Your governor is a lot more forward thinking than the idiot I have here who was one of the last to impose any restrictions and one of the first to lift what little he did do in terms of restrictions.
Doesn't surprise me one bit about the poor woman who needs a test to satisfy employer questions and can't get one.
I know who I won't be voting for if that idiot is up for re election come fall.

I think it is a good baseline to get so that the scientists have a more better idea what the exposure has been. A lot of people have had the virus and not realize it. We can't learn if we don't test and learning is critical here to have any chance of developing a plan to limit or reduce risks here.

I want the antibody test because I think I might have had the virus the first week of March. I realize the limitations of potential immunity but I still want to know.
I do know that my hairdresser and her husband had it about a week before I had whatever I had (but I wasn't in contact with them when they were sick or even right before so can't blame them) ...and the her husband did get the antibody test and tested positive.
So here in Missouri...the virus was active at least mid Feb.
The more information we can gather....the better it is even if that information seems small and not all that important at this time.

When all this started my husband sat in one chair poo pooing off all the dire stuff...and I sat in my chair and told him that he was wrong and a bunch of bad shit was going to happen. He now admits I was right in my predictions which is nothing that makes me happy at all.
I wish I had been wrong about everything.

And I am basing all my expectations on the science behind this crap...it's not just because of my personal political beliefs.
I am in a situation where my medical knowledge creates more of a problem than it fixes. I know and understand too much sometimes.
Hubby was calling me Negative Nellie for several weeks.... Trust me...I get no pleasure with an "I told you so" in this situation.

kitan25 wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 2:41 pm

Posting this here since the other Covid-19 thread has moved on to different topics.

I know OSA is a risk factor for Covid-19, and I assume CSA would be as well. But do we know anything about how high risk CSA makes you compared to other health conditions? Do we know if having CSA make you higher risk than if you only had OSA?

I can't see how it would have any effect. and there's no evidence that OSA is in any way a risk factor for COVID-19, so how do you "know" this?

The behavior of the virus and the disease it causes is too new to know much about OSA and CSA associations. Some people that one would expect to have high severity do not; some people one would expect to have low severity do not. Statistical associations result in behavior modification before anyone really understands the real relationships and interactions with comorbidities.

kitan25 wrote: ↑

Thu May 14, 2020 2:41 pm

I know OSA is a risk factor for Covid-19, and I assume CSA would be as well.

Where do you get the information that OSA is a risk factor for COVID-19? Can you provide a link to an article?

AASM dudes wrote:
Updated April 3, 2020

Do I have a higher risk of getting coronavirus because I have sleep apnea?

There is no evidence linking sleep apnea with coronavirus risk. People who have a higher risk for severe illness from the coronavirus include:

Those who are 65 years of age or older
Those who have serious underlying medical conditions. These conditions include
Chronic lung disease
Moderate to severe asthma
Serious heart conditions
Severe obesity with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher
Diabetes
Chronic kidney disease
Liver disease
Those who have a medical disorder, or take a medication, that weakens the immune system.
Those who have had close contact with another person who has the coronavirus.

--https://aasm.org/coronavirus-covid-19-f ... -patients/

Color added by me.

The above list mentions "chronic lung disease," but neither OSA nor CSA is considered a "chronic lung disease" on its own, in and of itself. The obstruction with OSA is in the upper airway, and mainstream forms of CSA appear to be mostly nervous-system or heart related or drug related rather than being a true lung issue, although lung issues can, of course, contribute to and interact with both OSA and CSA.

That said, the working list of issues that appear to interact with or that are associated with higher risk for more serious COVID-19 complications is a relatively new list subject to change over time. There are unknown unknowns this early in a new pandemic. In fact, I hesitated at first to even quote something updated as far back as April 3--a lifetime ago, it seems.

I got it from here: https://www.sleephealthsolutionsohio.co ... p-therapy/

There is also evidence of a third risk factor – sleep aspiration – related to people using a CPAP machine.

Coronavirus has caused a higher mortality rate for patients with underlying health conditions. These include chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, lung ailments, and respiratory diseases, like COPD and sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea has been linked to other conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, which means that these patients are likely included in this higher risk category.

Unlike the common cold or flu, which starts in the nose and throat and affects the upper respiratory tract, this virus tends to affect the lower airways. The Coronavirus infects the cells below the voice box and gets deep into the lungs. This can happen through inhaled air, but also from the aspiration of fluid from the nose and saliva that drains from the mouth down a person’s throat.

Aspiration is normal and it happens more often while a person is sleeping. Aspirated fluids can carry bacteria and pathogens that can lead to pneumonia, especially in older patients and those with lung damage, from smoking or chronic asthma for example.

This is important for patients using CPAP devices to understand because proper hygiene and safety measures are needed to ensure that the pressurized air does not facilitate the pathway for contagions.

Because those with sleep apnea and CPAP users may be at higher risk for developing complications from COVID-19, you should closely monitor your symptoms.

kitan25 wrote: ↑

Fri May 15, 2020 4:57 am

I got it from here: https://www.sleephealthsolutionsohio.co ... p-therapy/

Thanks for the link. All of this part should be highlighted --->

Because sleep apnea disrupts sleep, effective management of symptoms through CPAP therapy is more critical now than ever. Sleep apnea treatment will help you stay healthy and decrease the likeliness of developing severe problems. So, there is no reason to stop using the CPAP machine. In fact, a study by the National Academy of Medicine shows that utilizing CPAP and BiPAP device may have actually help some patients affected by the symptoms Coronavirus.

kitan25 wrote: ↑

Fri May 15, 2020 4:57 am

I got it from here: https://www.sleephealthsolutionsohio.co ... p-therapy/

bunch of hooey and rampant speculation

Because those with sleep apnea and CPAP users may be at higher risk for developing complications from COVID-19, you should closely monitor your symptoms.

None of that drivel says what you said,

kitan25 wrote: I know OSA is a risk factor for Covid-19, and I assume CSA would be as well.

Now, *UNTREATED* sleep apnea may well exacerbate COVID19, which is saying something rather different than what you said.