Topic: Coronavirus outbreak

Trying to keep record of events. Despite feeling normal yesterday aside from brief urge to cough for a bit, I woke up today (80 hrs after first noticing a symptom) with really bad chills, dehydrated, sore muscles, onset of headache, pressure around head... it’s still not too bad overall but, definitely worth noting. About 3 days it took, then, for symptoms to really start manifesting.

@JaxonH Yeah, covid is weird. People will feel fine for a few days, and then feel like complete crap again. Symptoms seem to wax and wane for long periods of time. I've heard of people struggling with this for months before getting back to some semblance of normalcy.

Keep drinking a lot of water and rest as much as possible. And if symptoms start really worrying you, don't blow them off.

Yes, at the first sign of complication, please go to a hospital.

I've heard of people who were feeling fine one day, then needed critical help the next. So please, stay vigilant and act quickly if you need to.

Take care.

Yeah, IF covid goes bad, it's known for turning to bad quickly, like within half a day, or just hours. So, that's why it's important for people to consult their doctor early, even if symptoms are mild.

Granted most people only have mild symptoms, but everyone needs to keep close watch of symptoms, because they can go bad quickly, and it's tough to tell who it will happen to. https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/How-a-mild-case-of-COV...

And if anyone finds they need to go to ER, they need to call ER first, before going, so you don't go into ER infecting other people, or people/families in waiting room.

It will be a great day when we find effective treatment for deadly symptoms, and an effective, safe vaccine. (the only treatments found so far only provide very modest help)

@Ralizah Technically I don't think that behavior is as unusual for viruses, waxing and waning like that as all the talk of this suggests.... I've had several illnesses over the years that behaved that way.... All of them "strange" seeming.... I think the main difference with covid is at the extremes, both how mild the mild gets and how bad the bad gets. It's like it's main attribute is a bigger pendulum to swing on. But little about the virus is normal other than that.

@WoomyNNYes "call the er before going" isn't going to happen 90% of the time. Nice sentiment and ideal if possible, but that idea doesn't work with most reality. Still i have to laugh.... Even having to say that doesn't seem in any way compatible with "go fly, shop, dine, have large gatherings, play at the beach, and go to the theater"even slightly. Something is very very broken here.

@NEStalgia I don't mean the mere fact of feeling better some days and worse others is unusual, although I can see how my post would read that way. Everyone has experienced that. I mean it's weird that one day you feel good and a week later you're vented in the hospital fighting for your life. It's not usually so erratic. It's also weird how long people seem to be fending this crap off. At best, this is Jax's next month, even if it's a mild case.

Probably all of that goes back to it being a novel virus that our bodies don't know how to react to.

@NEStalgia I wouldn't be shocked if it's not common knowledge, but since the outbreak of covid, calling before going to ER for covid19 has been the recommended & necessary protocol, to prevent unnecessary spread of infection(covid-19). It's probably best known in metro areas where there have already been major outbreaks. You're right though, people are so used to just going to ER if they need immediate attention, calling ahead probably doesn't cross their mind. It never would have crossed my mind either. Calling-ER-before-going-to-ER is definitely a new protocol. But an ER is an enclosed space, and when covid symptoms are showing or at their worst, that's when the infection is most easily transmitted.

This CDC page has a good outline of what people are supposed to do if they get covid-19. Much of it is all about isolating yourself to prevent spreading the virus.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/ste...

Call 911 or call ahead to your local emergency facility: Notify the operator that you are seeking care for someone who has or may have COVID-19.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/yes-you-can-and-should-sti...

If you have severe symptoms of COVID-19, it’s best to call ahead before going to the emergency department so that staff can prepare to get you where you need to go as safely as possible.

God I adlkjasd;fkja hate this! My best friend just told me there were 3 confirmed cases where they work. But it's an "essential" business so who cares? They have to keep working!

Because God knows Texas cannot live without Target for a few days! They aren't even shutting down for a few days to clean the place!

I will NEVER forgive the leadership in America if my loved ones die to this disease. NEVER!

@Heavyarms55 Ummmm that has nothing to do with American leaders that's Target's CEO. He can close the store himself and have clean it.

The company I work had a worker in one of its stores test positive for the Virus and the CEO shut down that store for a deep cleaning after sending everyone home.

@Tasuki Target would not have to do anything if the leadership of the nation had handled the pandemic properly. I obviously do not forgive the CEO and leadership of Target, but a retail company isn't expected to have plans in place to deal with a pandemic. A nation is supposed to. What good is a government that does not protect its people? That is the single most important reason governments exist at all.

It's the social contract. People live by the laws set by a government, and in return that government protects its people. The US government is failing in its role and putting the lives of my loved ones in direct danger.

@Ralizah @NEStalgia
So, an update.

Yesterday I got deathly ill around 9am. Woke up feeling crappy but then it just hit me out of nowhere. Intense fever, intense nausea, chills so bad I was shaking under a blanket, pressure all around head... it was so bad I could barely even move. Just laying there is all I could do.

Then, by 1pm, it had mostly subsided. And today I feel basically back to normal again. I dare say I might even be over it. At least it feels that way.

The symptoms have been so mild over the first three days I was actually second guessing myself as to whether I was just imagining things. I knew I’d felt super mild symptoms, but they were just so mild and it seems like nothing more was coming of it so, I did start to wonder whether it was my body making things manifest out of anxiety. But then yesterday happened and yeah, it was bad. But it was over in a matter of hours. The first day I had detected symptoms I kind of felt the same way but 10% in magnitude. I had the light fever and the fatigue and all that but it was just so mild. Yesterday was like getting hit by a truck.

But now it’s gone again. And this time it feels completely gone. I could be wrong but you can generally tell when your body feels back to normal, and I do. I did have a strange sensation today where it felt like I could smell better than I’ve ever smelled in my entire life. Eating a hot dog, and just the smell wafting off of the hotdog as I was reaching up to my mouth was so insanely intense. It’s like my olfactory nerves were in thousand percent overdrive mode.

Just thought I would post an update to wrap things up since it seems like that’s the end of it (hopefully). Overall not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

@JaxonH Hey, I seemed to have missed quite a lot of what has been going on. Must have been quite a scare for you, but glad you're feeling better. Here's hoping it's not one of those interval/wax & wane periods, or you'll be in for another ride. But having said that, I can totally relate to feeling when you're through the worst of something, so here's hoping that this is the case for you now as well. And if it is, then you should probably consider yourself VERY lucky, considering how things are going, Stateside.

As for the sensory overload: I'd say that's no more than logical. Considering a normal cold or flu already taking away most of your taste and smell senses, and COVID-19 being a rather big step up from that, it's like going from zero back to a full one-hundred percent, so it'll probably come across as a near-overload of senses.

@ThanosReXXX
It’s weird. A lot of people report losing their sense of smell but that didn’t happen to me. Then again I rarely seem to notice smells anyways so, who knows. I was thinking maybe it damaged some of the olfactory nerves (Which is what is claimed to happen with most others, hence them losing their smell), but not enough to all out lose my smell (so I didn’t notive) but now those damaged cells regenerated, which caused a surge in perception of smell. But I’m no doctor. It’s all speculation from a layman.

@JaxonH Is it damaged cells, though? I always figured that the loss of smell with any kind of cold/flu is simply because sinuses are closed/swollen, and as such, their function is impeded. And you do also need your olfactory senses to taste...

@ThanosReXXX
Ya, the inflammation can cause damage, sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent.

https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/how-does-covid-19-cause...

@JaxonH Yeah, come to think of it, I already knew you were right shortly after I posted that. Funny thing (although: funny. Not really) is that I should have known from personal experience: in my twenties, I suffered hay fever, or so I thought, because I was diagnosed as such by my in hindsight not so good GP.

After years of having used pills and puffers and what not, I decided I either wanted to get rid of it entirely, or at the very least get a second opinion, so I got me a referral, got some X-rays taken of my head, and sinuses in particular, and ultimately, the outcome was that I did NOT have hay fever at all, but instead, I had a big ball of accumulated dirt and what not, firmly lodged in my left sinus, which is what had caused the hay fever symptoms all along.

Long story short: they drilled a hole, put in a drain, flushed out the unwanted visitor, but the damage was already done. So, even though I don't have to take any medicine anymore, I'm still sensitive to pollen and what not, in the summer time, due to my sinus being permanently damaged by this event.

@ThanosReXXX
Yikes. How does such a thing even happen?

@JaxonH Beats me, to be honest. Back in the day (I'm 50, for reference's sake), it was a current debate whether or not blowing your nose too hard or snorting too hard, was damaging, and caused inflammation and/or damage. For clarity's sake: I don't mean snorting drugs, just doing the opposite of blowing your nose...

How the build up started, is anyone's guess, because outside of on holidays, I'm not even all that much of an outdoorsy person, so yeah...

And it was a build up of many years, otherwise it wouldn't have necessitated putting in a drain, so it could have been in there for at least three to five years prior, which does almost perfectly coincide with the start of my faux-hay fever symptoms.

@JaxonH I'm glad you're feeling good right now. Appreciate you keeping us updated on the progression of this illness.

Just keep it up. If you go radio silent for days on end, a simple "I was too invested in Paper Mario!" excuse won't cut it.

Oh, and happy Independence Day!