Coronavirus

[Richie Allen]

My brother played four shows out on the east coast and then came back to Chicago and had a recording session all day with Pokey LaFarge and then a day or two later all but one person in his band and likely some people from the recording session (the subsequent days were canceled) got it. My brother and his wife tested positive but they're about a week into it and they haven't felt too bad.

[IMADreamer]

Well I'm positive again. I started feeling blah last night, but woke up today full on not feeling well. Took a home test and it's positive. I have the slightest headache ever, but achy in my joints. The worst is it's in my lungs. It just feels like they are coated with gunk and I've been coughing almost none stop. Like I will cough so hard I get dizzy. My wife of course is kind of in freak out mode and has checked my O2 levels a dozen times today. I'm steady at 98. I'm sure I'll be fine, but if not I love you all.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Dang man hope you get feeling better. What meds do they have you on?

[IMADreamer]

Dang man hope you get feeling better. What meds do they have you on?

So far just Tylenol. I haven't actually been to the doctor yet. I did text him a message since he's my neighbor and friend. lol He just said drink a bunch of water and stay hydrated. He thinks since I'm vaxxed it will go away pretty quickly. In fact I'm feeling better tonight. Coughing has subsided some. Still fever and achy but not awful.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Dang man hope you get feeling better. What meds do they have you on?

So far just Tylenol. I haven't actually been to the doctor yet. I did text him a message since he's my neighbor and friend. lol He just said drink a bunch of water and stay hydrated. He thinks since I'm vaxxed it will go away pretty quickly. In fact I'm feeling better tonight. Coughing has subsided some. Still fever and achy but not awful.

Okay good. Told mrs aw about you and she said the same thing-thinks will pass quickly- but need to be in touch with doc. Glad you have a direct line.

[AdmiralKird]

Finally got these in and they work as I’ve heard them advertised. Comfortable, they fit well, don’t require constant adjustment and don’t fog up your glasses.

Also, I forgot how masks are a pretty useful accessory in winter. Keeps your face warm and less annoying than a ski mask.

I’ve heard Home Depot has them but not sure if that’s still true.

If you can find the variants with the elastic straps they will last longer. The number on mine is 9210+. The rubberband material in the 9205's snap after about a month of occasional weekly use. The 9210's will last until you want to switch it out. If you're wearing one all day then it probably doesn't matter as you should dispose of it after that many hours, but if you use it for an hour or so and put it in your pocket then the 9210's are better.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

@IMADreamer You saying if not love you all kind of resets my mind though because sometimes I don't know where the line is what to say and what not. Family is one thing. GRB is another.

Typically I wouldn't offer any advice if you have medical peeps you're talking to. Or offer medical advice in general.

But, having just gone through this, I'll share my conversation with Mrs. AW, a nurse practicioner, about a supplement called NAC which is specifically good at upper respiratory infections. Because it is chemically a strong antioxidant which helps organs and in general counteracts viral effects that kill blood cells which cause the puss in your lungs.

And, I'll just do it as the conversation happened when she was feeling particularly bad:
Me: I'm going to make you a fruit smoothie.
Mrs. AW: Okay, dont know if I can drink it.
Me: I'm going to put one of my nac pills in it.
Mrs. AW: No.
Me: Why?
Mrs. AW: My body should be able to fight this on its own.

...

Me: Here's this link showing it helps respiratory infections, just take it. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9230243/
Mrs. AW: It's not approved, no.
Me: It didn't seek approval, it's a biochem thing. Strong antioxidant. Prevents dead cells.
And this is where it came to a head as an argument because I give her a wide berth when it comes to all things medical. But, at heart, I'm a chemist and when chemically things make sense and when I care about people and think that what I am saying can help, and trained as an engineer that you have a moral obligation to protect people, I didn't back down.

Her: Ben, it's not a treatment. If I need treatment, I'll get it.
Me: Bull [expletive], 1. covid is an odd duck and you don't know with certainty what's going to happen and 2. this is, on a biochem level, a net positive for you no matter how you slice it.
Her: I'm not taking it, it doesn't do anything.
Me: Well, you've tested positive twice. I've tested positive, precisely, zero times. So, on an anecdotal level, it does quite a bit and there are no studies showing I'm wrong.
Her: You're such an [expletive].
Me: I'm going to hold you down and force feed you this pill like you're a dog. But only because I love you.
Her: Good luck.
Me: Don't mistake my kindness for weakness.
Her: [expletive] off.
Me: I'll give you 24 hours.

So, I didn't convince Mrs. AW to take it. But, in my mind, I'm still right. And, if you have lung congestion, it would be beneficial. And it has about zero risk.

[Arthur Dent]

If you’re skeptical of PhRMA (you should be), I think you should also be skeptical of the supplement business. With supplements, there may or may not be good safety data and typically poor if any backup of efficacy claims. Plus, they’re not regulated to even ensure the bottle contains what it says it does.

[cardinalkarp]

If you’re skeptical of PhRMA (you should be), I think you should also be skeptical of the supplement business. With supplements, there may or may not be good safety data and typically poor if any backup of efficacy claims. Plus, they’re not regulated to even ensure the bottle contains what it says it does.

And I agree w/ this which is why it’s important do make sure you buy from reputable companies and I would not suggest buying that kinda stuff from Amazon (unless it’s coming directly from the seller of that supplement). Do not just buy the cheapest option just because well, it’s cheap.

[Arthur Dent]

The quantities involved in supplements are also vastly larger than vaccines. A single NAC supplement pill contains hundreds of milligrams of active ingredient compared to tens of micrograms for vaccines. That’s a ~10,000x larger quantity for a single dose. And supplements are often taken over longer periods.

We can argue about whether our vaccine side effect surveillance system is good enough (I think it could certainly be improved, though the dysfunctional US healthcare system makes this hard), but there is no surveillance at all of supplement harms. It is in fact totally plausible that some supplements are causing not so rare harms and that it simply never gets noticed because there is no systematic study. Adverse event rates like we’re discussing with vaccine myocarditis in boys/young men (1 in thousands range) would never be noticed, and longer term effects (not implausible for something you take regularly) are never going to be caught.

Be skeptical of people trying to push medicine on you and focus on common sense good health habits is I think a reasonable starting place impulse. Probably, most supplements are harmless, but the idea that these are actually safe compared to vaccines, I don’t think is true at all.