Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning • Hacker News Board

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#191

Post by saiya-jin » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:43 PM UTC

kamilafsar wrote: post #80

Not “long Covid” but my sense of smelling/tasting is still not the same after 6+ months. I had mild symptoms, but my sense of smelling and tasting were totally gone for a few weeks. After a few weeks it turned almost back to 80% only intense smells (like gasoline, garlic and diapers :shrug:) were filtered out. Since ~3 months these things stink intensely with an indescribable way… (I guess the diapers always did ;))…

Can't say anything about being 100% back with smell, it seems more like some got back and then long plateau where I am now.

My story - had covid in february 2021, +-flu but complete loss of smell. But not for taste - all major tastes were there (so salt was salty, sour sour etc.) but all the fine tastes (ie you barbecue a fine steak without any seasoning, and its amazing) were gone. The result was food that didn't taste horrible, just incredibly bland. I was super sporty, and started again almost right after it.

Smell was gone 100%. I used a home made 52% apple brandy bottle to test my smell continuously (very strong alcohol smell, strong fruity by-smells), for maybe 2 weeks it was like breathing fresh forest air, actually OK if I didn't consider what it meant. No alcohol smell. Then it gradually came back, same with fruity flavors.

After 6 months, I would say I have my smell back. But it feels like its quite toned down, all the smells are rather mild. Did some test and my own perfumes don't smell so great anymore. Some other previously great smells are mild or not so great anymore. At least nothing smells outright horribly, and all food is OK to eat (since smell affects our tastes greatly).

Smell is probably the least bad sense to lose, as long as its just about some % loss and not making many fine things smell like rotten shit.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#192

Post by AnimalMuppet » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:43 PM UTC

inb4_cancelled wrote: post #131

halotrope wrote: post #39

Is it possible to have an asymptomatic primary infection and still suffer long covid? Antigen tests where negative but ever since last fall I feel weird symptoms that I never had for any length of time. Stuff like trouble spelling, complete lack of concentration, difficulties comprehending things when trying to actively learn and a general feeling of confusion and exhaustion. I tend to just assume a general state of…

I'd like to know as well. Never had any covid AFAIK, yet I'm currently on my second week of feeling tired and on my fourth day of experiencing heart palpitations maybe once every hour (feels like my heart skipped a beat and the next one is a bit stronger). I've never had this before and my antigen test yesterday was negative.

I have those. At least in my case, it's a premature ventricular contraction. What happens is that the nerve fires too early, and the heart muscle says: "What? LOL, no. I'm still on my coffee break." But blood keeps arriving at the heart, so the next beat is stronger because it has more blood to move. They can get strong enough to hurt a bit.

In my case, it seemed to be caused by Claritin. When I stopped taking Claritin, I quit having these. Years later, just recently, I've started having them again.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. Your symptoms may be something else.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#193

Post by MaxBarraclough » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:43 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #177

mygoodaccount wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As for lung capacity: I used to play saxophone pretty fanatically and I think that is one of the reasons I got through this with a relatively low amount of damage. Funnily enough, I used to play the flute and sing before contracting COVID. With my lung capacity halved, my ability is nowhere near what it used to be. Long COVID has taken all my hobbies away from me: running, singing, hip-hop dancing. If anyone knows…

Have you tried postural drainage for your lungs? I ask because if you've lost half your lung capacity (and I expect a singer and flute player would know), then you must have some kind of junk in there. For those not familiar with the term: You position yourself with your head a foot lower than your hips (and your back straight). You hold that for 15 minutes or so. You let gravity pull the junk out of your lungs down…

That sounds like the kind of thing you should do on the advice of your doctor, rather than on the advice of a stranger on the Internet.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#194

Post by inlikealamb » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

iammisc wrote: post #49

When my first daughter was born in 2018, I had a respiratory infection. It lasted three months before I went in to the doctor. I hesitated to seek medical advice because it was clearly viral. But the cough was so bad it was causing the newborn to wake up. The doctor (at a walk-in clinic) told me viral respiratory infections can last months and there's nothing you can do. Just wait. HE gave me some pills to stop the c…

You aren't kidding. It isn't the norm, but I've had a viral bronchial infection for almost 2 months now. All you can do is wait and suppress the symptoms.

As a side note, having an unrelated cough during a respiratory pandemic is not a good time.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#195

Post by kwthrows » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

spookthesunset wrote: post #180

CarelessExpert wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Expressing skepticism surrounding the efficiency of social distancing, masks, "non essential business" and all these lockdowns is not a "far right" talking point. You're absolutely right. This kind of misinformation isn't limited to the far right. > To this day we cannot say for certain that lockdowns did anything at all, LOL, what? This is a truly astonishingly statement. Literally every place that instituted lock…

I am absolutely making this claim in good faith. Where is your studies showing these restrictions worked well enough to justify their immense costs to society? They don’t exist. To date I’ve yet to see a single cost benefit analysis done for any of this. It simply wasn’t allowed to be done… you’d get shouted down by the mob. It worries me greatly how little critical thinking has been applied to the last 17+ months. I…

> It’s appeals to authority all the way down.

Welcome to the new far-right.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#196

Post by whywhywhywhy » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:47 PM UTC

iammisc wrote: post #49

When my first daughter was born in 2018, I had a respiratory infection. It lasted three months before I went in to the doctor. I hesitated to seek medical advice because it was clearly viral. But the cough was so bad it was causing the newborn to wake up. The doctor (at a walk-in clinic) told me viral respiratory infections can last months and there's nothing you can do. Just wait. HE gave me some pills to stop the c…

>why did my doctor tell me that viral respiratory diseases can last for many months in early 2019

Going out on a limb here but coughing for months my first thought would be mold. Not sure why they didn't suggest that to you.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#197

Post by taxicabjesus » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #3

One of those cases here. Symptoms: suddenly out of energy, occasionally suddenly being unable to spell, even mild physical exercise leaves me floored (and I was pretty fit for my age prior to this). So, 17 months in: it's still not back to where it used to be but if you think of it in terms of trends instead of absolutes it is definitely still improving. The downs are less far down, the fog is lifting and the energy…

> I will always wonder if I had called them earlier if I could have avoided the worst of this (by having some oxygen earlier on and maybe avoiding some of the damage).

I think you're quite fortunate you held out and got better on your own.

There's some old scientific knowledge that oxygen [O2] in excess is toxic. I've submitted links about toxic-O2 here before, but these did not get much attention [4][5].

Some modern Fire/EMS first responders are well-aware of toxic O2 [0]. My uncle (an MD) knows about toxic O2, but he's not aware of the antidote. I was waiting for someone with credentials to call out the doctors for their mistaken use of oxygen.

I did find an MD's tweet that confirms the old research [1]. The doctor's tread is about how ventilators are harmful too, and how he can kill mice in 3 days with pure oxygen. But the MD didn't mention the antidote (5% CO2) that makes O2 non-toxic.

I've put some effort into tweeting about #MedicalHyperventilation [2] and SARS-CoV-2 [3], but no one consults with a non-credentialed former taxi driver (or his real-world persona).

My write-up: The Folly of Medical Hyperventilation: https://www.taxiwars.org/2021/06/folly-medical-hyperventilat...

I've posted this with my pseudonym because it's sort of inconvenient for people to realize we've driven the global economy into a wall because our doctors are trained to apply pseudo-medicine: "if patient's blood oxygen saturation level is low, supplement pure oxygen", and more inconvenient that there's an antidote that makes oxygen nontoxic to the lungs and the rest of the body.

[0] https://twitter.com/slpearson2/status/997208010328965120

[1] https://twitter.com/robertpdickson/status/126525483948485427...

[2] https://twitter.com/TaxiCabJesus/status/1407155149257154563 [1200] / https://twitter.com/TaxiCabJesus/status/1407185919795294212 [110]

[3] https://twitter.com/TaxiCabJesus/status/1413730850626162691 [204/5]

[4] Mortality/morbidity: acutely ill adults liberal vs. conservative Oxygen Tx(2018) (thelancet.com) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22993262

[5] Space-cabin Atmospheres: Oxygen toxicity (1964) (google.com) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25883728

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#198

Post by the-dude » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #70

usaphp wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you were never tested for covid? How do you know if it was covid ?

Because I'm not a complete idiot. - pandemic in progress: check - risky lifestyle: check (as in very frequent air travel for work) - symptoms: O2 level drop, fluid in lungs, persistent cough, extreme tiredness, dizzyness, loss of smell/taste check all of these, and the rest, fortunately not. Later on: crazy beating heart for no particular reason, losing weight steadily but more slowly now. Decision not to test was ma…

In previous Corona discussions on HN I saw multiple comments from people who were convinced they had COVID, tested after the fact, but the tests ( some tested multiple times ) came back negative.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#199

Post by iammisc » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:53 PM UTC

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #196

iammisc wrote: post #49

When my first daughter was born in 2018, I had a respiratory infection. It lasted three months before I went in to the doctor. I hesitated to seek medical advice because it was clearly viral. But the cough was so bad it was causing the newborn to wake up. The doctor (at a walk-in clinic) told me viral respiratory infections can last months and there's nothing you can do. Just wait. HE gave me some pills to stop the c…

>why did my doctor tell me that viral respiratory diseases can last for many months in early 2019 Going out on a limb here but coughing for months my first thought would be mold. Not sure why they didn't suggest that to you.

It wasn't coughing for months though. It started with a runny nose. Then I got a cough (coincided with the baby being born and waking up). I took cough suppressors for about 1.5 weeks. Then I had general sinus aches and the cough stopped. Then i had body aches. Then I had a runny nose and cought again, until finally it became general malaise until it finally dissipated.

I count the 'end' of the infection as the point in time at which I was able to do my standard gym routine in full again.

Re: Burden of post-Covid-19 syndrome and implications for healthcare planning

#200

Post by spookthesunset » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

CarelessExpert wrote: post #184

spookthesunset wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am absolutely making this claim in good faith. Where is your studies showing these restrictions worked well enough to justify their immense costs to society? They don’t exist. To date I’ve yet to see a single cost benefit analysis done for any of this. It simply wasn’t allowed to be done… you’d get shouted down by the mob. It worries me greatly how little critical thinking has been applied to the last 17+ months. I…

> Where is your studies showing these restrictions worked well enough to justify their immense costs to society? And predictably the goalposts shift. First it was that we "cannot say for certain that lockdowns did anything at all". Now it's that the results don't "justify their immense costs to society". > and even then we didn’t know it would work going in, Again: Lockdowns are a basic application of germ theory. Th…

> There's piles of evidence that shows they're extremely effective. Heck, in my own city, we saw a massive spike brewing prior to Christmas, and once a lockdown was instituted, the numbers immediately began to fall. That pattern is repeated anywhere you care to look.

That isn’t proof. I could very easily claim it was seasonality or things well beyond our control that caused cases to go down. And I am probably right. The charts and graphs all follow the same basic pattern everywhere in the world regardless of restrictions in place. Clearly if lockdowns worked so well you’d see orders of magnitude difference between a place like Florida or Sweden compared to California or New York.

The burden of proof is upon those forcing it upon us and so far, crickets from all around. It’s truly insane how nobody is allowed call out the mounds of public data suggesting the effects of lockdowns or any of our non pharmaceutical interventions are minimal at best… we pissed away well over a year of people’s lives for basically nothing.

Show me they work. And show me they worked well enough to justify the extreme damage they caused to society. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Where is the evidence?