Everyone in this thread and throughout the internet should not be interrogating or giving medical advice beyond “call your doctor”
We aren’t qualified to do so and it’s highly irresponsible and inappropriate.
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I know that you are conscientious. But, I’ve noticed a lot of people in the patient community acting like heros, maybe because they have so much experience with illness, they just aren’t as careful with their own, personal welfare. I think this actually comes from having a better, more realistic ability to evaluate risk. But, it also causes me to worry about everybody in this situation where risks are not totally understood. Be careful. That’s all I ask.
My sister in law has been exposed. She is a police officer in Paris. Her family is now at risk while she quarantines at home. We had a friend in FR who called to say his grandmother had died suddenly (3 days of being symptomatic, covid confirmed mortality) and grandpa is now critically ill. Have been in contact with friends in CN for months. There are fears of famine. This is causing much hardship and loss for people.
We will all be walking some fine lines over the next couple months that have great impact for individuals and public safety. I know that this community takes things seriously. But, there are lots of examples, still, of organizations and individuals not doing what their country has asked them to do. That increases risk to people like us from the patient community.
Here’s a tune to celebrate your continued isolation, lol. Stay safe.
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A lot of health plans have Telehealth benefits, and I believe the government is making efforts to increase accessibility to these benefits right now.
If you’re having difficulty getting through to your doctor, then I would look into a telehealth/telemedicine appointment. Since a doctor is paid for this consultation, it should be easier to get some advice without having to expose yourself to the germs in a doctor’s office.
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I experienced my first telehealth remote access appointment with my endo yesterday. It was set up for me when I called expressing concern about the risk of showing up in-person for my every 90-days visit.
I used a MyChart app installed on my phone. My phone screen showed my face on top and the doctor’s on the bottom. I used my earbuds with a microphone to hear and transmit the audio. Both the audio and video connection were excellent.
My doctor suggested that we “see” each other this way for every appointment except for one annual in-person visit. This sounds great to me. If Medicare did not have its every 90-days doctor visit requirement for its Part B insulin and supplies coverage, I would probably only see my doctor once per year except for any unusual episodes.
This is the future of clinical medicine.
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Thanks everybody. I talk with my naturopath by phone at 10:00 this morning. I have been communicating with doctors by phone with and without video for years. That way I can use doctors from across the nation, which I have done.
I slept well except when I needed more cough medicine. The cough is not dry anymore. My temperature broke during the night.
Since I don’t know much about the virus, I don’t know if temperatures break etc. my breathing continues to be normal so I will continue to think of this as a cold.
If we didn’t have to drive 3 hrs round trip to get tested, I would probably do it, but driving and then waiting in line etc while I am not feeling well is not something I want to do. I will try to find out if any testing is being done in the state yet though just to be informed.
It will be very helpful to have labs set up all over the US so we can find out just how many people have the virus. Unfortunately the US was not at all prepared for this disaster.
It’s worth reminding ourselves that nobody was, anywhere.
Good to know your temperature is down and everything looks all right.
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Possibly not relevant for @Marilyn6, but keep in mind, thanks to climate change, we are well in the midst of a terrible allergy season, and many people are going to have much worse reactions than usual, and that can include cough and sore throat. They should not cause a fever though. I’m having allergic asthmatic coughing, which I never got until last spring and is apparently part of my new normal. It is never fun and particularly disconcerting given everything, but I’m checking both my temp and pulse-ox regularly (which is also giving me a good sense of my normal variability re temp, which appears to be about .5 of a degree), and both are fine. Having a small at-home pulse-ox finger meter is really handy, IMO, since if that dips below the high 90s, that’s a clear sign to get an ambulance right away.
Also re: fever, I think they mean 100.4, not 104, re threshold for concern generally.
I know here, with mild symptoms and no known exposure, you can’t get tested and the advice is to treat symptoms (though the WHO just officially recommended against using ibuprofen) and continue monitoring at home. Obviously follow your own dr’s advice though!
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“you can’t get tested and the advice is to treat symptoms”
Even if u do get tested and it is positive, all they can do is treat symptoms. The only additional issue is the quarantine aspect of dealing with someone who tests positive.
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Which is exactly why they should be testing more people, and probably would be, if the government hadn’t f-ed up getting on producing testing kits immediately when it was obvious this was coming.
They are working on a few interesting treatment approaches to mitigating the damage from the virus, so it’s one more reason to flatten the curve—the longer it takes for people to get sick, the more likely there will be other resources available for treatment by the time they are.
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Are u saying that the government itself produces testing kits?? I thought that would be medical supply companies. I don’t see the point in arguing these thing from a point of anger.
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I mean, I’m angry at the government for dropping the ball broadly in preparation for this, not at anyone here. And yes government agencies (CDC, FDA) have a ton to do with all of these things. It’s exactly why we needed the NSC pandemic response unit that was eliminated prior to all this happening.
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I was referring to the “f-ed up” comment which I took as anger towards the government. I didn’t think (or mean to imply) that you were angry at anyone here, so I DID understand your comment correctly, it seems. 
FWIW, I’m often ticked at our government, but don’t get me started. LOL!
This is my situation, I suffer greatly from allergies, the worst times are now as trees start to bloom and in the fall when ragweed makes it presence known. Tennessee is about the worse place to be if you have allergies.
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Yeah, allergies do complicate trying to determine when you’re sick.
I had an asthma-related cough for nine months straight during the spring/summer/fall of 2018 (I think). I was extremely irritating, and even steroids didn’t get rid of it. Thankfully, my asthma has improved drastically since I stopped allergy shots.
Allergies are one of the benefits of staying home for me, ironically. My allergies have been under great control spending all my time in my apartment with two air purifiers running. I went out for half an hour yesterday and almost immediately my nose started running and eyes watering and I had a weird-feeling throat for the rest of the day.
@Marilyn6, I’m glad to hear your symptoms have improved.
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Granted, most countries were unprepared, but some responded better, and some had more resources, different cultures, etc. If nothing else, I hope it changes our thinking about health, the risks of pandemics, providing a strong governmental response, having enough capacity to handle emergencies, increased education, reductions in certain animal-related activities, etc.
Generally, risk management is important. I’ve worked in technology for 30 years, mostly in finance/consulting but also in health care, and some of the companies I worked for went through both WTC bombings, and subsequently had strong disaster recovery and business continuity plans. It’s no different with government, even more so, it needs to have plans for the myriad crises and catastrophes that we deal with. There always needs to be backup processes and equipment.
Right now, the cancer center I work at in Manhattan has had a very strong positive response to this, moving as many as people as possible to remote work, reducing risks to patients and medical staff, ramping up on capacity, and providing strong and clear messaging.
No major organization should be lacking in processes to cover these eventualities.
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Dave,
I don’t know the whole story, but according to the linked New Yorker article above, once a public health emergency was declared in Feb., the private companies that had been developing the virus had to stop, by law. The article goes into detail about why that is. (I haven’t read the whole thing.)
Peter Attia posted videos yesterday explaining a different point of view - that China had actually developed the most sensitive and specific test, but the US agencies rejected it. He thinks it’s not too late to accept their help, but notes the huge amount of distrust (but doesn’t agree it should be a problem).
This should be a link to some of his more recent videos.