I am covid positive.I haven’t been given any real instructions except to self isolate. I get this phone call from the “covid team” at my hmo and they want to set up an appointment with a dr. to discuss my symptoms. The team member mention I could get antibiotics via an IV drip.
Does anybody have any idea about this and safe is this for a Type 2 diabetic…
It would be an antiviral not an antibiotic, but certainly safe.
I took antiviral pills (Paxlovid) which are more convenient.
You should speak to a doctor and find out their recommendation. There could be drug interactions with other medications you’re taking. I believe antivirals are more effective taken soon after testing positive so you should take action now and not wait to see if your symptoms get worse.
If your doctor does not prescribe an antiviral to you, I would question them as to why. I would not worry about the safety of the antivirals.
2 Likes
Let’s hope you misunderstood. If a doctor suggested you get antibiotics for Covid, you might want to avoid that doctor.
4 Likes
It might have been monoclonal antibodies which sounds similar.
At any rate, the important thing is to seek treatment in a timely matter.
3 Likes
This is nice to know this should have been done 5 days ago when i was diagnosed! I am upset at the slack and lazy attitudes by the HMO and hospital about this. I even wrote my own PCP about my diagnosis and asked if there is anything I should be doing…never received a message back…
I got this message from the covid team guy just telling me to call them back. When I tried to call them back it was through the normal operator for the HMO. NOBODY at the hmo operator station/customer service knew there was a “covid team” and thought i said covid tent. Spoke to someone at the covid tent who thought i was crazy.
I received another message and call the number they left for me. I started asking lots of questions as to why nobody at customer service and the operator knew the “covid team” was in existence. I got lots of sighs and was asked what did I want. I told this person I am returning the message they left me and why do I have to listen to all these signs as if to suggest I don’t have a right to ask questions about me treatment and who gets access to my information.
I was told i could get an appt (virtual) with a doctor that could offer some treatment. I got more sighs when I asked about the treatment.
My symptons after 7 days are just the hard and violent coughs, congestions and fatigue. I proud to say my body is fighting covid and diabetics. I would have been nice if medical insurance could have helped out…
1 Like
I’m gonna also assumes you were talking about monoclonal antibody treatment for covid, not antibiotics.
The thing is, since you’re positive for covid, you’re going to be making those antibodies anyway. There is literally nothing to lose, and the side effects of covid are the much bigger problem. This treatment is just giving you an early boost of them. Unfortunately, it might be too late to do you any good at this point. Their entire purpose is to be given at first detection, before the virus has had time to replicate much.
In the immune system vs pathogen war, antibodies are pretty much the scouts. They’re patrolling the area, looking for the enemy. If they see it, they can call in the calvary to destroy it. But they’re not just looking for anything suspicious. They’re specifically trained to recognize a certain enemy. Brand new foes are sneaky and blend in. We’ve got to train up whole new regiments of those antibody scouts to recognize a new pathogen… And unfortunately, that takes time. On the other side, the pathogens sneak in with very low numbers. They have one mission, penetrate and replicate to build as much force as possible before they’re detected. The longer they can discreetly replicate, the greater their overall advantage later on. So, our best strategy to identify them early, and crush the insurgence before it gains any power.
That’s where the monoclonal antibody treatment comes in. It’s foreign support in the war. That’s your neighbor saying, “We know this enemy well! We’re going to give you some of our specially trained scouts to help you out until your own troops get trained up. That’ll keep their numbers under control, and your own scouts can annihilate any sneaky stragglers when they’re ready.”
The other thing you need to understand is that this treatment was designed with Type 2s in mind and has been used and vetted countless times by now on Type 2s. When you look at the serious cases of Covid, Type 2 diabetes is one of the absolute worst risk factors for a bad outcome. So this is precisely one of the populations the benefits the MOST from early antibody treatment.
2 Likes
I took Paxlovid back in July when I had Covid, it worked great and cleared up the symptoms in a few days. However I started in with the Paxlovid (pills, 2 times a day) shortly after my symptoms and positive test. My recollection is they want to start the Paxlovid pretty quickly (a few days?) after initial Covid symptoms.
All of this was done with a zoom call to my primary doctor office. It seemed pretty routine to get the prescription…. maybe you should try again/start over with the doctor office and see if you get a better response.
I’m curious. Did you mean you were unvaccinated? Why?
yes i am unvaccinated and it is my choice…
3 Likes
found out because of the silliness of my insurance provider i am no longer eligible for the paxlovid after 5 days… There was another iv drip I was offered but since i am not really showing great difficulty they didn’t recommend it unless i wanted it…nope.
1 Like
Hi Christalyn,
I am unvaccinated and, like you, it is my choice.
3 Likes
Obviously, you are not obligated to say why, but I wondered about the reasons behind the decision not to vax. Anything you can share?
I’m glad your doing ok. I had it late August with no big problems, except I was tired for a while afterward. It went away.
I heard of one young family member of a friend who was hospitalized and really sick recently, so it is still bumping around out there.
1 Like
I hope you are feeling better. got it last December; got the monoclonal antibodies. I am not sure if it got better on its own or if that is what turned it around. I also took some other things, but a few days after the monoclonal antibodies and anti-nausea pills (I got it in the stomach), it turned around and I started getting better!
2 Likes
Thank you! Glad I am not the only one.
Glad you are feeling better!!! I am feeling better but I still have the haggle cough…
I will say this much… I was considered an essential employee from the start of this mess. I worked in a place where county and government officials were constantly at our facilities making sure we followed protocols. We had to purchase over $1000 with of items for protocols. My workplace had several infected people and only one recorded death. This was all before the vaccine was even created. Was never scared… Even now my Type 2 diabetic body churned it out w/o only the use of cold and flu meds because I originally thought I had the flu…
Thank for this… this is what is upsetting to me. I was within the 5 day window to receive Paxlovid with nobody making great efforts to contact me. I have a phone app for my HMO and it never amazes me how they still use phone and voice mail when they are trying to contact member. I actualy would have 2 days before the deadline. Then I get offered a drip 8 days after initial showing of symptoms but was told since I seemed fine and i had no fever that I should take the antigen test (home test) and go back to work.
So glad you are better. YAY!
Very bad choice imo. You are endangering your own life and everyone else.
5 Likes