The incubation period was about 2 days or less--shorter than expected with Delta and earlier variants, but dependent on the infectious dose and the ability of this variant to spread from cell to cell.
I am recovering but have very low energy, and will try to catch up with posting as soon as I can. I had several days of brain fog.
As I have tried to explain to people before, even though presymptomatic spread is not identical to asymptomatic spread, for practical purposes they are the same. I caught COVID from someone who had no symptoms. I caught it by breathing the same indoor air. I caught it through airborne transmission. [Why did it take CDC over a year to admit that airborne spread occurs?] We spent a few hours together in my hotel room, visited friends, and were in a car together for perhaps an hour.
You don't get COVID from spread outdoors, because virus gets diluted so quickly in outdoor air, especially given the wind factor. However, it is possible that both my friend and I were more susceptible to catching COVID, having stood outside for about 5 hours on the Mall in DC when it was roughly 30 degrees outside.
I have some advice for dealing with COVID. Write down everything you are taking and the times you take it. The supplement and medicine recommendations are complicated, and you are not thinking clearly. This will help you get the doses right.
I have only been sick for a few days, and I already lost 5 pounds. It is extremely easy to get dehydrated with this disease: you have fever, you are too exhausted to get food and water, you may have GI symptoms (I had severe cramps and diarrhea), and things taste bad or bother your stomach. You have to force yourself to keep sipping fluids, regardless! Dehydration is what puts a lot of people into the hospital.
UPDATE: People asked how I know I have COVID. My friend got tested and was positive--but the tests are not always accurate. I made the diagnosis based on clinical signs and symptoms. It's a doctor thing.
UPDATE: I don't believe there is a "supercold," as one commenter suggested. Colds don't give you this kind of exhaustion. I would guess the "supercold" is actually an antigen negative or PCR negative COVID variant, most likely of the Omicron clade.
Get Well Soon!
ReplyDeleteBe ready for the incoming several feet of snow for your neck of the woods.
So sorry, Meryl, that you got sick.
ReplyDeleteBut how do you know that this is covid? Also, how do you know who gave it to you if you were going places and so on? Did you friend get sick as well after being presymptomatic?
Wondering about all these things. Nobody is talking currently about stomach flu, flu, different colds, bronchitis, pneumonia and so on. Everything is currently covid.
Why? Maybe you just got bad stomach flu? I had one once with the same symptoms and sufferings. My son came from Mexico (before covid) with the same symptoms. He was very bad for couple days, I managed to help him.
Take care and get well soon.
People are needed your spirit.
Feel Better Soon, Meryl😇
ReplyDeleteSpeedy recovery and best wishes! Jim
ReplyDeleteYou may have that Super Cold that's been going around since last fall.
ReplyDeleteSeveral members of my family got it starting around New Years Day. That's when it hit me. Got it from my daughter who tested twice and both time negative. She also tested negative for the flu. It's a beast. One of the things we all still complain about is our energy level. That's what really takes a hit. You're fine for a couple of days and than WHAM! It doesn't sneak up on you, it just hits and you're down. Some people get over it in about a week but some (me) still are dealing with fatigue & digestive issues.
Super cold’ hits South Florida - PressReader
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/south-florida-sun-sentinel-palm-beach-sunday/20211121/281492164576678
'Super cold' now going around, not COVID or the flu
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/super-cold-now-going-around-not-covid-or-the-flu/ar-AAR34Xs
Super cold explained: What is the ‘super cold’? How can you treat it?
https://medicineworldcouncil.com/health-news/super-cold-explained-what-is-the-super-cold-how-can-you-treat-it/
My run-in with Covid started with a dry cough late one even this month. Thought it was just my asthma responding to dry desert winds. The next day I had nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. Thought it was something I ate the day before. Ran a low-grade fever (99.4F). Contacted my PCP the next day and we agreed I should start Ivermectin, just in case. Two days after starting the Ivermectin, the cough stopped. It didn't trail off, it just up and stopped. I thought I was in the clear, but a few days later I got nasal congestion with a lot of post-nasal drip that really kicked up asthmatic bronchitis into high gear. Albuterol by nebulizer, budesonide, oral prednisone, and an antibiotic and I feel like I am turning a corner.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Dr. Nass. Stay hydrated and nourished!!! Not as easy as it sounds, if you live alone. Also, using Medi-Safe app on my phone to keep track of medications.
Praying for you, Dr. Nass.
ReplyDeleteGet Well Soon, Appreciate All You Do!
Wishing you a quick recovery! We miss your posts:) 🙏🏻
ReplyDeleteYour description of your Covid symptoms almost exactly matches what I went through during the holidays. The GI symptoms are quite striking, and in my case I lost about 10 lbs. total--I was drinking fluids, but had no appetite for eating for a week. I'm thinking of getting an anti-body test, just to see if I have immunity to Covid now....
ReplyDeleteHope you're better soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice on fluids and a log to track treatments. And to drink water even when you don't want to.
Thank you for the report...
"I don't believe there is a "supercold," as one commenter suggested.
ReplyDeleteI do respect your opinion but this is what I'm being told it is. It's not COVID or the Flu according to testing. What else could it be?
Quick comment:
ReplyDeleteI’m not happy with the suggestions I keep reading all over the web, of drinking ‘water’ and lots of it. One needs liquids that will replace lost Na/K salts! Too much plain water and the braincells can swell and cause seizures from hyponatremia.
Nor eating foods, if those foods require ‘digestion’. Digestion has a high upfront energy cost at a time the immune system needs energy. Also, anorexia ‘may’ avert the reduction of Th2/Th1 ratio by preventing feeding-induced neurohormonal and vagal output from the gut. In the wild, loss of appetite and lack of thirst may have thus conferred a survival advantage over that of short term muscle loss. So what form of nutrition, one consumes is more important than its calorific value.
And of cause, the immune system works better at higher temperatures. So whilst a mild fever may be unpleasant, it is better not to bring it down with drugs, unless it gets dangerously high.
Fever: Could A Cardinal Sign of COVID-19 Infection Reduce Mortality?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7833112/
“Starve a fever and feed a cold”: feeding and anorexia may be adaptive behavioral modulators of autonomic and T helper balance
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987704005559
“Feed a cold, starve a fever.” I think should be interpreted in the same
same fashion as ‘lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas.’
The adage is not advising one to sleep with dogs, its just pointing out what will likely happen if one does. Likewise, if one eats foods that need digestion during the early stages of an illness, one is likely end up having a fever. Personally, I take the protein and amino-acid mixes (sold for athletes) as they only need light metabolic push to pass through the gut’s mucosa. To metabolize carbohydrate the body needs proteins and if there is not enough taken by mouth, the body’s own muscle get consumed. Given this choice in nutrition and oral rehydration fluids that I have, my body seems to tell me when and how much and of what I need. So I don’t have to force myself. The US army made this mistake of giving liberate concentration camp inmates too much bread but little else, leading to many deaths.
I don’t know about Covid-19 fatigue but I find what helps for ME/CFS fatigue is: Phosphatidyl Serine and Acetyl L Carnitine. It may make sense for Covid-19 too, as I have read that it can evoke antibodies against phosphatidyl.
Has BA.2 been associated with more persistent cold-like symptoms? I know it's shown to evade PCR detection, and may be more communicable than BA.1 - seems to overtake it quickly.
ReplyDeleteFWIW a friend of mine had symptoms resembling Meryl's recently - I'd thought it may just be a cold, but he eventually developed bronchitis - likely due to an existing susceptibility + the persistence of the core symptoms. He's fine now that he'd actually made an effort to recuperate.
Sorry you got hit with this, Dr. Nass. Hope you are feeling better soon. You need all your energy and strength for the challenges ahead. Would you mind sharing, were you taking any preventative measures before infection, in the way of supplements and/or chloroquine/ivermectin? Thank you!
ReplyDeletehttps://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2021/11/drugs-with-reported-efficacy-for-covid.html
ReplyDelete