Inside Medicine. What Are You Seeing? [COVID-19 medical news]

This sounds like my friend’s 40 yr. old sister. She kept getting phone calls from her when she was in the hospital, saying things like, “Gweneth Paltrow just came in to give me a shot” and “Help me. I’m stuck up in a tree.”

Chris Cuomo mentioned perceived mental after effects and referred to some sort of rehab exercises he said helped. That’s all I know.

I currently subscribe to the NY Times online, but you can always get past the firewall by using incognito mode on your browser.

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Or private window.

Sadly, an old boyfriend of mine died of Covid yesterday. He was 54.

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The treatment of bad cases (steroids) can also induce psychosis. For some individuals, just a small dose can have fairly severe reactions.

More contagious variant first found in the UK is found in the US and other countries:

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I could not find an answer via google, so assuming there is not one yet. BUT for those of you in the medical community: What would typically be reasons that a new virus strain like Covid, is more contagious? Virus lasts longer without a host? It spreads further? It can last on surfaces longer? Just curious what additional precautions might be recommended while the scientists are exploring answers.

Descriptions of some of the mutations in the B 1.1.7 variant:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/scientific-brief-emerging-variants.html

This is simply a matter of evolutionary advantage. The more contagious version is going to spread more. In an environment where people are social distancing & wearing masks, the evolutionary pressure increases – to the extent that the measures to avoid exposure and transmission are successful, the virus that develops the ability to bypass those measures is going to establish itself rapidly.

Leaving aside the issue as to whether the UK variant is in reality more contagious… a less lethal, more benign, virus has a spread advantage.

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Really, really sad. :cry:

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am terrified because I just read that the CDC has people with type 1 diabetes as lower priority than those with type 2 (type twos are 1c). My 30 year-old kid has type 1 and we have been assuming she would have a higher priority than she has.

She has been isolating in a studio apartment 3,000 miles away since last March.

Type 1 is a severe form suffered by 5% of people with diabetes. It is an autoimmune disorder, so the immune system doesn’t work properly. Illness can triple blood sugars for type 1’s, and make control impossible. Furthermore, high blood sugars feed viruses and bacteria.

As for having an advocate in the hospital: even an ICU in one of the top hospitals in the country had no idea how to properly manage her blood sugars. They run type 1’s high because they are afraid of lows. Noone knows how to operate a pump so they put patients on IV insulin and sugar which makes for chaos.

I have always accompanied my kid in the hospital because it requires 24/7 attention. Changes in insulln and dosing requires an MD order for nurses to do it. So I manage her. With COVID, who is going to do that?

I am posting this in Inside Medicine as well. I am calling JDRF, contacting the CDC, doing anything I can to put type 1’s in the proper category for vaccine. Please, if anyone reading this is in a position to advocate, do so.

Type 1’s should also get remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies if they get sick- immediately. (As should we all…)

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compmom, have you reviewed teh scientific studies on which the CDC recs are based?

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/evidence-table.html

It is absurd to put type 1 under “Limited Evidence.” I saw that in the articles I read and it is in the chart you linked. I am going to speculate that the small numbers of people with type 1 (it is a pretty rare disease) may account for the lack of supporting studies. I am calling JDRF today.

I am so angry for you! I know how difficult this has been for your daughter and how careful she has had to be.

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Are they planning any case-by-case flexibility in scheduling? So much is yet to be determined. In my area, in some cases, they don’t know how much is coming or when.

The hospice where I volunteer is already giving Moderna (to volunteers now,) while my specialist doc is waiting for more info.

We were excited to hear FIL now qualifies for a vax, then disappointed to find there are none in his area (near Richmond, VA or near Essex County, VA) this coming week while we are here to help if he needs it. No one seems to know when they will be getting any either.

Just read this and I’ll admit I want to cry. It was after a lung x-ray that my guy was told he “likely” had Covid (definitely had a respiratory infection).

I’m bummed - and super angry with all those who continue to say Covid is “no big deal.” (sigh)

From the story:

"Bankhead-Kendall, an assistant professor of surgery with Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, has treated thousands of patients since the pandemic began in March.

She says patients who’ve had COVID-19 symptoms show a severe chest X-ray every time, and those who were asymptomatic show a severe chest X-ray 70% to 80% of the time."

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Just keep in mind that this is a report from a doctor, not a formal study. The concerns are very real for the patients that doctor sees, but the percentages may be magnified because the only patients who get chest x-rays are those who are reporting issues such as shortness of breath. There’s got to be a reason why those “asymptomatic” patients are showing up at the clinic to be x-rayed – and the report doesn’t mention any ongoing study. So the statement from the article (“There are still people who say ‘I’m fine. I don’t have any issues,’ and you pull up their chest X-ray and they absolutely have a bad chest X-ray,” she said) doesn’t make a lot of sense --why are they getting a chest x-ray if they are feeling “fine” with no “issues”?

This is not to minimize in any way the seriousness of your son’s experience – as he clearly was symptomatic and has had lingering problems. I just want to point out that the 70-80% of asymptomatic patients is likely overstated. It’s hard to get a handle on asymptomatic cases, but perhaps down the line someone can do a randomized study to get a better handle on the degree to which people seem to have acquired covid lung syndrome (or whatever they decided to call it).

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