As it relates to post covid blood clotting and stroke issues…wouldn’t it make sense at this stage of the game for there to be an official medical recommendation to take some kind of mild blood thinner (aspirin for starters) for a 6+ month period after a COVID infection. Or even for a shorter period after a vaccination?
Seems logical…but I’m not a medical professional…nor do I try to play one online
I had COVID in August, just decided to take a baby aspirin for a few weeks. Know enough about my own health to feel comfortable saying - the aspirin wasn’t going to do me any harm, but it could possible help.
Also not an expert, but I do know that blood thinners come with baggage. My H has Afib, and after the first couple years, decided the thinners came with more risks than clots. Xarelto can cause strokes which are hard to stop, and the older one, Coumadin, needs a lot of monitoring and diet management (If I remember correctly.) H (former doc) is just sticking with the baby aspirin now. I don’t think you could do widespread use of these medications.
Again, not a doc, but what I’ve picked up from his situation.
H is also on thinners for afib. Yes, a mixed bag…the prescription level thinners need a watchful eye.
The baby aspirin seems pretty benign…that’s is, of course, assuming the individual isn’t taking something, or has a condition that is a contraindication.
In an ideal world, the PCP would manage this type of recommendation. But the world isn’t ideal. H had knee replacement surgery. He still had pain many months later. His new Ortho prescribed a topical cream - which contained a blood thinning agent. H looked up the cream* and it clearly stated to NOT use if you are on a blood thinner. H contacted his PCP who responded very quickly DO NOT USE that cream.
All this happened within a the same HC organization. Ortho had all of H’s medical records at his finger tips. So did the pharmacist. Yet no one caught the issue.
I’ve trained H well (insert self congratulatory pat on the back).
While it does seem like a baby aspirin per day could be the right thing for some post-covid patients, especially short term, this is something each person should talk with their doc about as everyone’s health picture is unique, and even baby aspirin doses can come with not insignificant side effects.
For quite a while it was recommended that many adults 40+ take a baby aspirin per day to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but that rec has been discontinued, at least for those not at high risk for heart attack and/or stroke. Part of the reason for rolling back that rec was variable evidence in preventing heart attacks and/or strokes, another part was the fact that even at baby aspirin doses, many people experience side effects. Here’s some of the supporting data: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2791401
Here is an N of one. It was a thing years ago to take a baby aspirin.
My father was a very active person who died at 87 of renal cancer. He never had any cardiac disease and had never taken any medications.
His family history was strokes in old age. My mother, with no medical background, decided he should be on a baby aspirin a day.
Well, you guessed it, he had a major gi bleed at 70, passed out, and luckily my mother heard him fall. After blood transfusions he recovered well and never took another med.
Continued concern about COVID-19 continues to have economic effects through labor force participation or lack thereof among some. Effect appears to be greater among less educated people and those in lower paid areas of work where there is more required close contact with others and hence risk of viral spread.
@deb922 not only would I inform others I was sick, but I would not go to lunch. Especially in the context of a family member on chemo.
For our family gathering before the funeral, I asked everyone to test that morning. But that attempts to cover COVID only. Flu and colds can be tough for those who are vulnerable, especially flu (and RSV).
I have shingles right now. I was getting together with high school friends in a mini-reunion yesterday. I let them all know and asked if they had all had chicken pox or vaccine. My shingles is covered but still…
I specifically asked medical lad about this yesterday and was told, as far as he knows, nothing has changed.
They can not officially say Covid causes strokes later on, but since Covid happened and of those who have had Covid within 6 months, a lot more stroke cases have come in to the major hospital where he works. Unofficially, they blame a lot of those on Covid. They can’t blame them all as some happened to people of all ages even before Covid existed, but not nearly as many.
He again told me that they (unofficially) consider Covid to be a blood clotting disease as much as a respiratory one.
I hope someone, somewhere is keeping track of the numbers to present in a study at some point. They always ask and I doubt his hospital is an outlier with that.
Basically similar to stuff like increased diabetes observed after COVID-19 – cannot tell whether an individual case of stroke or diabetes or whatever is due to COVID-19, but the increased incidence strongly suggests that COVID-19 is a contributor in many cases.
Could an increase in stroke (or diabetes) be from people delaying/avoiding medical care during COVID? I know my ex-spouse had a stroke because he had not seen a doc in a long time (pre-COVID).
From an article in the News & Observer (which I think is North Carolina):
RSV and the flu are on their way down, while COVID’s making its way back up, he said.
“The latest data shows test positivity is up 10%, hospitalizations are up 15% and death is up by 60%,” Dr. Weber said. “We lose about 100 people a day to car crashes and gun violence, and we lose about 400 people a day to COVID. That’s more than double the other two leading causes of death combined.”
Plus, new COVID variants are making some treatments such as monoclonal antibodies that have worked well in the past, obsolete.
Thanks @MaineLonghorn. Typo. 2800 per week or 146,000 per year. A lot of these deaths are probably avoidable.
It did occur to me that China is probably going to lose a lot of old people – their vaccine rate is low, their vaccines are not that effective, and because of the one child policy, their population has a high ratio of older to younger people relative to many other countries. This might actually be a sensible strategy for dealing with a skewed population distribution, but I highly doubt it was planned.
Well, my husband and I made it almost 3 years Covid free, all the time working in hospitals and medical clinics, until this week! Husband felt feverish overnight Tuesday, so tested Wednesday morning and was positive. Other than the first day of fever and the sniffles, he has been fine; he started on Paxlovid Wednesday night. I was negative Wednesday-Friday morning, testing positive Friday night. The only reason I retested Friday is I had a very mild sore throat, which I always get with a cold. Since my husband had been exiled to the guest bedroom, with me also positive, he was released! In preparation of possibly being positive over the holiday weekend, I had my nephrologist go ahead and call in a Paxlovid Rx; I was afraid I would not be able to get a doctor on call, and/or the pharmacies would be closed. I was able to pick up and start taking it on Friday.
My husband who gets sick at the drop of the hat, and it sicker that the average Joe, only felt unwell for one day. Me on the other hand, who is tough as nails, spend the day Saturday under a blanket on the sofa with a headache, sore throat and fever. Feeling somewhat better today, but since there is nothing to do, I am in the same spot on the sofa, watching Hallmark Christmas movies! I have showered and went from one pair of pjs to a clean pair!
Both my husband and I had the Paxlovid mouth; metallic taste, which I have had with chemo drugs before. Still glad we were able to start the medication quickly.
The US requirement for testing is a negative result two days before travel from the PRC (including Hong Kong and Macau), starting January 5, 2023:
Two days seems to be enough time for someone to get infected after getting a negative test result. Or someone could already be infected but not yet detectable as infected when tested, but become contagious later.
Well, then apparently we learned nothing. It is another act in a play to make it seem like precautions are being taken. If our administration was really, truly serious…a test would be required upon arrival, several days of quarantine and then another test before a person was allowed to wander freely.
Considering that hardly anyone in the US (other than health care facilities in some areas) seems to care that much about preventing spread, it is not like trying to zero-COVID international visitors to the US would make a lot of difference to existing community spread in the US, especially since the contagious new variants like BQ.1.1 are already in the US and spreading, though the spread is somewhat limited by the vast majority of the US population having had COVID-19, with most of those having hybrid immunity because of vaccination with better vaccines than the ones commonly used in China.
We have no idea what sorts of variants are swirling in China because… the PRC government is being sooo transparent about its Covid situation, isn’t it? Sadly, we will soon find out.
