Hey All,
I'm day six of isolation, confirmed to have coronavirus. I have been seeing very sick CV positive patients over the last month in my A&E role (emergency physician) it was inevitable I would contract it.
Just wanted to give some symptom and treatment advice, it's anecdotal but may help.
Started as sore throat and headache, then croaky voice, then dry cough, then episodic transient fevers, all this over the first few days. Night time is the worst, bringing fever and muscle and joint pains. Day 4 I lost taste and smell (a symptom highly suggestive of CV). Now I am day 6 and the symptoms go, then return every few hours quite intensely.
Day 7-10 seem to be the dangerous days where sudden respiratory distress occurs, even if only suffering mild symptoms until then. If you were to have any breathing concerns ....don't think twice, you just call an ambulance, people tend to deteriorate quickly.
I have seen young people (youngest 41) with no medical issues, arrive very unwell (sats 39% on 15L of O2) needing immediate intubation to live.
By enlarge, most patients are in the vulnerable age groups with the vulnerable diseases we have all heard about. Interestingly the stats of the co-morbidities are not what we would causally expect, highest risk factors to lowest are Cardiovascular, Diabetic, Respiratory, Cancer. Obviously there are more diseases and those can be broken down further, also more data is needed, but still interesting. Male smokers are also notable higher risk, as are the obese.
Treatment
I have been taking daily vitamins and additional Vitamin C ....it just makes sense. You don't feel like eating, especially with literally no taste. I make myself maintain my normal meal regime. Important to drink lots of fluids to maintain BP and good organ function.
Lastly, by far the best symptom relief so far has been via paracetamol (or in USA Tylenol).
Isolation
I have already had several cases where there was a vulnerable person in a household and they isolated strictly, but others in the house didn't isolate strictly with them and now have knowingly but unintentionally infected their loved ones. I can't imagine the guilt or regret.
Self isolate strictly and protect the vulnerable.
In the UK, in the health service we say.... you must be minimum 7 days off, then minimum 2 days symptom free to return to work, to avoid contagion. Symptoms can last 14 days.
The symptoms largely don't appear when you are most contagious in the early days, so be strict with yourself and loved ones, maybe assume you have it at all times. Remember even when you have had it and survived it, you can still pick it up by touching something infected or droplets from another person and pass it on via physical touch. Best analogy I have heard... imagine a doorknob is covered in glitter..... you can make up your own narrative beyond that, but before long your keys, phone, bank card, loved ones have glitter on them too, then everything they interact with etc etc
Testing
This is currently done via a throat swab, positive is very reliable, negative not so much (a poor rub may not pick it up etc). I will be donating blood after day 14 for antibody research and test kit research, they hopefully have these tests out soon.
Resources;
This is what I have encouraged family to watch and read to stay informed with some heavier stuff added in. (These were based on the questions they asked). Most informative is the imperial study and the first four corners (Australian) news item.
Best Summary of how this happened: (very good)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycrqXJYf1SU
Summary of Global Response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NloOWphI5bw
Is it man made? (Summary .. very improbable)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
What species of animal did it likely mutate from?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32218527
What are the predicted numbers from analysis and models for the disease future? (In Europe)
Hope this was helpful to someone, please don't use this post as a means to debate conspiracy or offer treatment advice you have heard about from a source other than your healthcare providers, I know that will make all the flat earth people out there point and say "he's a shill" ... in fact I just want to keep people safe. Boiling fluids, bleach and soup gargling won't save you and hairdryers in the mouth are a bad idea. They are all legitimate things I have been asked/presented with. I've also had to advise people that the use and building of your own positive pressure airway devices is dangerous and silly.
Stay safe, take this seriously and see you all the other side of it xxx
Snare
PS... no this is not the great tribulation and any JW glee of 'here it comes' should bring a lifetime of shame, so many people are dying and are about to die, as happens very predictably every ~100 years.