I caught it last month...here are some thoughts,

[icenine]

Some thoughts that I have that may be helpful...if you get COVID...
1. If you are diabetic like I said get your medicines now just in case...and that goes for any other drugs you may need for any health issues you have. Your family members will probably be in quarantine with you while you are in isolation since they have been exposed to you so they might not be able to get them for you at at the pharmacy.
2.Buy a pulse oxygenation meter...or "pulse ox". You can check your 02 level all the time so you have peace of mind...or if it goes low report to the hospital...some patients can't feel the lack of O2 and go too late (google "Happy Hypoxia").
3. Get a lot of gatorade zero...although the citric acid may irritate your throat (especially if it already is sore) after a while. I found diet root beer to be easier since the citric acid level is lower.
4. Exercise your lungs...with one of those incentive spirometers the doctor gives you after surgery. I used it every hour on the hour so it made the days seem to go faster. You can get this and the pulse ox online at Amazon or at Walmart.
5. Eat at least three times a day...but you will have to lay off the hot sauce (tobasco sauce all of a sudden made my mouth and ear hurt for some reason). Soup, toasted cheese sandwiches...rice.
6. Robitussin DM (or the generic Target equivalent which is cheaper) to help your cough.
7. Sudafed (the real stuff you have to show your driver license to get) to help you with sinus congestion...a pretty common symptom.
8. Nelimed normal saline rinse bottles (not the neli-pot that does not work nearly as well). It will clear your sinuses and nose out....plus I have a theory that may be totally not true...but it can't hurt. Get the squeeze bottles.
9. Tylenol or Motrin for the fevers or body aches.

Totally unfounded theory...I have been flushing my nose with normal saline for about 3 years twice a day...because of issues after nose surgery I had in 2017.
Did regular flushing in the morning and night reduce the amount of virus in my nose so my case was milder? I don't know but it could not have hurt.

9. Get a tv set up with ROKU so you can escape into Netflix. I finally found out who Robert California is.
10. Try to make a clean route (masked, with the doors open so you don't touch any doorknobs and family members far away) to the backyard if you can and sit in the sun for an hour each day...
I read Starship Troopers and Podkayne of Mars. A book will help the time pass.
11. Don't freak out with every little twitch of pain or any sort of weird symptoms...COVID can cause anxiety attacks. In fact the isolation itself is an anxiety bubble. If you can't breath or feel pressure on your chest however go to the ER.

If your wife is from the Philippines hot water with lemon or ginger in it is the cure for everything...the lemon will make an irritated throat worse though...but there was no way around it lol.

I kept watching MSNBC and CNN the news was awful but in a way I wanted to be informed...and you can see that you are not the only one suffering and that you are quite lucky in comparison to those whose outcomes sadly were worse.

I hope none of this will happen to anyone here but I must say I never really thought I would catch it myself.

After your isolation is over take it slow and try to take another two weeks off if your work or financial condition allows it...a lot of people feel fatigued. This is not a normal "I feel great and the flu is gone" exercise.
It never may be "over" because we don't know what the long term effects might be.

My symptoms started 13 July and I came out of isolation 27th July.
Was tested and found positive by the Naval Hospital in SD on 16 July.
Diarrhea was my first symptom about 2 days before my cough, which was very light. On Tuesday 14 July I got a fever and called in sick the next day.
I never had trouble breathing but I had sinusitis and mild ear ache, dry cough, continuing diarrhea and tingling in my right hand (which may have been because i was reading in bed a lot maybe I compressed my elbow while holding the book). You don't want this even a mild case is scary. I had a low grade fever the first week and really bad laryngitis with an irritated throat.
This is not the flu and you will feel like you have a very bad case of jet lag...after you get out of isolation. At least I did anyway...I had to take two more weeks off of work I missed just under a month.

Stay safe...and it is not that you can't taste the food but more like the food tastes bad...that is another sign!

[bobabode]

Thanks Robin. Good to hear that you're on the mend.

[Oerets]

Wow, what a good write up.

Good to read you are on the mend.

Know for us every time you get a headache sniffles or really anything start thing here we go!

Going in today for a C-19 test due to a back operation on Monday. Not so funny point to make on the differences between a red /blue state. Wife had hip replacement in Indiana (red Gov) Tuesday, no -19 screening no precautions other then antibacterial soap with shower in AM.
I'm having my procedure in Kentucky (blue Gov) required to have C-19 test then quarantine at home till operation. Night before shower with antibacterial soap, new sheets and pajamas. Morning repeat showing with antibacterial soap followed by special wipes over entire body.

Now both did the temp testing at door and questioning on C-19. My guess the failure to test in Indiana was to keep the positive cases total lower.


I've been saying this virus being as deadly as shown, that alone should make us stand up and work as one to combat. There is also the vast amounts of $$$$ being spent on the care, treatments and therapy that seem to be overlooked. Also a good reason to have all hands on deck approach to fight this disease.

[donquixote99]

There are hospitals frequented by the elite in Indianapolis where it will be all-hands-on-deck I bet. Republicans don't care about people in general, though. The difference that state line makes illustrates that, as you observe.

[Oerets]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

There are hospitals frequented by the elite in Indianapolis where it will be all-hands-on-deck I bet. Republicans don't care about people in general, though. The difference that state line makes illustrates that, as you observe.

For those who do not know this about the Derby City area. It is on the Ohio river which is the border with Indiana. Basically the area is interconnected in many ways. People work on one side of the border and live in the other.

[Dondilion]

My theory...I steam my nostrils every morning with steam from a kettle.

[Chicks]

Originally Posted by icenine

Some thoughts that I have that may be helpful...if you get COVID...

2.Buy a pulse oxygenation meter...or "pulse ox". You can check your 02 level all the time so you have peace of mind...or if it goes low report to the hospital...some patients can't feel the lack of O2 and go too late (google "Happy Hypoxia").

Thanks, got one. Baseline recorded, will check it regularly if I ever get symptoms...

[donquixote99]

"Hot water with lemon and ginger cure for everything"

Close but key ingredient missing. Add honey and you've got it.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by icenine

Some thoughts that I have that may be helpful...if you get COVID...

How are you doing now?

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Chicks

Thanks, got one. Baseline recorded, will check it regularly if I ever get symptoms...

Sometimes it will read below 94 or even 88...it usually means you put it on wrong. Plus it may be a bit lower if you test yourself just after waking from sleep. But anything under 95 on a consistent basis may be a sign your lungs are not working right. Hopefully you won't need to use it for anything!

You will notice if you lay on your stomach and rest it will read a bit higher.
That is why doctors put severely ill covid patient on their stomachs...the 02 saturates your body better when you lay in that position.

Make sure you have thermometer too....