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What can I do at home for Covid? 1. Zoom with your provider 2. Walk around as much as you can- covid causes blood clots 3. Lay on your belly when you’re resting, not necessarily when asleep. We are proning Covid patients (placing them on their belly) even when they are on the ventilator to help move mucus / fluid and drain the lungs. 4. Hot steamy showers. Even if you don’t feel good enough to shower, sit in your smallest bathroom with the steam running to help open up the lungs. If you feel lightheaded though, stop. 5. Hydrate hydrate hydrate - covid is an inflammatory virus and hydration is key! 6. Monitor your pulse and oxygen levels as I mentioned yesterday. 7. What has fallen out of favor / lacked statistical backup and/or caused harm: ivermectin, oral steroids prior to hospitalization, hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), unnecessary antibiotics 8. Mucinex, zinc, Vit C, Vit D, Singulair (it’s Rx though) are all in the grey zone- I don’t think they’ll hurt you but they may not keep you out of the hospital. 9. Finish out your quarantine please and thank you. 10. Chest percussion- look it up on YouTube How do I know if it’s Delta? 1. Big testing centers are batch testing swabs for variants and extrapolating that data to identify geographic variant trends. Your local urgentcare is not. 2. Whatever the variant, we treat based on symptom severity and delta may look good on you and horrible on Sally. Alpha (the original variant) may have put me in the hospital but barely slowed Steve down. 3. I equate it to flu A and B which are always swabbed and tested together each year. Every year I hear “oh Flu B is way worse than A. I’m so sorry you have B.” Etc etc etc when patients’ flu courses can vary regardless of the strain. 4. Anecdotally, my zoom covid visits with this wave seem different than in 2020. Less fevers. Less complaints of crippling headaches. Less loss of taste and smell. More dizziness & confusion (likely from low oxygen levels). Similar diarrhea complaints. Worse shortness of breath and chest tightness. Way more trips to the hospital and ICU. . My only vent-survivor told me all of a sudden they just Could Not Breathe. I should add this person is under 40 years old and is (or was) healthy. 5. Speaking of strains, did you know the Gardasil vaccine protects against 9 strains of HPV? Did you know Prevnar13 protects against (you guessed it) 13 strains of pneumonia? Strains have been around forever as have vaccines yet sudden interest persists. Just educating- no judgment on vaccine choices. I’m too tired. How many times can a child under age 12 have Covid? Will they develop immunity? Great question. I’ve seen twice so far and I expect more. Their bodies should be developing antibodies but no children have volunteered for my quantitative antibody study yet. Stay tuned. How soon should I get my vaccine after I have Covid? I’m recommending one month not 90 days IF you’re truly feeling better. Ask your PCP as they know your health situation. If I’m + today, symptoms resolve in 2 weeks, and then I’m + in 4 weeks, is it a reinfection or residual positive from original infection? I would ask if you ever had a negative test. If you did, maybe it is a re-infection but if you did not, I know we saw some folks stay + for 6 weeks or more in 2020. ***as always, consult your PCP for your healthcare. I’m trying to raise awareness. Let’s not bicker and judge over vaccine status. Let’s educate ourselves and let’s come together to get out of this public health crisis!!!***
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How to have an effective office visit with your provider: There are some tried and true ways to have a productive, meaningful visit with your medical provider. As a patient with a chronic illness AND a family nurse practitioner, I have the inside track.
If you need more frequent office visits, ask for them. Your provider is PAID to see you. Your insurance is billed for those visits where as most providers do not bill for phone calls or portal messages. If you end up needing them before your designated 3 or 6 month follow-up and you have more than 1-2 simple questions, PLEASE schedule an office visit. As a provider with complicated patients of my own, I would much rather have that patient in the office with me to have a discussion than to do multiple back-and-forths over the portal. It’s better patient care. AND my time is used wisely in my employer’s mindset. Medicine is a business. Although so many of us really do care!!! |