Coronavirus: More than 80% of patients have mild disease and will recover

Started by dsanchez, February 23, 2020, 23:47:08

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SueC

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 10, 2020, 11:59:57Sue your location in rural WA Australia is likely to be useful in such a situation as this! :)

It would be if we didn't have to go anywhere!  :)  But my husband works at a medical practice and is bound to be exposed sooner or later, since general medical practices don't have the same biosecurity as places like Ebola units in specialist hospitals.  Their general precautions, including making patients with respiratory symptoms wear masks in the waiting room (which they have done for years), cuts down the rate of illness amongst staff, but staff still get ill on a fairly regular basis (and that's despite flu shots, which aren't perfect, and don't cover colds etc either).

Added to that, we host international travellers in our farmstay on a regular basis.

So I think it's only a matter of time before at least one of us gets it, but the longer we can delay that (hand-washing and other hygiene precautions, avoiding crowds etc), the better - and it would be great if a vaccine came out in the interim.  Eventually, COVID-19 will be like the "older" viruses and the population will get some immunity to it (coronaviruses aren't new, just COVID-19 is).

We both got Influenza A H1N1 (Swine flu) about a decade ago, but it was a pretty mild illness for us.  We're hoping that we'd be in the 80% of the population for whom COVID-19 is a mild illness - and the best way to increase our chances of that is to stay healthy and fit and eat well, sleep well etc, so that our immune systems are in good order, like they were for H1N1.

Best wishes to all of you!  :cool

SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on March 10, 2020, 11:59:57What's happening in places where the rest of you live?

Not a lot in towns/cities nearby.
There was a case a while ago in Goeppingen (person had been abroad), he had been to the cinema - they found all the people from his row and close; but no-one was tested positive on C. (In the meantime, this person has left the hospital and spends a few days at home, before restarting "normal life".)

In other parts of Germany it's worse. Some schools closed, some companies too. Exhibitions and conferences are being cancelled by the minute... Hotels etc. already experience low bookings.

Some Politicians say any events with more than 1000 people should be cancelled. (This will eventually be decided by local authorities.)

(On a sidenote: we will just have to wait and see whether any big festivals in spring/summer won't happen. This is for the organisers and/or local authorities to decide.)

In Italy, whole areas are being closed off. People are being told to stay at home. Austria closed border to Italy.

Stock exchange reacted nervously (as usual, when anything happens)... :1f629:

Edit: news just in is that at this point in time there are more people in Germany who recovered from C. than people who're sick.
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

I was thinking, are there any special tricks any of you use to reduce your risk of catching infections, other than the recommended practices the health authorities remind us of every flu season?  Official recommendations are generally about reducing the rate of pathogen transmission from one person to another.  I'm thinking of things you might do to help your immune system work effectively (e.g. stress reduction methods that work well for you - like meditation, @word_on_a_wing? - and particular attention to healthy eating, etc).

When I broke three bones in my foot 18 months ago, I was seriously worried.  I'm in my late 40s, one of the fractures was displaced, bones in the hands and feet are notoriously hard to heal, and the average recovery time for this injury was posted at 12 - 16 weeks, if you're under 40 and in good health.  I was in good health, but not under 40, and since serious walking and hiking is one of my major hobbies, the idea of ending up with any sorts of complications that would affect my walking was a real concern to me.  So I read up on specialist nutrition for bone healing and found that the majority of Australians are now running borderline Vitamin D deficiencies because of slip/slop/slap (avoiding sun exposure) becoming widely adopted.  This is an issue for immunity, and also for bone healing.  Also, it's important if you're trying to mend bones quickly, that you have the necessary amino acids available in your bloodstream - miss one, and the whole process is interrupted until the missing link arrives.  So I made sure I had small amounts of complete protein at every meal (eggs, dairy, meat, fish, the right combinations of plant proteins), and that my snacks included complete proteins as well; and I took Vitamin D supplements, as well as betacarotene, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E, on top of having a disgustingly healthy diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and berries, and wholemeal everything, and avoiding excessive sugar / added sugar etc.

I stayed hydrated (lots of green tea) and got extra sleep and rest - and I worked very hard to maintain my fitness in my one-legged state.  I bought an iWALK 2.0 (see https://iwalk-free.com/product-introduction/) on recommendation of an online friend so that I could walk around on that hands-free, so that I'd not have to rehabilitate my affected leg from the knee up, just from the knee down, once I was allowed to bear weight again.  If you're on crutches, you're not using the major muscle groups in your body, so it's hard to stay fit, and you're making yourself susceptible to secondary injuries to your shoulders and hands.

Anyway, every time I went to the fracture clinic for another review (two-week intervals), my orthopaedic consultant was super happy with how I was healing up.  At 5 weeks post-fracture I was starting partial weight-bearing indoors because my body felt ready, and at my 6-week appointment I was officially cleared for full weight-bearing and told I could wear hiking boots instead of that astronaut boot you're in for early recovery - and the specialist brought in some juniors and spoke glowingly of my recovery, which was way ahead of expectations - "She just does all the right things!  I wish all patients were like this!"  The consultant physiotherapist said, "Great!  You won't need me - but here's some exercises you can do that you may not have thought of!"

That night I went home, and my husband and I did a 5km walk at rapid pace, in which I used my crutches in the manner of ski poles, like Nordic walking - so that I could support my injured foot in the breakover phase, and get properly out of breath at the same time.  This became daily routine, and by 8 weeks breakover didn't hurt anymore and I no longer used the crutches (and I also got back on my horse that week).  Then we started hill training, and by 10 weeks we were back in the mountains.  Compare that to the 12-16 week projected recovery time...

I'm using that as an example to illustrate that there's a lot we can do to help our bodies cope with various challenges, and that this makes a real difference.  I'm going to be adopting a similar nutrition protocol as for bone healing, for boosting my immunity and general health, during this virus season.  Last year I didn't do that, because I got careless, and ended up with a bad flu, and then one thing after the other.  That's not fun, and that's not how I'm going to do it this year.

Because I worked in high schools for 15 years, and initially picked up lots of colds and flus (infectious disease central, plus 60-hour high-stress weeks), a doctor at the time gave me some advice that really worked for me.  One, don't touch your face, don't scratch any itches, etc - and wash your hands a lot.  Two, try using a cold-sore prevention formula because it has benefits for fighting a range of viruses other than the herpes simplex virus it officially addresses.  It's Vitamin C, zinc and lysine.  Blackmores do one called Lyp-Sine; chemists do generic copies.  I was to take one a day; but go to full dose at the slightest niggle in my throat etc.  This reduced the incidence of getting cold or flu to less than one a year for me, and nothing very severe.  So, unless these things are out of stock, I'm going to do that again as well.

And, if you're getting ill, go to bed with a cup of tea and a book - don't wait for it to get bad first.  That way, you can fight it better and recover faster.

Anyone else here have things that have worked for them?
SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Among all the news from Germany, Italy etc. it almost disappears, but yesterday I read: China reports that it had only 19 new cases. Which sounds like it's getting better there.
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Here's a recent update on the Australian (and general) situation by Dr Norman Swan, who runs our health report on the ABC. This is a decent, non-sensationalised source. Short video here:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-09/dr-norman-swan-with-a-coronavirus-reality-check/12040538
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

"I'm thinking of things you might do to help your immune system work effectively (e.g. stress reduction methods that work well for you - like meditation, @word_on_a_wing? - and particular attention to healthy eating, etc)."

I'd lean more towards a pranayam (breathing) practice. A good one is here:

Pranayam

Thanks for the tip about VitC, Zinc and Lysine. I have been taking VitC but not the others- will look out for it.

I find ginger helps. Either by simmering fresh ginger to make tea, or to juice it with vegetables such as carrot, beetroot, and celery.

I also find plenty Of SLEEP essential  ...I tend to get sick if I haven't been getting enough


"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

Yeah, I totally second ginger, I find that really helpful too, @word_on_a_wing (and that juice combination sounds delicious :yum:)!  I make a ginger-nut-citrus-wholemeal flour-honey cake I eat instead of muesli bars, which are not particularly healthy food (although you can make your own with a reasonable nutritional profile).  I make that with freshly grated ginger, and we also throw a lot of ginger in our stir-fries.  I put it in my Chai tea (which I make with star anise, cloves, cardamon pods and thin slices of root ginger added to green tea) and Brett puts it in his black tea.   Oh, and he was trawling through a soup book and found the most delicious carrot-ginger soup which I'm happy to post the recipe for (we could start a whole thread!), it's so nice, and such a pick-me-up!

I know you're vegetarian, but a friend 20 years ago gave me her recipe for Thai beef salad which to me is like resurrection food - the dressing is chock full of lemon and lime juice, olive oil, garlic, fresh leaf coriander, mint and fish sauce, and has lemongrass and chilli in it too.  I wonder if you could apply that dressing to another salad with an acceptable vegetarian source of complete protein that would complement it in flavour.  Anyway, apart from obviously beef strips, the original has red onion, lots of snowpeas, whatever other salad vegetables you like (cucumber goes well here), and freshly ground pepper in the mix.

Another favourite pick-me-up food is Moroccan Harira, which I make both vegetarian and lamb versions of.  Again, loads of vegetables and herbs, plus lentils and chickpeas - it's traditional Ramadan food, to see people through daytime fasting, so it's got to be very nutritious to do that.

Food is definitely medicinal if done well.  :cool

And I fall apart unless I have 8 - 9 hours of sleep a night (or equivalent daytime naps in summer, when I get up early).

Thanks for the breathing thoughts! :)  Whenever I've done yoga or Pilates classes, my teacher was always telling us how important that is!  And that's probably another reason why singing in a choir is so good for you.
SueC is time travelling

SueC

@word_on_a_wing and I have both noticed that Australians are emptying stores of toilet paper.  This led another Australian on my other forum to post a picture I wish to share:



It's sourced from this thread: https://www.horseforum.com/general-off-topic-discussion/covid-19-different-containment-approaches-around-812919/

It's a pretty good discussion, not just for its humour and commonsense, but because we have participants who are emergency department nurses, translators of pulmonary medicine papers, etc etc.
SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Most concerts and other events for March and April have been cancelled here in southern Germany.
Let's hope in May things will be back to a little bit more "normal".
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

word_on_a_wing

Same, in Australia as of Monday there will be cancellations of gatherings of more than 500 people (so this includes music and sports events).

I have a ticket to see New Order tomorrow night, in a 13,000 capacity venue. They cancelled the show the following night but not tomorrow. The one tomorrow night is outdoors, and I have a seat (so won't be squashed between people) so that gives me some peace of mind.

But I'm really debating whether to go or not ...really not keen to get the virus and risk spreading it to others (particularly my older parents). 
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Ulrich

In Stuttgart, all bars, clubs, museums etc. are being closed. (Exception: restaurants.)
(We'll have to see for how long.)
Schools here will be closed from Monday until April 18th.
The holy city breathed like a dying man...


SueC

SueC is time travelling

dsanchez

Today in Bratislava...

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo