My personal experience with Coronavirus
I want to share my personal experience with Coronavirus to illuminate a couple of facts that might guide you in decisions you make for your well-being and that of others.
I was exposed to and contracted the virus at work. In my office 6 of the 8 people sharing the office have either been confirmed to have/had the virus (3 of us tested positive) or have shown classic symptoms of the virus but did not have the test to confirm it (in one case the test was botched).
My symptoms were a loss of taste, dissimilar to that one experiences when they have a cold. The way I can best describe it is that the sense organs seem dead, as opposed to dampened as with a cold. A recurring fever that would subside at night and into the morning to return in the early afternoon, topping out at 102 f. And a severe loss of energy.
I have been asymptomatic for 13 days now. The last time I tested, 10 days AFTER the symptoms subsided, I STILL tested positive for the virus, and so I continue to be in isolation. I test again on Friday and Saturday, the CDC having determined that to get cleared you must test negative twice in a 24 hour window. My last test showed it was clearing up some, the results being described as a "weak positive." They are hopeful I will be cleared on the next tests.
My hope is that some may find this helpful in discerning when to end their own isolation period. I understand that many do not have access to one test, much less the follow up tests I have been privileged to have had. So maybe my experience can help to guide you.
Take care and stay safe. My heart is with you and your loved ones.
My symptoms were a loss of taste, dissimilar to that one experiences when they have a cold. The way I can best describe it is that the sense organs seem dead, as opposed to dampened as with a cold. A recurring fever that would subside at night and into the morning to return in the early afternoon, topping out at 102 f. And a severe loss of energy.
This is the best news to me. These symptoms seem milder than the flu. If you don't mind sharing, how old are you and what is your general level of health before getting the virus?
We’re hearing all different kinds of stories from covid patients though. I’ve heard about people in their 30s who had a brutal time and were hospitalized. Whether you get a mild or severe case may be influenced by your risk factors but might also just be luck of the draw.
It's almost as if people are pissed if you point out any information other than "this is dangerous!" Why on earth would you DV someone for being happy that someone experienced mild symptoms? What, are we in danger of now not taking it seriously because we are happy there is a possibility that everyone that contracts it might not be in grave danger? C'mon people.
I didn’t downvote you, but you probably were by people tired of the “It’s not as bad as the flu” shtick.
I’m just saying, there is anecdotal testimony all over the place about this virus. The OP seems to be one of the more fortunate ones.
March 31st, 2020 at 11:04 PM ^
I didn’t downvote you, but you probably were by people tired of the “It’s not as bad as the flu” shtick.
Then people are projecting those posters to me. I did not say that. There is a difference between saying "Covid 19 is not any more dangerous than the flu" and "this particular guy's symptoms were more mild than the flu".
The OP seems to be one of the more fortunate ones.
Have we seen many examples of otherwise healthy young adults being significantly worse? I really don't know, but from the little I've heard those most at risk are the elderly, obese, or people with preexisting health conditions. I'm 40 and healthy so the OP seems like a pretty good reference point.
I am fairly healthy and in my late forties.
While my symptoms were reasonable to manage, my colleagues and their family members have experienced more challenging symptoms. So I would caution against labeling it as a mild flu.
I am fairly healthy and in my late forties.
Perfect, just was I was looking for as you fall in the same category as me.
my colleagues and their family members have experienced more challenging symptoms. So I would caution against labeling it as a mild flu.
I'm going off the example you described...nothing more. Why would you assume that because I think your symptoms are mild that I am slighting your colleagues or their family members? Noting that your symptoms are mild does not mean that I am somehow taking it less seriously. I am trying to make note of an example of a person that is similar to me in terms of age & health to gain some perspective.
he shared this about 15 posts up: I am in my late 40s.
I contracted it back in early Feb. and promptly transferred the infection to my wife, a recovering cancer patient. She suffered a persistent dry cough and felt terrible for a month but otherwise appears fine today. I was bedridden for nearly five weeks and wanted to die I felt so bad. My coughing spasms left bruises over my sternum and for a time I was expectorating a handful of saturated bloody foam every hour. I may have prolonged my experience because, initially, I took every contraindicated painkiller which is believed to defeat your body’s ability to defend against the virus. Worst today is mental acuity – I work a cerebral job and I am only about 90% recovered upstairs and with far less mental endurance for complex issues.
We are locked down, however, this has essentially destroyed the economy and we will face prospects of a depression as additional viral waves present later this year. I oppose the quarantining of young, healthy adults in their prime years; 50-y.o. and up folks who appear vulnerable should button up or take their chances and let the rest of our country get back to productive endeavors. We are burning down the village to save it IMHO.
I’m glad to hear that you are (mostly) better and hope you make it all the way back.
The economy’s not going to be normal no matter what we do though. You’re not going to have a functional economy during a pandemic that hospitalizes huge numbers of people and scares the crap out of many of the rest. Fear is horrible for consumer confidence.
We shouldn’t look at this as choosing between saving lives and saving the economy. The economy can’t be saved right now, the damage can only be somewhat mitigated at best. But we can save a lot of lives (and keep our hospitals from going under).
If there's one thing history has shown, it's that the economy can always bounce back. It may take a lot of efforts, and new policies, and probably will, but it will bounce back.
None of that matters when people are dying that didn't have to die.
Future generations aren't going to thank us for putting them $2 trillion further into debt because we couldn't come up with a solution to this other than hiding in our houses indefinitely. You're 100% right that old people should be hiding and the young and healthy should be getting on with it. Even the pessimistic scenarios for deaths right now are no worse than the flu seasons in 1957 and 1968, proportionate for the current population. We just read about every death on the internet now and personalize it until we're peeing our pants. We're a society in decline and this is further proof.
Ah, yes, why didn't *I* think of that? Just put the at-risk in one place and the not-at-risk in another place. Easy. Similarly, when one industry collapses just find another one for all the displaced workers. Simple.
Devil's in the details, my friend. Binary thinking is primitive.
How do you decide who's at risk and who's not?
- - -
One other thing: I just love the implied suggestion that people urging caution have no idea that the economy is being wrecked. Love it.
Well.....you could look at the deaths by age groups that are pretty consistently showing 80-85% of deaths occurring in the 70+ crowd.
That might be a place to start.....
40% of the people in the US are in an at risk category. Even if there weren’t serious logistical issues about quarantining that many people, do you think that might cause some hit to the economy. Then what about all the people an at risk person would still come in contact with, caregiver in nursing homes, families with an older mother or father in their house, nuclear families who have an at risk individual in their house.
Not saying it couldn’t be done, but it wouldn’t be as simple as you seem to suggest and it would still have a tremendous burden on society.
Congratulations on you recovery. From everything I’ve read patients either recover at the end 5-6 days or the virus gets into the lower respiratory and they end up in the hospital.
Thank you for sharing your story. You said that you were exposed to or contracted the virus at work in an office of 8 people. In hindsight, do you think you and your office mates could have done anything differently to avoid catching and spreading the virus at work, or were you guys working in such close proximity (literally sitting side-by-side) that it was basically inevitable to transmit the virus?
We are actually in a suite of separate offices, and I was in a regimen of regular hand washing and largely avoiding others as best I could and still got it.
It seems that all we could have done was to have those who had it (and were unaware) stay home.
This is the most distress thing you'd said IMO...it sounds like you did everything within reason but still got it.
Was anyone noticeably coughing or sneezing ?
Yes. All of them had visible symptoms. The problem is that the outbreak coincided with flu season so the symptoms were at that time presumed to be flu related. Only when it turned into pneumonia did they get tested.
Glad to hear that you're doing ok. I find descriptive reports of what is involved helpful, and your description of the loss of taste is particularly enlightening. Very good post.
Likely I contracted the virus after sharing a hot tub in Costa Rica with a positive woman 16 days ago at a wedding. Fever, cough, chills, heightened heart beat and a 100% loss of taste and smell. Started 4 days after, and lasted a week. Wife and nephew have also gone through it. Wife was in that hot tub.
The 100% loss of taste/smell and appetite is otherworldly. A challenge to eat. No lung issues thank god.
Have never bothered to get tested because we've been in self quarantine and didn't feel the need until we felt lung issues. Wife works for the NIH and went in today to be tested.
I'm 95% sure we have it and should confirm tomorrow.
I have a compromised immune system given the last 3 times I've had a cold or flu it never self corrected and required antibiotics and steroids, lasting months. One doctor said I was close to pneumonia two years ago.
I'm feeling blessed to wake up every day with no lung symptoms but the depression due to self isolation is also incredible. Surreal time in our lives.
Thoughts with those having it far worse than me and mine.
Wow, glad your lungs have been spared so far. That would be frightening.
Hot tub in Costa Rica with wife +1! Nice. It was worth COVID, wasn't it??? Pics? Penthouse Forum article?
/s, in case not apparent
Very happy you seem to have made it through the worst of this and come out the other end. Wishing you and your family good health! And thanks to your wife for her service (NIH)
I don't think we have a daily coronavirus thread today, do we?
Anyway, don't know that this is worth a post (and, inevitably, any post with this material will turn into a disaster), but it seems newsworthy in these parts.
"AG probes Ann Arbor business accused of price-gouging hand sanitizer."
The business in question is AM Cleaning and Supplies on Washtenaw. If this is true (and the cited screencap of a tweet they allegedly sent seems pretty conclusive) then that is garbage behavior, and if I were a potential customer I would take my business elsewhere. Both for punitive purposes and because I could no longer trust that the management of the company would act with integrity.
I usually have reservations about government getting involved in pricing. It can easily go wrong. Times like these, I'm inclined to treat such inquiries the way us fans of the late 80s Pistons treated Bill Laimbeer's elbows: yeah, I'm in favor of clean play. Tough rocks, Celtics.
Thanks for the information. My wife has the total loss of taste and smell, but no other symptoms. She did a video consult with our family doctor and was told she was fine. I guess we'll see.
So you're telling me that my work requiring us to return after 7 days symptom free might cause some problems? We haven't had anyone test positive or even have severe symptoms yet, but I'm sure it's coming. It's frustrating because I work for local government and all other levels around me are finding ways for people to work from home or at least alternating shifts for essential employees. Even other city departments have done this. Mine is just staying the course.
The CDC is recommending a 14 day quarantine for those who have come in contact with someone with the virus.
I guess we're following the Ohio Department of Health recommendations (no Ohio jokes please ;) ). I misread it originally. We can return to work 7 days after our symptoms BEGAN and 3 days with no fever. They aren't screening any of us, we're supposed to do that before we come to work.
Interesting. Under those guidelines I would have been cleared to return to work 10 days ago.
I thought the same. My county health department wants me to do 14 days +72 hrs of no symptoms. No test planned.
Thank you for sharing! I continue to be perplexed by the multitude of people that still aren't taking this seriously! Everyone stay safe!
Thanks for posting. Take megadoses of vitamin C, 10G a day. Here in NY the worst patients are being given an IV of vitamin C, because sepsis onsets and drops levels to nothing.
IV versus oral Ascorbic acid is on a completely different level of usefulness.
March 31st, 2020 at 11:18 PM ^
10g of oral vitamin C a day is a really good way to find out what kidney stones feel like.
Are you in Colorado by any chance? Would you mind sharing your general location?
My wife, age 52, took off of work 03/13/2020 because she felt sick because of protocol since she works in a small daycare enviornment.
Over the weekend she felt congested and thought she was getting Bronchitis. She almost gets this yearly, and had it in November. She has chronic asthma and that is common for her.
She had a virtual visit on 03/16/2020 with her Dr. and they ordered a chest xray. Xray was negative for Bronchitis and prescribed Predisone (Steroid) and to use her Albuterol nebulizer 4 times a day. We own a nebulizer due to her history and use it quite often.
On her follow up visit virtual visit on 03/19/2020, she told her Dr. that the Predisone and nebulizer didn't seem to help her,which it usually does. So they ordered the test.
She hasn't been out of the house except for the test since 03/13/2020.
Myself and my 2 adult kids had mild flu like symptoms during those 8 day waiting. We were told to be under quarantine on the on the day of her test in case the results came back positive.
03/27/2020 results came back positive, 8 days after the test. 100% community spread. We have no idea where it came from. I work for a small company. None of us travel more than 10 miles from our home for work. Berrien county Mi had no known cases, and St.Joseph county Indiana, where I work, confrimed 1 on 03/11/2020. My kids have been home from college since they were shut down earlier in the month.
No tests were ordered for me and my kids. We are presumed to have had it. Everybody except my wife is asymptomatic for over a week. My wife just need to use her nebulizer because she still is congested. She feels short of breath often, but feels better than she did over a week ago.
So far, Day 12 since her test. I don't know when we are going to be out of quarantine. As of now, no tests are planned for the future. We live in a rural area so that may explain it.
Most estimates are that this thing has infected somewhere between 10 and 200 (!!) times the number of confirmed cases. It's everywhere and has been community spreading widely in the US since January. Your wife working in a daycare setting could have easily picked it up there, or your kids brought it home from college, etc. etc.
Thanks for sharing and glad you all sound to be doing well. Hoping your wife is back 100% soon.
Scary stuff. I hope your wife keeps getting better.
Hope you continue to feel better and stay well. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this. I do believe that this is truly one of those times where this blog can show that it is far more than a community devoted to Michigan athletics, and this is an example of that.
I am in a critical infrastructure job, but I've been working remotely. Still, we have people that have turned up positive and sadly a couple people - one or two of which I know - that have sadly passed. It has taken a bit of a mental toll, but we need to keep sharing our experiences, in my opinion.
Good info, glad it’s not a hoax
Thanks for sharing!
So thankful, my Mgoblog friend! So, other than extreme fatigue and taste, how was your breathing and lung function? Thank you for sharing!
I never got lower than a 97 on a pulse ox (sp?), and did not develop a cough or chest pain. When I became fatigued I did wonder what if it was oxygen related, but my vitals suggested it was not.
Thanks Hanlon.
My son, who is a grad student at Wisconsin, has been symptomatic and quarantined for the last 18 days or so. (Be patient if you or a loved one gets it—there are all sorts of ups and downs). His trajectory has been encouraging.
No idk Fri being handled using her hair.
Get your rest and Vitamin C man.
Regarding loss of taste...I had heard that was one of the symptoms. I lost most of my taste and 95% of my smell 3 years ago after taking Nasalcort sinus spray. Those senses have not come back. It sucks.
What were your first symtoms? Did they start coming at once? did you feel the cough first then it got worse and the fever kicked in? just curious how it all starts.