Another Reader
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
- Messages
- 3,413
I have been off the forums for a couple of months. The frantic nature of some of the postings was too much for me. Then I came down with COVID-19... I'm back now to give my perspective on COVID and to point people to more detailed, accurate information about this disease.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have had several negative PCR tests and one negative antibody test. How could I have COVID-19 if that's the case? As it turns out, that's not unusual. The virus test was developed for the pneumonia presentation of this disease. For the test to be positive, you must be shedding virus in the nasal-pharyngeal area sampled at the time the sample is tested. I never had pneumonia. I had many other common symptoms, however. The IgG antibody test requires you to produce antibodies in sufficient quantity to be detected. There is increasing evidence that many people are not doing that.
I belong to two very large on-line support groups, one on Facebook and one on Slack-Bodypolitic. The Slack group was started by Fiona Lowenstein, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times back in April about her experiences with "long haul" COVID. There are around 5,500 members of that group. It skews towards an under 40 demographic. The Facebook group, Long Haul COVID-Fighters skews even younger, people in their 20's and 30's. Last I checked, around 3,500 members. Both groups are private, restricted to people that have or had COVID. For those here who think this is a disease of old and immuno-compromised people, you are flat out wrong.
Within those two support groups, there are many, many people that that had the symptoms but never tested positive on the PCR test or the antibody test. There are situations where spouses got the disease at the same time. One tested positive and the other did not.
An extreme case of this is a cancer patient that recently completed chemotherapy who was hospitalized in the ICU twice for COVID. Negative swab test both times, despite having high fevers and pneumonia. The doctors bronchoscoped the patient the second time, and found a nice pool of fluid in the lungs packed with the virus. The patient was treated with convalescent plasma and recovered. Four weeks out, no recurrence.
What I would like to do here, with the approval of the moderators, is to tell my story and to provide a different insight to the disease that what you see in the main stream media. This is not a "one and done" respiratory virus. This virus causes inflammation throughout the entire body, especially in endothelial tissue. That's why you see the reports of heart attacks, blood clots and strokes in COVID patients. It can also become long term in a significant percentage of patients, variously estimated at between 5 and 20 percent. No one is sure why, or how many cases still have the virus and how many are suffering from post-viral issues. I am still very sick (a long hauler) and the long term prospects are scary.
Thank you for reading this. If I'm breaking any rules or if this is inappropriate to discuss here, please let me know.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have had several negative PCR tests and one negative antibody test. How could I have COVID-19 if that's the case? As it turns out, that's not unusual. The virus test was developed for the pneumonia presentation of this disease. For the test to be positive, you must be shedding virus in the nasal-pharyngeal area sampled at the time the sample is tested. I never had pneumonia. I had many other common symptoms, however. The IgG antibody test requires you to produce antibodies in sufficient quantity to be detected. There is increasing evidence that many people are not doing that.
I belong to two very large on-line support groups, one on Facebook and one on Slack-Bodypolitic. The Slack group was started by Fiona Lowenstein, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times back in April about her experiences with "long haul" COVID. There are around 5,500 members of that group. It skews towards an under 40 demographic. The Facebook group, Long Haul COVID-Fighters skews even younger, people in their 20's and 30's. Last I checked, around 3,500 members. Both groups are private, restricted to people that have or had COVID. For those here who think this is a disease of old and immuno-compromised people, you are flat out wrong.
Within those two support groups, there are many, many people that that had the symptoms but never tested positive on the PCR test or the antibody test. There are situations where spouses got the disease at the same time. One tested positive and the other did not.
An extreme case of this is a cancer patient that recently completed chemotherapy who was hospitalized in the ICU twice for COVID. Negative swab test both times, despite having high fevers and pneumonia. The doctors bronchoscoped the patient the second time, and found a nice pool of fluid in the lungs packed with the virus. The patient was treated with convalescent plasma and recovered. Four weeks out, no recurrence.
What I would like to do here, with the approval of the moderators, is to tell my story and to provide a different insight to the disease that what you see in the main stream media. This is not a "one and done" respiratory virus. This virus causes inflammation throughout the entire body, especially in endothelial tissue. That's why you see the reports of heart attacks, blood clots and strokes in COVID patients. It can also become long term in a significant percentage of patients, variously estimated at between 5 and 20 percent. No one is sure why, or how many cases still have the virus and how many are suffering from post-viral issues. I am still very sick (a long hauler) and the long term prospects are scary.
Thank you for reading this. If I'm breaking any rules or if this is inappropriate to discuss here, please let me know.
