Covid-19 versus the Flu

#54

Carrots are fine for me at the end of the day.

I live in Canadia and therefore must take a supplement in the winter however I do agree that most Vitamin D supplements are snake oil since the majority of companies can’t gurantee purity and supplements contain other toxins. There was studies years ago which found 10 times the amount of Vitamin D per capsule in Vitamin D supplements derived from lanolin. ie 200,000iu instead of 2000iu. I take a lichen based Vitamin D3 and I’ve noticed a difference however the first sign of chronic vitamin D toxicity is insomnia. Advocates often take too much and then supplement melatonin instead of stopping or lowering their Vitamin D supplement (dose). ie. Rhonda Patrick.

Did you get a blood or saliva covid-19 antibody test?

(Jennifer Kleiman) #55

It was a blood test at Quest, which I believe is using the Roche test with 99.8% accuracy. Ah well, would’ve been interesting if it had been positive but I accept the result.

(Peter) #56

Balanced views like that would see Ivor calling you “vermin” on Twitter, you know :slight_smile: This whole “I tell you all repeatedly that I know a lot about field A, so let me dazzle you all with my utterly uneducated views on why field K is a govt conspiracy” thing is just tiresome.

(Bob M) #57

More evidence of differences, from autopsies of lungs:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/more-evidence-emerges-on-why-covid-19-is-so-much-worse-than-the-flu/2020/05/21/e7814588-9ba5-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html

So far, we know of several people who have died. Somewhat “rural” NY, my wife’s niece’s boss was working from home and niece was working with him. His 93 yo mother was in the house. She got covid, they think due to a health aid, and gave it to him. She died, he was in the hospital a week. Niece did not appear to get it.

My wife’s sister talked with someone who had both parents die of it. We know of a dad younger than I am with kids about my age who went into the ICU. We believe he survived.

Colleague’s friend and her husband got it. Friend did not go to the hospital, but said it was by far the worst thing she’s ever had. Many days of high fever, completely wiped. Other times, not bad. But weeks of sickness and recovery.

That’s what makes this disease so strange. Some people don’t know they have it, yet others get crushed.

Follow a lot of doctors on twitter. One doc retweeted a post from another doc. That doc is an emergency room physician treating covid patients. Seven of his friends had a poker party (in a state now “open”); he wasn’t there. All seven got covid. At the time he posted, one was intubated, one was in the hospital, and the other five were recovering at home. And that occurred within 6 days of the party.

That’s something else: with the flu, you typically feel as if you’ve been hit by a bus. (Or at least people tell me that’s true; knock on wood, I can’t remember having the flu.) With covid, you can have an active, communicable infection, and not know. Even if you subsequently develop symptoms, you could transfer it to multiple people.

(bulkbiker) #58

Wow he’s really upset you hasn’t he…

I do wonder how…

#59

Yup. Like I’ve said in the past… these SARS coronavirus viruses inhibit the cell mechanism which calls out to the immune system. So those susceptible don’t know they’re infected until their viral load is high and the asymptomatic silent spreaders don’t know they’re infected and infecting others. However the first sign I remember and noticed in asymptomatic people is a reduction in energy level. Tiredness.

This virus is a silent killer.

(Jane) #60

@Consistency - how are you doing now? Completely over it or still fighting symptoms?

#61

@Janie

I’m over it with minor post viral infection symptoms of myocarditis because I’ve been thinning my blood with food I’d rather not eat and supplements. I’m also avoiding Omega 6’s and Vitamin K2 as they promote clotting. So I’m making a speedy recovery.

(Jane) #62

Glad to hear that.

(Doug) #63

I don’t know anything about Ivor and this deal, but even Nobel Prize winners can be absolutely goofy. (Einstein hated socks, and Tesla fell in love with a pigeon, right? :stuck_out_tongue:)

Here’s something from the ‘wacky conspiracy’ side, which mentions Kary Mullis, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993 - he invented the PCR tests for viruses. A smart guy, to be sure, but he certainly had his, uh, ‘eccentricities.’ It’s a long article, and I just have to laugh at the effort the author put into it.

(Jane) #64

So he may have reported your illness to your state health board as a COVID case, which could have been another flu virus since you weren’t tested.

(Peter) #65

It’s going to be hard to surpass Linus Pauling in the “complete whacko nutjob loonytunes” stakes, and he’s the only ever winner of two unshared Nobel prizes, which also tells us a bit about the value of some Nobel prizes, or at least the using of them as badges of < mumblessomething >, I guess.

(Peter) #66

With an ability to reach like that, you should be in the NBA.

(Jane) #67

At 5’ 2” I am at a disadvantage. BUT I refused to play regular hoops with my 6-ft brother so we played around-the-world and I could hold my own then.

:smiley:

(Jane) #68

What outcome do you expect???

I am the half-glass-full argument (obviously)

You seem to be the apocalyptic we-are-going-to-die-if-we-don’t-keep-cowering-in-place person

(Peter) #69

“Cowering” is such a sensible word for intelligent discussions.

It’s somewhat amusing to be (vaguely) lectured by people from a country with by far the worst record on dealing with the virus and the situation surrounding it. I can see why you always insist on changing the subject/making outlandish claims as to the motivation of doctors (both in this thread and the Bakersfield one)/hiding behind emotional but intellectually empty language like “cowering”.

Having watched events to this point, I don’t have any “expectations” because that would be dumb at this point in the process. For one, because humans everywhere are unpredictable, and two, it depends on which countries you are talking about - ones with competent leadership which have done well in this crisis, or ones like the US and Brazil, which are discovering that the usual method of just lieing about things doesn’t work all that well when there’s an actual body count that can only be partly fudged. Even the well lead countries will still have issues as they open up (because they misjudge it or because people are selfish and/or stupid) and who could possibly guess what the poorly lead countries will do, so predictions are somewhat pointless, given each country will have to navigate the new terrain with nothing to guide it.

(Jane) #70

You are right - my choice of wording was poor. Just my frustration at the current situation. I am one of the fortunate ones, so should be more charitable.

I have not lost any income and not been locked down like some parts of the country. I can sit down and enjoy a meal with my husband and only have to wear a mask until the drinks are served. I don’t have to wait in line to get in any stores and there are no shortages. Life here in the sticks is almost back to normal.

There is not and never has been a pandemic in my state. Why? I have no idea - we never locked down as tight as most states. But 115 deaths in 3 months (41 in nursing homes) is not a pandemic and the rate is declining. So while not over, we appear to be past the peak.

I hope the rest of the country will see similar results as they open up.

As for the US COVID statistics being so bad - well, we as a country are fat, have diabetes and expensive health care that many cannot afford. We lead the world in many diseases - not just COVID. And we trusted the medical community when they told us to limit saturated fats and eat 6 carby meals a day.

(Ideom) #72

My family doctor said that flu deaths are usually reported way high because it’s just a guess by the CDC and because pneumonia cases are rarely separated, even when other causes for pneumonia are likely. Sort of a catch-all with a fudge factor thrown in.

#73

No! They cannot report unconfirmed cases.

(John) #74

So I have been wondering . I hear alot of comparison of the two illnesses. So how many infuinza deaths have there been in the US this year and is that number mixed in with the coronavirus numbers cause if its a stand alone and is somewhere around the normal 50000ish and coronavirus is over 100000 now how can anybody still be saying that coronavirus is no worse than the flu. Keep in mind that yes they are attributing things like heart attacks and stuff like that to the coronavirus but they doe the same thing with the flu numbers. as far as skydivers being called covid deaths I would say thats a rarity especially considering i doubt that they are doing tours out of the rest homes. Doesnt change the fact though that there isnt much that we can do about it at this point. maybe we should have followed New Zealands approach to this.