today i am still running fever and chills that has waves of nausea associated with it
i have zero appetite
what i have found if ill just start eating my appetite gets better for awhile at least so i can eat food
i have no headache i think the acetaminophen controls it some
i have some muscle aches in my upper body that i notice when its about time for my acetaminophen
my runny nose persists
i still have a minimal cough that is like my chronic cough ive had for months
i am staying hydrated
a family friend came back from new orleans recently and developed symptoms like mine that started with the gi stuff then progressed to respiratory symptoms
she wasnt tested for covid 19
she described this as the worse she has ever been sick
she stayed at home sick for 3 weeks
she is better now
in a study half of the cases started with gi symptoms then most progressed to eventually have the respiratory symptoms
those symptoms were loss of appetite diarrhea vomiting abdominal pain
so think of covid 19 as the cause if you develop these
you might need to remind your health care provider of this if you have to be seen
yesterday i got a call from the hospital about my covid 19 test
now i had already decided and even told my wife that no matter what the test shows i am sure i have a covid 19 infection
my test she said was negative
well
what does negative mean
it means if you dont have the virus then it usually means you dont have the covid 19 infection
it also may means that if you do have the infection this test may still be negative
if its positive thats accurate you most definitely likely have covid 19
if its negative its about 70-85% accurate which means that 15-30% of the negative tests really have the infection
this is called a false negative test
an example is the wuhan doctor who first raised alarms and died had three covid 19 tests that were negative before he had one that was positive
there are several medical tests that are done that are like that
eg the flu test may be only 50-90% accurate
as i told my daughter in law this yesterday trying to explain it all
if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its probably a duck
all medical providers understand the limitations of testing when they see patients
there is a thing called clinical judgement
if as a provider you dont keep this in the back of your head you will miss things
so
as far as i am concerned i have the covid 19 infection and will proceed as i am doing now
i am watching for worsening gi symptoms especially diarrhea and vomiting and abdominal pain
that means it has taken off
i will also be watching for the development of worsening respiratory symptoms
thats when i will return to the emergency room
warning whoever sees me about what i wrote above so they wont ignore my pleas for help
the things that will interfere with the tests are
at the time the swab was done the viral load was too low eg maybe its done too early in the disease
maybe in my case since its mainly gi the levels werent high enough to detect
the virus load goes up and down with the infection
the test tests for certain rna
if the rna has mutated slightly the test will be negative
if the specimen wasnt done correctly
if the specimen wasnt handled correctly
if the reagents to run the test were bad
in summary
if your covid 19 is positive then you probably have it
if your covid 19 is negative then you may not have it
but
a percentage between 10-30 will have it
remember the duck story above
also
my wife she probably has it
she had nasal congestion with a frontal headache worse at night that acetaminophen doesnt make go away
she also has upper body back muscle pain
she also has lost her appetite
if its obvious that she has it from her symptoms we will open up our condo so we arent isolated from each other
we will be quarantined at least 2 weeks if not longer in our condo
i want to hug her and kiss her on the cheek and pat her head since its her birthday
i am glad i am a doctor who has read a lot about this disease so that i understand whats going on with my infection and my wife shes
stay safe
the only way to slow this down is to stay inside
the dangerous folks may be the ones that dont have symptoms yet
if you do go outside do a 10 ft distancing from folks
my advice
dont go outside and be around other people unless its absolutely necessary
finally i communicated with a nurse yesterday that is wearing the same mask now for two weeks
normally you would change it at least every day if not more frequently
look around if you have face masks or gloves or shields for protective gowns from eg contruction left overs or painting or sanding
please donate them to the local medical community
be safe
the organicgreen doctor
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