COVID-19: Chapter 10 - Mission Achomlished!

I am pozzed and feel like complete shit

Sore and ache
Fever, been sweating but then I’ll be freezing later and the cycle repeats
Throat has become so sore that I can whisper but that’s about it
Overall feeling very exhausted
Vaxxed and boosted

Also wife is pozzed. I’m on Day 3 of symptoms she on Day 2

Here is what I’m taking/doing

Quercetin
Black Cumin Seed
Turmeric
Zinc
Vitamin C
Vitamin D mega dose (prescription 100k unit) then down to normal 5k unit
Aspirin
Tylenol for fevers
NAC
Antiviral mouthwash
Iodine nasal spray
Netipot
Flonase (prescription)
Famotidine (prescription)
Big melatonin dose to get sleep
Cough drops and cough syrup

Also I bought a pulse oximeter to monitor blood oxygen levels

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Maybe see about adding paxlovid to that list

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Agree N95 would be tougher. If we switch you to surgical mask that you just pull down at will, does the third factor still make you not wear it?

Look I’m not going to tell you what to do, but the supplements, Pepcid and whatever aren’t likely to help.

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Probably not but I figured they couldn’t hurt right?

The first Dr I called couldn’t prescribe Paxlovid so they gave me all this other stuff, but there’s apparently other phone md that can prescribe it. I’m still weighing whether to do that or not.

Well I’m only wearing it for safety, and I don’t think a surgical mask would do much, so I wouldn’t wear it.

If you’re talking about poker edge, I think the cost of being perceived as nitty offsets any advantage in hiding tells that may or may not exist from any type of mask. I thought for sure somebody was going to say, “just bluff more!” but the problem is I think the main way it hurts me is in that people are less likely to play hands with me period. Steal the blinds more to me is not a recipe to win the maximum at live NLHE.

Also, while masks hide the mouth, most of them also make it really easy to gauge how heavily someone is breathing, which can be a tell. They also might make the wearer feel like they are safe from giving off tells, which may make them be less careful about other ways they’re giving off tells. I’ve seen some funny examples of this from people who cover their face and then leak info elsewhere.

There’s also losing a lot of the edge of creating a friendly, social environment to gamble in. I have a lot more trouble engaging in conversations and keeping them going with the mask on. Partially because people have trouble hearing me, and partially because some people just mock the mask anytime I speak.

There’s also the opportunity cost of potentially missing out on private game invites by looking like a buzzkill nit.

Don’t take too long, you have to get it within five days of symptoms starting, I think.

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Yeah, I was just talking about for poker edge.

I don’t play poker much, but I’m still going to do it at least partly for safety. Not just COVID, but I’m sure that it will reduce my risk of getting colds and such by some small amount. And it literally doesn’t bother me at all (surgical mask, not N95).

If I noticed the types of things you’re describing, then I’d probably ditch it as well. I also play mostly limit, so the value of people not wanting to play hands with me is actually significant.

Friend of mine is in the ICU due to a chronic heart problem. I visited him for about 90 minutes yesterday, sitting about 3-4 feet away from him wearing a real-deal 3M N95 mask. He was unmasked. He tested positive today. Anybody think I should change any behaviors based on this?

Under-rep your hand and dare them to bluff you on scare cards if they are aggressive. Give them a cheaper price to see the flop if you have a post-flop edge.

What would you do if you looked like an OMC and people perceived you as nitty for superficial reasons other than a mask?

Good luck, hope you turn the corner quickly. Nyquill helped me get sleep on the nights my symptoms were bad. And I think Paxlovid did some heavy lifting to kick it as well.

I tested negative yesterday and again today. Symptoms pretty much stopped on Friday. I still have an occasional cough. But I feel so, so much better today than just two or three days ago. Got out and was active today which felt great. Back to work tomorrow. I milked an extra four days of missed work from when I would have been cleared to go back, but there was no way in hell I could have worked before today.

Now just got to fade Paxlovid rebound, and any lingering or long term effects from the infection.

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I do shared decision making with paxlovid, and I probably lean on shared decision making instead of hard recommendations than most doctors.

For anyone who is unvaccinated, I would give a hard recommendation for it. I’ve never had this situation happen as they tend to get admitted and paxlovid isn’t approved then. Also if they don’t want an “experimental” vaccine they don’t want an “experimental” drug. Half the time they refuse a swab. Whatever. Pretty rare in my area thankfully.

For vaccinated olds, I recommend it softly, as data is only ok here. It also takes a bit of work to nail down what med changes need to be made (so many interactions make this tough, I frequently call pharmacy). Also need to check kidney function.

For vaccinated younger people with medical problems, same as olds.

For vaccinated healthy young people I usually leave it as “well it might provide benefit, but we don’t know and you’re likely to do well.”

I offer it to everyone.

Any doctor can prescribe paxlovid. They decided not to. You can do what you want, and this isn’t medical advice, but there’s no evidence for any of that stuff.

eta: there probably isn’t evidence for paxlovid in your risk group either.

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meh as long as you masked well prob not, that’s my day to day life.

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You should be fine. That’s literally all day every day for lots of hospital workers.

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Does that mean ‘least preferred hooker’ is OK?

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Went through a different online Dr and was able to get Paxlovid, they were flabbergasted when I told them the other Dr said they weren’t authorized to prescribe it. Will be delivered tomorrow which will be Day 4 for me.

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Probably not a real telehealth thing. Some things are online triage things. Some are real appointments.

For stupid reasons you have to be licensed in whatever state the patient is in.

Really need to blow up all the state medical boards and go national for a lot of different reasons.

AKA miss value.

AKA play smaller pots.

These are all things that decrease winrate.

Dress like an old man whale!

Good luck! Hope it helps. Just so you know, nearly half of people on Paxlovid are going positive → negative → positive on tests, so when you’re feeling better and start testing negative there’s still a risk of being contagious a few days later.

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Where did you see that number? I’m seeing like 2% rebound rate with the caveat it may be higher due to patients not reporting or taking follow-up tests. I plan to continue to test for a few days and will be masking everywhere (as I was before getting it), but really hoping to fade a rebound.