Getting vaccinated

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by TPFKA@W »

Thanks but we are totally fine. Really its just been like a routine URI.

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Long Run
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Long Run »

Glad to hear it was minimal impact. Like Joe, I do not believe I have ever had it. Some of getting it is luck and some is moving the odds. Similarly, the degree of impact seems random and some is changing the odds with the vaccine.

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

Well the Rona finally got me as well, despite the fact that I hardly ever go anywhere and wear a mask when I do. Went to bed with no symptoms, woke up sneezing, coughing and a bit of a fever, not so different from a cold or flu, but the physical exhaustion was overwhelming. Tested and turned up positive. Called the doc, got a paxlovid scrip right away. (That stuff is nasty -- makes your mouth taste like dirt.) Feeling much better by the middle of the second day and symptom-free again on day three -- when Spousal Unit tested positive. After finishing the meds I tested negative on day six, but after 10 days had a relapse/reinfection -- jut a bit of sneezing and occasional cough -- lasted two days (until today). So tomorrow I'll test again and see where we stand. (SU had only minor symptoms, took the meds, has been symptom-free since day three but still tests positive a week later.)

Glad for the vax and the pax -- it could have been a lot worse.
GAH!

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Glad to hear you are on the mend Sue.

I'm really curious about your relapse/reinfection. In theory your resistance to infection should be greatest just after an initial infection but it does happen and CDC are keeping tabs on it. It could be you were hit the second time with another variant which seems like colossal bad luck - you had been so successful at fending it off for almost three years and then you get hit twice in a week: seems very unlikely.

Home COVID testing is pretty good with respect to false positives (i.e., test says you have it when you do not) - CDC says they are rare. But they have an approximately 20% failure rate with false negatives (test says you are clear when in fact you are not) and the recommendation is that if you get a negative reset you should test again within 48 hours for a total of three tests. (If the tests are independent and a 20% failure rate then 3x should theoretically give you a 0.8% failure rate.) My guess is that you were one of the unlucky 20% - having spent 50 years in the testing business I usually suspect testing error when faced with oddball results.

Of course I am assuming home antigen testing and not PCR which is much more accurate.

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by BoSoxGal »

I had my closest brush with covid when my cousin’s kid got it last week. We just kept our distance and I didn’t catch it neither did my cousin and her husband despite close contact with her.

I continue to be grateful every day that I’ve avoided this virus. I have terrible luck and would surely end up with the persistent form.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

ex-khobar Andy wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:07 pm
I'm really curious about your relapse/reinfection. In theory your resistance to infection should be greatest just after an initial infection but it does happen and CDC are keeping tabs on it. It could be you were hit the second time with another variant which seems like colossal bad luck - you had been so successful at fending it off for almost three years and then you get hit twice in a week: seems very unlikely.
I know, right? So annoying! The initial disease came on suddenly Thursday before last, but by Saturday I felt just fine again, and felt fine all last week until Sunday when the sneezing/coughing started up again (but no fever/fatigue/body ache). We have been using the home antigen test kits, several different manufacturers' versions. I suspect I may have had a false negative, or maybe the viral load was too small to detect after the paxlovid and just took a week to build itself back up again. I dunno, I'm not a virologist.
GAH!

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Long Run
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Long Run »

Glad you are doing better, and should be ready for the next show, right?
I'm not a virologist.
Seems ripe for a malapropism, but why kick someone when they are just getting up. ;).

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Got my second Covid booster yesterday, along with a flu shot ... although it seems like it's kinda late in the season for that.  They also ran down a laundry list of other vaccines they felt a man my age should have (pneumonia and shingles were a couple I recall), and I let them take some blood for testing for cholesterol, hematocrit, and other stuff.  They also told me I'm way past due for a colonoscopy — but I think I'm going to hold off on that until this current issue of edema in my legs is better tended to.
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Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

Long Run wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:50 pm
Glad you are doing better, and should be ready for the next show, right?
Thank you, and yes, most definitely!
Long Run wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:50 pm
I'm not a virologist.
Seems ripe for a malapropism, but why kick someone when they are just getting up. ;).
You know why viola jokes are so short? So that violinists can remember them.
GAH!

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by BoSoxGal »

ex-khobar Andy wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:07 pm
I'm really curious about your relapse/reinfection. In theory your resistance to infection should be greatest just after an initial infection but it does happen and CDC are keeping tabs on it. It could be you were hit the second time with another variant which seems like colossal bad luck - you had been so successful at fending it off for almost three years and then you get hit twice in a week: seems very unlikely.
Did a search for Paxlovid which brought me to this thread - I’d wanted to ask if anyone else has taken it and what their experience was.

As I posted in another thread, I finally caught the covid - my only initial symptom was sudden onset intense acute joint pain that scared me stiff and left me sleepless and whimpering. I thought I’d developed viral arthritis from the last virus I had a couple of week back, but was diagnosed with covid after testing at my community hospital ER yesterday.

Paxlovid is another miracle of the pandemic and kudos to the scientists who cooked it up. The vile taste it puts in your mouth is not at all pleasant, nor is the way it tears your guts up - but thanks to Zofran that’s tolerable. Broccoli will fix the damage soon enough.

Yesterday morning I was walking like a crippled 80 year old and I was very anxious that all my fitness achievements of the last six months would be irretrievably lost - but two doses of Paxlovid knocked the virus right out of my joints, it’s amazing.

I quoted your post Andy because while waiting for my discharge papers in the ER I was googling on my phone and found this article about a recent study at Brigham on the phenomenon of Paxlovid rebound, which occurs in 20% of patients who take the drug. I thought you’d be interested.

https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/a ... g-paxlovid
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

Big RR
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Big RR »

My wife took it afew months back when she had covid; we didn't notice any negatives (or any reinfection shortly after), but then the disease seemed to run its course over a few days. My guess is it did make it less likely to develop complications, but it's hard to prove that.

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

BoSoxGal wrote:
Fri Feb 23, 2024 1:47 am
I quoted your post Andy because while waiting for my discharge papers in the ER I was googling on my phone and found this article about a recent study at Brigham on the phenomenon of Paxlovid rebound, which occurs in 20% of patients who take the drug. I thought you’d be interested.

https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/a ... g-paxlovid
Wow, that is an exact description of my experience: vaxed, paxed and rebound after 10 days.
GAH!

Big RR
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Big RR »

Sue--was the rebound/relapse less severe than the original infections; I would think it might be due to natural antibodies, but since paxlovid is given so early, it may result in less antibodies produced.

I recall reading a paper a number of years back discussing this with the routine use of antivirals for chickenpox, and suggesting this may lead to higher incidences of shingles in the future. I haven't really followed it since, but the use of antiviral/antibiotics is a tradeoff.

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

Yes, the rebound/relapse was much less severe (just sneezing and a sporadic cough) and only lasted a couple of days.

As for chickenpox and shingles, my son was perhaps the last kid in America who didn't get the vaccine, having gotten chicken pox "naturally" just before the vaccine became mandatory for public school enrollment. However, we suspect the chickenpox infection actually kicked off the immunological cascade that resulted in him developing Type 1 diabetes a couple of years later. And the awful icing on this viral cake is that he got shingles last fall (at 28 years old).
GAH!

Big RR
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Big RR »

Both my daughters had chickenpox "naturally" and never had the vaccine. Both had the antiviral right after it was diagnosed--one did get a very mild case of shingles in her 20, the other, nothing. The diabetes your son developed is, indeed, unfortunate; I have read of people developing autoimmune problems from vaccines, but not from contracting the routine "childhood diseases", but he seems to have gotten the worst of it. I hope he is doing well; given the insulins and therapies available now (especially smart pumps), it can be treated much more effectively in many cases. My nephew contracted type 1 diabetes at age 8 and is now in his late 40s; happily, he hasn't seen many complications and has had pretty good control of his blood sugar. I hope your son is doing the same.

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Sue U
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Sue U »

As I understand it, the current thinking is that in the presence of not-well-understood genetic factors, certain infections may trigger an overly aggressive immune response, which goes on to destroy the islet cells in the pancreas. My son has been on an insulin pump for over 15 years now, currently using a continuous glucose monitoring system. He's pretty good at keeping his blood sugar under control, but it's a perpetual struggle that requires constant vigilance, even if you have a machine that's keeping track for you.
GAH!

Big RR
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by Big RR »

Indeed, but it's a lot better than one of my friends in high school had--pig insulin and urine testing as the only backup (I heard he died in his 40s of related complications; my grandfather als died in his 40s of diabetes complication just after WW2). It's not perfect--we really do need a cure, but it's better than it was. BTW, it was my nephew, and now he is doing pretty well, but you are right, you always have to keep on top of it.

wesw
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Re: Getting vaccinated

Post by wesw »

the nurse s original post mirrors my worst experiences with covid

being afraid to lay down for fear of death was very memorable

still un vaxxed tho....

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