To which lengths do you go to avoid Covid19?

[ChookityPop]

I can add regular cold, flu etc also.

I have used a mask since the start of the pandemic and even though people in my country has stopped using it I still do and will probably continue to do so for a long time. I only use them inside the supermarket or at the doctors office etc. I never approach crowded places.

My gf just came home from an out of country trip and I have to say I like to stay away for a couple of days just in case even though she obviously could catch it on her job etc anyway. We don't live with each other btw.

Tonight she is out with her friends and I might go see her tomorrow but the last time she was in a birthday party she actually catched the cold and got really sick and I (knock on wood) almost didn't feel anything despite being with her for 4 days after that. I took some meds that supposedly can help prevent getting sick/make it less severe when I found out on day 4 when she got her first symptoms. My symptoms started later that day but it felt like it never really got the hold of me.


Dr. Lerner said "Any new infection (such as the common cold or bronchitis, or sinusitis, or a urinary tract infection) will worsen the symptoms of CFS. These common infections must be treated vigorously."
https://www.healthrising.org/forums...ibromyalgia-antiviral-treatment-protocol.134/

I'm interested in hearing what lengths you guys are going to not get sick?

 

[Abrin]

I'm interested in hearing what lengths you guys are going to not get sick?

I've barely left my house in the last two years, even though I am well enough to do so.

The few people I do see are in a 'bubble' together.

 

[Shanti1]

I have been in pretty solid quarantine with my husband since March 2020. Order everything online including groceries. I actually don't mind since I have no energy.

Below are the symptoms of Post-COVID conditions per the CDC, looks identical to ME/CFS. I'm just not sure in what condition I'd come out the other side if I got COVID. I did just get my booster today.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/post-covid-workup.html

 

[sometexan84]

I spent like 20 minutes making this graphic at one point... largely unnecessary no doubt.

I wear my mask around my 2 elementary school kids too

 

[Rebecca under the papyrus]

Yes, I've been isolated for the last 1,5 years, and will continue like this at least until spring and my booster. I am constantly sick with colds and they really wreck me fatigue-wise. So I am in no hurry to try out what Covid does to me.

 

[Rvanson]

None whatsoever. First off I'm not afraid to die, as I believe in God. By that I don't mean, I am religious. I've always known that God existed, but for seven weeks in the winter of 2018/2019 I could feel a presence of love and peace I'd never felt before. I know it was God touching me. Secondly, I will die one day, and it won't be of old age or suicide. Thirdly I believe that ME/CFS for twenty six years with no flu shots or flu has conveyed some sort of immunity to other viral diseases including Covid-19. It's simple; if I die I was wrong, but I've tested negative twice already. Not taking the vaxxines either, ever.

 

[lenora]

We've each had a booster (3 shots in total), a flu shot and actually met our daughter and son-in-law for lunch at a crowded restaurant yesterday. It's about time.

We both wear masks when in stores (I really don't go into one, but Rod does), wash our hands very carefully and really just hope for the best.

Yesterday our masks were off for the most of the time b/c of eating, so we keep antibacterial soap in the car and used it immediately. Hoping to stay healthy throughout the winter. Yours, Lenora. Rvanson: May I ask why you're so against getting the vaccine? If you don't want to say, that's fine....just interested, that's all. I hope you're doing as well as possible. L.

 

[BrightCandle]

Isolation has been my life for 1.5 years anyway. I caught Covid before people knew what it was and only suffered with a loss of taste and smell but the crash afterwards was horrific and knocked me horizontally for about 6 months. So as a long hauler and a prior ME sufferer of 6 years I now just naturally self isolate! I had a period of strong recovery and am still much better than I was last year but I need to do very little to stay isolated since I have been stuck unable to leave my place for years anyway. My doctor wont do anything unless I come to surgery so I have zero medical support, so its just groceries and drugs delivered at the door. I went out twice in the pandemic, both times to get a vaccine shot and both resulted in PEM. Even if the pandemic passed I wouldn't be going anywhere anyway.

 

[drob31]

Covid was very mild for me, but I'm assuming it's because my immune system is hyper vigilant from whatever auto immune issue is going on.

 

[Woof!]

I only go out once a week - grocery shopping in the early AM when I have the most energy, but also when few people are in the stores. I'm always masked when I do (a political statement that says to others, "I care about you even tho' you may not care about me, as much as for the small amount of personal protection it might give me), and I avoid getting closer than 10' to people. I always have an unscented disinfection wipe between my hand and the handle of the grocery cart (man, those cart handles are FILTHY!), and I use the same wipe to cover my fingers when using the self-checkout computers (I never go through the manned lines).

Living at a sanctuary where volunteers come routinely to work on projects, I interact with them outside at a safe distance (all the projects are outside anyway), and I politely decline to shake anyone's hand.

I waited until 2 months ago to get vaccinated because I had so little real contact with people and I wanted to see how everyone else did with the vaccines. Then I surprised myself at how much better and at ease I felt after getting 2 Moderna jabs (I guess I was more worried about being unvaccinated than I admitted to myself!).

I hate Zoom anything, and I really miss my occasional travels (via planes and trains mostly). Haven't taken any trips in eons...sigh.

Otherwise, a COVID-era lifestyle suits my slow-to-get-going self fine, and I'm not surprised to hear the same from others in our collective "boat."

 

[lenora]

Hi @Dr. Lynne.....You're so right about those shopping cart handles - they're filthy. I hate to think of going through another winter worried about this virus and its companions. We've had 4 people in our family who have become ill with COVID, are OK again, but you know what campuses are like!

Our daughters both had COVID (which they believe they caught at their grocery stores...one in CA and the other in TX), but the vaccine wasn't available for them at that time. Our son-in-law had it about 3 wks. ago, and his office closed as a result of it. (Once again!)

Really it's quite worrisome, especially since new details seem to emerge daily. Still, I think the authorities don't know much and pass the info along as soon as they're able to. It's a concern. Yours, Lenora.

 

[Azayliah]

Mostly housebound, am introverted, and was basically socially distancing before it had a name; went outside on average about 1x/month pre-covid. I go out even less often now, wear a mask if I do, and got vaccinated. Visitors mask up before entering my place. Ordering a lot of delivery so I can avoid stores (not just because of covid, but because people have been kinda crazy).

My roomie/carer is the only person I interact with. She goes out in two reusable masks and a sweater she can wash when she gets home, and disposable gloves. She got vaccinated, so her outdoor precautions and frequent hand-washing are for my benefit... well, and our cats' benefit, they're 13 and have immune deficiencies so it's probably better not to take the risk.

 

[Insomniac]

Very little change here.

Just wearing masks and stopped my pre-covid treat of theatre/show visit once every 2 months.

I can not work. Other than the aforementioned pre covid treat, I tended only to go out for errands and still do.

I am nocturnal due to ME/CFS making my biological clock upside down so I only ever felt like shopping at night just before the shops close. It's usually empty then. I am talking about non food items like buying shoes etc. With food I always ordered online to save energy.

I am moderate ME and grateful that I only need a cleaner for help.

I reacted to vaccines before I got ill, so no way I am taking this one now on top of CFS.

I hope it's possible for a CFS patient to get through a covid infection without permanent damage or worsening. I am a lot more scared of permanent worsening than death.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

...You're so right about those shopping cart handles - they're filthy.

My dusty memory of entering the grocery store- is to use a coat or jacket or sweater-anything really and cover the grocery cart handles etc with that. Then, I"m avoiding touching it.

I don't want to use hand sanitizer often or if I can avoid it. AS killing off whats natural on your hands, is also not a good idea.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I am now really concerned about the rumored horrible cold and new flus.

I seem to desire to continue to limit outside exposures as much as feasible. My husband does errands, is still masked etc. I beg him to be more careful.

 

[lenora]

Very little change here.

Just wearing masks and stopped my pre-covid treat of theatre/show visit once every 2 months.

I can not work. Other than the aforementioned pre covid treat, I tended only to go out for errands and still do.

I am nocturnal due to ME/CFS making my biological clock upside down so I only ever felt like shopping at night just before the shops close. It's usually empty then. I am talking about non food items like buying shoes etc. With food I always ordered online to save energy.

I am moderate ME and grateful that I only need a cleaner for help.

I reacted to vaccines before I got ill, so no way I am taking this one now on top of CFS.

I hope it's possible for a CFS patient to get through a covid infection without permanent damage or worsening. I am a lot more scared of permanent worsening than death.

Hi @Insomniac......I agree with most of your points, but remain of the belief that people should get vaccinated unless their doctors give them a very good reason why they shouldn't.

I also hope that CFS patients can make it through COVID (& Co.) without permanent damage or worsening, but all reports (even from overseas) belie that thought. I've had ME for 35 yrs., since the very beginning, and after having suffered a year in bed with it and another due to shingles outbreaks (3 in succession, each rapidly worse than the one before, I knew I was going to receive the vaccine that is 95% effective against shingles. I'd received the one about 50% effective in the intervening years and when COVID came along, decided to do the same thing. I had to protect my husband, my family and myself. I've now had 3 vaccines together with this year's flu vaccine. I dont' believe that older people just walk away without even worse damage, but I respect that you have your own opinion. I've had shingles 4 times now...the first outbreak was in my 30's and was so much easier than the ones in later years. If there was a vaccine against CFS/ME, I'd have been in line for it also.

So, I just can't check the "like" box....I hope you don't hold this against me, and feel that we take a chance with so many, many other things in life that this is just one more. 4 members of our family have now had COVID prior to being able to be immunized b/c of their ages. Now they're waiting for the booster, but will get the flu shot in the meantime. The cold that is going around is worrisome and if you have allergies or weak lungs b/c of any condition, I'd seriously re-consider your stance. Personally I usually end up with bronchitis on average of once/yr. Sometimes it advances from there, but I do know that I have to be proactive or I can be in trouble. Yours, Lenora.

 

[Rvanson]

We've each had a booster (3 shots in total), a flu shot and actually met our daughter and son-in-law for lunch at a crowded restaurant yesterday. It's about time.

We both wear masks when in stores (I really don't go into one, but Rod does), wash our hands very carefully and really just hope for the best.

Yesterday our masks were off for the most of the time b/c of eating, so we keep antibacterial soap in the car and used it immediately. Hoping to stay healthy throughout the winter. Yours, Lenora. Rvanson: May I ask why you're so against getting the vaccine? If you don't want to say, that's fine....just interested, that's all. I hope you're doing as well as possible. L.

Lenora,

I caught ME in the 90's from food I ate at a restaurant. 5 hours later, I was puking my guts up sitting on the John for hours with severe diarrhea, as well. Thought it was food poisoning/Salmonella. It wasn't. I was bedbound for many, many weeks, not that I had any appetite feeling ill all the time. Took me over 10 months to go back to work and crash hard on weekends to get enough strength back for another week. Had to carry a towel, underpants and pants in a bucket, as I never knew when the diarrhea would suddenly hit me again, for four years (I drove trucks for a living).

I am retired now, but I'll be damned if I ever end up bedbound again. I lost my fiancé', my job, everything the first time, so I live alone with no one but me to take care of number #1. No way I am risking these vaxxines, and I'm Covid negative twice over. Why in the world would a single man like me take a risky shot of Covid vaxxine, when all I've heard about ME/CFS is that it's "all in our mind's" "we are lazy", ect.,and all that garbage about "Yuppie Flu" back in 1984, when Incline Village, Nevada got hit with 250-350 cases of people who contracted ME/CFS?

And in all this time, 30 years, there is a cure, or at least a temporary cure called "Ampligen", but it's not available to most sufferers of ME/CFS. I'll take my risks with the COVID virus, before I take a shot, which has killed and made people ill.

 

[lenora]

Hi @Rvanson......That must have been terrible to contract the illness and to be sick for so long. Unfortunately there are no answers as to what/why we have this illness.

If you live along and have only yourself to rely on, I hope you can have your groceries delivered. At least that way you aren't exposed to anyone who may give you anything...including this terrible cold that is now in the press.

Stay healthy....keep moving. Yours, Lenora.

 

[*GG*]

I hope to catch it, if it kills me, so be it. Vaccines seem like garbage anyways, and my trip down this illness seems to have started with a flu vaccine!

GG

 

[godlovesatrier]

Not much, I mean I don't go anywhere socially if I can help it. But I think my gf would prefer it if I did...or not not entirely sure.

The vaccines repeatedly f me up, I don't think I can handle anymore. 3 in 6 months is just too much.

Everytime I get a vaccine I relapse a little or a huge amount. After my second covid jab I was barely able to walk for a week.

However one small ray of light....moderna are asking the FDA to fast track a halved dose of their vaccine. If this ever by some miracle gets to the UK, I think I'll be refusing to take anything but the moderna one, as I am sure that won't f me up as badly. But very concerned about the booster...it's mentally torturous to now feel a sort of relapse/remitting ME as it's like I get to enjoy life a tiny bit and then wham pulled away from me.