pre-existing medical issues and covid-19

[pepperbird]

If you have a pre-existing health issue, how are you making out? how are your doctors adapting your appointments for you? Is it working well

Miner are mostly over the phone or online, and I had a surgery cancelled. It wasn't elective, but I've been told that it will have to wait, and my doctors don't know how for long. Not much I can do about that, but I'm sick (bad pun) of all the nausea and being sick to my stomach.

[preraph]

I'm 67 and have chronic bronchitis which is classified as COPD but x-ray show that it's pretty much confined to my bronchial and not down in my lungs, but I do have some restrictions of breathing with my lungs. it's gotten better since a few months ago when I went on heart pills for atrial fibrillation. I breathe better. I had a 4th chamber with and regular kind of racing pulse. honestly I've had irregular heartbeats or murmur since I was a kid but they said that the murmur went away. but I can think back over the years and think of many times when I had a racing or strong or irregular heartbeat. 

 

I have a lot of routine examinations for prevention care with the native American health system. They have never made anything of me saying I had racing hearts and such and then one day I was in one of the clinics and they could hear it and told me to go to the emergency Ward which I did not do because I knew I have been having it for years but I did go a couple of days later to the one in Oklahoma where I get most of my care done and they put me on heart pills and blood thinners. 

 

I'm also on metformin for being pre-diabetic, but I've never really gone into diabetic numbers and my Maine doctor doesn't think I'm at real high risk of doing so even though I am very fat because no one in my family had diabetes. 

 

My best friend is quite a bit younger than me and I've known her for about 30 years, and she has always eating healthy and work the whole food store and got on the whole healthy food bandwagon, but she's inherited diabetes and it came out when she was pregnant and hasn't gone away. She is controlling it both with diet and meds but it shot up recently despite it. I personally think she needs to eat more meat and less vegetables because vegetables are nothing but carbs and meat helps you process the blood sugar. my doctor told me to always eat some meat with my meal. She also has a high risk for heart problems because that's hereditary too. 

I think one of the things we all need to be doing during this and I certainly need to do it more all the time but I don't is get up away from our desks and get some physical movement and exercise and keep breathing. I'm at the desk or in bed most of the time. I'm trying to move around a little more just to get some fresh air outside get my heart pumping. 

 

[pepperbird]

The Imuran isn't working so well anymore, so my doctors want me to switch to a different immunosupressant, but I cna't do that until I can actually get in to see them. I hope it's soon, as my hands re really bad and it's betting harder to swallow. I did have a telephone appointment, and my rummy told me I have antibodies for slceroderma, sjogren's and now lupus. Not great, but I expected it. It could be a lot worse, and I am grateful it isn't

I've been spending a lot of time out in my garden. My husband's in charge of the front, as he likes a more formal look, and i have the beds in the back. I've installed mostly native plants, so we get lots of birds and even a couple of jumping mice, which are fun to watch.

It just feels so good to be out in the sun and getting one's hands in the soil. My husband and son built a bat house, and we're hoping it attracts some residents. We have a pair of cardinals, a pair of mourning doves, a family of crows, a family of blue jays, nuthatches etc., so there's lots going on. The humming birds are on their way back, so it won't be long before I'll be able to sit out and watch them too. I expect there's lots of health benefits that go along with taking some time to relax, sit in the sun and watch the world go by.

Edited April 17, 2020 by pepperbird

[preraph]

I need to put out hummingbird nectar.  But we are still having isolated cold days, but someone in my neighborhood did see one a week ago.  I hope you get bats!  I'd love that.  

[carhill]

The next epidemic? Closures and chaos in the medical/industrial complex?

Map of current and prospective closures and reductions....

https://healthlandscape.org/covid19/

Article from Texas on the medical industry there:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article241985986.html

One ray of good news apparently is the regulated insurers and .gov entities who reimburse for care are ramping up payment levels for telemedicine, something that was necessitated during this virus response, helping providers who are putting in the time, just not in person, to stay solvent.

Another good thing, even with the variety of opinion on ACA is, in this chaos and specter of job loss, ACA eliminated the pre-existing condition exclusions from many/most coverages. So, if people lose jobs or benefits and have pre-existing conditions, they can apply to the ACA exchange or get ACA-compliant private plans that respect and cover their conditions. Back in the day when purchasing health coverage privately that was always a concern of mine, continuing coverage, because of what insurance companies could do and often did to those who let coverage lapse.

[pepperbird]

3 hours ago, preraph said:

I need to put out hummingbird nectar.  But we are still having isolated cold days, but someone in my neighborhood did see one a week ago.  I hope you get bats!  I'd love that.  

I'd love that too. I only saw one last year. The species found here are so tiny, but they're also awfully cute.

[Happy Lemming]

My girlfriend has some underlying health issues. Yesterday, she actually said "If I catch the coronavirus, it will kill me."

We've been in isolation for five weeks, now.  We've only left the house to go to the pharmacy for her prescription medications and even then I put a mask and gloves on her.

We are still eating off of my food stocks and freezer, I actually think we could go another 30-35 days before we would have to go to the grocery store.  We might get tired of eating some things (repeats), but we won't starve.

She "saw" her one doctor yesterday on "Zoom" for an appointment and earlier in the week saw another doctor via "Microsoft Teams Meeting", so we are both thankful for these "virtual" doctor visits.

I'm glad I didn't throw out my webcam and microphone from the days when I used "Skype" for a job I had (a few years back).  They were in a box in the back of a closet.  I couldn't find the install disk for the webcam, but was able to download the drivers, etc. from the manufacturer's website.

We are hanging in there... fingers crossed!!

[pepperbird]

About $500 worth of bare root perennials arrived yesterday from Holland, so I spent most of my day installing them in our back garden. I've been working on trying to include lots of natives and was even able to out in a small cutting garden. It's one thing I can do at home, and it's wonderful to be out in the sun. It also keeps my hands busy so they don't hurt so  much.

Of course, pretty much as soon as I finished planting, it started to hail. I;m hoping the poor plants survived the assault🤣. We've had hail a lot this spring, more than I remember in other years. Today, we're ignoring the "stay the blazes home" advice form our Premier and going to pick p some slate from a disused quarry so I can make some better stepping stones.

I've been having my medical appointments over the phone-not ideal, but it's making the best of a bad situation. I can see how this could be really frustrating for doctors as well. I've been advised by my pharmacist that there could be drug shortages, but she feels that because the ones I take aren't especially commonly used, I should be okay.

 

[pepperbird]

On 4/17/2020 at 3:46 PM, Happy Lemming said:

My girlfriend has some underlying health issues. Yesterday, she actually said "If I catch the coronavirus, it will kill me."

We've been in isolation for five weeks, now.  We've only left the house to go to the pharmacy for her prescription medications and even then I put a mask and gloves on her.

We are still eating off of my food stocks and freezer, I actually think we could go another 30-35 days before we would have to go to the grocery store.  We might get tired of eating some things (repeats), but we won't starve.

She "saw" her one doctor yesterday on "Zoom" for an appointment and earlier in the week saw another doctor via "Microsoft Teams Meeting", so we are both thankful for these "virtual" doctor visits.

I'm glad I didn't throw out my webcam and microphone from the days when I used "Skype" for a job I had (a few years back).  They were in a box in the back of a closet.  I couldn't find the install disk for the webcam, but was able to download the drivers, etc. from the manufacturer's website.

We are hanging in there... fingers crossed!!

I hope you can both stay safe.
I'm usually a home body anyway, so this isn't too bad for me. I know it's really rough for a lot of others though.

[Kitty Tantrum]

I've got chronic neurological Lyme Disease (which is currently causing me a whole buttload of pain and causing some mild "de-realization" and other cognitive problems) and a genetic connective tissue disorder that I was in the middle of trying to figure out/get under control when all of this happened.

I'm supposed to get an MRI of my brain relating to the infection, and see a neurologist to follow up on that - and have additional genetic testing for the connective tissue stuff (apparently whatever I have is "new"/never before seen or identified, so they want to poke me and study me).

I HAD some appointments for physical/occupational therapy a few weeks back, but I actually canceled those when "all this" was new and uncertain. The receptionist at the time acted like I was being ridiculous for canceling. Now that I'm a lot less concerned about it, it's almost impossible to get an appointment anywhere because everyone is freaking out and scared. Plus all administrative and insurance stuff is slower.

I did manage to get in to see my regular doctor for a real in-person appointment a little over a week ago, that was when she ordered the MRI. Geneticist was supposedly going to call weeks ago.

Still waiting to hear anything.

[IndigoNight]

Unless you have Covid symptoms, the ERs close to me don't even want to deal with you. Though the 3 have never treated a Covid case, as if yet. They are ignoring patients in need, and just tell you to call your doctor. I know, I tried to go to one for severe double vision, and other issues. I'm still waiting on my doctor, from a couple weeks ago, to call back. I adjusted my own meds after researching things online (not Google) and it has helped, but I'm still having problems. I can't wait until I can actually talk to my doctor, and figure it what's going on. Until then I can't drive, I wear out quickly, my left side is still acting up, among other things.

I thought a friend was kidding when she said I could stroke out before the ER would treat me. She had gone several days earlier needing stitches. They sent her an hour away.