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Testing and Treating COVID at Home / More Free Govt Tests 12/15 [MERGED]

Miss Marty

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Nov 2022 - Our first experience with testing and treating - Coronovirus

Bill woke up last Friday morning with what he thought was a sore throat.
Did a home Test using Binax NOW Antigen Self Test for infection detection
It uses a simple Nasal Swab, regent bottle and a card that shows results in
15 minutes (2 pinks lines) mean Positive. Yes, He tested positive for COVID
I took the test Friday too, my results showed 1 line meaning Negative.

Took him to CVS minute clinic Sat @ 2. Told him to take Ibuprofen.
Blood pressure was high so he was unable to get a RX at that time.

COVID is treatable with medications that doctors can prescribe. Learn about your options.
To be effective, COVID treatment must be started within days of when symptoms develop

For some people, especially those with underlying conditions, COVID-19 can be very serious.

 

Miss Marty

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If You Are Sick With COVID and a test confirms you are COVID-positive find out what treatments may be available to you.
Take an over-the-counter medicine such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Rest, stay hydrated, isolated and Seek medical help.


Finding medical help is not as easy as you think. Especially when you are not feeling well and need immediate help.

After thinking about it, I contacted the Maryland Dept of Health in our County and was given some advice and information on who should be able to help. One choice was the BCCFH COVID Task Force Adult Patient Telehealth Self-Referral Form and within the hour a lady called to schedule a phone consultation.
Since I tested Positive that morning. The provider called in Paxlovid for both of us. Within 30 minutes the RX were received/filled at CVS and pick up.
Knowing who to call and how professional everyone from the Md Dept of Health to BCCFH to our local drugist. I am amazed and grateful for their help.

More on Paxlovid from Pfister (nirmatrelvir tablets150mg white pill; ritonavir tablets 100mg pink pill). First I personally think the packaging and face sheet could me better. I thought the white and pink background on the doze packs was confusing. It would not hurt to provide color image/picture of each pill.

Disclosure: We have been social distancing, wearing cloth masks, using gloves, and disinfecting with 70% rubbing alcohol since day one of the pandemic.
We have not been on a vacation and haven`t had anyone in our house in years. We order and buy what we can online and have it shipped to the house.
We did venture out to the dermatologist office on Nov 10. One week before Bill started having symptoms of covid. The virus is still here in Maryland

What is the current Covid strain in US? Multiple Omicron subvariants have emerged - two subvariants, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 became the dominant strains in the U.S. in mid-November 2022, overtaking BA.5, which was thought to be a relatively mild version of the virus.
 

PamMo

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I’m sorry your husband has Covid and hope he’s well on the way to a quick and full recovery, @Miss Marty! DH and I were very surprised when we tested positive for Covid earlier this month. DH had symptoms for a couple of days, but I was miserable for two weeks. We’re feeling great now, but sure don’t want to get it again!

Take care.
 

Sandi Bo

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Glad you are both doing well. We didn't do the paxlovid. Debatable if we should have. From DH and me, to our kids and grandkids, who all got it around the same time (different sources - us traveling, my grandson likely brought it home from school). We gave it to my 89 year old mother (yeah, let our guard down and didn't test first). The only one of all of us (from 2 to 89) that got Paxlovid was my 89 year old mother. I was surprised they didn't watch for rebound (that seems to somewhat common with the Paxlovid). My (physician) daughter was a bit concerned (especially for my DH) that we didn't seek out Paxlovid) but we all did okay. We're fully vaxed, etc, and I like to think that helped us all do pretty well overall. We have pulse oximeters and thermometers (I've lost track of how many pulse ox's we've given out or lent out).

Great advice overall, @Miss Marty, it's still out there and we all need to know what to do. On the other hand, the cold and flu season is in full swing. That's gone through my daughter's house (cold viruses and they're nasty). I have a (65-ish) friend that I hope will be coming off a ventilator today, after about 1 1/2 weeks - the flu with complications (and she's had her shots). Too bad people are back in the office, that got her covid earlier and now the flu. I do believe she's going to retire now.

Hope you are feeling better soon @Miss Marty. Take care all!
 

mrsstats

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DH went to walk in on 11/20 as he thought he had a sinus infection and had an upcoming spinal injection for back pain and has surgery on 12/8 to have a cancerous tumor removed from his lung area. He tested positive for covid. I just tested positive for it on the 25th after taking 2 home tests and a rapid test at the walk in that were negative. Feels like a bad cold, the coughing is terrible for me. He is more sinus issues.

Back injection was cancelled, hoping his surgery date will be ok.

Feel better.
 

Miss Marty

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Earlier, last week Bill and I came down with Covid. We used Binax home test kits that showed positive for both of us on Tuesday. The problem is when you receive a COVID-19 home test, you won't find out which variant caused your infection. That's because COVID-19 tests only detect the presence of the virus! They don't determine the variant. Bill started Paxlovid and was able to complete the full five day dosage (20 pillls) with a common side effect. (metallic taste) The medicine may have helped some but he still has a sore throat and cough, feels weak and is not back to normal.

I started taking the drug and found the metallic taste was from ritonavir tablets the 100mg pink pill. A few serious side effects that I experenced were.
One evening I woke up with pins and needles in my fore arms. A few days later, I broke out with itchy warm red bumps on my arms and upper legs.
Yesterday morning my one eye lids looked swollen. With the potential side effects of the drug itself, I had to stop taking Paxlovid due to allergic reaction. Here, i sit in the middle of the night, one week after testing for Covid and taking Paxlovid - my tongue swollen on one side waiting for Benadryl to kick in. (Epipen by my side) So that's the situation around here.
 

Patri

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Sounds like the cure was worse than the illness. But I guess you will never know how it would have been just enduring the symptoms. I hope you are both back to full health soon!
 

Sandi Bo

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Sounds like the cure was worse than the illness. But I guess you will never know how it would have been just enduring the symptoms. I hope you are both back to full health soon!
Such a catch 22. I personally don't like taking anything more than I have to. I was pretty upset, but had to let it go, when my 89 year old mother was given monoclonal antibodies (which we don't hear much, if anything about side effects to, but still). And the 2nd time she had covid they gave her paxlovid. Meh, given she has pretty bad dementia she can't express how she feels, if she is sick or not, etc. And you would never know if she had side effects like Miss Marty has described. I just hate that pills are such a go to. On the other hand, these drugs need to be taken right away in order to be effective. And we hear the paxlovid is effective. Glad your husband is doing well, Miss Marty, and hope you are feeling better soon (sounds miserable). My 2 1/2 year old grandson is a hot mess after reacting to amoxicillin (first ear infection/antibiotic). Tis the season.
 

1Kflyerguy

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I hope you both recover quickly. My wife and I both got covid in late July. Neither of us was considered a candidate for Paxlovid, for my wife it would interfere with her transplant meds. I use an inhaler for some allergy / breathing issues. The Dr said i could not use both, he felt the inhaler was more important.
 

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Dec 1 Coronavirus Update

Bill is feeling and looking so much better.
He has tested negative for the past couple of days.
Tues. using Binax NOW Antigen Self Test and Thurs.
Access Bio CareStart Covid 19 Antigen Home Test.
 

Miss Marty

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Tested last night and I could still see a faint line.
Finally after 11 days my test results are negative.

COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Infected people have had a wide range of symptoms reported – from mild symptoms to severe illness.
My Symptoms started with a dry itchy nose, Persistent deep cough and congestion with lots of clear Phlegm balls, I used nose spray and a sugar and alcohol free tussin from the pharmacy that helped some but dried me out way too much. (No fever) Have been unable to eat much everything tastes bitter and I can not stand the smell of food. Mainly eating Unsweeten Apple Sauce, soup and crushed ice. Been able to nap on and off sitting up in the living room chair.
 

Miss Marty

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What I have experienced over the past few weeks.
A health care system with long wait times just for someone to answer the phone!
No place to go in person for an appointment to see a doctor and longer wait times if
your are able to get into a Urgent Care of Emergency Room. No way to get help when sick.

I feel like I have an Upper respiratory infection (hacking cough)
So, I been reviewing Ingredients of different brand cough syrups

Diabetic Tussin Cough Suppressant & Expectorant DM Maximum Strength Liquid (Helps my cough for about a hour)
Active Ingredients: Dextromethorphan hydrobromide - 20 mg (Cough suppressant), Guaifenesin - 400 mg (Expectorant)

Delsym Cough+ Sore Throat Maximum Strength formula contains (haven`t used it because its so expensive and contains)
Acetaminophen - 650 mg (Pain Reliever & Fever Reducer), Dextromethorphan HBr - 20 mg (Cough Suppressant)

We were lucky to have collected test kits over the past year from our local library and government.
Easier instructions with larger print should be available.

We tested today using the CLINITEST self-test
We both are negative.
 

Miss Marty

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As of October 12, 2022 the Food and Drug Administration has granted a shelf-life extension
for the CLINITEST® Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test from 11 months to 24 months

 

JudyH

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My niece and her partner both got COVID. She and maybe he are on Medicaid. He gets healthcare in Maryland at GBMC. He called his doctor who told him to call Zion Health (??) 443-469-2333 and a nurse came to their house and gave them monoclonal antibodies.
I kept the number just in case. They live in Baltimore.
My other sister got it over Labor Day and her doctor told her just to use OTC stuff.
Another super careful friend got in from a sick front desk person in a doctor office.
 

klpca

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Sorry for anyone who is going through this because for some (not all of course) it isn't fun.

For another data point on the paxlovid, it was prescribed for both my husband and I because of our ages and underlying issues. He was able to take the full 5 day dose, I stopped on day 3 because I couldn't stand the metallic taste. At first the taste would subside but as the drug built up in my system the taste wouldn't dissipate. But I will say this, there was a noticeable reduction in covid symptoms while I was taking paxlovid. Before it was prescribed I felt awful and was running a pretty high fever, even taking tylenol. The paxlovid made me almost feel normal again, but as it wore off I would go back to feeling sick. Neither one of us had a recurrence of covid. I did wind up with a pretty nasty flare of my RA triggered by covid but once they did a lung xray and it was clear we knew that the chest pain was due to the flare. Both my husband and I were almost back to normal in less than a week from the onset of symptoms, 6 days for me, 4 days for my husband.
 

MrockStar

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Linda and i both have Covid she tried Paxlovid and started to feel better, however the side effects where too much for her ( many unpleasant trips to the bathroom) and metalic taste. My case has been milder so far.
 

MrockStar

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We dont know where she got it, bottom line is we are living our lives and working so eventually we are all going to get it and most will recover. So it matters not exactly where/when we picked it up.
 

Sandi Bo

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There is some nasty stuff out there right now. This upper respiratory crap is the worst! I'm over it, but it lasted over 2 weeks, I tested for covid a couple times and went to Walgreen's for a PCR before traveling recently - always negative. I think, especially if you are vaccinated, the best thing you can catch today is COVID. This other stuff is rough.

@Miss Marty, great detail on the actives for coughing. Here's a little more details on some other things for congestion, if anyone is interested (DD#2 works for a pharmaceutical company and is a great resource for me when I'm trying to figure out what active I need for illness or headaches or pain :)):
* Actives
- pseudoephedrine (sudafed has it, is good for congestion)
- guaifenesin (mucinex (breaks it up))
- dextromethorphin (helps cough, anything with dex in it)
The pseudoephedrine is behind the counter (thanks to our meth dealers)
A teaspoon of honey is soothing and helps healing :)

A very dear friend (67) passed away on Saturday. The flu, pneumonia, more complications. After being on a respirator for 2 weeks, we thought she was going to make it. 2 hours after moving to a rehab facility she had a coding situation ((me) guessing blood clot in lungs), she did not want to go back on the respirator. Heartbroken, I only take comfort in that she was able to make her own choices and her loved ones honored them.

If you remember Super Sue (my sister the nurse), she is at about day 9 for covid now. And she is the only person that seems to have had it from around their Thanksgiving gathering. She thinks her exposure was the night before Thanksgiving at a gym. Although she works in a hospital and at church (where she has since heard there were multiple cases), so who knows. Very thankful she apparently was not contagious (yet) Thanksgiving day. She is fully vaxed, however, had shingles a couple weeks prior, and then covid.

My sister had her son and girlfriend go over her sister-in-law's house to help her do a rapid covid test. She's 75-80 and could not figure out how to do it herself (speaking to @Miss Marty's comment on small print, literature).

Nice for those who don't need to be concerned where they catch things, but for my family, it can be important. It was good to be able to be relatively certain that Super Sue wasn't contagious on Thanksgiving Day, otherwise we'd be dealing with notifying assisted living, yada, yada (and that really sucks). Some of us need to mask if we've been exposed, etc. For some, it can make a difference in your behavior.

A comment on the monoclonal antibodies, it made a difference here (in Omaha) what hospital you went to how much was available (one got 5 treatments a day, the other significantly more). Also for my mother in Massachusetts, similar - her doctor knew the best place to apply.

And again, great advice to be know ahead of time what you might need and where you're going to get things done.

Hope everyone is doing well, and those that are sick are recover quickly.
 

MrockStar

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There is some nasty stuff out there right now. This upper respiratory crap is the worst! I'm over it, but it lasted over 2 weeks, I tested for covid a couple times and went to Walgreen's for a PCR before traveling recently - always negative. I think, especially if you are vaccinated, the best thing you can catch today is COVID. This other stuff is rough.

@Miss Marty, great detail on the actives for coughing. Here's a little more details on some other things for congestion, if anyone is interested (DD#2 works for a pharmaceutical company and is a great resource for me when I'm trying to figure out what active I need for illness or headaches or pain :)):
* Actives
- pseudoephedrine (sudafed has it, is good for congestion)
- guaifenesin (mucinex (breaks it up))
- dextromethorphin (helps cough, anything with dex in it)
The pseudoephedrine is behind the counter (thanks to our meth dealers)
A teaspoon of honey is soothing and helps healing :)

A very dear friend (67) passed away on Saturday. The flu, pneumonia, more complications. After being on a respirator for 2 weeks, we thought she was going to make it. 2 hours after moving to a rehab facility she had a coding situation ((me) guessing blood clot in lungs), she did not want to go back on the respirator. Heartbroken, I only take comfort in that she was able to make her own choices and her loved ones honored them.

If you remember Super Sue (my sister the nurse), she is at about day 9 for covid now. And she is the only person that seems to have had it from around their Thanksgiving gathering. She thinks her exposure was the night before Thanksgiving at a gym. Although she works in a hospital and at church (where she has since heard there were multiple cases), so who knows. Very thankful she apparently was not contagious (yet) Thanksgiving day. She is fully vaxed, however, had shingles a couple weeks prior, and then covid.

My sister had her son and girlfriend go over her sister-in-law's house to help her do a rapid covid test. She's 75-80 and could not figure out how to do it herself (speaking to @Miss Marty's comment on small print, literature).

Nice for those who don't need to be concerned where they catch things, but for my family, it can be important. It was good to be able to be relatively certain that Super Sue wasn't contagious on Thanksgiving Day, otherwise we'd be dealing with notifying assisted living, yada, yada (and that really sucks). Some of us need to mask if we've been exposed, etc. For some, it can make a difference in your behavior.

A comment on the monoclonal antibodies, it made a difference here (in Omaha) what hospital you went to how much was available (one got 5 treatments a day, the other significantly more). Also for my mother in Massachusetts, similar - her doctor knew the best place to apply.

And again, great advice to be know ahead of time what you might need and where you're going to get things done.

Hope everyone is doing well, and those that are sick are recover quickly.
Thanks.
 

dioxide45

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There is some nasty stuff out there right now. This upper respiratory crap is the worst! I'm over it, but it lasted over 2 weeks, I tested for covid a couple times and went to Walgreen's for a PCR before traveling recently - always negative. I think, especially if you are vaccinated, the best thing you can catch today is COVID. This other stuff is rough.
Tell me about it. My wife and I both had COVID earlier this year, but since then we have each had some type of upper respiratory infection at least four times each. Each time one of us catching it from the other or it just resurfacing. The main issue I had was a cough that would linger for weeks. The first time it was 6 weeks of persistent cough. It finally started to go away before it hit again hard. A Teladoc call got me Tessalon Pearls which helped alleviate that and I think I went a couple weeks before the next set of symptoms for an infection started to kicked in again. All COVID tests come up negative. I'm over it! On one of the occasions I went to Urgent Care and they gave me a prescription for Z-Pak, but it was useless. I think these facilities just think they have to give you something to walk out the door with to justify you spending the $125.
 

Miss Marty

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Its been the worst three weeks ...
Regarding Covid and our health!


We have Teladoc through our OPM health insurance plan.
Set up our accounts online and made appointments to talk with a doctor by phone.

The Teladoc doctor who talked with Bill would not prescribe anything
for his cough and sore throat. He only suggested a visit to urgent care.

Dec 6 Appt. Explained my main issue - presistant cough and unable to lay down and have to sleep sitting up in a chair.
Prescribed Benzonatate 100 and Fluticasone Propionate 50 mcg/inh nasal spray.
Dec 8 Appt. Prescribed Z-Pak Azithromycin 5 Day Dose Pack 250 mg oral tablet.

At least we did not have to leave our house and sit in a primary care doctor office,
an urgent care waiting room or our car waiting to be seen by an inperson doctor.

COVID
December 8 Tested for Covid and Flu A and B using a at home testing kit from Labcorp on Demand (covered by our insurance)
Called FedEX for pickup and it was received the next day. Lab performed a PCR test on my sample for SARS-CoV-2, and the Flu.
Received Test Results by email. Covid Detected (Flag Abnormal) - Flu A and B Not Detected.
A positive PCR, nasal swab test result means a person currently has COVID-19.
Pixel by Labcorp offers this test and collection kit with an FDA Emergency Use Authorization.

Dec 11 Tested again using FlowFlex Covid 19 Antigen Home Test
Exp date Sept 2023 from CVS Covered by ins. (both test negative)

Not sure which home tests are the most accurate for covid...

 

1Kflyerguy

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Hoping you start to feel better soon. We still have quite a few test kits at home, and may test more frequently over the next few weeks of family and work gatherings.. So far my wife and i have been fortunate to not catch anything since our corvid bout last July.. But there has definetly been a jump in people out sick at work,
 
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