I am always very secretive about my personal health. But I got covid a few weeks ago, and because there is so much in the world written about this disease, and apparently not everyone has gotten it (yet), I decided to share my experience, just in case it will affect other people’s decision-making.
Prior to 8/27 I traveled to WY for a week (where is was chilly—great respite from the heat in the East). While there I developed a slight cough. No other symptoms of anything. Returned from vacation 8/22. My cough continued. I went to work in my office Mon – Thu 8/23-26. On Tuesday 8/24, one employee called in sick. He scheduled a covid test, which came back positive on 8/27. Mind you we all distance ourselves on our law offices, but I was in the same suite with him for one day while he was probably contagious.
Morning of Fri 8/27 I woke with a fever. Cough continued. I had a covid rapid test that day, negative.
Sat 8/28, no changes in symptoms, slight fever and cough (left over from previous whatever?). Seemed like a very mild case of something, but it was not like a cold or a flu. No head congestion, no histamine reaction, no breathing problems.
Sun 8/29 Fever (~101) and cough continued, treated fever with aspirin. I took another covid rapid test, positive this time.
Mon 8/30 symptoms continued about the same, a fever that I treated with aspirin and same level of cough. I learned about the Regeneron infusion this day from a friend. I called Inova (local health network that owns hospitals and outpatient clinics all over the place), had to wait until Tue 8/31 to talk to a screening nurse.
Tue 8/31 fever sometimes spiked above 101. The fever was having typical side effects: Aching and weakness. Coughing got slightly worse. All of my coughing produced little or no output. Screening nurse at Inova agreed that I qualified to receive Regeneron infusion. I had to call a third department to schedule the appointment to have it done. Late Tue 8/31 I finally reached a scheduler for Regeneron infusions at Inova, and the earliest appointment they had available was 9:30PM Wed 9/1 so I took that.
Wed 9/1 my cough was getting a little worse, more frequent. Temperature sometimes got to 102, which I continued to control with aspirin, then switched to Tylenol as my stomach started to get upset. I attributed the upset stomach to aspirin because everyone says aspirin does that, but in my entire life I never had a stomach reaction to using aspirin. Nevertheless, I switched to Tylenol. My blood oxygen stayed relatively high at 95-97. But I was feeling weak and achy from the fever.
The infusion experience night of Wed 9/1 was not great. The nurse had trouble with the first needle, which hurt when she tried to insert it in my arm. She had to try a second needle in a different place to poke me. She talked a lot and was very opinionated: positive on vaccines and against the Regeneron infusion. Whatever question I asked, she had no answer, or said only that “it depends.” I worried that she would sabotage the infusion procedure. But in the end it seemed to finish normally.
Thu 9/2. My cough was getting very frequent and annoying, my fever stayed the same, blood oxygen averaged 95. My stomach was very queasy, but I never threw up.
Fri 9/3 I lost taste and smell, and between that and the queasy stomach my appetite disappeared. I started losing weight. Cough stayed bad but no worsening this day. Fever stayed the same, still treated with Tylenol. Still achy and weak. I started researching other therapies. I could not find any therapies for covid that are “approved” for the general public, but i did find the iMask protocol Anyone interested in that can do an internet search. There are couple of controversial drugs in that, and after a lot of reading I focused on one of those, Ivermectin There are many, many anecdotal accounts of Ivermectin’s effectiveness, and some foreign papers published that purport to show its effectiveness. On the other hand, the USA medical establishment is totally against Ivermectin, and there are some papers published about its ineffectiveness. One very believable USA study showed that Ivermectin performed the same as a placebo in helping people recover from covid symptoms. However, there was no control group that got neither Ivermectin nor the placebo. So I realized, if I decided to get and take this drug, and this study was correct, then my action amounted to hoping that there is an un-verified placebo effect with Ivermectin. Not much confidence in that path.
Sat 9/4 To my surprise I woke feeling perfectly fine. Low fever (~99.5), almost no cough. I took a long vigorous walk, worked inside and outside the house. Then early afternoon I collapsed with no energy left. Continued stomach upset, unable to eat much, continued to lose weight. Used Tylenol to keep fever down. Frequent almost uncontrollable coughing fits. I felt that I had completely regressed.
Sun 9/5 continued same level of low energy, untreated temp up to 102 with achiness, cough quite frequent, sometime uncontrollable, even though nothing came out, lack of appetite. My personal doctor had shown no interest in prescribing a covid treatment, saying only that I should go to the emergency room if my blood oxygen was below 94. Mine was down to 94 average at this time, sometimes reading 91-93. I decided to go with the placebo effect and take Ivermectin. I found a doctor who would prescribe Ivermectin. He called in the prescription this day to CVS. I also increased my doses of some supplements. I was now taking: Vitamins C, D3, B, plus zinc and omega 3.
Mon 9/6 (Labor day) no positive change in any symptoms. Temperature still reaching 102 occasionally. Frequent almost uncontrollable coughing. Blood oxygen stayed around 94, sometimes read 91. CVS told me they would not fill a prescription for Ivermectin for covid because of something about the CDC. I asked the doctor to send the prescription to a different pharmacy. I started to think I might need to go to the hospital. I called Inova to see if they had any standard therapies or an outpatient clinic for covid positive people like me. Answer was to go the emergency room. They would not say what they would do for (or to) me in the ER. I found some website that said I needed to go to the emergency room if my blood oxygen stayed consistently below 92. I was not consistently there…yet. Carefully weighing the options I decided to wait and see if I could get the Ivermectin and if it would help before I committed myself to hospital care. I anxiously monitored my blood oxygen and temperature.
Tue 9/7 the doctor sent the prescription for Ivermectin to the different pharmacy I had asked him to do by 6:30AM. At 9:05 I called the pharmacy and they had it and would fill it. I took my first dose at 11:30AM this day. The prescription was for 5 days. My symptoms continued unchanged all day this Tue. Fever, achy, very bad cough, weak, no appetite, losing weight. Blood oxygen would not budge higher than 94. I went off aspirin and Tylenol altogether on the suggestion from others that a slight fever let the body heal itself. This was my worst day so far, and I was very worried.
Wed 9/8 No real change in most symptoms. Still having trouble eating more than a few bites of something at a time, so continued losing weight. Started using a commercial oxymeter (until now I had been using the sensors on my Android phone and Samsung watch). Blood oxygen averaging 95 on the commercial oxymeter, ranged from 92-96. That slight improvement over the readings I had been getting on my phone and watch gave me a psychological boost. But my symptoms were not budging.
Thu 9/9 Started feeling slightly better. Temp stayed below 101. Upset stomach subsided completely. I was finally able to eat more food. Some stretches of time with no coughing.
Fri 9/10 feeling slightly better again. Temperature consistently below 100. Eating more, had slightly more energy. Cough still present, but seemed less frequent, never was uncontrollable. I had been napping occasionally throughout each day during the entire ordeal. Now I was feeling refreshed after any nap, not just groggy.
Sat 9/11 Feeling better again. Temperature generally near normal. No hint of stomach issues, so eating more (but still no taste or smell). Blood oxygen routinely 96, ranging 94-97. This morning dose of Ivermectin is the final one in my prescription. Took a rapid test, negative. Have to wait until Sun morning for results of PCR.
Sun 9/12. This is day 17 of my covid counting from the first day of my fever on 8/27. Result from the PCR test I took Sat 9/11 also came in negative. No fever, slightly more energetic, able to eat. Cough is much less frequent but still annoying and sometimes I am short of breath. I took a walk again for the first time since 9/4, but I kept the pace slow. Blood oxygen consistently 97. I felt much rejuvenated after another nap. But with the cough not completely gone and the bouts of being out-of-breath after climbing stairs, I started researching long-covid. By evening my cough was almost completely gone, no more out-of-breath episodes, but as I went to bed I had a temperature of 100.
Mon 9/13. Woke with no fever, rare coughing, SpO2 98. I don’t feel 100% but much improved.
Tue 9/14. Found a clinic that would treat post-covid complications like bronchitis and sinus infection. Now I feel confident that I will fully recover within a few more days.
Observations.
The coughing starts from a “tickle” deep in the lungs, not the throat. Sometimes a result of a deep breath, mostly just spontaneously. It’s probably from fluid buildup there. Unlike cold or flu the fluids didn’t drip from my head down my throat into my lungs. Throughout this experience I never really had trouble breathing. Some people complain that happens to them with covid. If that had happened to me I would have been freaking out.
I wish I had been more prepared and acted faster from the beginning. It doesn’t matter whether you have been vaccinated or have had covid previously. You can catch it and I with everything I have read, we are all likely to get it, probably more than once. Whether or not you are vaccinated, fast action could be your life saver, or at least save you a lot of anguish. Talk to your doctor now to learn what they would be willing to prescribe for you (1) prophylactically, and (2) if you get the disease. Once you get a fever have a rapid test done daily. Rapid tests are not good at detecting the disease very early, but PCR tests take a long time to get results. I got the fever on a Friday and tested negative that day. I should have tested again on Sat, but I waited until Sunday for another rapid test which came back positive. Then I waited another day to start the process of getting Regeneron, and that took two more days to get the procedure. Then I waited almost another week to get Ivermectin. I wish I had started all of that days earlier.
Therapies
Supplements: There are plenty of anecdotes about supplements. Most people seem to go with D3 and zinc. Some add vitamin C. I was taking all of that anyway for a very long time prior to getting covid. I increased my doses of zinc, D3 and C after getting the disease, but not so much that I think by itself it would have affected the progress of the disease in me. It’s just part of a broad approach when no one knows what else to do.
Monoclonal antibody infusion: The Regeneron infusion did not “cure” me, but it seemed to slow the progress of the disease in me at least for a time. If you don’t currently qualify for Regeneron infusion, start lobbying to make it more widely available. This is an approved treatment for some covid-positive patients.
Ivermectin: I have read many conflicting reports about this. According to the USA medical establishment it was completely circumstantial that I started getting better after taking Ivermectin. I probably would have gotten better anyway without taking it, maybe faster. But my progression of symptoms did happen to reverse shortly after I started taking it, and I had absolutely no negative side effects from taking Ivermectin. I guess even though I knew exactly what I was doing the whole time, I benefited from a placebo effect. I only regret that I did not take the steps to get Ivermectin as soon as I tested positive, when my symptoms were the least they would be for two more weeks. The reason for my delay was my completely lack of preparedness.
Recommendations.
Aside from acting fast if you decide to actually do something, I really don’t have any recommendations. I cannot in good conscious tell you that any of the stuff I did worked to lessen my symptoms, speed recovery, or anything else. If you think (as my Regeneron nurse told me repeatedly) that you will be more likely to get better without Regeneron or Ivermectin and without supplements, then please do that. Then there’s really not much for you to do except pray that the media you rely on for truth is right for you. I do think some other people might be like me and want to take more control of their own health once they get the disease, and those people might want to try anything that does not actually harm themselves.
Vaccine: I simply refuse to talk about my vaccine status. It is not clear to me that having or not having the vaccine made any difference in my case. No matter which is true, people would spin my story to fit their pre-conceived beliefs. I do think Covid-19 is in the world forever, and everyone is likely to get it, probably more than once. Everyone should do what they think is best to protect themselves. If you rely on the choices of others to protect you, you may literally be committing suicide.