calamarichris

Caught it that fateful February before it made mention in the news. Deadly sick for two weeks and when I finally was able to drag myself to a hospital for antibiotics, masks had become the new norm.
I'd already found out a few years earlier that I had a genetic heart-defect in which one of the valves never closed at all and the blood would flow backward. Kind of a miracle I was able to ride a few sub-five-hour centuries, and raced my way to Cat-3 with a bum-ticker.
But after catching that early strain of COVID, it suddenly became much, much harder to pedal up even moderate hills. The longest ride I've been able to accomplish were a 20-milers on the coast near my home, and I really suffered to finish that.
My resting HR went from 41 to over 90

Barry2 

All three C19 shots and Covid twice have reduced my Watts for a given HR by 25%.
Each of these 5 events have taken me 3 months to fully recover to my original HR.

Barry

calamarichris

I got the shots as soon as they were available, but that first strain really took the wind out of my sails. I miss riding.
Glad you were able to eventually fully recover.

calamarichris

Ah crud. Finallly found the COVID forum down in the lounge. Please feel free to move this thread, mods. Sorry I didn't see it before,

Yan 

I live in Manhattan where everyone got COVID long before the vaccines were available. They did blood tests on random members of the public the first summer of the outbreak, and over 90% of people tested positive for past infection. Of course the majority of these were the lucky type that that showed no symptoms.

I wasn't too bad but it was unpleasant. For a few days I'd wake up in the morning and cough up massive globs of bright green mucus in the shower. Crazy stuff, never seen that before in my life. But I got better after a week and seem to have no long term effects. Later when the shots became available I went and got them, and each time it made me feel terrible for 24 hours.

Polaris OBark

They closed it. Too many conspiracy theorists and Q-nuts.

(BTW, unless you had a secondary infection, the antibiotics wouldn't help.)

There are a number of long covid trials now. You might want to look into one.

calamarichris

Ah, makes sense. Sadly I've got other health problems, like the aforementioned heart valve and stubborn lung damage. But thank you!

CAT7RDR

Had it twice the most recent over Christmas 2023 and in February 2020.
No jabs for me and no long lasting effects other than lost conditioning I'm still working on from January 2024.
First round was far harsher than the most recent illness. The urgent care Doc advised just to ride it out since I have no comorbidities and the antivirals are contraindicated for someone with a good immune system.

Calsun

I have received every available Covid vaccine and booster and in the fall my wife and I also got the flu and RSV shots. Not fun but better than contracting these viruses. We avoid large indoor gatherings where viral transmissions tend to occur. I would feel pretty stupid if my own carelessness resulted in my contracting Covid and even dumber if I gave it to my wife.

As a young child I saw children wearing leg braces who had contracted the polio virus. Kids still got measles and mumps as no vaccines were available. Measles are again a problem as to many selfish stupid people refuse to get vaccinated or have their children vaccinated.

I operate on not taking risks when I cannot afford to be wrong.

LarrySellerz

Q-nuts? Conspiracy theorists? Ironic, coming from someone talking about “long covid.” Long term effects from viruses are well documented and common.

let me guess, you believe that pandemic mitigation measures like masking and social distancing are the primary reason for the near complete absence of the flu in 2020. Honestly, covid ruined so many people’s capacity for critical thinking.

As for RSV, how much did you hear about it prior to 2021? Ever though to yourself “huh, why did I never hear about this disease prior to the last couple of years, what changed?”

calamarichris

Ah crap, now this thread's going to be locked too. I just wanted to know if anyone else suffered serious damage from the virus.

Camilo

Neither my wife nor I have had Covid in spite of having no significant lifestyle changes. We're "elderly" (late 60s/early 70s). This fact is well within the possibility of pure chance I'm sure. But we also understand and practice reasonable precautions and still do. We're not crazy about it,but understand how to accomplish essential precautions and when to do it. I have not worn a mask into Home Depot for example, for a while, but we were in a crowded auditorium for an event the other day and we were among the .01% of people who were wearing masks. We also mask on airplanes still and have done a lot of air travel during 2020-2021 as well as currently. We also get the boosters as well as Shingles, Flu and RSV - as well as pneumonia and tetanus, etc. No lasting "effects" from any of these vaccinations other than transient feeling like crap for a day or less.

We have had infant grandchildren as well as highly vulnerable friends during the pandemic and currently, so we feel a responsibility to, well, act responsibly.

We believe in science as well as acknowledging and following the guidance of experts in many fields. Engineering and skilled trades such as automotive, plumbing, electrical, etc. for instance. We don't believe politicians and internet trolls are good sources for information on any of this stuff unless they reference actual experts.

Polaris OBark

After dodging it for 3 years, I managed to get it 11 months ago on a bike trip. Although unpleasant, I don't think I had any long-term effects. I've had all the vaccines and boosters, and minimal side-effects from those.

I have a friend who got it in March 2020, in the UK. He ran a major research institute. Now he is (still) completely incapacitated with long covid, after what was initially a comparatively mild infection.

I hope you manage a full recovery at some point.

Polaris OBark

Funny you should use RSV as an example, because not only has it been around for a long time, it is one example where the original vaccine was dangerous and had to be withdrawn.

3alarmer 

...I was fortunate with Covid. we were both retired already, and able to isolate within reason for the period prior to vaccine availability. I did contract Covid once (after vaccination), which was confirmed by the available (by then) home tests. Because of my age (pretty damn old), I was able to call my GP's office, and the guy on call wrote me for Paxlovid right away.

Which was fortunate, because by the time I got the Paxlovid, I was noticing some genuine difficulty breathing, mostly due to advancing congestion in the airways.

All I can share with you is that I did manage to lose about 4-5 years in my 50's, to what was then called CFIDS. It was an unhappy time, but I did spontaneously recover eventually. All the CFIDS people, who have been more or less invisible for the past 40 years, since the CDC decided it's all in your head, are encouraged by the long Covid sufferers. The thinking goes that if there are that many of them, and the viral agent of causation is well documented, it will convince the people who matter that a real research funding push is needed for long viral immune dysfunction syndromes.

I am a little less hopeful, because people with these illnesses seem to drop off the map. The only ones aware of their existence are themselves and a contingent of family members who end up as caregivers.

There have been a number of NY Times pieces recently on long Covid, and there's one reporter covering CFIDS studies. The research money just isn't there, yet. I only follow the news on it, because I still know people who never fully recovered from CFIDS.

3alarmer 

.
...here are a couple of letters to the Times on long Covid, from people who have it. https://archive.is/ftHM9

Polaris OBark

There has been some recent progress:

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/12329...tigue-syndrome

LarrySellerz

RSV has been a thing for a long time, but mainly early childhood and certainly not talked about nearly as much as it is now. About two years ago, it started being mentioned several orders of magnitude more than before, and started causing much more severe illness. I wonder why?

indyfabz

Now that Larry has a mic.

3alarmer 

...I read about that study (I did not read the study itself). It's somewhat heartening to see 17 patients studied "in depth", with an overall conclusion that there's something genuinely, physiologically wrong with them. But there is a deeply ingrained belief in the medical system, left over from the CDC's conclusions after investigating the Incline Village outbreak up at Tahoe, that is not going to disappear unless and until some research genius comes up with a relatively simple test to confirm the syndrome as a disease, and a well funded push toward educating the physician community.

Right now, it's still pretty easy to ask some physician for help in treating the disease, and get blown off with a referral for psychological counseling. And it's been that way for 40 years, at least.

I'm reminded of the early days of AIDS, when the causative agent was still a mystery, and treatments were either experimental or non-existent. The only way that changed was throwing a bunch of research money at it. And that didn't happen easily. One of my friends, Joel, was the only Kaiser doc accepting and treating AIDS patients in those years.

terrymorse 

I got every vaccine when they were released. No ill effects of any kind from the vaccines.

Mrs tm brought COVID home from work in November 2022, and I caught a mild case. I stayed off the bike about 2 weeks, then ramped back up again slowly. I was back to pre-illness fitness levels about 6 weeks after testing positive. No lingering effects.

Tomm Willians

Got both shots and they absolutely floored me. Took about 3 months to recover each time.

zandoval 

Came out of my fox hole in August 2023 and BAM, got covid! Then I infected my wife and Dad. Took me down to near hospital admission but I recognized the illness on the 3rd day and started Paxlovid. That kept me out off the hospital. My wife went briefly into A-Fib/Flutter. My 96 year old Dad living with us got hit neurologically. After two months rehab he continues to get better, slowly, and is out of the wheel chair.

As for me? I am still not back to normal six months latter and doing everything I can just to get a short ride in every other day.

And if any fools want to know, I do believe in Masking, Hand Washing, Sequestering, Vaccines, and Antivirals. It would appear that with people with high risk factors its the only thing ya got...

cb400bill

Thread closed for moderator review.

EddyR

Both wife and I now in our 80’s and we have never had covid. Got all the shots with no side effects.
EddtR