whitestavern Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Didn’t read all the responses but if she can get her hands in some NAC that should be helpful. It’s an over the counter supplement. I think Amazon stopped selling it but vitamin stores should have it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 I’d encourage her to go to an urgent care, preferably one she has heard is good since she is new-ish there. A pulmonologist is a great idea, but I suspect that appointment would not happen fast, and I’d want her looked at by someone ASAP. If she’s on Tricare Select, she won’t need a referral for a specialist, however, some specialists are so booked up that *they* require a referral. I wouldn’t want her to wait that long to have someone listen to her lungs. I hope she feels better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeachGal Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) She might want to consider taking a good quality vitamin A supplement only while she’s sick. Just a normal dose. However, she shouldn't take it if she’s pregnant. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/beta-carotene-conversion-to-vitamin-a/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14585314/ Vitamin-A plays a substantial role, especially in the respiratory epithelium and the lung. During moderate vitamin-A-deficiency, the incidence for diseases of the respiratory tract is considerably increased and repeated respiratory infections can be influenced therapeutically by a moderate vitamin-A-supplementation https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/vitamin-a-immune-system Edited January 16, 2022 by BeachGal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 2 hours ago, BeachGal said: She might want to consider taking a good quality vitamin A supplement only while she’s sick. Just a normal dose. However, she shouldn't take it if she’s pregnant. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/beta-carotene-conversion-to-vitamin-a/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14585314/ Vitamin-A plays a substantial role, especially in the respiratory epithelium and the lung. During moderate vitamin-A-deficiency, the incidence for diseases of the respiratory tract is considerably increased and repeated respiratory infections can be influenced therapeutically by a moderate vitamin-A-supplementation https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/vitamin-a-immune-system Good thought....She already takes more than the RDA of vitamin A. We suspect that her supplements is why she hasn't historically been as sick as her husband when they get the same illess at the same time. For Covid, he is double vaxed and very healthy. She is not vaxed (due to her health issues) and until 2 days ago, she was doing better than him! She takes four caps of a supplement called Dolovent a day (for migraines) which has a total of 5000iu and a Prenatal Plus that has an additional 4000iu. She is not pregnant, she just takes it as a multivite and because it has higher levels of folic acid incase she has a surprise pregnancy. In addition to these, she takes high doses of Iron, time release Vit C, and Vitamin D with K. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 4 hours ago, Pippen said: I would think the fastest way to get an appointment with a a pulmonologist would be through a local referring doctor. Her pulmonologist here will send the referral, and his chart notes, I just need to let him know where to send it. I worked on this a while back, but we had problem finding one that would take my primary insurance. I have BCBS and in my area, it is super common and pretty much every doctor takes it. Where she lives, it isn't as popular, and I had trouble finding a doctor that would a new patient, who had enough experience (and good reviews), and would take both BCBS and Tricare. I work 8-430, so I can only call on my lunch at noon....which often corresponds to office lunches as well. I will work on it on Tuesday. There was one doctor I found that took both, but at that time he wasn't taking new patients. There are others in his practice tho, so maybe one of them will take her. Then if she proves to be more complicated than they can handle, she can be moved to his caseload. We have had to do this before. Not because she is so severe in one illness, but she has several illnesses that have contradictory treatments. We usually need to find doctors that have subspecialty in the cardiovascular system, or one that did a residency in a cardio clinic. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Here are some links to the nigella sativa I mentioned the other day. But as I said, I have no personal experience with it. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34110959/ https://www.nigellasativacenter.com/respiratory-illness.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drama Llama Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 If she isn’t vaxxed she should go to the top of the MAB list but she would need to start that today, not wait for an appointment made on Tuesday. I am still on team ER here. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 38 minutes ago, Tap said: Her pulmonologist here will send the referral, and his chart notes, I just need to let him know where to send it. I worked on this a while back, but we had problem finding one that would take my primary insurance. I have BCBS and in my area, it is super common and pretty much every doctor takes it. Where she lives, it isn't as popular, and I had trouble finding a doctor that would a new patient, who had enough experience (and good reviews), and would take both BCBS and Tricare. I work 8-430, so I can only call on my lunch at noon....which often corresponds to office lunches as well. I will work on it on Tuesday. There was one doctor I found that took both, but at that time he wasn't taking new patients. There are others in his practice tho, so maybe one of them will take her. Then if she proves to be more complicated than they can handle, she can be moved to his caseload. We have had to do this before. Not because she is so severe in one illness, but she has several illnesses that have contradictory treatments. We usually need to find doctors that have subspecialty in the cardiovascular system, or one that did a residency in a cardio clinic. Have you and dd considered that maybe having just one insurance (tricare) would make it easier to find a doctor? You’d need to weigh the costs of course, but generally it seems fairly easy to find tricare providers in a military town, ime. Maybe the hang up is having the two insurances?? Ymmv, but it’s just a thought. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 9 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said: If she isn’t vaxxed she should go to the top of the MAB list but she would need to start that today, not wait for an appointment made on Tuesday. I am still on team ER here. I agree. I will talk to her when she gets up. At 23, I can only suggest....she has to make the decision herself. They don't get up until about noon, because they work swing shift hours/graveyard hours. Hopefully she is feeling better today! But if not, I will nudge her to go in. She know her lungs are precarious, but getting her to go into a hospital isn't easy, especially knowing they will have to sit and wait for hours to be seen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 1 minute ago, mmasc said: Have you and dd considered that maybe having just one insurance (tricare) would make it easier to find a doctor? You’d need to weigh the costs of course, but generally it seems fairly easy to find tricare providers in a military town, ime. Maybe the hang up is having the two insurances?? Ymmv, but it’s just a thought. Yep! I have considered it! But all of her specialists are here in Portland Oregon, where Tricare Select isn't common (not a military town). For typical checkups, she just does televisits, but once or twice a year, I fly her home and we see them all at once in person.It has taken years to get the right combination of specialists and I need to be at her appointments to help manage it all. So either she flies home, or I fly there. She gets overwhelmed and doesn't know what to ask when she is by herself and me attending by phone has limitations. The pulmonary practice I found, is on both BCBS and Tricare's provider list. Even if they don't take one of the insurances, as long as they take the other, I will have her get set up there. We should have done it before, but alas....here we are. Normally, it isn't an issue to just fly her home but with all the flights being cancelled and COVID restrictions complicate that. Honestly, it is just bad timing for her to get it. 2 months either way, and it probably wouldn't have been an issue to just fly her home and have her treated here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Well, you couldn't fly her home with covid.....Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Terabith said: Well, you couldn't fly her home with covid.....Right? She is clear to fly now per the CDC. After you end isolation, avoid travel until a full 10 days after your symptoms started or the date of your positive test if you had no symptoms. If you must travel on days 6 through 10, wear a well-fitting mask when you are around others for the entire duration of travel. (websites bolding not mine) Edited January 16, 2022 by Tap 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 8 minutes ago, Tap said: Yep! I have considered it! But all of her specialists are here in Portland Oregon, where Tricare Select isn't common (not a military town). For typical checkups, she just does televisits, but once or twice a year, I fly her home and we see them all at once in person.It has taken years to get the right combination of specialists and I need to be at her appointments to help manage it all. So either she flies home, or I fly there. She gets overwhelmed and doesn't know what to ask when she is by herself and me attending by phone has limitations. The pulmonary practice I found, is on both BCBS and Tricare's provider list. Even if they don't take one of the insurances, as long as they take the other, I will have her get set up there. We should have done it before, but alas....here we are. Normally, it isn't an issue to just fly her home but with all the flights being cancelled and COVID restrictions complicate that. Honestly, it is just bad timing for her to get it. 2 months either way, and it probably wouldn't have been an issue to just fly her home and have her treated here. Ahhh...that makes sense then. I’m sorry she has it and the timing is so bad. I hope she gets in to see someone soon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 17 hours ago, TCB said: If she is going to get MAB therapy it needs to be initiated before oxygen levels fall. Honestly CoVid is different than other things. I would not wait around to get seen if I was worried it was affecting my lungs. MAB is going to be very dependent of where she is in the country and if she's been vaccinated. The restrictions are very tight in most states, to the point there is even a question if I could get it being severely immunocompromised because I've been vaccinated. Here in Michigan unvaccinated are priority now. According to the list I should be tier 1A, but boots on the ground, my doctors don't think they can get it. I'm not allowed inside anywhere but the hospital and home. Edited January 16, 2022 by melmichigan 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 24 minutes ago, melmichigan said: MAB is going to be very dependent of where she is in the country and if she's been vaccinated. The restrictions are very tight in most states, to the point there is even a question if I could get it being severely immunocompromised because I've been vaccinated. Here in Michigan unvaccinated are priority now. According to the list I should be tier 1A, but boots on the ground, my doctors don't think they can get it. I'm not allowed inside anywhere but the hospital and home. I’m sorry that you might not be able to get it. With Delta we gave so many doses and they made a huge difference to the risk of being admitted to ICU. Edited January 16, 2022 by TCB Typo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 8 minutes ago, TCB said: I’m sorry that you might not be able to get it. With Delta we have so many doses and they made a huge difference to the risk of being admitted to ICU. Yep, with delta I was allowed to go certain places with my N95 because they were confident they could get it if I was exposed or tested positive. Now I'm under "shielding" guidelines until they can get MAB back in sufficient numbers that my team is comfortable that they could get it. Right now I'm not even sure if I'll be getting treatment next week with current hospitalization loads and covid numbers. Edited January 16, 2022 by melmichigan 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 1 hour ago, TCB said: I’m sorry that you might not be able to get it. With Delta we gave so many doses and they made a huge difference to the risk of being admitted to ICU. I have no idea on how to even start looking for who has it and how to get it ordered. I checked in on her today and asked what her current pulse ox was and if she had a fever. Her answer "green". 😜Which is her being funny and saying she is in the green zone (all good). It is also her way of saying...she is backing off on giving me info. She will do this sometimes when she is sick. Due to her other illnesses, sometimes she hits "symptom threshold" when she can't think about being sick and needs to put it out of her mind. Do notice in her answer, that I didn't get any specific numbers LOL. I'lll talk to her and her husband in a bit and see how she is doing now that she should be up and moving around for the day. She was up at 12pm, so in adjusted time, it is about noon for her body right now. He will be able to give me a pretty good clue on her overall health. The military base medical offices will be pretty much shut down for the weekend through Monday (MLK day), so unless she was willing to brave the ED and flu season, she won't get local eyes on her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 36 minutes ago, Tap said: I have no idea on how to even start looking for who has it and how to get it ordered. I checked in on her today and asked what her current pulse ox was and if she had a fever. Her answer "green". 😜Which is her being funny and saying she is in the green zone (all good). It is also her way of saying...she is backing off on giving me info. She will do this sometimes when she is sick. Due to her other illnesses, sometimes she hits "symptom threshold" when she can't think about being sick and needs to put it out of her mind. Do notice in her answer, that I didn't get any specific numbers LOL. I'lll talk to her and her husband in a bit and see how she is doing now that she should be up and moving around for the day. She was up at 12pm, so in adjusted time, it is about noon for her body right now. He will be able to give me a pretty good clue on her overall health. The military base medical offices will be pretty much shut down for the weekend through Monday (MLK day), so unless she was willing to brave the ED and flu season, she won't get local eyes on her. I’m in a different state than you but any urgent care or ER doc should know how to go about getting this treatment for their patients, if there are doses available. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 On 1/16/2022 at 5:53 PM, melmichigan said: Yep, with delta I was allowed to go certain places with my N95 because they were confident they could get it if I was exposed or tested positive. Now I'm under "shielding" guidelines until they can get MAB back in sufficient numbers that my team is comfortable that they could get it. Right now I'm not even sure if I'll be getting treatment next week with current hospitalization loads and covid numbers. I was listening to the TWIV podcast with Dr Griffin and he was talking about Evusheld, a long acting monoclonal made by Astra Zeneca. It is indicated for vaccinated people who can’t mount a strong response to vaccination. It is given IM every 6 months. Maybe that is something that would make it safer for you. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-virology/id300973784?i=1000547947630 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popmom Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 @Tap how is your daughter? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 hour ago, popmom said: @Tap how is your daughter? Thanks for asking 😊 She is doing great actually!!! She started the downturn when I started this thread. Her husband spoiled her and took care of her. Cooking her homemade meals, keeping her hydrated and encouraged rest and taking her meds. She started rebounding on about 4 days after I posted and was able to go run some errands today. I can still hear some breathlessness in her lungs, but most of the congestion is clearing and she is clearly recovering. !!!!!! I am so elated! We have held our breath the entire time of covid, not knowing how it would affect her lungs. She did have some rough days, but she is recovering and feeling like she is out of the woods! Woot Woot!!! We talked a little about the monoclonal options, but she has some other health issues that complicate that so she decided to wait since she was improving. She asked her husband if he want to go on a little hike on Saturday and he said "are you trying to kill me!". LOL He is a very healthy, fit 23yo man who could run up a mountain a month ago. But honestly, Covid has hit him harder than her. He is double vaxed and she took care of him when he was at his worst too. He got sick a few days before her, so he is a full 2 weeks into it. But it has gone to his lungs and stayed there. He went to the base doctor yesterday and they declared him fit for duty tomorrow (he is military) even though he still has a tiny fever. They took a precautionary xray to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia. They said they would call with the results 3-4 days later. LOL gotta love gov't efficiency! I assume no news is good news. His doctor said to expect a cough for months 😞They are closing down his unit permanently and quite a few of the airmen have covid right now, so at least work is very light. I wouldn't be surprised if his chief sends him home. I wish he could get the monoclonal but isn't high risk to qualify there, and he can't get healthcare off base since he is active duty. I am sending them some NAC and they are already stocked on Mucinex. I sent them a really powerful humidifier which seemed to make a big difference for dd (they live in the desert), heaps of cough drops, spicy snacks (helps to clear drainage), and vitamins. I hope he recovers soon, but he seems to struggle with illnesses a bit more than she does. I think it is because she takes so many supplements, is very hydrated and really listens to her body. Years of chronic illness have taught her that small setbacks can take weeks to rebound from so she is pretty strict about her wellness routine. Thanks for everyone's help and encouragement. I am saving this page for future use. I think she escaped it pretty good this time, but I don't think this is the last pass for any one with COVID. We are just super thankful that it was likely Omicron and was more like a bad cold for them both up to this point. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Glad to hear the good news! I've been wondering how she was doing. But months of coughing, poor guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 minute ago, Starr said: Glad to hear the good news! I've been wondering how she was doing. But months of coughing, poor guy. I agree! He is good about trying to clear the mucous, but it just seems to keep filling up. I offer suggestions on meds, but he is medication adverse, so while he respects what I say, he doesn't partake. LOL We will see if he takes the NAC. It is his choice, but I will send it just in case. 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popmom Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Great news! And it sounds like they have a really strong, caring relationship. That’s good for physical health, too. 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 I’m glad she’s doing well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 10 hours ago, Tap said: think it is because she takes so many supplements, is very hydrated and really listens to her body. Can I ask what supplements she takes? im so glad she’s recovering! What a relief for you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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