Has anyone had COVID twice?

[Ausmumof3]

21 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I guess even the anecdata is likely to be corrupted, since if people are having a second infection that's very mild or asymptomatic, they may not even test 😕 . 

I do NOT understand why we don't have good studies of health issues immediately after large Omicron waves. That would probably be the most reliable thing we could do -- as @lewelma notes, Omicron tends to strike everyone all at once, so there should be no trouble getting signal there!!! 

Have you looked at Australia’s excess death data versus covid deaths for this year?

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Ausmumof3 said:

Have you looked at Australia’s excess death data versus covid deaths for this year?

No. Have it handy? 

[Not_a_Number]

Here are the US excess deaths: 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Not much in 2022 after the height of the Omicron wave, as far as I can tell. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Not_a_Number

[Ausmumof3]

6 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

No. Have it handy? 

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/latest-release
 

Not helpful for your reinfection questions, but may be for initial infections.

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Ausmumof3 said:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/latest-release
 

Not helpful for your reinfection questions, but may be for initial infections.

You guys didn't really have the earlier waves, right? So this is the first wave for you. It makes sense that it causes more problems, even with the vaccines (although if I had my druthers, I'd have the US first wave come after vaccines, too!) 

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Here are the US excess deaths: 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Not much in 2022 after the height of the Omicron wave, as far as I can tell. 

This does suggest that there isn't a really dire lingering short-term effect from COVID, I have to say. The fact that there aren't that many excess deaths after the wave itself is over is relatively encouraging. 

[Ausmumof3]

7 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

This does suggest that there isn't a really dire lingering short-term effect from COVID, I have to say. The fact that there aren't that many excess deaths after the wave itself is over is relatively encouraging. 

I may be reading wrong but it looked to me like they’re still elevated although less so and less than 2018? Is that how you interpreted it? You guys lost two years of life expectancy last year so it also seems like there should be less vulnerable people left?

[Not_a_Number]

3 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I may be reading wrong but it looked to me like they’re still elevated although less so and less than 2018? Is that how you interpreted it? You guys lost two years of life expectancy last year so it also seems like there should be less vulnerable people left?

Much less so. I'd say by an order of magnitude. 

And yes, I'm sure there are fewer vulnerable people left. 

[Not_a_Number]

And NY barely had any excess deaths this year. Fascinating. EVERYONE we know got Omicron in January. 

ETA: Ah, looking again, you can see very definite impact from the Omicron wave. But very little after that. Interesting. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Not_a_Number

[Not_a_Number]

Honestly, this is getting way too off-topic 😄 . Let's try to keep this to actual anecdata. 

[Ausmumof3]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

And NY barely had any excess deaths this year. Fascinating. EVERYONE we know got Omicron in January. 

ETA: Ah, looking again, you can see very definite impact from the Omicron wave. But very little after that. Interesting. 

I think this winter will clarify things. Singapores latest variant wave was pretty small, and Europe turned around more quickly than in previous years. This situation is obviously a lot better than previously I just don’t think it’s “back to normal” yet. 
 

My expectation on reinfection is that there will be less cases of nasty consequences than with first infections but they will continue to occur in a percentage of people. The biggest issue is that people are catching it yearly not every four or five like RSV and flu and other more nasty respiratory stuff. The contagiousness is still the biggest issue, more so than the severity. 
 

Will probably have a clearer picture on reinfection here in a few weeks anyway as our wave is taking off.

[Ausmumof3]

3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Honestly, this is getting way too off-topic 😄 . Let's try to keep this to actual anecdata. 

Oops I thought we were on the omicron thread.

[wathe]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

I guess even the anecdata is likely to be corrupted, since if people are having a second infection that's very mild or asymptomatic, they may not even test 😕 . 

I do NOT understand why we don't have good studies of health issues immediately after large Omicron waves. That would probably be the most reliable thing we could do -- as @lewelma notes, Omicron tends to strike everyone all at once, so there should be no trouble getting signal there!!! 

The studies will come.  Omicron is still pretty new.  Less than a year since the first big wave.  

It feels like the post-acute sequelae studies for original strain and delta are just starting to come thick and fast just in the past few months now.  Omicron ones will come in time.

Edited November 12, 2022 by wathe

[lewelma]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

And NY barely had any excess deaths this year. Fascinating. EVERYONE we know got Omicron in January. 

We have NO excess deaths.  As of October of this year, NZ has had 2300 *fewer* people die than expected since March of 2020, and have had a gain in life expectancy of 8 months.

https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/fellows-and-members/forum/forum-ngahuru-2022/what-has-new-zealand-gained-and-lost-by-being-tough-on-covid-19/

[Ausmumof3]

13 minutes ago, lewelma said:

We have NO excess deaths.  As of October of this year, NZ has had 2300 *fewer* people die than expected since March of 2020, and have had a gain in life expectancy of 8 months.

https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/fellows-and-members/forum/forum-ngahuru-2022/what-has-new-zealand-gained-and-lost-by-being-tough-on-covid-19/

I could not find the date in the article, it looked like it said as of February? I’m curious because I’m Aus we had an increased life expectancy stat just come out but it was actually only to the end of 2021. It will be interesting to see what the difference is this year. 

[lewelma]

55 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I could not find the date in the article, it looked like it said as of February? I’m curious because I’m Aus we had an increased life expectancy stat just come out but it was actually only to the end of 2021. It will be interesting to see what the difference is this year. 

As of today, NZ has has had 2119 deaths from covid in total. So we can't have that many excess deaths even with 2022 and included. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by lewelma

[Ausmumof3]

17 minutes ago, lewelma said:

As of today, NZ has has had 2119 deaths from covid in total. So we can't have that many excess deaths even with 2022 and included. 

So our excess deaths here for the year well exceed the covid deaths here for the year. There’s a lot of discussion around why but it’s either unidentified covid, post covid sequelae, or delayed health care - unsure. But I wouldn’t be sure that your excess deaths won’t be higher than your covid deaths. It does seem likely with such a low covid death toll it won’t be super high though.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Ausmumof3

[Malory]

I had covid (unvaccinated) just when Delta started to hit, so it could have been Delta or Alpha. It was a bad headache for 5 days followed by general fatigue and loss of smell for another 5, then I was well all of a sudden. I lost a lot of hair two months after that, just like after each childbirth. 17 months later I got a sore throat; omicron finally f ound me. But that was my only symptom, a sore throat that led to occasional coughing. 

[Not_a_Number]

7 hours ago, lewelma said:

As of today, NZ has has had 2119 deaths from covid in total. So we can't have that many excess deaths even with 2022 and included. 

Any personal sense about Omicron and it’s sequelae? Like, from people you know?

[Not_a_Number]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:13 PM, MissLemon said:

Sibling had Omicron once but seemed sicker from the paxlovid than the covid. 

Just saw this. What happened with the Paxlovid?? 

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

Just saw this. What happened with the Paxlovid?? 

Not the OP of this comment, but the Paxlovid made me sit on the porcelain throne several times a day (iykwim) and a metallic taste to the mouth.  The Paxlovid was not worse than the covid for me (see the ten days of breathing treatments every 4-6 hours comment I made elsewhere on the boards) but while I was relatively "fine" on Paxlovid, once it wore off and the virus could replicate freely, I was super sick for another couple of weeks. I really struggled to keep my 02 sat readings where they needed to be.

It kept me out of the hospital I think, compared to not taking it, but it's not a drug I would recommend for a person with normal risk factors.

Edited November 12, 2022 by prairiewindmomma
autocorrect correction

[BeachGal]

Anecdotally, one of my sons, 25, had Covid last spring and then got it again about 1.5 months ago. He was double vaxxed with Pfizer the first time and not boostered the second time. So far, no signs of long Covid. He runs long distance races, ultra marathons, and saw his cardiologist recently just as a precaution. (He has a race coming up.) He has no symptoms and his cardiologist, who did scans and tested for certain things, found nothing unusual. Long Covid can lag so we are keeping an eye on him just in case.

What’s really interesting is that he has a friend who has not had symptomatic Covid despite working with the public in crowded spaces since the pandemic began. Only double vaxxed with Pfizer. (Yes, he could have been asymptomatic.) This guy is always healthy and has never had even a cold. In his life! Now, he should be studied.

Edited November 12, 2022 by BeachGal

[Not_a_Number]

47 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

Anecdotally, one of my sons, 25, had Covid last spring and then got it again about 1.5 months ago. He was double vaxxed with Pfizer the first time and not boostered the second time. So far, no signs of long Covid. He runs long distance races, ultra marathons, and saw his cardiologist recently just as a precaution. (He has a race coming up.) He has no symptoms and his cardiologist, who did scans and tested for certain things, found nothing unusual. Long Covid can lag so we are keeping an eye on him just in case.

What’s really interesting is that he has a friend who has not had symptomatic Covid despite working with the public in crowded spaces since the pandemic began. Only double vaxxed with Pfizer. (Yes, he could have been asymptomatic.) This guy is always healthy and has never had even a cold. In his life! Now, he should be studied.

Anecdotes are just what I want!! Preferably about people and their families, not just someone they know in their community — that has selection bias.

Glad your son is doing well! Why not boostered, if you don’t mind me asking?

Edited November 12, 2022 by Not_a_Number

[BeachGal]

He had heart palpitations after the vax for awhile. He was okay after Covid, though. Go figure.

[Not_a_Number]

4 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

He had heart palpitations after the vax for awhile. He was okay after Covid, though. Go figure.

I don’t think people have tracked that stuff enough 😕.

I had a headache for 2+ weeks after the vaccine. It was scary. I don’t read about that enough.

[BeachGal]

41 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I don’t think people have tracked that stuff enough 😕.

I had a headache for 2+ weeks after the vaccine. It was scary. I don’t read about that enough.

Yeah, I think as time goes on we’ll learn more. Right after the Pfizer vaccines, I had tinnitus for awhile which I treated using pemf. We are all very grateful for the vaccines though as I’m sure you are too.

Edited November 12, 2022 by BeachGal

[Janeway]

My one sister has had it twice for sure. My college aged kids and husband have had it once that I know of for sure. I have not had it at all.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Janeway

[Not_a_Number]

23 minutes ago, Janeway said:

My one sister has had it twice for sure. My college aged kids and husband have had it once that I know of for sure. I have not had it at all.

How was it for your sister?

[lewelma]

My son's best friend came over last night and told me that he has had it twice. He is 19. He said the second time was worse, but also felt that might be because the first time he had nothing on and could just lay in bed, and the second time he had a full time job and felt like he needed to do some work from home. (He is a software engineer with a university degree already). He is the only person I know who has had it twice. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by lewelma

[Janeway]

34 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

How was it for your sister?

First time was long Covid and seemed like it came near to killing her. She has long lasting effects, like heart damage, from it. Second time was much more mild.

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Janeway said:

First time was long Covid and seemed like it came near to killing her. She has long lasting effects, like heart damage, from it. Second time was much more mild.

Oof. I’m sorry to hear it!! How old is she? Do you know what variant?

[regentrude]

3 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Not the OP of this comment, but the Paxlovid made me sit on the porcelain throne several times a day (iykwim) and a metallic taste to the mouth.  The Paxlovid was not worse than the covid for me (see the ten days of breathing treatments every 4-6 hours comment I made elsewhere on the boards) but while I was relatively "fine" on Paxlovid, once it wore off and the virus could replicate freely, I was super sick for another couple of weeks. I really struggled to keep my 02 sat readings where they needed to be.

It kept me out of the hospital I think, compared to not taking it, but it's not a drug I would recommend for a person with normal risk factors.

My friend's husband was prescribed Paxlovid, and his rebound was worse than the initial infection and he ended up in the ER.

[popmom]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:19 AM, maize said:

My younger kids had it November 2021 and July 2022. November was probably delta, July would have been one of the omicron variants.

They were all sicker with omicron than with delta.

My personal observations of Omicron were that it hit younger adults harder than older people. I don't know how many were repeat infections. I just thought it was interesting or at least notable.

Can't comment on whether the reverse would have been true of Delta because I didn't know of any young people that caught it at that time.

Edited November 12, 2022 by popmom
clarify ages

[Not_a_Number]

6 minutes ago, regentrude said:

My friend's husband was prescribed Paxlovid, and his rebound was worse than the initial infection and he ended up in the ER.

Yikes. That’s scary!!

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, popmom said:

My observations of Omicron were that it hit younger people harder than older people. I don't know how many were repeat infections. I just thought it was interesting or at least notable.

Younger, like kids, or like 20s?

[popmom]

4 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Younger, like kids, or like 20s?

20's-30s. The vast majority of the young people who were infected with omicron (that I know personally) were in their 20s. My daughters and their friends and classmates. The middle age folks I know that had it had cold symptoms. The younger ones had fever--more like flu.

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by popmom

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, popmom said:

20's-30s

That’s really interesting. I got pretty sick, so that checks out.

[Not_a_Number]

2 hours ago, BeachGal said:

Yeah, I think as time goes on we’ll learn more. Right after the Pfizer vaccines, I had tinnitus for awhile which I treated using pemf. We are all very grateful for the vaccines though as I’m sure you are too.

I’m grateful for the vaccines, as they boost population-level immunity, but I’m also afraid to get the next one 😕. I will, since they say a vaccine after an infection offers really robust protection, but I’m scared.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Not_a_Number

[Spryte]

5 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

I’m grateful for the vaccines, as they boost population-level immunity, but I’m also afraid to get the next one 😕. I will, since they say a vaccine after an infection offers really robust protection, but I’m scared.

I completely understand being scared. Completely.

Not sure if you’d remember that I was hospitalized after the first three shots, within two weeks each time, after the normal side effects had subsided? I was petrified to get another. We figured out that there was another (then undiagnosed) thing going on when those reactions happened, but my docs were still divided on whether I should take another booster. I decided to do it anyway, and was really scared. 

So I get it. Hoping it goes easily for you, if you do! 

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Spryte said:

I completely understand being scared. Completely.

Not sure if you’d remember that I was hospitalized after the first three shots, within two weeks each time, after the normal side effects had subsided? I was petrified to get another. We figured out that there was another (then undiagnosed) thing going on when those reactions happened, but my docs were still divided on whether I should take another booster. I decided to do it anyway, and was really scared. 

So I get it. Hoping it goes easily for you, if you do! 

I do remember! How did it go for you?

I know post-COVID boosters are supposed to be even worse, too!!

[Spryte]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

I do remember! How did it go for you?

I know post-COVID boosters are supposed to be even worse, too!!

It went well. I mean, I had my usual side effects — felt like having the flu, 102 temp, and so on — but after a few days, I was fine. We then waited anxiously through the following two week period to see what would happen, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Whew!

I haven’t (knowingly) had Covid, though, so YMMV. 

But yeh, I was really scared. 

[Halftime Hope]

A close family member has a weak immune system, about 15 years post-chemo. He gets URIs fairly frequently. He had alpha in May 2020, got treated with HCQ+AZ at about 24 hours after onset of symptoms. (The person who gave it to him called to let him know of the diagnosis, and about 6 hours after the call, my family-member started with the fever; that heads' up was very helpful.) He had a fever which broke about 12 hours after the first dose of meds. After that, minimal symptoms (head-coldish) for about another 5 days. Got Covid again in Fall 2021; hard to know if it was delta or Omicron. This time only HCQ, no AZ. Nearly the same course of illness. And again in March 2022. Similar, but this time he added ivermectin: one day of symptoms and done. Each time his wife has contracted it from him, and had the same treatment. After round two, she had some brain fog, but neither of them (knock wood) have had any other long-term symptoms. 

I'm grateful, and if we should get it (we have not yet), we will treat it early: I have a medical plan in place. Needless to say, I'm a believer in early treatment.

Edits to fix typos: good grief.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Halftime Hope

[KSera]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:11 AM, Not_a_Number said:

Anecdotes are just what I want!! Preferably about people and their families, not just someone they know in their community — that has selection bias.

You must feel like I'm following you around to comment 😳. I've been purposely not commenting about this in the anecdata thread, since that's what you started it for, but since you're specifically mentioning selection bias here, I'm curious how you don't think anecdotes from this particular forum (which is a very skewed population) on voluntary threads wouldn't have selecition bias as well. I wouldn't even ask if it was someone else, but since you are highly suspicious and critical of almost every covid study posted, I can't help but be super curious why you take anecdotes as more reliable than large studies, even if those studies aren't perfect? Just a burning question I've been having 😬.

[importswim]

I have. Once in Feb 2021 and once in Feb of this year, almost an exact year in between. First time lost sense of smell and taste for a month and had a number of symptoms. Vaccinated in August 2021. Covid in Feb 2022 and hardly any symptoms and those that I had were very much cold like and presented like allergies. I tested in case it wasn't "allergies" and it was Covid.

[Not_a_Number]

Bumping up! Anyone else?

@Granny_Weatherwax, how are you feeling? 

[Not_a_Number]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:05 PM, Spryte said:

I have not had Covid, but my closest local friend and her family have had it twice, six months apart. Second time just after being boosted. Both times likely omicron. The second time was worse, symptom-wise.

OK, after DH's experience immediately after being boosted, I'd like to hear more. What made it worse the second time? 

[Spryte]

7 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

OK, after DH's experience immediately after being boosted, I'd like to hear more. What made it worse the second time? 

Symptoms seemed worse, more pronounced (but not the fever — fevers were worse the first round), and the recovery has been longer. They were boosted about a week before their second round. It’s been a few months and at least one person is not bouncing back. Lots of fatigue. (Actually, I don’t know that it’s been months, maybe 6 weeks, I’d have to look back through our text history or ask my friend, lots going on around here, and my timeline is fuzzy. I think they had it again in Sep.)

What was your DH’s experience? You may have mentioned, but I’m not keeping up with threads well lately.

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Spryte

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Spryte said:

Symptoms seemed worse, more pronounced (but not the fever — fevers were worse the first round), and the recovery has been longer. They were boosted about a week before their second round. It’s been a few months and at least one person is not bouncing back. Lots of fatigue.

What was your DH’s experience? You may have mentioned, but I’m not keeping up with threads well lately.

DH got a booster a few weeks before our bout of COVID, and he stayed positive considerably longer than the rest of us. But just like with your friend, he had less of a fever than the rest of us! 

I have to say, I'm really not impressed. 

[Spryte]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

DH got a booster a few weeks before our bout of COVID, and he stayed positive considerably longer than the rest of us. But just like with your friend, he had less of a fever than the rest of us! 

I have to say, I'm really not impressed. 

Oh, interesting about the fever.

I don’t recall how long they tested positive. It felt like forever. We normally see them often, and talk every day — I want to say we saw them on Day 11, outside, because everyone had finally tested negative. Is that a normal timeline, or a bit long?

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

I want to say we saw them on Day 11, outside, because everyone had finally tested negative. Is that a normal timeline, or a bit long?

That’s within normal. Especially if some tested negative before then and it just took until day 11 for the longest person. I no longer recall the percentage still positive on day 11. It’s definitely not in the freaky long realm though (unfortunately).