Around 1 am I started getting chills and body aches. And more tired than usual. The symptoms suggest it could be covid or flu. I feel not very bad at the moment.
I’m wondering about contacting my HMO to ask how to proceed. I want to do whatever best to insure early treatment ( monoclonal, e.g.) for covid if that ends up needed.
I am immuno compromised so I want to take all precautions. I am alone here. It’s not bad now but I don’t feel up to phone calls, etc.
How to proceed? Is it early enough to rest and wait 12-24 hours or so before pursuing med tests, advice?
Sorry thus post is jumbled. My brain is a little worn out. I really just wa t to rest. Wish it wasn’t Saturday.
If I go to hospital/Dr’s office I have to get special med transport but not an ambulance.
I can smell and taste. Breathing slightly more difficult but not an issue.
Any advice? I might not be too timely answering because I want sleep. Thanks.
Any way a friend or family member could bring you a home rapid Covid test? At least let somebody know so they can periodically touch base with you til Monday. Even a neighbor who will exchange texts with you every 3-4 hours?
Watch your ease of breathing-Covid is sneaky. Don’t wait too long to go to urgent care or the ER if you get short of breath.
Go ahead and contact your HMO. They may not be of much help but they can at least schedule an appointment (that you can cancel later). Then try contacting your local health department and see if there are resources to assist people who are homebound or have transportation limitations. There may be programs to bring at-home (lateral flow) tests or even collect a sample for rtPCR testing. As @BippityBoppityBoo says, COVID-19 can easily sneak up on you and early interventions are critical to preventing hospitalization and quick recovery. Even if it is “just a flu” (influenza kills tens of thousands of people in the US every year, and being immunocompromised means that you are more vulnerable than the general population) you still want to take preventative issues and make provisions for medical assistance.
If you don’t have a pulse oximeter buy one; they are relatively inexpensive (you don’t need an FDA approved device just to alert you as to whether you are in a state of concern, but don’t rely on an Apple Watch or Fitbit to give accurate readings off the wrist) and will be a measurable indicator of whether you need to seek immediate medical aid. If you really feel respiratory distress (i.e. difficulty taking a breath) then call EMS immediately; respiratory illness can proceed with surprising speed, and with no one else to monitor your condition you need to be preemptive.
I recently went through having Covid. I second the suggestion of taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen, and I recommend doing it on a schedule. It had a remarkable effect on the achiness and general bad feeling in my whole body. Made me much more functional.
Definitely get tested ASAP. Monoclonal antibody treatment has to happen within 10 days of symptoms starting, and it can take time to get in. Also, my healthcare system required proof of Covid infection. I’d taken a rapid home test, but luckily I’d taken a picture of it, which they accepted.
If you can get to a drive-through testing site, those often have follow-up calls that can help with advice.
Also, it may not be Covid, which would also be important to know.
I also second the advice to line up some help. Someone to check in, see how you’re doing, and run an errand if you need it, etc.
It may feel overwhelming. Just do one thing at a time. Take some ibuprofen. Rest. Address getting tested. Rest. Line up help (maybe this needs to happen before the testing can happen?). Rest. Contact doctor, making sure to mention immunocompromised status, desire for monoclonal antibody treatment. Rest.
ETA: a pulse oximeter is useful, but you need to know how to use it and when to be concerned. I found this page to be very useful.
Cannot emphasize enough. Personally know two people who died because one tried to drive himself to the hospital in distress, and the other let her husband drive her. Don’t know exactly what happened to the one who tried to drive himself, because the car went off the road, but the other went into respiratory arrest in the car, something an EMT could have treated.
When the boychik was 4, he developed a case of croup, and was gasping for breath when we CALLED 911. They were there in 3 minutes, a lot faster then we could have gotten him to the nearest hospital, and they treated him for 10 minutes in the ambulance itself, with oxygen and inhaled steroids, getting his pulse-ox from 79 to 98, before transporting. He remained conscious the whole time.
If someone close to me were immunocompromised and told me they had chills and body aches, I would tell them to go to the ER. Why take a chance? But your hesitance is understandable if you are required to get special transport.
As others have said, definitely contact your HMO and see what they say. Try to score a rapid test if you can. Also you could enlist someone to do welfare checks via phone every couple hours, and monitor your own pulse ox and temperature. I really sympathize with medical stuff happening on Saturday, it’s the worst.
feel better, be watchful, get tested, don’t hesitate to call 911 for respiratory difficulties, and since you’re immunosuppressed you should still let your provider/coverage service know of your situation to get good orderly directions specific for your circumstances.
thanks. with my sister’s help i made an e-visit appt. with my doctor, i think there’s supposed to be a test in there somewhere but all they said was e-visit.
have e-visit tomorrow morning. also i’ll add that im not sure how immuno comprimised i am anymore since my last rituximab treatment was Feb. 2021. i quit taking it because of COVID and how it affects my immune system, much to my neurologists chagrin.