RandomBlue posted:

Just as I'm coming off my rebound COVID my wife is now getting her rebound. This poo poo is amazing, why wouldn't you want it twice a year forever?

poo poo does rebound already count as twice?

Bald Stalin posted:

Aussies older than 75 or with 'risk factors' are recommended to get another booster now if it's been > 6 months since last shot. Doesn't matter how many prior. It's not recommended if you don't have risk factors. Pretty sure you don't need a doctor's referral, just book and get jabbed.

I've had 5 shots total now, last was April, Pfizer ba.4-5. I don't think technically they think I have the risks. Should I just do it, get no. 6?

DickParasite posted:

Mrs. Parasite got her booster two weeks ago, despite falling into the "not recommended" category. They did not ask for a referral or anything, she just booked it and got it.

I got my booster back in late June before the advice changed. Personally I plan on getting a booster every six months or so until the Man makes it impossible or they come up with some pan-coronavirus super vax.

Bald Stalin posted:

Turns out I'm only a few bmi points away from qualifying anyway. Obesity ftw.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-45072-9 posted:

Abstract
After Covid-19 infection, 12.5% develops post-Covid-syndrome (PCS). Symptoms indicate numerous affected organ systems. After a year, chronic fatigue, dysautonomia and neurological and neuropsychiatric complaints predominate. In this study, 95 PCS patients were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This study used an exploratory questionnaire and found that two-thirds of patients had a reasonably good to strong response on SSRIs, over a quarter of patients had moderate response, while 10% reported no response. Overall, patients experienced substantial improved well-being. Brainfog and sensory overload decreased most, followed by chronic fatigue and dysautonomia. Outcomes were measured with three different measures that correlated strongly with each other. The response to SSRIs in PCS conditions was explained by seven possible neurobiological mechanisms based on recent literature on PCS integrated with already existing knowledge. Important for understanding these mechanisms is the underlying biochemical interaction between various neurotransmitter systems and parts of the immune system, and their dysregulation in PCS. The main link appears to be with the metabolic kynurenine pathway (KP) which interacts extensively with the immune system. The KP uses the same precursor as serotonin: tryptophan. The KP is overactive in PCS which maintains inflammation and which causes a lack of tryptophan. Finally, potential avenues for future research to advance this line of clinical research are discussed.
(..)

_{Open question outcomes: improvement as captured by the open question (n = 93).}
(..)

_{Improvement per complaint. Before (orange) and after (green) start of SSRI in violin plots per complaint. Dark segments indicate 50% of patients, while upper and lower light segments indicate the highest and lowest 25%, respectively. See x-axis label for symptom and number of patients (n = x) who scored that respective complaint.}
(..)

_{Bell scores. Bell scores before infection with Covid-19 and PCS, during PCS and after treatment with an SSRI in different violin plots (n = 80). The interval within which 50% of patients fall is represented by the darker areas, whereas interval within which the highest and the lowest 25% of patients fall is represented by the lighter areas.}
(..)
Non-responders
The 9 patients (9.5%, n = 95) with no response showed no difference in age, risk factors or PCS symptom pattern compared with the other groups. There was a difference in severity of infection with Covid-19: the group that did not improve with an SSRI seemed to have had worse initial symptoms than the other groups based on the open question about symptoms during the Covid-19 infection. Three of them were hospitalized because of severe pneumonia, double pulmonary embolism and thrombosis. Also, the 6 patients from the non-responders group who were not admitted described a more severe illness due to Covid-19 than the groups that did respond to an SSRI.
(..)

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20231105/SSRIs-show-promise-in-easing-post-COVID-struggles-Dutch-study-reveals.aspx posted:

(..)
As per the pretreatment score list, the patient-reported symptoms were as follows: brain fog (100%), fatigue (100%), sensory overload (98.7%), headache (90.9%), palpitations (88.3%), muscle weakness (85.7%), muscle pain and spasm (80.5%), post-exertional malaise (PEM, 100%), and dissociative symptoms (n=14). As per the post-treatment scores, SSRI treatment showed a reduction in symptoms, with a maximal reduction observed in brain fog, sensory overload, and PEM, while a minimal reduction was seen in muscle pain and weakness.
(..)

Pingui posted:

Very interesting study, as naturally utilizing SSRIs already tested for long term use, would make it much, much quicker to get therapeutics to patients. Now there are some notable caveats, chiefly that this group is selected to be most likely to respond to treatment. All of the participants suffered from neurological symptoms, there was no control group and a relatively small n, it should be noted that most did not return to baseline and there are some (~10%) non-responders, that the SSRIs were not uniform (but up to particpant's GP, with some recommendations) and of course that feeling better on an SSRI is not inherently indicative of a physiological fix (though the study suggests an effect beyond that). Finally there is a long-ish list of proposed mechanisms that I have not included here, as it is a bit esoteric, but it is pretty interested (just overly long).
"Treatment of 95 post-Covid patients with SSRIs"

News article on the matter (here highlighting the some of the peculiarity of the test cohort):
"SSRIs show promise in easing post-COVID struggles, Dutch study reveals"

All in all it is pretty good news and I quite like that it isn't testing a particular brand, but rather the category.

Oracle posted:

yeah there were a handful of early on about ADD meds helping both prevent and treat brain fog and serotonin reuptake was postulated as the reason why they were effective. Hell if I can find any now of course.

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

Went to go get a crown recemented today and ended up getting the tooth extracted for an implant. Now I get to worry for the next week about whether I got covid. oh boy

dew worm posted:

is there a thread recommended air purifier?

Oracle posted:

yeah there were a handful of early on about ADD meds helping both prevent and treat brain fog and serotonin reuptake was postulated as the reason why they were effective. Hell if I can find any now of course.

shazbot posted:

Coway Airmega 300 was the best bang for the buck when I researched it. though you’ll want to wait for a sale.

I know Winix makes a good one too, but not which model.

also if you have a HSA, that covers air purifiers.

Gunshow Poophole posted:

Levoit Core 3/400 are the smaller ones you want as well

dew worm posted:

Thank you...the levoit 300 seems like a good deal. My apt is only ~550 sq feet.

Teabag Dome Scandal posted:

Keep in mind the larger a unit you get the lower you can set the fan speed which will change how loud it is. Air purifiers CADR is usually based around the highest fan setting.

Pingui posted:

I do not play the roulette, no, and certainly my background is having an effect in my interpretation (numbers guy by education, inventor by trade), as the closest thing I do is patent writing. I suppose I am inherently biased to look for holes in "the argument" and have a particularly low tolerance for politicking around material reality

Either way thank you for the perspective, I can see the peer review process (particularly with something so politically polarized) can result in the self-censoring narrowing conclusions to only the statistics. Even if I don't think that is good science or ethical when dealing with something so directly affecting maimings and deaths as "does Paxlovid help".

Sorry for your plight, I hope this doesn't come of as disparaging towards you and your efforts :/

Bruce Hussein Daddy posted:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-06/us-retiree-surplus-is-still-near-two-million-years-after-covid#xj4y7vzkg posted:

US Retiree Surplus Is Still Near Two Million, Years After Covid

• Great Retirement narrative continues despite Covid fading
  
• Labor force participation rate for over-65s remains lower

More than three-and-a-half years after Covid struck, the US still has around 2 million more retirees than predicted, in one of the most striking and enduring changes to the nation’s labor force.

The so-called Great Retirement induced by Covid-19 is evident in the divergence between the actual number of retirees and that predicted by a Federal Reserve economic model. While down from a 2.8 million gap late last year, it remains elevated today and has even risen from 1.7 million in June.

“While the gap seemed to be closing earlier in the year, it seems to have widened slightly since then,” said Miguel Faria-e-Castro, economic policy adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “As of September, we estimate about 1.98 million excess retirees.

(..)

Pingui posted:

Huh that's weird, wonder what happened.

Archived link: https://archive.li/Bb1By

Platystemon posted:

https://twitter.com/ProtonInspector/status/1721494991783219656

shazbot posted:

[Pestilence] NOBODY CARES

shazbot posted:

[Pestilence] NOBODY CARES

Pelican Dunderhead posted:

I got pharma-splained about how I wasn’t allowed to get my follow up shingles vaccine last Friday despite the pharmacy having an order from my doctor telling them to give it to me from my first dose. Very cool!!

I was three steps from the door out of there when they called me back and sheepishly said “How was I supposed to know you were immune compromised???” when it was one of the things I first said to them when I showed up for my (scheduled) appointment.

Rescue Toaster posted:

I don't get it. Shingrix is always two doses, and you presumably shouldn't be getting Zostavax if you're immunocompromised.

tangy yet delightful posted:

I was at the grocery store today, both of the other checkout spots in line with me also had masked customers checking out. It would have brought a tear to my eye but I wouldn't risk a tear rolling down onto my mask and compromising the integrity.

Rescue Toaster posted:

I don't get it. Shingrix is always two doses, and you presumably shouldn't be getting Zostavax if you're immunocompromised.

Baddog posted:

Everyone is confused these days. Just milling around bumping into each other like a bunch of chickens.

I'm guesssing pelican is under 50, but I dunno why they would gatekeep shot 2 of 2.

shazbot posted:

they had Covid op