2022-23 Flu/covid/RSV season

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I'm honestly being way more paranoid about avoiding contact with all these disease ridden humans than I was for most of Covid... trying to avoid leaving the house where possible (not that you'd want to anyway with this weather).

I would really be okay with a culture of shame for people being outside in public while sick. If you're walking around coughing and wiping your nose everywhere you should feel it - everyone watching you, avoiding you, wondering what was so important that you couldn't stay home and not put other people at risk of being as miserable as you are... I'm for this. I do have this slight nagging voice telling me "well, some people will starve if they take days off work when they're sick", but I've managed to ignore it so far.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I'm honestly being way more paranoid about avoiding contact with all these disease ridden humans than I was for most of Covid... trying to avoid leaving the house where possible (not that you'd want to anyway with this weather).

I would really be okay with a culture of shame for people being outside in public while sick. If you're walking around coughing and wiping your nose everywhere you should feel it - everyone watching you, avoiding you, wondering what was so important that you couldn't stay home and not put other people at risk of being as miserable as you are... I'm for this. I do have this slight nagging voice telling me "well, some people will starve if they take days off work when they're sick", but I've managed to ignore it so far.

Me too! Im heading on a two week vacation next week. Working from home as much as possible, using hand sanitizer. I plan on wearing a mask in the airport.

I don't want to get sick before/on my trip

[Scornfire]

Yaaaa I'll be wearing my mask at the airport again I think

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yeah, I'm wearing a mask indoors, other than when in my office. I wonder if we did a poll here for whether the mask mandate should be re-instituted for the winter, what the results would be... I'd honestly be in favour of it. That and mandated winter tires.

Apparently I am for mandates for things I'm going to do anyway.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Yeah, I'm wearing a mask indoors, other than when in my office. I wonder if we did a poll here for whether the mask mandate should be re-instituted for the winter, what the results would be... I'd honestly be in favour of it. That and mandated winter tires.

Apparently I am for mandates for things I'm going to do anyway.

What about your freedumbs?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I feel considerably more free when I don't have a fever and can, you know, breathe.

[Fuzz]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590416343202861056

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590352245711065088

Well if we are looknig to cut health care costs...side effect, save lives.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590395255199006722

Public support for it.

[_Q_]

I think I, along with my wife and two kids have RSV.

This has been way worse for us than COVID was a few months ago.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I think I, along with my wife and two kids have RSV.

This has been way worse for us than COVID was a few months ago.

I don’t know what it is we all have, but it just wont freaking go away with the kids. They have had 101-102 range fevers since Friday. Responds well to advil and they are back to normal range, but only goes down moderately with tylenol. Too bad neither (children’s) is available at a single store in the city.

[Ironhorse]

Had Covid 8 weeks ago, and now RSV is setting in (son is already sick with it. FML.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590416343202861056

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590352245711065088

Well if we are looknig to cut health care costs...side effect, save lives.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1590395255199006722

Public support for it.

And our Premier is going the exact opposite direction.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy14

My wife came down with a cold a month ago, always tested negative for COVID. She is still coughing a month later, seems to be very stubborn.

I, being an advanced superhuman, have gone unaffected.

Wives can be like that. I wouldn't share that with her, though.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Russic

There's a book by a guy who basically followed Wim Hof around for a year or so (What Doesn't Kill Us), and it's quite good. Basically the guy does all the Wim Hof stuff like running up mountains of snow and ice in his underwear and swimming in freezing water. He ends with his fair share of skeptical takeaways, so it's not a glowing review across the board. One thing of note though is that Wim and several people he's trained in his method to undergo a procedure that is supposed to give them a reaction (cold or flu symptoms), and a statistically significant percentage of them do not get the reaction.

Scientifically things fall apart a bit when we deal with sample sizes that low and we use people who are evangelists of his method (the pharmacy of the mind is insane), but you wouldn't be crazy for concluding that when it comes to cold exposure and our immune response, there's probably something there.

Wim Hof's theory is that his method allows him to control his body temperature up and down easily like a thermostat. I think he claimed that at one point, all humanity had the ability to do this and do it significantly more than we have done so far. I guess to a certain extent it's possible. Clothing wasn't as good and dwellings not as insulative + less effective heating options and humans survived in the same areas... just not in the same survival rates.

I think some of the theory is that by doing this, the temperatures are going high enough to kill the germs, but not doing so in an uncontrolled way like a high fever. But also because he can sort of control this and do it more on the regular, I guess this is more effective than occasionally going up in temperature (ie: When we get sick) because the concept is a little closer to pasteurization (quick heat, then rapid cooling)? We know people can acclimatize to require less or more clothing, but typically it takes a while for someone to do that when they move from the equator to Canada per se (or vice versa). Wim is (pardon the pun) teaching people to do it on a whim.

I don't know if the science is correct, but I did tinker with his stuff for a bit and I did find that there were benefits. I agree though that it is possible the effects are not the reasons he is claiming. That being said, I was tinkering more with his rapid breathing technique stuff as a change of pace to Pranayama. It was a personal goal of mine to hold my breath over a minute and at least 30 seconds on the regular and I achieved it practicing with his app. This was especially useful during the pandemic when I wanted to avoid people who were in stores and hacking up a storm.

I tried the cold exposure stuff and I did feel a bit different. It's well known that many people do cold showers to kick off their day and they often claim to have that extra energy boost. These people aren't doing the Wim Hof method, but their anecdotes corroborates the claim there are health benefits to cold exposure... just not the immune system one.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Had Covid 8 weeks ago, and now RSV is setting in (son is already sick with it. FML.

After getting Covid in July, I don't think my entire family has been healthy simultaneously since then. Always some mild to moderate cold, flu, cough, random fever, sore throat, vomiting etc. Every few weeks it seems like we're going through another cycle of cold/flu that needs a bit more of a militant approach to get rid of. Whatever is in the air right now for colds/flu/pneumonia, it's crazy to say, but I think if you get it, the chances of it being worse than Covid aren't negligible. Our bodies have forgotten how to combat it effectively.

Fingers crossed, our family is doing OK right now. Quite a few of my friends and their kids are getting absolutely wrecked right now. I'd known that there was a pneumonia sort of thing going around this summer, but I didn't expect it would amplify to a super trifecta of Covid/Flu/RSV for the winter. My day home recommended getting lighter cloth gaiters for the kids to keep their neck warm and then use the fleece+ for when they're outside. It seems to have helped. I also started wearing gaiters/fleece neck warmers while I sleep and I find I'm more comfortable and I rarely wake up in the morning with that early morning scratchy throat. If this efficacy keeps up... I might have to consider turtle necks as part of my regular winter wardrobe to keep my body warm and not as likely to get sick.

I'm currently masking up on the regular now but usually I am using those comfy spandex cloth masks. I'm also telling those around me that if medical masks and 94/95 type masks are uncomfortable and hard to breathe with, comfy cloth masks or gaiters are worth considering. I'd rather people use lower efficacy but comfy stretchy cloth masks to catch throat clearing and the occasional sneeze than completely not wear a mask because they don't like the higher efficacy ones.

In my office, half took up cloth masks, a quarter use medical+ and the remaining don't use masks/only use them if an outsider shows up. We started in October when we were taking turns getting ravaged by horrific colds/flu. We're all decently healthy right now, but not taking chances of getting hit again.

[Fuzz]

https://shop.vitacore.ca/collections...s/can95e-black

These are pretty good comfy masks. Not as good as a full head strap, but easier to take on and off, and I find they seal well.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

I don’t know what it is we all have, but it just wont freaking go away with the kids. They have had 101-102 range fevers since Friday. Responds well to advil and they are back to normal range, but only goes down moderately with tylenol. Too bad neither (children’s) is available at a single store in the city.

Information for everyone:

Pediatric ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are shorted in Canada so dosing for children's Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil/Motrin (Ibuprofen):



Acetaminophen: 15mg/kg every 4 to 6 hours (max 1000mg per dose for anyone 67kg and over and max 3000mg/24hrs). Regular strength tablets are 325mg and extra strength are 500mg

Example: 44lb child (20kg) can take 300mg of acetaminophen per dose every 4-6 hours. Half of an extra strength tablet is 250mg so that would work crushed up on a spoonful of yogurt or apple sauce if they can't swallow a tablet



Ibuprofen: 5-10mg/kg every 6 to 8 hours (max 400mg for anyone 40kg or larger and max 600-800mg per 24hrs). Regular strength tablets are 200mg and extra strength are 400mg

Example: 44lb child (20kg) can take 200mg of ibuprofen n per dose every 6-8 hours. A regular strength tablet is 200mg so that would work crushed up on a spoonful of yogurt or apple sauce if they can't swallow a tablet

[Old Yeller]

We actually got children's liquid advil at Superstore yesterday so some stock is available... That being said Safeway pharmacy shelves looked like something out of the Soviet union.

As someone else mentioned in the thread, compounding pharmacies should be able to mix something up as well.

[sa226]

Between the formula shortage and the infant medicine shortage, its a rough time to be a baby these days.

Trudeau hates babies.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Information for everyone:

Pediatric ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are shorted in Canada so dosing for children's Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil/Motrin (Ibuprofen):



Acetaminophen: 15mg/kg every 4 to 6 hours (max 1000mg per dose for anyone 67kg and over and max 3000mg/24hrs). Regular strength tablets are 325mg and extra strength are 500mg

Example: 44lb child (20kg) can take 300mg of acetaminophen per dose every 4-6 hours. Half of an extra strength tablet is 250mg so that would work crushed up on a spoonful of yogurt or apple sauce if they can't swallow a tablet



Ibuprofen: 5-10mg/kg every 6 to 8 hours (max 400mg for anyone 40kg or larger and max 600-800mg per 24hrs). Regular strength tablets are 200mg and extra strength are 400mg

Example: 44lb child (20kg) can take 200mg of ibuprofen n per dose every 6-8 hours. A regular strength tablet is 200mg so that would work crushed up on a spoonful of yogurt or apple sauce if they can't swallow a tablet

Just to add to this, kids under 6 months shouldn't take ibuprofen.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Just to add to this, kids under 6 months shouldn't take ibuprofen.

Correct. Thank you.