[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Glad you and you companions are ok now. No paranoia, but taking care and proper precautions to prevent spread to others. Also no overloading hospitals when symptoms are only mild.

Thank you Sir, yes, we are all doing fine now. Going to the hospital was never contemplated and I am glad, that was not required as well. This entire saga also sort of vindicated a number of notions that I had till now. Hopefully, people get to realise that being unnecessarily fearful is only creating havoc in the daily lives and nothing else and that wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distancing where possible is the only way to fight the virus.

Also, yesterday 80k people tested positive for the virus making it the highest number of cases till date for a single day in India. I wonder what would be the number if people like me are also counted

Originally Posted by Thanos-VV

Just one lingering doubt I have is about how to ensure you all are covid negative now. Did you all take tests after recovering to make sure you all are negative?

We did not take any tests. Just as we knew that we have contracted the virus when symptoms started appearing and the source tested positive, the gradual disappearance of symptoms and getting to complete normalcy also indicated that we have become negative. We all except me took almost fifteen days of home quarantine and by then, every one had returned to their full fitness.

We talked to the doctors as well and they also gave the go ahead to return to normalcy. The ICMR guidelines also suggest a period of fourteen days quarantine before returning to normal lives. We maintained the guidelines and thankfully we all are doing okay.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Hi everyone.

On the Sunday evening, I had mild fever (99°F) after a half an hour trip on the scooter wearing rain jacket amidst the rains. No cold shiver. I took steam and a Crocin. Was in the bed early but fell asleep by 1 am and got up at 8 am.

The temperature was normal on Monday morning but I took rest. In the afternoon, I went out for 15 minutes to purchase medicines.

Took steam at 9 pm on Monday and the fever started again. This time, it is 101°F. Took Crocin at 10 pm. But even at 3am, the thermometer shows 101°F.

Since the beginning of this episode, my nose is running. No gum, just plain water, flowing easily, every half an hour or so.

I am relaxed, free of worry, but unable to fall asleep due to burning sensation on the forehead and the toes.

Request your suggestions for a proper recovery.

For your information, I am an engineer, age 48, into business, work from home and go out minimum (except for daily chores, infrequently). Wife runs a garment shop. Kids too don't go out of the society. Recently, a guest (F67) arrived to stay with us from Ahmednagar, where the Coronavirus is in full swing. I have isolated myself now as a precaution.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

For your information, I am an engineer, age 48, into business, work from home and go out minimum (except for daily chores, infrequently). Wife runs a garment shop. Kids too don't go out of the society. Recently, a guest (F67) arrived to stay with us from Ahmednagar, where the Coronavirus is in full swing. I have isolated myself now as a precaution.

Am not a doctor , but here is my view.

The fever is definitely not because of you getting drenched in rain. Fever is symptom of infection that you may have contracted a few more days ago. And considering present situation, it is safer to assume it is covid than to be sorry later. Most importantly , please keep monitoring your SpO2 levels atleast thrice a day and if , it reaches 93-94 levels, don't hesitate, rush to a hospital.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

I am relaxed, free of worry, but unable to fall asleep due to burning sensation on the forehead and the toes.

Is this what I've heard of called Covid toes?

Anyway, wishing you well soon.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Is this what I've heard of called Covid toes?

Anyway, wishing you well soon.

Thanks for your wishes.

A quick Google query reveals that the Covid toes are about inflammation, red sores and lesions. Fortunately, I have none of these. The toes only had a burning sensation.

The toes stopped burning since morning. The fever has also vanished.

It looks that the steam inhalation triggered the fever. I had inhaled the steam and also took it externally on my throat. On both the nights, the fever immediately followed the steam inhalation. This was the first time in life, I took steam, so now I have decided to avoid steam.

The Crocin was taken on the advice of the family physician. It did help on bringing down the fever.

The head is still heavy and burning a little. Primarily due to lack of sleep. The toes aren't burning any more. Nose continue to run every half an hour and there is occasional sneezing.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

It looks that the steam inhalation triggered the fever. I had inhaled the steam and also took it externally on my throat. On both the nights, the fever immediately followed the steam inhalation. This was the first time in life, I took steam, so now I have decided to avoid steam.

Just as walking in the rain doesn't not give you fever, nor does steam inhalation. It really does take infection to do that.

(There are other causes: a doc could probably list stuff I've never thought of, but, eg traumatic injury is one. For practical purposes, think microbes and forget the stuff our grandparents used to say)

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by deetee

The fever is definitely not because of you getting drenched in rain. Fever is symptom of infection that you may have contracted a few more days ago. And considering present situation, it is safer to assume it is covid than to be sorry later. Most importantly , please keep monitoring your SpO2 levels atleast thrice a day and if , it reaches 93-94 levels, don't hesitate, rush to a hospital.

I monitor my SpO2 several times daily. I have also read about getting worried if it drops below 95. However mine has dropped as low as 88 from time to time and didn’t seem to cause any effects and it went back up to 95 to 98 after a day or so. I don’t think SpO2 in the 90s needs one to rush to the hospital unless one has other symptoms like serious difficulty in breathing. Also it depends on the person’s baseline. Some people are around 98 when normal while others might be 94 at normal. So a person from 98 dropping to 92 might be a bit of a worry but a person with a baseline of 94 going to 92 is less drastic of a change. One can’t trust those portable devices to be that accurate anyway. I take it as a general measurement with a possible error of plus or minus 5 to 10 in either direction.

[Fordlover88]

Originally Posted by Thanos-VV

Just one lingering doubt I have is about how to ensure you all are covid negative now. Did you all take tests after recovering to make sure you all are negative?

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

we did not take any tests. Just as we knew that we have contracted the virus when symptoms started appearing and the source tested positive, the gradual disappearance of symptoms and getting to complete normalcy also indicated that we have become negative. We all except me took almost fifteen days of home quarantine and by then, every one had returned to their full fitness.

We talked to the doctors as well and they also gave the go ahead to return to normalcy. The ICMR guidelines also suggest a period of fourteen days quarantine before returning to normal lives.

Post quarantine tests are not necessary as per ICMR guidelines if there are no prevailing symptoms. Post quarantine test results can be misleading at times because of dead corona cells in our body. Our doctor also advised against test after quarantine. But it was required to join office in my case. So i got it done after a period of one month since contacting the virus and thankfully it came negative.

Glad to know you all overcame corona in high spirits @ABHI_1512.

[cs_rajesh]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

One can’t trust those portable devices to be that accurate anyway. I take it as a general measurement with a possible error of plus or minus 5 to 10 in either direction.

I too use the SPO2 meter often at my home and measure all my family members oxygen rating and I observe what you say. Also different meters seem to show different readings when used to measure one after another. What I also noticed peculiarly that the meter shows high rating on some fingers and low rating on others. My left hand fingers seem to show higher oxygen rating than my right hand fingers. Can’t trust these meters.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

I too use the SPO2 meter often at my home and measure all my family members oxygen rating and I observe what you say. Also different meters seem to show different readings when used to measure one after another. What I also noticed peculiarly that the meter shows high rating on some fingers and low rating on others. My left hand fingers seem to show higher oxygen rating than my right hand fingers. Can’t trust these meters.

A couple of girls from Municipal health department brought IR thermometers and pulse oxygen meters to our apartment complex two months ago. It showed 97 for my wife, 94 for me and 92 for my son. They said all of us are fine and went off!

Either the meter was off by a wide margin, or they goofed up while testing. We were standing, they fitted the meter on the index finger and told us to hang the hand down.

It seems to be somewhat like the digital home BP tester. Whenever I self test it shows such nice readings of below 120/80, I am tempted to stop BP medication! But better sense prevails, and when the doctor tests with his usual instrument the readings are more like 130/90.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

I monitor my SpO2 several times daily. I have also read about getting worried if it drops below 95.

I can tell you one thing from my experience, please don’t fall for this chore of checking the oxygen saturation level daily. Instead of solving something, this constant checking creates doubts more than anything and that can be easily avoided.

I was clear when dealing with the virus that unless and until you have some kind of breathing difficulty, there was no need to monitor the oxygen levels. Few friends though did use it and after getting conflicting results, stopped doing that and never used them again.

If you have not contracted the virus, then I would suggest you to not get worried. Pardon me but I have suggested the above not considering your age and not knowing your medical condition.

Originally Posted by Fordlover88

Post quarantine tests are not necessary as per ICMR guidelines if there are no prevailing symptoms.

Glad to know you all overcame corona in high spirits @ABHI_1512.

Thanks Fordlover88, your experience also helped though unlike you I did not check my saturation levels

Jokes apart, the way you handled the situation was praiseworthy and I hope you all are now doing well and creating memories with your new born. Hope to see you sometime soon.

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

I too use the SPO2 meter often at my home and measure all my family members oxygen rating and I observe what you say.

Again, the same thing that I said above, if present medical condition of you and your family members doesn’t warrant the use of oximeters then I suggest you all to not worry about the readings at all. The readings are very vague and this notion that you need to be very alarmed if the readings go below 95 is also misleading. A healthy person with no ailment can have fluctuating figures ranging from even 88-98 and which creates the panic. Please don’t be alarmed with oximeter readings is what I can say.

[BLACKRiVAL]

Also while checking with a pulse oximeter keep a tab on the PI% indicator which usually is between the spo2 and pulse readings. PI stands for perfusion index and it measure the amount of blood flow in the finger. Number above 3% usually indicate accurate spo2 readings. Greater the PI% greater the accuracy.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Just as walking in the rain doesn't not give you fever, nor does steam inhalation. It really does take infection to do that.

(There are other causes: a doc could probably list stuff I've never thought of, but, eg traumatic injury is one. For practical purposes, think microbes and forget the stuff our grandparents used to say)

Yes, I too read that the steam inhalation shall not cause the fever. But on both the evenings, I noticed that the fever built up as soon as I took steam. In around 15 -20 minutes. So decided to do away with steam. And no fever since then.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Yes, I too read that the steam inhalation shall not cause the fever. But on both the evenings, I noticed that the fever built up as soon as I took steam. In around 15 -20 minutes. So decided to do away with steam. And no fever since then.

I think that what you have there is two anecdotes, which the technical people will tell you is not the same as data . It is most likely to be coincidence. But I was thinking about your post, and wondered, "if he already had some problem with the lung, and the steam irritated it, increasing inflation, that might affect body temperature."

I'm just throwing ideas around, certainly not propounding science here!

As for pulse oximeters, I learnt before getting one that one has to establish one's own normal. My normal is 95 (range approx 93-97 since using it) my wife's is 97 (once hit 100!). And yes, it is going to vary from person to person in a family. We are not the same.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But I was thinking about your post, and wondered, "if he already had some problem with the lung, and the steam irritated it, increasing inflation, that might affect body temperature."

I appreciate your quest to think about the possible mechanism behind my believed correlation between steam and fever. This gives me a clue to think as follows:

The steam does not reach the lungs. What enters the nose is air - steam mixture (in other words, the hot and very moist air).

As soon as it enters the nose, part of the moisture would start condensing on the interior surfaces, passing heat to those surfaces. What passes further is the moist air at around body temperature.

The respiratory mucosa (the membrane lining the respiratory tract) would absorb the excess moisture in this air before it reaches the lungs.

So, it may be possible that the irritation - inflammation causing feverish reaponse is happening in the nostril.

And another logical point you had raised was: Fever is not just because of steam, it indicates presence of some kind of infection.

Will consult the family physician regarding these.

Thanks a lot.