Is Covid a death sentence?

[glenmick]

I had a stent inserted into my 90-percent blocked LAD in 2012 then, five years later, a had chest pain followed by a triple bypass. Ever since Covid reared its ugly head, I have been terrified about getting it based on heart disease being the number one risk factor for bad outcomes. Am I justified? Has anyone with heart disease had Covid, and what was the experience like?

[may_ohiri]

No, Covid is not a death sentence. One of the widely held beliefs about the novel epidemic especially when it was first detected is that there is no way of recovering from it, and that infected people need to die. However, this is a myth that is far from the truth.

According to statistics, about 98.2% of people known to be infected by covid in the United States are able to recover from the disease. This proves that there is a high chance of recovering from Covid with proper medication and seeking medical attention. However, an individual probability of surviving the disease depends on their age, their underlying health condition, and whether they have been vaccinated or not.

While there is no specific treatment for the disease, there are some drugs that are capable of helping in speeding up the recovery rate and helping in getting rid of some symptoms. The following are some of the things you should consider practicing to speed up your recovery:

Eat healthy food: Eating foods that are rich in vitamins and other essential nutrients is advisable as this will help in strengthening your immune system to help in combating the disease, thereby speeding up your healing process. It is also important to avoid the intake of sugary and highly processed foods such as cookies and soda.
Drink a lot of water: To ensure that your body always stays hydrated, it is important to increase your intake of liquids, especially water, as this will play a very vital role in your healing process and help in combating some of the Covid symptoms.
Rest: It is also important to ensure that you are having enough rest as this will help in making you feel better while also boosting your immune system for a speedy recovery.
Although Covid disease is capable of isolating you from your loved ones, it is not a death sentence and there is a high probability of recovering from it. However, it is important to seek medical attention if your case is worsening.

[ginger899]

No it's not a death sentence! I got Covid in early 2020. The original version before all the mutations. I was 66 years old when I got it and I suffer from migraine and IBS with some heart arrythmias. None of those conditions are life threatening though, I admit. But basically I wasn't feeling too great before I got Covid. I got an intense feeling of being unwell at first (slight nausea. loss of appetite, body temperature all over the place, shakiness, weakness, tight chest, and a dry cough)
My fever came down by the fourth day. I got my appetite back and enjoyed my food. I was still a bit weak for a week or two but that was all. The cough went away in about 8-9 days. I suddenly woke up without it. I have done some smoking in my life too. But my lungs seemed ok.
My gut was much better while I had Covid! (go figure!) And for 6 weeks after.
I noticed my immune system doing a splendid job.
The only one lingering thing I gor was some heart palpitations. But I haven't let them stop me in my tracks. The doctor said all is okay and it;s not much to worry about. I go about my life quite normally, eat amd sleep well,  and exercise daily.  I am now nearly 70.

Please try not to be terrified of Covid. I honestly have had bad colds and flu bugs worse than that in the past, and which have lasted longer. Seek medical help if you cannot get your breath at all, and your lips look a bit blue-tinged (you may need oxygen) Any other worrying symptoms, get some medical advice.

[AnnieBrooke]

Regarding the lips looking a bit blue-tinged, rather than waiting for that sign and worrying if you get sick, for one thing, have some Covid tests on hand (our local store stocks them right at the checkstand, $8.95 a pop, you do it at home and it isn't painful like the early days when they would stick a swab way, way up your nasal passage). That way if you get a mystery sore throat, you can simply test. (A sore throat is no fun whether it comes from a cold, the flu or Covid, but at least you'd be able to immediately rule Covid out.)

Also, the thing that kept us from being ultra frightened during the early days of the pandemic when there was no vaccine, was that we bought a pulse oximeter. It's that little item they clamp onto your finger when you have a checkup, it measures the amount of oxygen in your blood. (If you're a heart patient, you might already have one.) They are little, uncomplicated and quite reasonably priced for a medical instrument, I think we got ours for about $25 on Amazon -- you can also buy them at drugstores. Any time any of us got sick in the first year of Covid, we'd check our oxygen levels and be reassured. It was really great to have.

We also still mask up in crowds. I'll probably be doing that for the rest of my life, unless some day the pandemic is "officially" over or they say the virus has mutated down so much that it isn't more dangerous than a cold.  This is especially true because I'm high risk due to being -ahem- "older. That vulnerability isn't going to change. :-)

[mkh9]

FYI,
They also have some antibody based treatments, especially for immunocompromised..
mkh9

[mkh9]

The link is www.FDA org
mkh9

[specialmom]

No, it is not a death sentence. I had hypertension when I got covid the first time prior to any vaccine. I was really afraid. I wasn't yet treated by medication for the high blood pressure and the anxiety was fierce. I was the sickest in my family, down and out for 12 days. I learned a lot about covid at that time. MOST people recover just fine. The illness starts and everyone is typically similar with it for the first five days. And at THAT point, your situation will go one way or the other. Between days 5 and 10, you will either begin to peter out or you will develop more serious issues. The tricky part of covid is that you can't completely predict who will have the more serious cases. Again, this is prior to where we are at now. What I also learned is that your overall health is also helpful to consider. If you have heart disease, do you treat it? That makes you LESS likely to have a bad outcome. For example, I now take medication for my hypertension so my blood pressure is that of an average person. Am I still high risk? Not as much. I also  know packing on extra pounds seems to be associated with worse outcomes, so I work on better weight management. My point is, we do have SOME control. We can work on our health issues, our weight, if we smoke, we are always more prone to respiratory complications but that's a lifestyle choice. We could change that dynamic if we felt it necessary.

We also now have vaccines. I'm fully vaccinated with boosters and all. I've had covid since the first early time. It was much less severe. The strains are following the typical viral pattern of lessening in their intensity. This year it is a really big year to be vaccinated with issues with flu being bad (and we can vaccinate against that as well) and a strangely high instance of more difficult to treat RSV hitting different populations of people. (masking was good but took a hit on overall immunity in the public which is now posing problems).

So, between treating your heart condition and vaccinating as well as the way covid strains are now presenting, I would not at all picture having heart disease as a death sentence.