This isn’t specifically AF related but with our increased risk of strokes (and having seen the impact of strokes on family and friends) I like to keep an eye on any anything of interest in the media.
It seems some young, fit healthy people are having strokes after being infected with COVID19 and perhaps aren’t seeking treatment as early as they should.
washingtonpost.com/health/2...
Stay safe everyone.
Interesting, heard on tv that there putting patients on there stomachs now, instead of ventilators !
Hadn’t heard of it causing strokes & here they think it’s a joke
It seems many just hear “80% of cases are mild and most of the serious cases are in the elderly and those with underlying health issues” and think if they get it they’ll be alright. Sadly some won’t.
The report about COVID causing multiple thrombosis came from US doctors. People only hear what they want to hear and don’t want to change their behaviours so rebel. As my sister commented on a report from behaviours occurring in the US - can’t fix stupid - she does like to fix people and especially very sick people.
In the UK we are trying to figure out why this virus seems to be killing proportionally more people from black, Asian and immigrant populations. Our NHS is staffed with a very high proportion of workers from these communities but no-one has yet come up with a theory as to how come?
Hope you and your family stay well.
Thanks CD. We are doing fairly well in Australia, particularly in Western Australia where I live. Across our State we now only have 55 active cases (we have had 549 confirmed cases and 8 deaths), 20 people are being treated in hospital and 4 are in intensive care. Almost all cases here are associated with overseas travel and cruise ships. We don’t have a broad community spread. We watch in horror what is happening in the UK, Europe and US.
We have had excellent leadership at Federal and State levels and it’s good to see people from all sides of politics working so well together. Our restrictions are being eased a little tomorrow and we’ll be able to have up to 10 people inside or outside but social distancing rules still apply. This means we can see extended family which is good. The rules had been that only one visitor was allowed at your house. We need to keep an close eye on things to ensure there isn’t a second wave.
Our borders are closed - national and state and we even have regional border closures within our state I think it will be a long time before we will have overseas visitors or will be able to travel overseas again. New Zealand is doing well so that will probably be the first country borders will be open to.
I have not left my property for 5 weeks now. I was told that my husband & I need to sleep in separate rooms and use different bathrooms. Everything that arrives at the house is delivered via the garage which is our quarantine area where everything is swabbed down. Letters are left for 3 days. All shopping is delivered.
I think you are right to be horrified by what is happening in Europe & US and hopefully you will avoid the worst of it all by learning from our mistakes. Ireland is faring much better - probably because they locked down much earlier in the process but the people are getting ‘frayed’ as they put it and want life to get back to ‘normal’. It may be a very different norm though.
I read about the racial profiling. We watched a news report from the US and they were saying the same thing. The youngest person to die here was a 42 yo cruise ship crew member from the Philippines.
Babies, children and teenagers here. Some very difficult decisions to make for some very young people who are never going to get off ventilators - the ICU teams are so at their limits.
Literally a horrendous title but a rather inspiring interview medscape.com/viewarticle/92...
There was a paper published a few days ago on Medscape about COVID causing multiple thrombosis in young patients - hence the strokes. It seems that the disease attacks the lungs and the circulation so hopefully, being on anticoagulation will offer some protection. Who knows, not enough is known yet.
In the 2 UK hospital UCI units where my sister and a friend work, are mostly full of young patients some of whom have been on respirators for many weeks now and are not thought to recover but in one the whole hospital is now basically a COVID centre as every ward but 2 in 900 bed hospital are full of patients with COVID. They are now proning (putting people on the stomachs) everyone with lung damage in an attempt to improve O2 saturation however many people find it very difficult to tolerate for any length of time but it is the very best chance of improving O2 saturation.
I do wish they would make a lot more about those who recover and tell us those figures, not just the death figures but I guess they aren’t counting. I now know personally of 5 people, mostly family members who have all had the virus, several have been seriously ill for a few weeks but not required hospitalisation thankfully, one who is over 70 and in permanent AF and is now back to health and exercising daily. All the people I know who have had the illness where very healthy and very fit. The youngest was my 9 year old grandson who had only very mild symptoms at the very start of the spread of the disease but that is not to say health, fitness and youth is any protection against the ravages this disease can cause.
Nugger - this is NO JOKE! It’s heartbreak and worry and people being exhausted from working 12+ hour shifts in protective equipment which is so tight and uncomfortable that it causes pain. There are people here who are very scared.
May you all stay safe inside and keep well.
I'm not sure that a history of taking anticoagulants would help. The problem lies with inflammation affecting the alveoli and fluid collecting in the lungs. It has been suggested that having had the pneumococcal vaccine might be a preventative, but pneumococcal is a bacterial infection. Bring treated with antibiotics for pneumonia when the problem is inflammation in the lungs does not work; been there and it caused some young clinicians consternation, fortunately experienced respiratory specialists were on hand and that's why I'm still here 
I think it is the phenomenon of blood clotting in some COVID patients I was thinking of, not of lung damage which I agree is about acute inflammation & scarring.
It's been suggested that blood clots could be due to damaged platelets in the COVID-19 auto-immune second stage.
In 2016 before I was thrombolysed, being told that it could cause me to become blind. That's about the same choice as signing the surgical consent form when I had peritonitis!
John
The ‘underlying health conditions’ being spoken about includes obesity. It appears to me that apart from the elderly, who naturally would be weaker in general with weaker organ function and immunity, it is affecting the very big people. I say this as my next door neighbour is a funeral director and he said almost without exception, every body they collect is an extra big one.
Pat
Yes I’d heard that too - and some of the early reports out of Italy said that those with a higher BMI seemed to be at a higher risk. Another reason to make sure we look after ourselves.
A recent programme mentioned that the severe phase of Covid-19 causes an auto-immune response; this includes damage to platelets, inflammation and is thought to have an effect on the brain. SpO2 will drop once oxygen is not diffusing properly. The "knee" for SpO2 is about 90% in an adult and then SpO2 drops rapidly. During pulmonary toxicity I was taken into hospital at 76% SpO2 and decreasing. I wonder if that low level had an effect, as after I recovered - that took a year - I had a stroke despite being a cardio gym bunny. There will be much that we've yet to discover with Covid-19, including whether the severity is linked to genes, ethnicity, and obesity.
Yes, it’s still early days and we’ll see lots of research coming out as they discover more and more about this horrid disease.
I am taking my O2 sats daily along with temperature, even when in quarantine because of auto immune & chronic inflammatory issues. Currently have shingles so am taking antiviral meds. We are hearing a lot more about people presenting late to hospital for treatment because they don’t notice O2,says decreasing.
Higher Incidence of Ischemic Stroke in Patients Taking NOACs
Interesting Article (please read)
Stroke Risk in or out of AF
