Skip to main content

Breathing Easier

Dr. Google once again came to my rescue. The physician's assistant I saw last week asked if I had shortness of breath and I said no--because it wasn't any worse with my cold. And my oxygen was 96, which looks like the low end of normal. But I was short of breath with any exertion.

Dr. Google said to take iron if you wanted more oxygen. I doubled up on my iron pills and voila--it's better. This in spite of a normal iron test a few months ago. Between that and the antibiotics, I felt well enough today to make pizza and put up some hangers in the garage. I even thought that I'd pack the pizza to work for lunch, but I'm still coughing a little and have to stay home until I've been symptom free for three days. At least, I think so. That was what a nurse said when I didn't know whether I had COVID.

Indiana has had a mixed bag of COVID rates--several counties have not had any deaths; Decatur County (where I had my test) has one of the highest death rates in the US. However, we might have already seen peak hospitalizations here. We are joining Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Colorado, Tennessee, Alaska and Montana in lifting some restrictions. Elective medical procedures (that is, non-emergency) will be allowed--that includes services of doctors, dentists and veterinarians.

Opinions among the general public here, like everywhere else, are divided on when to reopen. Protestors marched outside the governor's house; doomers on Twitter told him we need to stay locked down through May. Maybe that's a good thing. People will start venturing out when they feel they can without undue risk. If we reopen earlier, people won't all go out at once, so maybe it will help us avoid that dreaded second wave. Oddly, doomers seem to think that they have to go out as soon as restrictions are lifted. Nonsense--they're free to stay home. They may be called back to work, but I haven't heard any of them complain that their employer isn't doing enough for their safety. (Medical professionals lacking PPE never left work.) I have a relative in Ohio whose employer isn't having office workers return until June, regardless of any earlier lifting of state restrictions.

I haven't decided whether it's better for me to try to be exposed this summer, when any illness is more likely to be mild, or avoid it altogether since I'm prone to respiratory illnesses. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fasting blood sugar & insulin have crept up!

It's pretty bad when even conventional medicine thinks your blood sugar is high. I had lab tests done last week, as I do every year, and saw things were going in the wrong direction. Photo from Pixabay . Uh-oh.  Ideal blood sugar is about 70-90. Your blood sugar can be high because you're stressed or ill, but I felt OK. I can't blame it on cortisol, which was smack in the middle of the normal range. And my A1c, which reflects blood sugar over the past few months, shows that whatever is going on has been happening for a while. My insulin is more than double what it should be. Oddly, my triglycerides, which typically indicate carb consumption, were good.  I don't have an explanation for the triglycerides. I should have suspected something was wrong, though. I've felt very tired and a little sad for the past few months. Unlike many people with higher than ideal blood sugar and insulin, I had only gained about three pounds.  Regardless of my good weight and triglyceride...

Dana Carpender's Podcast; Dr. Davis on YouTube; Labor Day Sales

Dana Carpender, who's written several recipe books and other works on low-carb, has a podcast and is still writing articles at carbsmart.com. She's a terrific writer and amateur researcher (otherwise known as reading , as Jimmy Dore jokes ). I use her book 500 Low-Carb Recipes all the time and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I've embedded her podcast on my blog (click on the three lines at the top right if you don't see it, or go to Spotify or other podcast source if you're getting this by email). Carbsmart.com doesn't seem to have a blog feed, so if you want to see the latest posts there, you can sign up for notifications at their site. Dr. Davis has been putting a lot more videos on YouTube, so I've added his channel to the lineup. Click on the three lines on my blog if you don't see it, or go to his channel here .  * * * * * Primal Kitchen is having a Labor Day sale-- 20% off everything. They sell high quality collagen powder, con...

Interview: The Microbiome's Effect on Almost Everything

Mark L. Cannon, DDS, MS joins Bret Weinstein of the Darkhorse Podcast for a discussion about the oral microbiome and its downstream effects on everything from acne to Alzheimer’s. Dr. Cannon is a pediatric dentist and professor of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat medicine). It's an hour and 44 minutes, but well worth your time. Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkOgCXiMeE

YouTube invites creators back; says Biden pushed censorship on COVID and politics

Google, which owns YouTube, is inviting back creators it kicked off the platform for content about politics, elections, and COVID. Google says the Biden administration pressured them to censor this content, and now Europe is trying to force them to censor lawful content. Jim Jordan, Representative from Ohio, explains on X. Thread here .  Created with AI on ImageFX.  YouTube creators banned or suspended for COVID content (source: Grok). Click to enlarge. Rep. Jim Jordan @Jim_Jordan 2h • 15 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X 🚨BREAKING: Due to our oversight efforts, GOOGLE commits to offer ALL creators previously kicked off YouTube due to political speech violations to return to the platform. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL. Thread: YouTube also: -Admits the Biden Admin censorship pressure was “unacceptable and wrong” -Confirms that the Biden Admin wanted Americans censored for speech that did not violate YouTube’s policies -Details when YouTube began rolling back its censorship policies on p...

Infrared Light: How much is too much?

It's the sort of thing that sounds like quackery: a pad with tiny red LED lights and a few buttons that's supposed to help you heal, just $30 on ebay. I never would have bought it, but Dr. Davis gave a presentation on infrared light late in 2024. Since I was still suffering from achilles tendonitis after being floxxed , I decided to try it.  I wrapped it around my ankle and turned it on the lowest setting for five minutes. Nothing seemed to happen, but the next day, I wrote,  My tendonitis is GONE after one 5-minute treatment! I didn’t feel it doing anything, I didn’t think it was going to do anything (at least not that quickly), but for the first time in several months, I’ve gotten out of bed and started walking normally and didn’t have any pain reaching with my left arm. I'd been shuffling around like an 80-year-old woman after getting out of bed in the morning. The tendonitis returned, but it was improved. I eventually had physical therapy for it, and now, apart from a l...