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Started by bacardiandlime, January 30, 2020, 03:20:28 PM

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secundem_artem

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on March 25, 2020, 08:44:50 AM
A friend asked, and I have no idea, but imagine someone here does: is there any reason why we can't use the oxygen masks on airplanes to supplement the ventilator shortage? (I mean, I know they're not ventilators, but I imagine they might be helpful for less severe cases?)

I'm not "that" kind of doctor but this is probably close enough for our purposes here.  May expand a bit on Puget's post

Hospitals already can provide oxygen via nasal cannula or full face mask now.  Airplane oxygen systems depend on a chemical reaction that releases oxygen gas for about the 10 minutes it would take the aircraft to descend to a level where the air was breathable.

Ventilators can provide oxygen, but mostly they assist with the act of breathing in people whose respiratory drive is too weak, or whose use of accessory (i.e. chest wall) muscles suggests they are unable to breathe on their own.  In most people they assist with the process of breathing.  The patient starts a breath and the vent provides assistance to complete it.  And if they stop breathing, the machine kicks in to essentially force one (meaning that strictly speaking, you could ventilate a corpse).
Funeral by funeral, the academy advances

Parasaurolophus

Makes sense, thanks.
I know it's a genus.

sprout

Quote from: secundem_artem on March 25, 2020, 09:16:29 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on March 25, 2020, 08:44:50 AM
A friend asked, and I have no idea, but imagine someone here does: is there any reason why we can't use the oxygen masks on airplanes to supplement the ventilator shortage? (I mean, I know they're not ventilators, but I imagine they might be helpful for less severe cases?)

I'm not "that" kind of doctor but this is probably close enough for our purposes here.  May expand a bit on Puget's post

Hospitals already can provide oxygen via nasal cannula or full face mask now.  Airplane oxygen systems depend on a chemical reaction that releases oxygen gas for about the 10 minutes it would take the aircraft to descend to a level where the air was breathable.

Ventilators can provide oxygen, but mostly they assist with the act of breathing in people whose respiratory drive is too weak, or whose use of accessory (i.e. chest wall) muscles suggests they are unable to breathe on their own.  In most people they assist with the process of breathing.  The patient starts a breath and the vent provides assistance to complete it.  And if they stop breathing, the machine kicks in to essentially force one (meaning that strictly speaking, you could ventilate a corpse).
I was wondering about CPAP machines in the same vein - could they be used as ventilators?  After noodling around on Google a bit, it seems like a maybe?  But you'd need to control aerosolization of respiratory fluids.
FDA Ventilator Supply Mitigation Strategies
Airway management adjustments in era of COVID-19

Caracal

Quote from: Morris Zapp on March 25, 2020, 07:12:59 AM
I was really scared about all the reports of people in their 20s, etc.  getting a serious case of the virus, since I have adult children.  However, I wondered if anyone has looked at whether those who are getting serious cases have perhaps vaped in the past?  Given the stories last year about how vaping damages your lungs, I wondered if it might be something that made coronavirus worse.  Haven't seen anything about that, however.  Has anyone looked at this?

As a longtime hypochondriac, I think the thing to remember is that people are always focused on more unusual events, especially if they seem more tragic. None of this is to say that this isn't serious, or that young people can't get sick, or it is just the flu, or any of that. However, anecdotal reports can be deceiving about this stuff and make you more anxious if you're prone to anxiety.

If you just follow news reports you could easily believe that most of the people who get cancer are young, but its just that people pay more attention to younger cancer patients than older ones who make up the large majority.

Same thing here. Older people are far more likely to get very sick and also far more likely to die from this. That's the established narrative so stories that fit that don't get much attention. When a younger person gets sick, it becomes a whole story. A lot of people have this now. The US could easily have a few hundred thousand cases already. You get numbers that large and unusual events start occurring, but it doesn't actually make them more likely. The other thing is that young people are just a lot more likely to talk about their experience. I've been seeing lots of accounts of people very sick in their 30s, but you have to remember that those are the people more likely to be on Twitter. With personal accounts, there's also just a bias towards the more severe, because there's more to talk about. My stepbrother got it, had a mild fever, felt crummy for a few days and then was fine. That isn't an interesting story so you'll hear less about it.

Cheerful

From The Guardian:

"The Spanish government has withdrawn 9,000 Chinese-made coronavirus testing kits from use after it emerged that they had an accurate detection rate of just 30%."

"However, a batch of Chinese-made kits bought by Spanish health authorities a few weeks ago has been pulled after they were discovered to be unreliable and the Chinese government said that they had been made by a company that did not appear on its list of authorised manufacturers.

In a statement on Thursday, Spain's health ministry said it would be returning the kits, but stressed that they had not be bought directly from the Chinese manufacturer but from a supply company in Spain that had purchased them in China and had provided the necessary accompanying paperwork."

Not nice.

bacardiandlime

Quote from: Cheerful on March 27, 2020, 05:41:33 AM
From The Guardian:

"The Spanish government has withdrawn 9,000 Chinese-made coronavirus testing kits from use after it emerged that they had an accurate detection rate of just 30%."


FFS. I wonder if tests of similar shoddiness are being used in China? There seem to be a lot of reasons to wonder whether any of the figures we're seeing (of infection rates, or deaths) bear any relationship to reality!

bacardiandlime

Quote from: sprout on March 25, 2020, 10:06:15 AM

I was wondering about CPAP machines in the same vein - could they be used as ventilators?  After noodling around on Google a bit, it seems like a maybe?  But you'd need to control aerosolization of respiratory fluids.

This CPAP manufacturer seems to be doing so (or retooling their products to work as ventilators) https://www.businessnewsaus.com.au/articles/resmed-ramps-up-ventilator-production-to-tackle-covid-19.html

secundem_artem

Funeral by funeral, the academy advances

backatit

My partner is sick now. He's got a fever and body aches, and a bit of chest pain (he's seen a teledoctor and they are advising him to self-isolate so we've moved him into the spare room which fortunately has an ensuite). I don't think I've ever wanted someone to have the actual flu before....

mamselle

Very sorry to hear that.

Thinking of you both.

M.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

spork

Quote from: backatit on March 27, 2020, 02:16:53 PM
My partner is sick now. He's got a fever and body aches, and a bit of chest pain (he's seen a teledoctor and they are advising him to self-isolate so we've moved him into the spare room which fortunately has an ensuite). I don't think I've ever wanted someone to have the actual flu before....

Maybe you have already been told this, but can you get a pulse oximeter? They are available from places like CVS and Amazon. A thermometer and pulse oximeter are two pieces of equipment that will provide very helpful information to the physicians about whether your partner should be hospitalized.
It's terrible writing, used to obfuscate the fact that the authors actually have nothing to say.

backatit

Quote from: spork on March 27, 2020, 02:33:42 PM
Quote from: backatit on March 27, 2020, 02:16:53 PM
My partner is sick now. He's got a fever and body aches, and a bit of chest pain (he's seen a teledoctor and they are advising him to self-isolate so we've moved him into the spare room which fortunately has an ensuite). I don't think I've ever wanted someone to have the actual flu before....

Maybe you have already been told this, but can you get a pulse oximeter? They are available from places like CVS and Amazon. A thermometer and pulse oximeter are two pieces of equipment that will provide very helpful information to the physicians about whether your partner should be hospitalized.

They seem to be sold out both locally and on amazon (I'm trying to find one in a more out of the way sort of place, now, and will post on Nextdoor to see if anyone has a spare). I had been trying to find one before this, but they've been gone for a while now, unfortunately.

bacardiandlime

How are things now, backatit?

pigou

Quote from: backatit on March 27, 2020, 03:09:10 PM
They seem to be sold out both locally and on amazon (I'm trying to find one in a more out of the way sort of place, now, and will post on Nextdoor to see if anyone has a spare). I had been trying to find one before this, but they've been gone for a while now, unfortunately.
Have you looked at eBay? Looks like there's a large supply there: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=pulse+oximeter&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

backatit

Quote from: pigou on March 31, 2020, 08:13:02 AM
Quote from: backatit on March 27, 2020, 03:09:10 PM
They seem to be sold out both locally and on amazon (I'm trying to find one in a more out of the way sort of place, now, and will post on Nextdoor to see if anyone has a spare). I had been trying to find one before this, but they've been gone for a while now, unfortunately.
Have you looked at eBay? Looks like there's a large supply there: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=pulse+oximeter&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

Thanks, I hadn't thought to look there (I haven't shopped ebay in yonks!). You're a lifesaver (perhaps literally :D). We're actually both doing a bit better, fortunately, but someone else might need it or we might relapse, which I've heard is unfortunately common.