[COVID-19] General Discussion

[RedruthRFC]

Have you just heard Chris Whittys explanation? 5 weeks between each step, if the data is correct then the step gets lifted

What makes you think that this will be true this time around? Based on the past year or so, it seems a lot more likely that Boris will throw as many bodies as necessary on the pyre to avoid being the bearer of bad news.

 

[The Seeker]

Sadly, Covid-19 has now taken over 500,000 lives in the USA.

 

[McTallshort]

Sadly, Covid-19 has now taken over 500,000 lives in the USA.

View attachment 9438

What's the general opinion of the vaccine in the states?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

COVID-19: Daily drop-off in vaccinations is down to 'supply fluctuations' - but will pick up, says Prof Jonathan Van-Tam — Sky News

A fall in the number of Britons being vaccinated against COVID-19 each day is down to "supply fluctuations", England's deputy chief medical officer has told Sky News.

apple.news

 

[Which Tyler]

And now my appointment has been cancelled...
Although it looks like, of the 4 centres in Gloucestershire (that I'm allowed to use) 2 have no appointments at all for the 3 months ahead their online diary goes - so presumably they've hit supply issues (I booked on Thursday, and had several options for this coming week - didn't look further ahead than that)

Well, I'm getting it in 4 hours time - have had to suck it up and get the bus into Gloucester.

My phobia has just decided to kick in; so I'm sitting here, shirt off, door open, dripping in sweat and full of nervous energy - just in case anyone wants a good laugh at my expense.

Now I just have to hope that I run out of adrenaline before I get there and embarrass myself.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Well, I'm getting it in 4 hours time - have had to suck it up and get the bus into Gloucester.

My phobia has just decided to kick in; so I'm sitting here, shirt off, door open, dripping in sweat and full of nervous energy - just in case anyone wants a good laugh at my expense.

Now I just have to hope that I run out of adrenaline before I get there and embarrass myself.

Questions they ask take longer than the jab itself. Be over before you know it.

Good luck.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Well, I'm getting it in 4 hours time - have had to suck it up and get the bus into Gloucester.

My phobia has just decided to kick in; so I'm sitting here, shirt off, door open, dripping in sweat and full of nervous energy - just in case anyone wants a good laugh at my expense.

Now I just have to hope that I run out of adrenaline before I get there and embarrass myself.

first time i read that i really thought you were on the Bus sweating with your shirt off....and i was thinking....he goin ta jail

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Well, I'm getting it in 4 hours time - have had to suck it up and get the bus into Gloucester.

My phobia has just decided to kick in; so I'm sitting here, shirt off, door open, dripping in sweat and full of nervous energy - just in case anyone wants a good laugh at my expense.

Now I just have to hope that I run out of adrenaline before I get there and embarrass myself.

Your phobia is of buses?

 

[Which Tyler]

Your phobia is of buses?

Needles - it's a pretty common one.
I've been known to faint and/or cry at the flu jab, and am always a "strong responder" for side effects - which is probably the nocebo effect (though it's possible I'm just a strong responder).
I learned dry needling (Western acupuncture) in an attempt to acclimatise myself and get over it - I improved, but not remotely cured. Gave up doing it 11 years ago, so I'm full-on terrible now.

Yesterday, I had a bit of a fight on my hands as I'm self-employed, so they couldn't tick the box that said "showed employment certificate"; but they allowed me. They had a station set up explicitly for those with phobias, so I got a bed rather than a chair, and 2 nurses, one to inject and one to distract. I managed not to faint, but it was a close-run thing when I got up off the bed.

Bus felt like a petri dish - it was clean in and of itself... for a bus; but the group of teenagers who came and sat behind me with masks over their chin, and coughing / pretending to cough all the time for a bit of a laugh. Did the whole strip in the garden, and straight into the shower thing on getting home.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Needles - it's a pretty common one.
I've been known to faint and/or cry at the flu jab, and am always a "strong responder" for side effects - which is probably the nocebo effect (though it's possible I'm just a strong responder).
I learned dry needling (Western acupuncture) in an attempt to acclimatise myself and get over it - I improved, but not remotely cured. Gave up doing it 11 years ago, so I'm full-on terrible now.

Yesterday, I had a bit of a fight on my hands as I'm self-employed, so they couldn't tick the box that said "showed employment certificate"; but they allowed me. They had a station set up explicitly for those with phobias, so I got a bed rather than a chair, and 2 nurses, one to inject and one to distract. I managed not to faint, but it was a close-run thing when I got up off the bed.

Bus felt like a petri dish - it was clean in and of itself... for a bus; but the group of teenagers who came and sat behind me with masks over their chin, and coughing / pretending to cough all the time for a bit of a laugh. Did the whole strip in the garden, and straight into the shower thing on getting home.

Did you get the Astra or Pfizer jab?

 

[Which Tyler]

Did you get the Astra or Pfizer jab?

Pfizer in the end.

Arm is very sore from high-wrist right up to my neck, and across both shoulders; absolutely knackered, despite my best night's sleep in months; can feel a headache starting up.
Of course, that means that my left shoulder was the only place my cat wanted to sleep last night! Bloody cats!

I think the arm pain goes beyond nocebo effect; but can't tell on the rest; I'm insomniac anyway, so fatigue is hardly uncommon, and changes in my sleep pattern (such as a good night's sleep) are common triggers for my migraines.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Pfizer in the end.

Arm is very sore from high-wrist right up to my neck, and across both shoulders; absolutely knackered, despite my best night's sleep in months; can feel a headache starting up.
Of course, that means that my left shoulder was the only place my cat wanted to sleep last night! Bloody cats!

I think the arm pain goes beyond nocebo effect; but can't tell on the rest; I'm insomniac anyway, so fatigue is hardly uncommon, and changes in my sleep pattern (such as a good night's sleep) are common triggers for my migraines.

My arm still feels bruised and was pretty wiped that same evening and the next day.

Feel fine now apart from my arm.

 

[ncurd]

 

[Which Tyler]

Oh good.

Definitive proof (were it needed) that we steadfastly refuse to learn from previous mistakes.

‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme drove new COVID-19 infections up by between 8 and 17%, new research finds.

The government initiative, which cost around £500 million, caused a significant rise in new infections in August and early September accelerating the pandemic into its current second wave. The economic benefits of the scheme, meanwhile, were short-lived.

warwick.ac.uk

Any thoughts that the dates given for easing are "best case scenarios and to be decided by the data closer to the time" look delusional already

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Did use it a couple of times last August, including a nice steak at Miller and Carter. But that, people coming out to pubs to watch sport (Lions, Euros) and foreign holidays is just going to contribute to drive infection rates during the summer. Relying on the vaccine alone isn't going to help if not all vaccinated by then and bringing back new variants.

 

[ncurd]

Did use it a couple of times last August, including a nice steak at Miller and Carter. But that, people coming out to pubs to watch sport (Lions, Euros) and foreign holidays is just going to contribute to drive infection rates during the summer. Relying on the vaccine alone isn't going to help if not all vaccinated by then and bringing back new variants.

Yup from a purely selfish point of view I'm unlikely to get a 1st dose vaccine until right towards the end (they'll likely be a 30-40 group) so all this just screams at putting people at risk who are the most likely to be spreaders.

But yeah any idea we aren't going to unlock on those dates is very rapidly flying out the window. Just have to cross our fingers now they work out.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Take out to help out when?

Or maybe wait till the country is vaccinated....

 

[Bada-Bing!]

People were really taking advantage last August. One man I read was using the scheme every day it was available in August. Saved himself a fortune.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Needles - it's a pretty common one.
I've been known to faint and/or cry at the flu jab, and am always a "strong responder" for side effects - which is probably the nocebo effect (though it's possible I'm just a strong responder).
I learned dry needling (Western acupuncture) in an attempt to acclimatise myself and get over it - I improved, but not remotely cured. Gave up doing it 11 years ago, so I'm full-on terrible now.

Yesterday, I had a bit of a fight on my hands as I'm self-employed, so they couldn't tick the box that said "showed employment certificate"; but they allowed me. They had a station set up explicitly for those with phobias, so I got a bed rather than a chair, and 2 nurses, one to inject and one to distract. I managed not to faint, but it was a close-run thing when I got up off the bed.

Bus felt like a petri dish - it was clean in and of itself... for a bus; but the group of teenagers who came and sat behind me with masks over their chin, and coughing / pretending to cough all the time for a bit of a laugh. Did the whole strip in the garden, and straight into the shower thing on getting home.

I had a school friend who used to hit the deck at the sight of a needle, he went on to be a phlebotomist and is now training to be the world's oldest newly qualified nurse. I don't mean to be a dick by mentioning this, just giving a story of someone who overcame this phobia. I don't know how he managed it, but I would guess that gradual familiarisation would be it. I can ask him if you're interested in the answer.

I had my first jab today (go team Pfizer...wooo!), the place you had yours sounds very well organised. When I arrived for mine, I walked past someone sat on a step looking shakey with a glass of water! The holding cell for the 15 minute cool off was dodgy too - no ventilation and the only free chair when I arrived meant that I sat well within a metre of the door and had the pleasure of subsequent injectees walking past me. I felt no compunction about being "that person" who opened the exit door with his elbow and closed it with his boot.

Until opening this thread this evening, I didn't know that a nocebo effect was a thing, but can see how it can be. Within less than a couple hours I noticed my shoulder feeling dodgy when I tried to put my hands behind my head, and then some weird sensations in that arm which have cleared up now. Fingers crossed a trick shoulder is all I cop, I hope you're bearing up by now. It's making me feel quite nostalgic for my rugby days, when I would wake up the next day feeling fine, then move a body part and realise I had a pain in it!

 

[Which Tyler]

I had a school friend who used to hit the deck at the sight of a needle, he went on to be a phlebotomist and is now training to be the world's oldest newly qualified nurse. I don't mean to be a dick by mentioning this, just giving a story of someone who overcame this phobia. I don't know how he managed it, but I would guess that gradual familiarisation would be it. I can ask him if you're interested in the answer.

I had my first jab today (go team Pfizer...wooo!), the place you had yours sounds very well organised. When I arrived for mine, I walked past someone sat on a step looking shakey with a glass of water! The holding cell for the 15 minute cool off was dodgy too - no ventilation and the only free chair when I arrived meant that I sat well within a metre of the door and had the pleasure of subsequent injectees walking past me. I felt no compunction about being "that person" who opened the exit door with his elbow and closed it with his boot.

Until opening this thread this evening, I didn't know that a nocebo effect was a thing, but can see how it can be. Within less than a couple hours I noticed my shoulder feeling dodgy when I tried to put my hands behind my head, and then some weird sensations in that arm which have cleared up now. Fingers crossed a trick shoulder is all I cop, I hope you're bearing up by now. It's making me feel quite nostalgic for my rugby days, when I would wake up the next day feeling fine, then move a body part and realise I had a pain in it!

I tried the acclimatisation thing - I learnt, and then used dry needling (Western Acupuncture) for 6-7 years. I got to the stage where I was mostly okay (nervous, but controllable) sticking needles in other people, but still got shaky and nervous sticking them in myself (which is not a good look when you're trying to reassure someone how harmless they are by demonstrating on yourself).
I quite when A] I moved, and had to jump through a number of hoops to be allowed to continue, and B] Someone else had started in town that I could trust to refer patients to. That was 10 years ago, and I've de-acclimatised since then.

Yesterday was wierd for me - I expected my deltoid to be sore after being stabbed, but not everything from my forearm to my neck, to feel like it had taken a good rucking. A headache threatened, but never really took hold; but I just had no energy - I was expecting fatigue - like 1-2 bad nights sleep; which is normal enough for me; but... I basically stayed in bed all day, no appetite, couldn't even concentrate enough to read my book (thank gods for cricket, even if it was disappointing, and over rather quickly for a 5-day test!). A few hours after the jab I fell asleep on the sofa - which is virtually unehard of for me, then slept a good 9-10 hours which is unheard of for me; then through the day yesterday I probably got another 5-6 hours of sleep in.
Last night was much closer to normal, earlier than usual getting to sleep, but waking at my normal (dammit!) 3.30. Arm this morning is basically fine - aware of the site of injection, but only if I actually think about and test it.