Jabbed twice, never got the booster. Probably should've.
I'm an asthmatic, and I also have dormant high risk HPV - doctor told me to just be healthy and hope I don't get ass/penis cancer. I'm having a moment of contemplating my mortality.
Anyone actually know how repeat infections affect long term health? (aside from my pre existing conditions)
Every time I've got it I've dealt with it faster than the last pretty much. First time I ever got it I was fucked up for like a week, and then every time after that it's been 3 days and now this time it feels like the worst of it has come and gone in a day or two.
I'm an otherwise healthy person. I work out and I eat healthily.
I can't give medical advice or speak to how it might effect you personally, but I can tell you some general knowledge of how covid infections work. Every time you get infected you may have symptoms on a range from none to death. Most people, most of the time, without underlying conditions, who have been vaccinated, are likely to feel flu-like symptoms from mild to miserable for a day to a week or two. Those with underlying conditions are more likely to have severe symptoms or end up hospitalized. Asthma is an underlying condition. After you are infected or vaccinated, there is a brief window of time during which you are more likely to end up on the none side of that symptom spectrum if you catch it again, this protection wanes with time. The vaccine is particularly good at protecting against the death and hospitalization side of that spectrum even 6 months to 2 years out. But all protection whether from being sick or getting vaccinated wanes with time, plus when there are new variants that can eliminate or significantly reduce a lot of protection in one blow. Somebody who got vaccinated when the vaccines first came out, for example, has very little remaining protection against covid from that shot especially if they never got a booster.
Every time you get infected, you also risk getting long covid which could permanently cause symptoms for you ranging from exhaustion to loss of smell to brain fog/memory issues to a whole variety of other symptoms. The worse your symptoms, the more likely you are to end up with some form of long covid. Some people's long covid will resolve itself in weeks to months, some people's wont. There are many competing theories as to the mechanisms behind long covid, and some of them likely also happen with other sicknesses. One reason for this is that the ACE2 receptor, which is what the sars-cov-2 virus binds to, is found in tissues all over your body. It's not just a respiratory infection, it impacts every organ in your body. So basically it just goes all around your body randomly exploding cells and if you are like most people there will be no long-term consequences. But depending on what study you read, there is between a .5 and 15% chance that you do have some.
The new boosters are coming out soon. Your doctor would probably advise you to get it a few weeks to a month or two from now since you just had an infection.
The most effective things you can do to avoid infections, sickness, and long covid are, in order with rough numbers.
- Avoid being near other people (100% reduction in risk)
- Wear a high quality mask when around other people, particularly in indoor areas (70-95% reduction in risk for an N95 properly worn, 30%-70% reduction in risk for a surgical mask, minimal reduction in risk for cloth masks)
- Get vaccinated (90%-100% reduction in risk of death or hospitalization for most healthy people which lasts many months. 10%-60% reduction in infection chance 6-0 months out from vaccination, some reduction in long covid risk which is difficult to quantify)
- Wash your hands regularly (difficult to quantify this one)
Thanks for the high effort response. I'm over my main symptoms now. 1 more sleep and I'm probably back to total normal, I hope.
I'll hop on that booster train when I get the chance.