COVID-19 and MAC: What are you doing differently to protect yourself?

Even though Mayo is out of network for me they have better surgeons there than Iowa City. I have to have a low back fusion from T-10 to my pelvis. It's a big surgery, but my surgeon has 4 qualifications and one is a professor for doing my kind of surgery. They have to open me up in the front and back.
I hope you get better. Iowa City is good too. It's surprising how much our Aetna Medicare pays. I suspect the surgery will be expensive, but so far the cost has not been to bad, except for my injections to increase my bone Mass. It costs $600 a month, but will continue to go down in price.
Take care of yourself.

@tinaesims Hi Tina. If you are on Rifampin or Rifabutin -- as part of your NTM treatment -- your thyroid counts can go low, sometimes very low. This does happen to some people. Some other people don't have much problem.
Rifampin particularly interferes with Levothyroxine meds, reducing their effectivesness, so you can become low thyroid. (Technical info: Rifampin can be a moderately strong to strong CYP3A4 Inducer in interactions with Levothyroxine, and with Rosuvastati,n etc. Doctor could check Drugbank.com for more information about these interactions).
This certainly happened to me. Rifampin reduced the effectiveness of the Levothyroxine I take, so I ended up with low thyroid T4 and high TSH. It also flattened the Statins I was taking, so I ended up with high cholesterol (high lipids) all of the time.
In the end the Pulmonologist took me off Rifampin and replaced it with Clofazimine instead.
All the best, Annie

Hi everyone, I hope you are all safe at this time. I'm thinking of all of you and send my prayers, Annie

@anniepie I liked your post. How nice of you to think of all of us. And sending prayers is the best. You probably know that I'm the one having a big lower back fusion surgery on June 9th. I have had to wait to a long time because of the Covid-19. Finally the MN governor opened up to have elective surgeries. Bless you and sending thoughts and prayers your way.

@lilypaws Thanks Lily, and best of luck to you -- hope it goes well in June.

@lilypaws ...Good luck to you with your surgery!!

Hi all, a friend just sent me a link to an article by the epidemiologist Michael Osterholm on the effectiveness, or more importantly, ineffectiveness of wearing cloth masks. Distancing remains the best protection: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/sites/default/files/public/downloads/special_episode_masks_6.2.20_0.pdf

Hi, @lorifilipek, I read the article you posted by link. Thank you. I know I am a very "wordy" talker/writer, vbg, but so is the author . Now, understanding more about the issue of masks, I will continue to wear cloth coverings when outside because any protection, even if 3% prevention of virus spread is better for me with chronic respiratory issues than none at all. I was particularly disappointed to read what was written about the lack of scientific study and results prior to the CDC's release of their articles. How tragic for us all that we can no longer take at "face value" reports and recommendations made by those national institutions we put our faith in. Troubling times for sure. Again thank you for your post.

@lorifilipek Thank you for the info. I would like to add that the reason there is no vaccine for aids is because no human being has effectively been able to clear that virus from his/her system. In the case of Covid19 people have been able to do that: hence a vaccine will be forthcoming at some point. I haven’t finished reading the thirty pages, and maybe it says that - but just in case. Also, I agree with fiesty76. 3% is better than 0%. Common sense in all of this is key. Thank you again. irene5

@lorifilipek Hi and thanks for the informative article...It was very comprehensive. I was charmed by his closing quote from Christopher Robin... "You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."....."Be safe, be kind." It took me 30 pages to realize this is the same author that I posted on FB two days ago with Straight Talk on Covid-19. It, too, was an excellent article and thankfully it seems he did not drink as much coffee before he wrote it. haha. Stay safe!! Kate For your reading enjoyment:
https://www.bluezones.com/2020/06/covid-19-straight-answers-from-top-epidemiologist-who-predicted-the-pandemic/