An Even Weirder Case of COVID!

Welp, here we are, Mom … 

On planet Earth?

Another quiz and do you know what that means?

I have to get up?

It means, time for another Music Report!  Apparently, it has come to my attention that “Lynda with a Y” likes our little conversations about the world of music…despite having no idea what we’re talking about.

Does anybody?

But sadly, I’m afraid I have nothing positive to report this time, because we have lost SO many beloved recording artists in this past month, it’s quite disheartening to tell you the truth!  First of all, and you might want to sit down for this, Mom; we lost Ronnie Spector.

What????  Are you serious????   Ronnie Spector?  We lost Ronnie from the Ronettes????  OMG!   

Apparently she died of cancer at age 78.  Her unmistakable voice was heard on such ’60’s anthems as “Be My Baby”, “Do I Love You”, “Walking in the Rain”, and so on.  After record producer, Phil Spector, destroyed her career by marrying her, she just kind of vanished until 1986.  The Ronettes—

 which consisted of cousin Nedra, Ronnie and her sister Estelle— only had one real album and three greatest hits albums but anyway… we have the late Eddie Money to thank for getting her out of retirement.  He had a song called “Take Me Home Tonight” that used a snippet of “Be My Baby” in it, and he asked her to sing it.

How apropos, but certainly not very original.

Mom, as usual, you’re being too judgmental!  By the way, I also saw in an article that there’s supposedly going to be a bio-pic about her life.

I certainly hope so!

This was back in 2020 though, so, not sure what’s happening with that but apparently Ronnie personally picked Zendaya (a former Disney Channel actress) to play her.  It’s apparently going to be based on her book, Be My Baby.

I have that book, and I highly recommend it.  Ladies and gentlemen, presenting…Ronnie, Estelle and Nedra…the incredible Ronettes with their classic:

“Be My Baby”

 

Mom, don’t look now, but, we also lost, at 85, Fred Parris of The Five Satins.

What???  We lost Freddie Parris?  Are you kidding???  Their song, “In The Still of the Night”, is a Doo-Wop classic!

You’d better explain what doo-wop is.

Songs from the ’50’s and ’60’s with “nonsense syllables” sung in the background; for example:

Shoo doot, shooby doo,

Shoo doot, shooby doo…

The Five Satins, everybody!

 

 Doo bop, doo bah; doo bop doo bah….

Mom, the song is over!  (But not my announcements, unfortunately.)  I have another horrifying death to announce.  We should call this “the Death of the Lead Singers Quiz” because, at 82, we lost Sonny Turner of The Platters to throat cancer.

 Are you kidding me?  Sonny Turner died?

  He replaced the fabulous Tony Williams in 1960 but it wasn’t until 7 years later he had 2 chart-topping singles of his own with:

“I Love You 1,000 Times” and “With This Ring”. 

 I went crazy for those songs!  Ladies and gentlemen…I give you now The Platters with Sonny Turner:

With this ring I promise I’ll always love you, always love you!

 

Oh and one more thing to announce.  Apparently, there is going to be a documentary about the Sound of Philadelphia!  You know, Thom Bell, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and all the acts they produced—The O’Jays, The Trammps, The Spinners, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, The Delfonics…

Say no more, say no more!

I saw it on Kenny Gamble’s Facebook page.  It’s about time, right?

Long overdue!

***

Who’s in the Quiz this month?

It’s another COVID case, Shana; actually, it’s another post-COVID case in a child, like last month’s Quiz, with the “worst” of it presumably over but strange symptoms hanging on at the end, with this case being much stranger than the last, as our patient thinks she’s going crazy!

Who is it?

I need a fictitious name.

How about…… Ditzy?

Ditzy?

Yes, Ditzy.

D’oh!  OK, Shana, if we have to!  So, “Ditzy’s” mother—

“Mitzy”

Yes, of course; “Mitzy”… writes to me and says….

Hello, Elaine, I am completely exhausted as all the rest have had it (COVID).  We are still in the middle of it with two of them and I am afraid I am just not that good at some of it.

I wondered what to repertorize for “Ditzy”.  She has come through the worst of it, it seems, and no longer has a fever, headache, or body aches which has been the worst for my crew.  Her fever broke this morning.  I never gave her any Tylenol or anything but remedies so I don’t think this is some sort of suppression from drugs.

She has gone into mental symptoms that are quickly spiraling out of control.

 What are they, exactly?

 She began this morning with some thoughts that seemed real to her upon waking; she believed it was real and it made her nauseous and then anxious.  She actually vomited that first time.

At any rate she has been lying on the couch and every time she dozes off she wakes in this same cycle.

What cycle?

The cycle is: sleep, wake up, and have thoughts about something unreal that feels very real to her; she becomes anxious, then nauseous (vomited once), then remains anxious until she falls asleep again. 

Mental symptoms are: waking up (she has been napping a lot since she has been sick) and having thoughts that seem obsessive about things/ problems that are not real that she cannot fix.  She then becomes anxious, followed by nausea.  The nausea may pass, but the anxiety and thoughts remain. She is staying super anxious.  It repeats when she falls asleep again.  She was not doing this prior to the virus and fever.

The thoughts have been random and not what would seem scary.  One she told me about was of us playing some game in a large group and not being lined up correctly while everyone else was.  

Another time she was trying to fix her hair, but the more she tried to style it, the worse it became and she could do nothing with it.

This has led to her wanting me close to her today.  She mentioned feeling like she was going crazy and also feeling like her mind was somewhere else.

She is eating and drinking normally with no fever and her only complaint is some aching still in her legs and every time she falls asleep she does wake up very sweaty.  She is also now fearing going to sleep, that the whole thing will happen all over again.

She has become increasingly anxious and did not want me to leave the house to go to the grocery store, even fearing something might happen to me.  

Every time, the “delusion“ is different and is something she cannot seem to fix and is disturbing to her.  She says it seems real, but is not, but she cannot stop thinking about it.

I am unsure what to look for as I believe it is directly related to the virus and her having a pretty high fever (almost 103 for hours yesterday and overnight).  I need to get a handle on this if I can, because she has expressed that she fears she is going crazy and that is increasing the anxiety.

I appreciate any insight you may have.

 Give her ___________30C.

***

Update, one day later:

 Elaine that seems to have worked!  I asked her about it and she said she had forgotten about it.

 Forgot about what?

 I asked her if she was still feeling anxious about the delusional thoughts or fixating on them.  She said she had forgotten what they were, which for comparison, earlier she was following me everywhere and it was all she was talking about!

I didn’t dose again until she said she was getting more anxious and thinking about the delusional thoughts again.  I succussed the bottle 10 times and gave another dose.

She was asleep this morning and I just got home.  She said she slept perfectly.  She said she felt a bit anxious for a minute once this morning, but it passed and she has been feeling fine.

__________________________

 OK, people, that’s it!  What remedy did “Ditzy” need?  Write to me at [email protected] and let me know.  The answer will be in next month’s ezine. 

So, I can’t resist going out with Sonny Turner’s other big hit from 1967: 

“I Love You 1000 Times”.

Did you read my letter, it’s been on my mind

All it said was, that I love you 1,000 times…

 The Platters!

 

 See you in a month!

____________________________

Elaine Lewis, DHom, CHom

Elaine takes online cases.  Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com