I recovered from Covid after 3 weeks. Here’s what helped.

[Turin]

I hope I can help in some ways as I recovered from the awful virus. I had it for three weeks and believe I caught it from colleagues/students at school who presented mild symptoms. The virus attacked me very slowly (headaches and fatigue very normal with teachers) and the aggressively- coughing and flu like symptoms. I was in bed for weeks after.

It was so bad at one point I gave my DS (single parent) the “if Mummy dies” talk. Breaks my heart that he had to hear those words.

So I just want to share what helped me in case anything can alleviate your pain:

1. Plenty of fluids despite making me vomit. The emptying of my stomachs helped clear mucus in my lungs/throat and helped me breathe. The only food I could graze on was flat breads or fruit.
   

1. Antibiotics- the GP said this was to treat a secondary bacterial infection on my lungs in the second week which helped me breath. It did.
   

1. Paracetamol x2 every four hours. Some days I was so weak it would take me two hours at 4am to take these. During the day DS was trying to nurse me the best he could.
   

1. Lucozade. I could not eat and my sugar levels were desperately low. Some days/hours I had no idea where DS was (big garden) as I was so lethargic and fatigued. The lucozade gave me the sugar rush I needed to gradually get up and try and be a parent to him. He is 9.
   

1. Steaming. My friend recommended doing this with whole cloves as this is used for colds in her culture. Again helped massively when I had the energy to boil the water and place in a bowl.
   

1. Turn of sky news if you have it! The sight of the giant red virus cell as their background was nauseating! Turn off the news in general. It doesn’t help morale hearing about death rates.
   

1. Have a heated pad or hot water bottle on stand by if you do get the chills. I had a microwaveable heat pad used for pets.
   

1. Don’t be afraid to call nhs for advice if you think you are getting worse. At one point, my son called 999 and said “my mum can’t breath”. He was told “unless her lips are blue and her head has gone floppy we won’t be coming out we are too busy”. My poor love having to listen to that.
   

However, It helped me focus on getting better massively as I understood the nhs was on its knees and my recovery was going to be better at home even though I was gasping for breath.

1. As my course of antibiotics finished and the steaming was helping, I started to do things like clean up and wash clothes. Don’t. Stop. They will exhaust you. Baby steps for at least a week as you will get a false sense of confidence thinking you are better and then relapse. This happened to me 3 times.
   

Hope this helps someone who needed hope that the chances of you getting better are higher than if you don’t.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

X

[TKAAHUARTG]

How long did it take to get your test results back? I was lucky it only took 3 days. All symptoms seem very different don’t they?

[hoochymamgu]

Really helpful Turin thank you. Glad your on the mend

[FaFoutis]

I think your son might need some therapy now.

[BamboozledandBefuddled]

Thanks for that Turin, it's very helpful. I hope you make a full recovery

[NeverTwerkNaked]

It must have been very tough for you both.

[MehitabelWhurl]

What FaFoutis said.

[LittleCabbage]

Thanks Turin, that was quite eye-opening. I keep hearing how common it is to relapse several times, so will def continue resting a long time if/when I get the virus.

Hope you're feeling a lot better now. Well done to your son. May I advise giving him lots of opportunities to talk about his feelings, so that he can "debrief" a bit.

[bumblingbovine49]

"At one point, my son called 999 and said “my mum can’t breath”. He was told “unless her lips are blue and her head has gone floppy we won’t be coming out we are too busy*

I have no words for this. I am so sorry your son and you had to go through that

[ShleeAnKree]

You poor thing. As a single parent to two teens I wouldn't have any of those practicalities to contend with but the thoughts of having to have the ''if mummy dies'' talk with a nine year old :-(

Omg, wishing you both health, wealth, happiness and good luck from now on.

[Babdoc]

May I add that it’s a huge help if you can arrange for a friend or local volunteer to leave cooked meals and essential meds/shopping on your doorstep for you. I was ill with Covid alone at home for 13 days before being hospitalised, and I was too weak to even wash myself by the end. If you have young DC, it’s important for them to have some emotional support, knowing that an adult is on the case and they are not scarily responsible for a sick mum on their own.
I’m not criticising you at all, OP, you obviously had no time to set up help before being overwhelmed by illness, but I’d strongly advise everyone to arrange a back up plan with a neighbour or friend in advance, just in case.

[MyHipsDontLieUnfortunately]

So frightening for your son to be told that there'd be no help

[ByeByeMissAmericanPie]

Thank you for that info. Sorry to hear what a tough time you’ve had. Hope your DS is ok. Poor chap...

Good luck with the rest of your recovery.

[sittingonacornflake]

Thank you for sharing. I've no idea how we would manage if I got that level of severe symptoms. I'm the lone parent of a 2 year old. I can't begin to imagine what we would do!

[OntheWaves40]

Are you sure it was covid and not just regular flu?

I think the governments return to work after 7 days of symptoms starting is ridiculous. My boss has taken it as you must return on day 7 no matter how rough you feel as you are no longer contagious no matter how much coughing you are still doing.

[vera99]

Many thanks for sharing that and hope you are nearly back to 'normal' . I shall share with family and friends.

[GeraniumJohnsonsBlue]

Helpful advice Turin I am glad you are on the mend.

[Hanamuslim]

You and your son are both superstars. Sending all my best wishes to you

[CroissantsAtDawn]

Thats good advice and inline with what Drs in France and HK are advising especially:

Drink LOTS of water. More than you could imagine necessary

Head over a bowl of steaming water

Rest. Especially when you start to feel better.

[Hanamuslim]

Onthewavwses40 your boss must be on drugs

[SquashedFlyBiscuit]

Omg that sounds so awful. You must have been terrified.

Your poor son ringing 999 to get no help. That is truly terrifying. He must have been convinced he'd see you die :(

I think in Germany they are treating people earlier. Its awful to not have support at the point breathing is that bad.

And they're thinking of sending schools back

[SquashedFlyBiscuit]

I really thought we'd get help if we couldnt breathe.

[Griselda1]

Do you think you would have recovered any differently if you had been admitted to hospital?I suspect that where I live you would have been admitted as there are still beds available.
I'm hearing about reasonably healthy active people who are speaking lucidly with family by telephone but dying the next day. One family member explained to me that their 50 yr old sister had no underlying problems. She was admitted with covid 19, given the talk about the low rate of survival for those who are ventilated and asked about her preferences. She agreed to a dnr thinking the situation would only arise if she was ventilated and chances of survival were so low anyway. Two days later, still unventilated, she went into cardiac arrest and wasn't given cpr. Obviously she may not have survived anyway but it's so difficult for people to make informed choices.
Well done on your journey and how wonderful it is to be spared to be with your child.

[Nearlyalmost50]

Wow, makes you realise that 'mild or moderate symptoms' which don't require hospitalization can still be pretty severe by normal standards.

I think the crushing chest/breathlesness/gasping aspect is what makes Covid stand out from normal flu, I have two friends that have had it and said it feels like nothing else they have previously had. They also felt pretty rotten and have taken quite a long time to feel even vaguely normal.

Your poor son, how awful for him to see his mum so poorly and have worried you were going to die (I'm sure this was his fear). A lot to process for a little child.

Just shows, even these cases in the community can be very unpleasant and cause stress/distress for children being around this even if they are not themselves biologically affected.

This is what it will be like in teaching, that's why schools will not be going back as you only need a few teachers off with this for 3/4 weeks to make staffing numbers impossible and social distancing within the school not viable at all.

[awishes]

How do you know it was Covid 19

[stairgates]

Thankyou for sharing x