Mild Symptoms

[symptomaticMNer]

Is it possible to have very mild symptoms but still have Covid? Everything I have seen has been all doom and gloom or you know you've got it as you feel like you've been hit by a bus type things.

For the record, I started with a cough on Monday night. A dry, tickle cough which is irritating as fuck and brings on a coughing fit before buggering off for a while. Yesterday my temperature tipped 37.8-37.9, which is higher than normal for me. Combined with the cough, symptom checker suggested likely to be covid so isolate etc.

Luckily(?) I am an education keyworker and as DH is also a keyworker, I went online yesterday and booked a test at a nearby centre. This was for this morning and actually, wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. 20 minutes in and out. Was very quick so I guess I have been lucky given some reports of people queuing for hours.

But I still feel a bit... fraudulent... I guess that I could and did access a test based on a bit of a temperature and an irritating couch, albeit a new one. Im not a hay fever sufferer otherwise I would have probably gone there as my first option.

The only other thing I have had is aches in my arms, hands and a slight burning sensation in my chest at times - like when you've inadvertently inhaled bonfire smoke or similar.

Is there anyone here who knows they have had covid but didn't have many or awful symptoms?

[LongTimeJerk]

I had similar symptoms to you except my cough came later. My partner was confirmed as having it and he got it from me so we assume I have had it though I wasn't tested.

I started with that feeling I was getting unwell, like shivery/weak. Didn't take my temperature but went to bed feeling awful. Woke up the next day with a dreadful headache and exhaustion and felt like someone was sitting on my chest. The cough came a day or so after that. I only had 1-2 days of temperature but the cough went on for weeks. Just when I thought I was better, I decided to go outside and barely made it 500m before I had to come back and sit down.

There are people who will get no symptoms, people who get it mildly and people who end up in hospital.

[LongTimeJerk]

(we had it back in March so ages ago now!)

[LongTimeJerk]

(we did both lose our sense of taste and smell too - it was gone for almost 5 weeks - even now, my taste is not back the way it was!)

[LolaLollypop]

When do you get the result back OP?

[GenderApostate19]

I’m expecting a negative result even though I’m pretty sure we have it, the false negative rate is 30% apparently so you should assume you are infectious either way and isolate.
I’ve got very mild symptoms, tight chest, bit of a cough , not even as bad as a normal cold, but DH is laid low with it, hot and cold, breathless on walking upstairs, painful chest, he has daily calls from a doctor on the covid team, she’s worried about pneumonia starting and has advised him to stay as active as possible and ring if he worsens.
DH had contact with a colleague 10 days ago who had been off for 14 days as his wife was almost hospitalised, but not tested 🙄
We are on day four of symptoms.
DH will be due back to work on Sunday but if the test is negative but he is still feeling rough, he’ll be having another set of 4 shifts off ( he works 4 x 12 hr shifts then 4 days off).
If it genuinely isn’t covid, then what else is going around with such similar symptoms?

[symptomaticMNer]

I suffer with migraines anyway, and it's hard to know if tiredness is exhaustion because I am ill, because the children are being challenging or because I am finding things difficult generally right now. But they are all things to bear in mind as I had an awful headache at the weekend which kept me in bed for the day. Then Monday night the cough started. Cough fits with average incubation period from me being in work last week and potentially picking it up from there.

@genderapostate19, I am definitely assuming infectious anyway. I don't think enough people are taking it seriously right now. We help out my inlaws with getting shopping etc because they are high risk and shielding. BIL will help as much as he can but he is still at work and has a shielding spouse so we tend to do the lions share. I would never forgive myself if anyone ended up ill or worse just for the sake of me and my family staying home for a week or 2.

[symptomaticMNer]

Results should be back Friday @LolaLollypop. assuming there isn't already a backlog. I'll get it by text anyway so I don't have to chase it up.

[Callimanco]

I had something mid March that was mild but I do wonder if it was covid as it covered so many body systems in turn - diarrhea, racing heart and feeling of doom, back ache, dizzy spells, sore and mucusy throat, feeling of having inhaled talc, pain under my ribs on left, minor dry cough, propensity for heartburn - and lasted a fair amount of time for a mild illness (about a week, plus several more weeks of heartburn and mild cough. Even now 6 weeks later I still have the slight sensation of having inhaled powder).

Whatever I had it was mild. I had 36 hours in bed with diarrhea and racing heart; the rest of it felt like it was about to turn into a nasty cold, but never did. I WFH after the first day.

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

That’s the problem, isn’t it? Many people are wondering whether they’ve had it, when they’ve experienced mild (and not so mild) symptoms. We need mass population testing. It’s ridiculous.

[wildthingsinthenight]

My symptoms were almost identical to yours OP. They are dragging on though. Day 48

[GenderApostate19]

Our tests have come back negative 🙄
The false neg rate is going to be insanely high with self administered swabs, I fear.

[Sheerahah]

OP I hope it isn’t positive but it would be good to know. It would be great if you reported back though appreciate you might have other priorities!

[CathyandHeathcliff]

Yes, it’s very possible.

My friend who is an NHS nurse tested positive a couple of weeks ago. Her only symptom was a bit of a headache and a complete loss of her sense of smell.
Her partner had mild cold symptoms and her DS had none at all.
She’s got her smell back now and is completely fine over two weeks on, as is her little family.

[SabrinaTheTeenageBitch]

In March I had a slight temperature, extreme dizziness and fatigue (I didnt get out of bed for a week) slight breathlessness and chest pain. My heart was racing like a cartoon character and would randomly do a huge thud which terrified the life out of me. Took me over two weeks to feel normal. GP told spoke to me over the phone and said it was just anxiety

[symptomaticMNer]

I will def come back whatever the result.

@SabrinaTheTeenageBitch - that is concerning about your heart rate as I am experiencing the same thing. Even lying or sitting down. My Fitbit tells me I have been in 'fat burn' or 'cardio' all day! I wouldn't mind if I was actually going some exercise. It's more rapid than when I went on a cycle ride last week!

[moominmomma1234]

Following this as similar situation but I am 14 days down the line .
I think I am too late test now right ? I wish the tests were handed out to all workers 4 days ago then I would of booked one.
My Fitbit is showing my resting heart rate going up and up even though I feeling much better (still slight cough and snotty nose too )

[Everythingmagnolia]

I am also waiting for my test results, I am an NHS worker but I have mostly been WFH.

Yesterday I woke up with a slight headache and couldn't get warm. By the evening I had a mild fever and cough. Today I don't feel as feverish but my cough is worse and I have a sore throat and headache. I generally feel a bit under the weather and have lost my sense of taste.

I had to do the swab myself at our Trust's drive through, and worry that I didn't collect a sufficient sample, (I am not clinical staff)

I should have the results by Friday and will report back.

[SabrinaTheTeenageBitch]

@symptomaticMNer Yes, mine was when I was lying in bed. Its was one of the more unpleasant symptoms for me but I am completely fine now and it didnt get any worse than that so try not to worry

[SabrinaTheTeenageBitch]

I should add I haven't been tested so don't know I had covid. My five year old was out of school a few days before lockdown as she had a cough but also had a runny nose so at the time I thought little of it. A week later she kept saying she felt like she 'needed to sigh' all the time which lasted a few days and she wasn't unwell. Then I started - dizziness, extreme fatigue (kind of like early pregnancy) heart palpitations, chest tightness was awful and felt like a menthol sensation which was really odd. And the breathlessness was the last 'symptom' but was very mild.

I was more upset that because I have a history of MH the gp dismissed it as anxiety. Of course I don't know it was coronavirus but Im sure it wasn't anxiety. I can't explain it beyond something in my body instinctively knew this was something different? Only thing that throws me off are that DD2 and DH had no symptoms at all so who knows

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

Sodding GP’s. Sometimes it really annoys me. I’d change my GP if he suggested my condition/very real symptoms were “anxiety”.

It’s unrelated but two years ago, I saw my GP for back pain. He sent me for an X-ray. The result came back and he told me it was “mild age related arthritis”. Basically, take over the counter pain relief and get on with it. He did give me a two week course of Naproxen. He also suggested fibromyalgia or generalised pain issues and said that my anxiety about this wouldn’t help.

Eventually, I changed GP as I was having to ask my DH to help me get dressed. If I dropped something I couldn’t pick it up. It’d have to stay there all day u til DH got home. I was in agony. He new GP sent me back to the hospital and the consultant said “you have a severe mechanical as in, structural problem. You have a slipped disc at L5 and S1. The numbness in your left leg is as a result of a trapped nerve”. So, not “mild arthritis/age related” then.

I was about to see a specialist when lockdown set in and my hospital appointment was cancelled.

My point is, don’t be fobbed off with the “female anxiety” speech from your GP.

[SabrinaTheTeenageBitch]

@TheLadyAnneNeville Oh how awful and frustrating for you. I hope your appointment is rescheduled soon.

I would love to know if it was coronavirus or not but probably never will. I do know it wasn't anxiety though. The gps exact words were 'having looked at your medical history with mental health I think its just anxiety' having never met me or checked me over. I know my own body and kept a close eye on my symptoms which thankfully didn't get any worse than slight breathlessness but my concern is someone sitting at home convincing themselves its all in their head/feeling too embarrassed to contact someone again

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

I think @SabrinaTheTeenageBitch, that that is a very real thing going on at the moment, in the COVID19 crisis. People sitting at home not wanting “to be a bother” silently having mini strokes, heart attacks, Covid, cancer symptoms. The lack of testing has become the silent killer in terms of Covid patients not even getting as far as hospitals.

[onlinelinda]

I had it and started with diarrhoea and a fast heart rate, followed by chills, and a barely there cough. No temperature at all.

[symptomaticMNer]

Results have come back negative. Yay! But I feel like I have been hit by a bus so still taking necessary precautions.

Dh has suggested if I feel no better after the weekend, I get a drs appt as he is very concerned about the palpitations.

@Everythingmagnolia - please let us know how you get on. I was surprised how quick my result came back - just over 24 hours - so hope you have answers soon too.

[Everythingmagnolia]

My results came back negative too. I also received mine back in less than 24 hours, really impressed!