How long till you felt better after having covid (no doctor or hospital needed)?

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

I guess this question is akin to "How long is a piece of string?"

I'm in my 3rd week off work. I'm exhausted, miserable, headachey. How long till I'm back to my normal self? If it's not long covid, is 3 or 4 weeks the norm? I can't face the thought of full time back at work next week. It feels too hard to do that. I'm wiped out.

Perhaps I'm just looking for permission to feel as crap as I do despite it being 3 weeks.

Yes, I'm double vaccinated.

[PurpleDaisies]

I must have got it the same time as you. I’m also struggling with brain fog and fatigue. Dh (who gave it to me) is back to normal.
Hoping that it goes away soon for both of us. It’s a bit miserable.

[Tiredoftiers]

I hit the 3 week mark and suddenly started feeling better.After feeling like I was never going to get better. Headed of to work felt a bit rubbish first day but almost normal the 2nd. Still slightly tired at the end of the day but nothing else. Fingers crossed you feel better soon.

[Foo2]

I'm the same, just passed the two week mark and still feeling so ropey. Get so trembly even putting a couple of dishes in the dishwasher. Feel a bit frail I suppose, though the cough etc. is away. I thought I'd be ok to go back to work on Monday, but not looking likely just now.

[HumunaHey]

I thought I had long covid but started feeling better just after 3 weeks. Not 100% but definitely markedly better after 3 weeks and things gradually further improved from there.

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

Thank you for all your replies. That sounds promising. Looking back, my symptoms started on 6 November but it was more like a cold so I did a PCR on the 8th which cams back positive after my son tested positive on LFT that day.

It seems that 3 weeks or thereabouts is not uncommon then for feeling grim. Yes, Tiredoftiers, I also worry I'm never going to get better 😒

[catfunk]

Not me but my colleague couldn't come back to the office for 4 weeks and then then was hybrid working as the walk to work was knackering him out. He's 40s, no risk factors, double jabbed usually very energetic.

[PokemonGoGoGo]

I'm at 4 weeks and still feeling pretty crap. Really, really tired, my eyes are stinging and itchy, I'm still coughing a lot and I'm now coughing at night, which I wasn't before. I feel the brain fog too, having to really think hard about things whereas before COVID a lot of it would have been somewhat automatic.

No idea at what point it's classed as long COVID and I don't feel terrible, but I certainly don't feel right and the lack of energy is really getting me down.

[AttaGirrrrl]

I went back to work after two and a half weeks but shouldn’t have. I’m really struggling now and wish I’d allowed my body more time to rest then. Take it easy. Don’t rush.

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

PokemonGogo, yes! That automatic way if doing things is no longer there. I feel the same. I stood in Sainsburys two days ago and wanted to cry because it was such an effort and becai couldn't think what I needed.

I'm 55, overweight but no other co morbidities, and up to 3 weeks ago was exercising 3 to 5 hours a week. I'd signed up to do a 10km fun run in early December. Ain't gonna happen now.

[LittleBoxes]

Three weeks and two days for me. Today is exactly four weeks since symptoms started and I've been feeling properly normal since Sunday. Only slight lingering thing is that taste and smell aren't quite back to normal - about 95% I reckon. Otherwise feeling fine.

[Bookridden]

It took me a good month to feel properly well again. Such a nasty virus.

[LittleBoxes]

I'm 50, also overweight and with the same sort of exercise levels. Did nothing at all for three weeks but have been back on it this week with no problems. So there is hope

[kalidasa]

I had it really early on. I was only 39 but was v ill and in the end did have to go to hosp in an ambulance. For me the issue was primarily difficulty breathing, I was so breathless I couldn't walk or talk. It took about a month as I remember to feel mostly recovered, but a few more months to stop noticing some breathlessness on any (mild) exertion. I didn't have any real "long" Covid issues though even though I wasn't able to rest that much due to the endless homeschooling! It was so early on that I was diagnosed by an x-ray at my bed in A&E, I think they had very few tests at that point so were conserving them.

[FlagsFiend]

Couple of months to feel normal, I'm mid-30s and had it before vaccines were available to me. Still have issues with my sense of smell nearly a year on but otherwise okay.

[DGFB]

10 days til I went back to work. Still lacking energy but finding iron supplements are really helping

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

I really appreciate all the replies. It's good to get an overall view of how everyone has coped, or hasn't coped as the case may be!

Kakidasa, and look at us now with testing! I have probably a dozen or so LFT at home because I teach in FE and my son attends FE. Hope you're much better now.

[Franklin12]

Has everyone been double vaccinated? DH has it for a few days but is feeling better. Has been double jabbed but has an irritating cough.

[kowari]

I could have worked through it if I hadn't had to isolate. Felt a bit feverish and tired for a couple of days, lower back ache for a few nights, leg aches. After two weeks I only had a bit of a cough and my sense of taste and smell wasn't 100%. Three weeks, nothing.

[peachpearplum01]

Two months! And still got addicted symptoms after that on and off. Then got some weird vertigo thing three months later - not sure if linked.
Mid 40s, double jabbed, fit healthy and never normally ill 🙁

[peachpearplum01]

Adhoc not addicted

[kowari]

That was March 2020, unvaxxed, later positive for antibodies.

[Nothavingfunrightnow]

Franklin 12, yes I'm double vaccinated but was due for my booster. I was called for my booster the first week after having tested positive.

[PurplePumpkinDream]

@Nothavingfunrightnow Agree it was 3 weeks till I started feeling better and 4 till I was back to normal. So it won’t be long now. People think they should be OK after the 10 days isolation but it doesn’t work like that.

[Kwackerly]

Late 40s, double vaccinated. Had covid in march 2020 and was off for a month with chest infections etc. Severe vertigo 3 months later which carried on for some time.

This time- three weeks off work, a week on half days, now just finished my first full week. I'd say I feel 70% better after 5 weeks. No chest infection this time but otherwise pretty similar, and far worse than I had expected!

[Andoffwego]

I will be 4 weeks in at the weekend. I’ve been off work the whole time and am due to go back on Monday if I don’t get another sick note. But although I have improved I still feel pretty awful. I’m m short of breath most of the time, the fatigue is awful and I keep getting random attacks of diarrhoea. I feel like everyone at work must think I’m pathetic as they were all back straight after their isolation ended. Thank will probably go back on Monday and try to get through it but I suspect I’ll have to go off again really quickly.