Anyone else got this horrendous cough and cold?

[Pantalaimon88]

I’ve had it since Thursday. Coughing so hard I am urging, lungs feel like they’re being squeezed and I can’t smell a thing. I also feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.

Apparently loads of people have this awful virus at the moment. Is anyone else here suffering too and can share a moan, tea and sympathy?

I had a terrible virus at the end of November. My husband had just come back from a conference in New York with people from all over the world. I’ve never had anything like it. It completely took me over, and I’m a fit and healthy mid thirties and rarely ill.

I didn’t have a cough but had no appetite and constant nausea for 8 weeks. I had various blood tests and ultrasound and had high inflammation, elevated liver enzymes and enlarged spleen. Doctors concluded it was a very bad virus in the end and I recovered after a few months.

I thought it was way too early to have been Covid but I am wondering now and I would be very interested to see what an antibody test would show.

Should add above I had a very high fever on and off for the first 2 week too and generally felt horrendous. It could have been flu but it wasn’t like any flu I’ve had before

Very interesting. Dh, the kids and I were all ill at the end of January with what were then thought was flu. I periodically wonder if it was covid - very dry persistent cough and totally wiped out

I wasn’t ill until mid March with covid (untested but confirmed by doctor in a & e) but I believe it was here in November.

What strikes me is the length of illness posters describe and the long recovery. Sound similar to my experience.

So could this be a good thing? If March/April was the second wave does that mean it may be over or can there be third/fourth/fifth waves?

If it was here in November surely there would have been excess deaths above the 5-year average? But there wasn't?

@SandysMam

So could this be a good thing? If March/April was the second wave does that mean it may be over or can there be third/fourth/fifth waves?

I bloody hope it’s been and passed! I need to restart my business is September it won’t take another lockdown.

RafaIsTheKingOfClay the surveillance testing doesn't test for SARs type coronavirus, just flu type ones (amongst other illnesses) and COVID19 is actually really hard to test for, easily destroyed with usual substrates. It is totally possible it was missed or put down as "other, unknown". Unfortunately they'll all have been destroyed now I would have thought.

Lung x rays are probably the best way to tell if it was present here in 2019. But we haven't been asked to review them, that I know of.

CodexDevinchi typically second waves are the worst, and subsequent waves much smaller. They generally become part of seasonal disease waves. But there could be 3,4,5,6 waves potentially of a disease.

It did pick up one case/outbreak in Dec and one after the novel Covid was discovered they labelled as seasonal corona virus. Even if they didn’t label it it’s highly unlikely the surveillance system wouldn’t have picked up something was off. Half the ICU admissions with COVId are in working age people and most of those don’t have severe underlying conditions.

In all likelihood there were some isolated cases and perhaps limited transmission at the end of last year. But the idea of widespread transmission that would have been the first wave, making this the second isn’t backed up by anything.

RafaIsTheKingOfClay no, I don't think it is the second wave. And I'm hoping there won't be one! Or at least not a noticeable one.

Whatever it was I had I was having to stop walking across a tennis court sized distance to get my breath back

@GhettoDefendant

If it was here in November surely there would have been excess deaths above the 5-year average? But there wasn't?

Not if it was mainly hitting the younger, healthier, more mobile population, you know the ones that are very unlikely to die. It was when it hit care homes that the shit really hit the fan.

My story is similar to a lot of people,
December 14th went to a Christmas party at my local, it was crowded, more than crowded, we were shoulder to shoulder. Mostly younger, under 50.

December 23rd started getting scratchy throat and generally unwell.
December 24th became very unwell, temperature couldn't be controlled even with taking both paracetamol and ibuprofen, hacking, unproductive cough, aching to the bones, no energy, dripping with sweat, and yet shivering, couldn't eat, could barely drink. Slept almost constantly.
December 25th Even worse, felt like I was dying, that someone was sitting on my chest. Drifting in and out of conciousness, barely saw any of Christmas Day, only thing I was eat/drinking was throat sweets and lemsip.

Took me well over 3months to recover, my heartrate was jumping to 150 from walking, my resting heart rate went up from 40 to 60. I was having to take rests in exercise classes, I struggled to run.

I reckon I was 99% recovered by the start of lockdown and am now 99.9%, still need an occasional inhaler and have periods when my throat hurts for no reason.

You couldn't get a test in the beginning unless you'd been to China or Italy. I'd say it was very remiss of them not to do that. Then again they didn't have capacity. Its been a shitshow.

If it was here in November surely there would have been excess deaths above the 5-year average? But there wasn't?

Not if it was mainly hitting the younger, healthier, more mobile population, you know the ones that are very unlikely to die. It was when it hit care homes that the shit really hit the fan.

We still don't know if there will be excess deaths in 2020. A lot of people who would have died of flu may have died of The Covid instead.
And it may have hastened the deaths of people who would probably have died this year anyway.

There's also the fact that we appear to be counting people who had The Covid, recovered, then died of a completely unrelated condition sometime later. It will be interesting to see the revised figures.

We all came down with a nasty cough (but not cold) and high temperature over Christmas. The worst we've all ever felt. My son's temperature was so high, he started to hallucinate. It took about 3 weeks to go. I spent half of Christmas Day asleep. Just had to sleep loads to recover. Never had anything like it.
I'm convinced it was COVID-19.

Half the school came down with it.

I needed Ventolin too.

We were all completely off our food for at least a week.

I had a horrendous cold last Autumn too, I don't even remember when exactly, now. It does make you wonder. I'm in Glasgow.

Interesting.

My son was ill for 10-12 days just before Christmas. Temperature, cough and flat out unwell. Usually, my parents look after our dc as we both work ft but this time I didn't ask them. I didn't think it was covid but something made me careful.

I had what felt like sore lungs in January. I remember saying to a few people as it was most unusual. Only lasted a day or two and then I forgot about it.

Strange days.

I was ill February half term, then again in March a month later. I had Covid symptoms both times, and a chest x-ray in between due to my chest still being sore, but wasn't admitted so no test.

Its my first year being a TA so I put the February bout down to that (caught everything going since October), but definitely suspected Covid in March.

Interestingly an NHS worker I know had the antibody test and it came back positive. The only time they've been ill this year was beginning of February. Essentially it looks like Covid was spreading much sooner than it was previously thought.

Bumping this thread up - really interesting to read knowing there was a confirmed case developed in Dec 19 months before they thought.

My daughter got prescribed an inhaler too. Terrible cough to the point of vomiting, conjunctivitis, rash, hacking up mucous.. which lasted for 8 weeks, she just couldn't shift it. This thread makes v interesting reading

I had high temp and nasty cough in feb plus lost all sense of taste and smell. Ever since every few weeks I am hit by awful fatigue and have chest pains. Can’t walk more than half a mile in that time and feel drained. Then it passes for a bit.