Feel so ill I’m scared

[Daffodils9]

Started Tues just gone. Can’t type much as so exhausted but frightened now. I’ve been seriously ill (hospital) twice before in my life and this feels like that but I can’t point to why exactly.
Fever, chills, intermittent muscle and joint pain, stomach pain, sore chest, breathlessness, cough, nausea and vomiting. Vomiting had stopped after the first couple of days but has come back today even though I’ve eaten virtually nothing for five days (handful of dry cereal, a cracker, etc.)
So completely exhausted and weak. Can’t sit up.

I’ve done three covid tests and they’re all negative. I’m vaxxed and boosted. The constant fever is worrying me - it comes down to 38/37.9 with paracetamol but never lower and never for more than half an hour so I am raging with it day and night.

I feel utterly desperate. We decided not to ring 111 today as I simply couldn’t cope with travelling an hour to our out of hours. We live rurally. I’m trying to make it to morning and hoping more local gp can see me.

Husband is worried and he doesn’t get worried by stuff like this usually. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. If flu how long before there is some respite? If not that then what? I am wondering about pneumonia or something?

I suppose that depends on if any of that communication is subconsciously misogynistic or not.

The article says “ the gulf may be linked to male doctors underestimating the severity of their female patients’ illness”

To me this certainly suggests misogyny…

But either way outcome does seem to differ depending on the sex of the doctor which was what you asked.

I have horrible pain in my right shoulder. I wish we could get to the bottom of that. I’ve just been given stronger painkillers on top of everything else.

Shoulder pain can be referred lung or abdominal pain… hope it calms down soon

I wouldn't say I've ever been 100% since tbh but I do blame the sepsis for triggering my autoimmune disease. That said, I'm here and can largely live a normal life and for that I'm thankful.

I'm glad to hear you're in hospital and being looked after OP think of you.

Crikey you sound rough. Hope you soon turn a corner and feel better

Get well soon

Things are looking up. Have an incredibly clued up consultant on the case now and he thinks it’s a rare type of bacteria that can cause an unusual form of pneumonia. I’m an interesting case at least. So we have a new treatment approach and I’ve started physio to improve my breathing and get me mobile again. Real sign to trust my gut - I knew I was really, really poorly and this wasn’t a run of the mill virus. Still on oxygen and wiped out. Miss my little ones.

So glad things are starting to get better for you. I was also told mine was a rare type of pneumonia. They were convinced I'd caught something from a foreign holiday when I hadn't left the country.

When I was discharged all I was told was that it was a really unusual infection. I hope you get more info than I did.

Can you face time your dc or call?

So glad to read your update OP and excellent to hear you're getting well looked after. 💐

So glad you are feeling a bit better, maybe home sooner than later. X

Hi i had this a few years ago - i had pneumonia and sepsis my only symptom was fever plus a pain in my shoulder. Nothing showed up on chest xrays but after a ct scan they could see the infection which was somehow hiding behind my heart so could be seen on the xray.

i was in hospital a couple of weeks but i did get better quickly once they figured out wjat was wrong.

good luck op i hope you feel better soon

Sending you lots of healing hugs! Fingers crossed your team is spot on so you can recover and be with your family very soon. Xxx

Had my gallbladder out so that’s ruled out. They think it’s muscular from tension due to breathing issues and a bit of “referred” pain from the lung.
Off oxygen today! Now in the ‘when can I go home’ discussions. I was hoping today but doctor is unconvinced as is my husband…
Have to listen to them I suppose. Want my own bed and to see the kids.

Daffodils, you quoted me earlier but I was travelling and didn't realise.

I'm so glad you got to the hospital and now really glad to read this. They will get the bottom of it, it's horrible when we are that ill. I'm always one for natural approaches but conventional medicence excels in an emergency. They will sort this. Sometimes you just have to get yourself there.

How do you feel today? Keeping you in my thoughts and best wishes. Hugs

Ah thank you ☺️
Well I’m feeling like a right lemon because after all the ‘maybe I can go home today’ business I started I was quickly back on oxygen and the latest scan showed I need more tests so that’s put paid to that.
Other half is bringing the kids in for a quick visit over the weekend.

Oh I'm so sorry Daffodils9, I hope after the weekend they will be feeling more confident about your recovery. I wonder if this is just that recovery tends to occur in waves at the beginning, rather than straight through recovery.

Just stay focused on the fact that you've made a significant improvement, and you are in the best place for them to sort this out. Hugs.

I had pneumonia a few years ago OP, and had 4 weeks on antibiotics along with steroids and an inhaler. The pain in my back from my ribs was excruciating and I ended up having to have more antibiotics as the ones I had from the hospital went through my gut like a dose of salts. It was a long slow recovery and took around 4 months to be able to walk the dogs/normal day to day activities.

You're in for a long haul - don't push yourself.

How you getting on OP big hugs x

So sorry to hear your latest update bur at lest you are in the best place to get fixed up and sent on your way.

Eek - this is what I’m worried about. Two small very active kids, work full time (thankfully in an office), normally very active - swimming, walking, etc. I’m climbing around a soft play pretty much every week! Taking care of pets, house, and my elderly parents. Not sure how we’re going to cope! My other half is brilliant but he has a very intense job. His sisters have offered to help out thankfully and school mum friends have been amazing.
Still I feel a bit overwhelmed. Wish I could just bloody breathe! Definitely not going home for another couple of days now as I can’t manage off oxygen.

Say yes to All the help. The more you take it easy the sooner you'll recover. Can one of your friends/relatives coordinate a group of supporters so that eg Mon/Wed/Fri someone is at yours after school to play with kids; dinners are brought on the Tues and Thurs? We did this happily for a school mum a while back who needed it and everyone benefitted - it felt good to help.

Oh bloody hell. Now I have to have a follow up appointment to check for cancer which they are almost sure I don’t have but because of a tiny detail on the CT they want to check.
I’m just not going to think about it. No point stressing. Worry about follow up scans later.

The other thing is that whenever they check my oxygen it’s always 93 and then they say to take a deep breath and it goes up to 94/95 and they’re satisfied. But I’m not taking deep breaths all the time am I? I’m breathing normally. So I don’t really understand that.
Will I be okay to go home if I’m at 93 breathing normally? I’m still on oxygen at the moment but at the lowest level.

You might be breathing normally but not properly IYSWIM. There are exercises that you can do to help improve your breath control that should help you to get your sats up even if you aren't feeling that breathless. https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/breathing-techniques-to-ease-breathlessness/ You're probably going to need to spend a while focussing on that, but hopefully it'll become second nature.

The main issue will be that if your oxygen is only 93 at rest, then you're going to get out of breath very easily on exertion, so you're going to need to allow for that when you're doing stuff. If you've not already got a pulse oximeter, you can get them fairly cheaply from Amazon, so you can keep track of how much you're affected by doing certain things, and modify your activity accordingly. Break any physical work you need to do into small chunks, and allow lots of rest in between. If you're having a good day, resist the temptation to try to get everything done all at once, as you may find that you get less done overall due to needing even more recovery time. I hope you're able to get home ASAP and are feeling properly better soon.