AIBU - to think that PCR results are being tampered with?

[tuesdayschild17]

A week ago, COVID symptoms hit me like a bus. I developed a high temperature, muscle aches, a dry cough, headache and within a couple of days I couldn’t smell at all. I’m talking stick your head in the dog food bowl and still nothing!!

I have had appalling night sweats as well and have heard this is common for the Omicron. I honestly have not felt this unwell for years.

I took a home PCR test and have just had the results and they’re negative! I followed the instructions religiously and made sure I really swabbed my throat/nose properly. I’d gamble large sums of money I had/still have COVID.

Does anyone feel that there are accuracy failures in the PCRs we aren’t being told about? Or that even worse the government may be trying to suppress the number of positives that happen in this huge wave of Covid crashing down on the UK?

Has anyone else had a negative PCR but been sure they have COVID?

Sorry for your illness, OP, and hope you get better soon but PMSL at 'I’ve had flu more than once in previous years and whilst it is horrendous, it’s just not this bad'. It reminds me of the men I've worked with who have 'It's more than a bad cold, it's bad 'flu' but could still walk and work.

I've had full symptomatic 'flu three times in my life and each time it felt like death would be preferable. If painkillers were across the bed, that was too far. I've met patients who were convinces they'd had 'flu many times until they caught symptomatic 'flu. I don't agree that COVID symptoms are worse than proper 'flu and people die from both which is why Winter is the 'flu season and we have the large scale 'flu vaccination programme to minimise deaths.

FWIW when I had covid recently I had none of the listed symptoms and it wasn’t that bad, so it’s likely you’ve got a different virus. Winter is peak cold and flu season anyway.

With the taste and smell though it is possibly a false negative, so maybe test again just in case? But either way I doubt it’s a conspiracy or a fake result. Hope you get well soon!

XH had covid symptoms and tested negative.

Still no better after a week laid up in bed he decided to do another test and that came back positive.

All negative lfts in the meantime.

Take another test!!!

Due to the fact you are in London and the high false negatives rates I think you’ve got Covid. I would order another test.

What I find quite upsetting though is all the people on here being rude to you. And it’s really worrying how people don’t understand that PCRs aren’t 100% reliable.

I hope you feel better soon

My 10 yo was feeling ill (fairly mildly) so did a lft as two off in his class with covid (who sit on his table) and it was positive…

Followed up with a pcr within 24hrs and that came back negative!

The research earlier that suggested if you have cold symptoms it is more than likely Covid. How have they come to that conclusion. I have never been for a cold or flu test in my life. I have visited doctors when I have a chest infection but have had hundreds of colds that I have self medicated. How could they possibly know how many are normally in circulation or are in circulation this year? Curious if anyone knows this?

DS' first PCR test came back negative despite having all the symptoms. Second 3 days later was positive. There are false negatives and if course human error in the labs.

Lolling at the idea that this government have the organisational skills to coordinate a conspiracy

@tuesdayschild17

I do appreciate that there are other viruses out there. However, I was under the impression that as I’m based in London, statistically it is far more likely for me to have Covid currently than any other respiratory illness. I have a daughter who (before I kept her home from school) was attending a school where nearly half of the staff were absent with Covid and a large number of pupils. It actually seems more likely to be Covid than anything else?

I get that you want to know. However...if you are that ill with a respiratory virus you should be isolating away from others to avoid spread anyway and you should be resting up and taking care of yourself. Does the actual diagnosis matter for you specifically in this moment? (Not talking about wider data collection etc)

@tuesdayschild17

Okay I definitely rescind the idea that they’re tampering with results. I think I’m just frustrated generally by their lack of transparency. I’m more convinced it could be a false negative, and that there isn’t a clear indication of how common it is/what to do if you believe you’ve had a false negative on a PCR.

I’m sorry but I don’t believe it is flu. I’ve had flu more than once in previous years and whilst it is horrendous, it’s just not this bad. I’ve had a temp of over 39 for 4 days.

Also I have never lost my taste and smell this completely. I can literally feel food/liquid/toothpaste in my mouth, with zero taste at all. I can’t smell even the faintest trace of garlic or dog food or anything that has a strong smell. I have never experienced total loss of smell/taste with a cold.

Do more PCRs.

As for the flu, influenza, like colds, comes in different varieties and effects you differently at different times. Sometimes it kills people. So it could be the flu. Either a different strain to what you've had previously or you aren't as healthy as you were last time.

@ZoBo123

The research earlier that suggested if you have cold symptoms it is more than likely Covid. How have they come to that conclusion. I have never been for a cold or flu test in my life. I have visited doctors when I have a chest infection but have had hundreds of colds that I have self medicated. How could they possibly know how many are normally in circulation or are in circulation this year? Curious if anyone knows this?

It comes from the Zoe app. Participants log any symptoms daily, and are requested to take a PCR test and report back. At the moment people in London who are reporting cold symptoms are more likely than not to come back and say they tested positive.

There has been very little flu circulating this year if you look at the weekly flu surveillance reports

@Prescottdanni123

Also, in terms of it feeling worse than normal flu, everyone's immune systems have taken a hit with all of the lockdowns. It is normal for colds and glu bugs to affect us more then they normally would.

Summer colds usually don't bother me that much. I caught one in June and it floored me, to the point that I needed two days off work.

Speak for yourself. I’ve fought off a few colds this Autumn with no worse effects than pre-lockdowns. The only people I’ve noticed suffering more than usual with every bug going are those who have also previously had a bad case of covid and whose immune systems are clearly still not back up to par.

@Panningforfish

People often think that a heavy cold is flu. I remember the difference being described as “if you have flu and there’s a £50 note on the window ledge about to blow out of the window you can’t get out of bed to save it”. It’s why we have a massive flu vaccination campaign every year as people often end up in intensive care and die from it. This is peak flu/respiratory virus time of the year. Add in the fact that we’re all been distancing/wearing masks and so haven’t been exposed to other viruses as we used to, so have less immunity. It absolutely could be a false negative, but could equally just be another virus. I recall having a chest infection back in the mid 1990s where I completely lost my sense of taste and smell. I vividly remember eating a peach. It was foul, like eating a wet sponge, no taste or aroma, just wet and squirty!

I think the problem is that we have no choice but to self diagnose. The idea of checking whether we have a specific virus via a home test, or even actually having any kind of right to know what it is we’re struck down by if we’re ok at home and don’t need urgent medical treatment is so new.

Agree with PPs also. There is no “lack of transparency” and I’m confused at what else the OP wants. Maybe full sequencing of the sample and a diagnosis? For hundreds of thousands of people every day?

Won’t be tampered with but could be either

1. Most likely, a different, similar bug
2. You haven’t done the test quite right, and not collected enough material
3. A few tests are just inaccurate

@TuesdayRuby

I’m suffering with exactly that. Loads of LFT and two PCR’s - all negative. I think it’s the flu, back with a vengeance.

Absolutely. I have a number of friends and neighbours with the described symptons - it's all flu (and most of them did not bother wirh flu jabs). It was predicted that flu would be very bad this year, and the prediction is proving accurate.

I did a PCR test when my dc both developed coughs and lost their sense of smell. Both dc were getting positive LFT’s and got a negative PCR (I administered both) I got repeated negative LFT’s and a positive PCR with absolutely zero symptoms and I was unvaccinated at the time. This was a couple of months ago though when a load of PCR’s in my area got incorrect results because they’d lost them 🙄.

If you've had positive LFTs and have symptoms then I think you need to proceed on the basis you have covid. Could you go for another PCR at a drive through centre?

I think I’m just frustrated generally by their lack of transparency.

Transparency of what? In what ways do you think they can be more transparent?

YABU. Colds/flus can be unpleasant.

Yes I'm sure a PCR can occasionally give a false negative- tests for most things can. But it's not something they're reknowned for.

other illnesses to exists besides covid..
the media and government has made us obsessed with it, according to them normal flu doesn’t exist anymore

Op. Don your hard hat. This really won't go down well on MN.

Ever considered you have the flu? It's bloody horrible!

1. No test is 100% accurate
2. Other viral illness are available.

Sometimes there are mix-ups with tests. I know of a school in which twins went for PCR- one came back positive, the other negative. The negative one then got sent back to school, as per the guidelines, and a week later their mum received a phone call to say there'd been a mix-up and actually both tests were positive.