To think I've got Covid?

[AlbertBridge]

DS1 was pinged on Dec 17th, then developed symptoms on Dec 19th. Positive LTF then positive PCR.

I tested negative.

I developed symptoms on Dec 26th. Sneezing, headache, sore throat, cough... Negative LTF. Symptoms got worse. Negative PCR.

I've spent every day in bed till today, feeling terrible.

Yesterday I lost my senses of taste and smell. But LTF STILL says I'm negative!

Surely it's wrong? AIBU for thinking I've probably got Covid but the tests aren't picking it up?

I'd get another PCR. I tested negative on a PCR and LF then a few days later I tested positive

And I had symptoms but it took a few days for it to show on tests.

Yanbu. I was neg LFT and PCR before Xmas and had all the symptoms.

Now feel better but had pos LFT and PCR after partner mentioned no sense of taste smell.

You need another PCR.

Thank you - I'll do a PCR. I obviously don't want to have Covid but I don't want to go spreading it around next week if I do actually have it.

I'm meant to be back at work on Thursday (6th). If I did get Covid on 26th Dec, I'm safe to go out again then, aren't I?

You can't rely on LFTs. Go get another PCR. Once you've had symptoms for over 24 hours they will usually show pos. if that's what you've got.

Our whole family had it about 3 months ago. One of us at a time. We used the endless days of isolation to test the reliability of LFTs as each of us caught it as DD3 had been given a box load of them by her work.

What fun it was

The PCR test positive confirmation emails always said count from first day of symptoms not date of test.

Have you tried swabbing your throat as well as nose with the LFT? It's supposed to pick up Omicron more reliably than nose only.

You poor thing! That doesn't sound much fun.

Once you've had symptoms for over 24 hours they will usually show pos. if that's what you've got.

I had symptoms when I did the second PCR. To be honest, I was beginning to accept that I just had a really bad cold until my sense of smell and taste vanished yesterday. But two LFTs since, both negative. DS1's LFT went positive straight away.

Argh. I wonder if I'm just really crap at swabbing?

Have you tried swabbing your throat as well as nose with the LFT?

This is a good point, but yes. I'd heard that too so I've been proper deep-throating the swab. 😆

We always had swabbing insecurity too. Do it till you gag and do it a bit more, and push it up till it wont go any higher and wiggle it around is all you can do

Exactly the same situation here. Pcr on Boxing Day negative. Pcr on 31st positive. I get out onThursday but still feel pretty rotten.

I just tried a LFT from a different batch. I did my tonsils then shoved it so far up my nostrils I expected to see brain matter on it.

Still negative.

I also googled "smell loss after a cold" and found an article that says there are two types of smell loss. The COVID type happens early on, at the same time as the other symptoms. The other type, caused by a different virus, only comes on after the cold symptoms have started to fade. That's exactly what happened to me. I started feeling better yesterday, and that's when I suddenly couldn't smell or taste anything. Sadly, it then said that this type of smell loss can last 6months or more. 😱

They sent a PCR with the LFT box I ordered when DS1 first got ill, so I'll do it tomorrow and post it. But I expect it'll be negative too.

Weird.

Covid-19 is just one of many viruses that causes the symptoms you describe. The coughs and colds and flu and chest infections we all used to get pre-Covid haven’t disappeared. You’ve probably just got something else.

I’m at home with Covid as we speak - positive LFT, confirmed by PCR. Back in October, though, I was ill with similar (worse, if anything!) symptoms, and that wasn’t Covid.

This has happened to both DH & DD2, yet myself and DD1 both tested positive yet we all had similar symptoms mine worse than them all. Yet DH he had daily negative LF and two negative PCRs taken a week apart. It’s bizarre, given how “contagious” it is and we have not isolated from each other just avoided everyone else

No point doing more LFTs, they are designed for use when not symptomatic. How we are 2 years in and people still haven't got that is beyond me.

You need to have another PCR done.

I also googled "smell loss after a cold" and found an article that says there are two types of smell loss. The COVID type happens early on, at the same time as the other symptoms. The other type, caused by a different virus, only comes on after the cold symptoms have started to fade.

DD lost her sense of smell and taste on day 11 after her positive PCR when all other symptoms had gone. She still hasn't got them back properly over 3 months later!

@SwimmingIntoMotherhood

No point doing more LFTs, they are designed for use when not symptomatic. How we are 2 years in and people still haven't got that is beyond me.

You need to have another PCR done.

A new study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, University of Oxford, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, and the Medical University of Graz, has found that lateral flow tests detect Covid-19 with similar accuracy to laboratory-based PCR tests, providing they are used at the onset of infection and soon after symptoms start.

So, LFTs do work when newly symptomatic.

My LFT test didn't show positive until a couple of days after the symptoms started, later confirmed by a PCR test, so they do work when symptomatic but not necessarily immediately. Without the test I would have assumed that I had a normal cold.

When I had Covid, I lost my sense of smell once I actually started feeling better, a good two weeks after the positive PCR.

@SwimmingIntoMotherhood

No point doing more LFTs, they are designed for use when not symptomatic. How we are 2 years in and people still haven't got that is beyond me.

You need to have another PCR done.

This is nonsense. LFTs are more likely to show a positive when you have symptoms than when you don't. People have widely misinterpreted the message about lateral flow tests. The point is that they aren't as accurate but are useful at a population level for finding hidden cases. If you really need to know the advice is to get a PCR. The LFTs still work with symptoms (as mentioned above, better in fact). How would they know when you developed symptoms & magically stop working. They detect virus.

Similar happened to us. DS tested positive (PCR) on 16 and had symptoms. The rest of us were negative. DS did spend a lot of his time in his room away from us, especially when he was feeling rough, but he did join us for meals and to watch TV. Between the 16 - 23 we stayed home as much as possible, the only indoor place we went was to pick up our Christmas food order. Then on 23rd DD started with symptoms but her PCR came back negative and all her LTFs afterwards were negative. Then I started with symptoms and tested negative on a PCR on the 30th, and LTFs that I’ve taken since were negative.

I don’t think DD and I had covid, I just think it was another virus (I’ve heard doctors saying there has been an increase in other respiratory viruses this winter) and both DD and I had temperatures and felt ill for longer than what DS did when he had covid.

The lateral flow tests used by the NHS tend to have lower specificity and sensitivity than others on the market so they are definitely not as capable at detecting the virus. One of the many reasons that you can’t use them for travelling.

I agree that there is some confusion about the purpose of lateral flow tests. They should be used when you don’t have symptoms purely because they shouldn’t be used in place of PCRs due to the lower sensitivity. When someone has symptoms they need to do a PCR.

From personal experience, I did a PCR on day 1 of having symptoms and it was positive. My lateral flows were negative until day 3 so I’m very glad I didn’t rely exclusively on them.

I had the flu badly 10 years ago. Lost smell and taste for 3 weeks after.

The lateral flow tests used by the NHS tend to have lower specificity and sensitivity than others on the market so they are definitely not as capable at detecting the virus. One of the many reasons that you can’t use them for travelling.
Can you point to this information? The ones we were sent for holiday testing were Flowflex, exactly the same as the ones they send out, just in a single box instead of 7.