Self isolation support thread

[JustUrggghhhh]

Apologies if a thread on this has already been started. Had a look but cant see anything glaringly obvious.

Thought I would start a self isolation support thread to stop those in isolation from going stir crazy.

I am on day 1 of self isolation. I have had mild manageable symptoms of various things slowly creeping up on me all week. But last night my temp reached high numbers and I'm now coughing have consulted work and I must stay away for 7 days. Kids wont be at school either as they have told me to keep them home. They both have mild coughs and I was struggling to get my head around the logistics of getting them to school.

I have found the whole week very strange. Not knowing when I need to panic. I suffer with chest infections when I get run down anyway so the symptoms are all similar. Have also had full blown flu a few times and again the symptoms are similar. Everything feels too vague, no one knows anything for sure and I feel like it's such a weird time to be living in.

Please post here if you are self isolating to keep me company. I'm really gonna miss work as I work with the the most fantastic people! No doubt the kids are gonna drive me crackers too as whilst they are pleased they get a week off school they have realised they will be missing all their extra clubs etc.

Hand hold here! I have been freaked out by the cotton wool lining feeling of my lungs. It kept me awake on a night as I couldn't think of anything else. Its improving by the day. But as a trained singer I was very alarmed at how my breathing was inefficient and 'foggy'.

Thank you, @JustUrggghhhh Hope other Day 5 people are doing ok (and everyone else!)

I’m going to share this tip I’ve been doing this afternoon.
Disclaimer I have NO medical knowledge and this may not work for you, but it gave me a little relief.
Sit upright on chair/couch. Feet flat on floor with feet spread shoulder width and knees pointing out. Keep your back straight then lean forward so your elbows are resting just short of your knees and look down at the floor. Breathe normally.
For some reason I seem to be able to get a decent breath when I sit like this.

I have that too just and a sort of fat tongue.

But still don't think I have it.

We have no food for Mother's day which is causing a bit of 'tension' and I am scared of the shops because crowds.

JustUrggghhhh same here! I’m a trained singer too and normally have such good breath control. I can blow out any number of candles on a cake in one go! But currently I can’t hold my breath for any time at all, or take deep or even medium breaths in, and have horribly inefficient foggy breathing. It’s disconcerting. I’m not sure how long it will take before I can sing properly again. I suspect some while.

My current singing career equates to the odd Karaoke or pissed up in pub toilets. Seeing as we are now not allowed to go there I get time to recover fully. I was thinking I really should put my voice to better use, sadly my self confidence is in the gutter!

Interested to hear about your singing though, if you care to share?

It’s not particularly exciting! My main instrument is piano, followed by harp. But I was trained in classical singing at school and was in an amazing 6th form choir who did lots of performances both religious and non religious. I was in the church choir at uni and we used to go and sing in cathedrals for services and stuff.

In more recent years I’ve done my music theatre grades up to 8 which was great fun and taught me to act which I’ve never done before! Ive found a lot of the techniques are the same as classical, particularly if you have a legit musical song, but some of the more modern stuff needs quite a different take! I’m wanting to do my diplomas in Music Theatre but that’s put on hold since this outbreak. I have lessons from a lovely lady who is like a friend and mentor, has taught both my girls and helped DD1 get into performing arts school (though coronavirus has killed theatre work at present so it’s tough on her right now).

I teach piano nowadays but also have a few singing pupils. They are sadly all on hold the last couple of weeks!

My self confidence was in the gutter too, to the point that when I went back to singing I was absolutely terrified to sing in front of the teacher. I regretted telling her I could sing and wished I’d pretended I was a beginner - but it’s amazing how quickly you build that back up.

How are you - and everyone else? I’ve finally been feeling a little better. I’m so scared it won’t last as cough is possibly still getting worse. But I’m better in myself.

@musicposy you sound every talented. I am slight jealous!! My training was just vocal technique - I strained my voice in a school production when I was quite young. Ended up with nodules of my vocal chords and 6 months of total voice rest until things improved. I paid for lessons when I started work at 16 to avoid ever having that situation again. I did about 20 lessons at £30 a time which was al lot of money for a 16yr old. Glad I did it though. I did club and pub work when I was 18 for about a year. It was dire. That's where the confidence took a knock. Was with a dodgy agent who also didnt help much. 22 years later I sing very well in the shower and at karaoke when drunk. My daughter inherited my voice though and has the confidence to hopefully do something with it. I will nurture that the best I can and will seek some lessons for her when shes old enough.

How is everyone today?

Been a bit quiet!

Good morning. Day 7. Woke feeling heavy/burning lungs. Breathing is a bit effortful. Hoping this will pass!

Day eight for me now.

I'm feeling much better overall. Still struggling to sleep and I start coughing if I do too much, but generally much better.

I've also downloaded Duolingo and have started to teach myself Spanish as a way of passing the time!

Just found this! How is everyone coping?

Day 4/5 here and I’m really not doing good. I’ve began to hate everyone and everything. I’ve been depressed before, I’ve got an anxiety disorder and PTSD and none of that ever made me feel as angry, hopeless and hate filled as I do right now. I don’t know how to let go of it, I feel like I’m losing my mind. Never before in my life felt so pathetic.

BuzzingButterfly I’ve found the mental aspect hard too. My anxiety has been sky high and I’ve had times in the night sobbing to DH saying what if I don’t survive it. I’m in my 50s and would probably be described as having underlying health conditions (which I do) but normally I am fit, strong and active. All the posts about rationing treatment on age are terrifying.

One of the big problems I’m getting is trusting that I’m getting better. I had a 5 days of mild temperature/ almost non existent cough and weakness then a week of worse temperature and feeling awful. Since Saturday I’ve been on the up but the cough is worsening. I’ve twice cleared the temperature and general shitty feeling only to nosedive again. I’m so so scared that the general feeling better isn’t going to last.

Having others on here going through the same is such a help, though mine seems to have been very drawn out compared to everyone else’s (another thing to make me anxious!). But the support on here is amazing - I just need to hide all the more scary threads!

I am coping In part by looking up healing meditations on YouTube and praying - just trying to do anything which calms me. I’m also FaceTiming those family members who I know always make me feel better!

I think we all have this virus in some form or another. It's just my theory though

I certainly think most people on here do - our experiences are so similar I WISH they were testing more. But there you go.
I’ve never had anything like this. Every bug I’ve had before, once I feel I’m getting better, I get better. I don’t get better for a day and then it goes downhill again. And I’ve never had a cough and chest pain like this for no reason - usually it’s been a cold that has moved to my chest. This feels very unusual.

Chin up people! It's not a conventional war. It will be over soon if people start to behave : they will find a vaccine soon enough they know the dna of this virus already.
Someone will become very rich out of this but we will all sigh a big sigh of relief when it does.

My son has controlled asthma and he is also suffering. He has had a cough for months though.

Me and DH are self isolating but not because either of us is unwell. We have just decided that the only way to ensure neither of us catch it when so many selfish idiots are swanning around everywhere is to stay home and not see anyone.

We are going to do it for at least 2 weeks but more like 1 or 2 months. We have loads of food because we are always well stocked, enough loo roll, enough dog food etc.

We plan on doing some decorating, gardening, watching our unwatched dvd's, reading our piles of unread books, doing crosswords and other word puzzles, playing scrabble, watching netflix, using the internet etc. I also plan on doing some knitting, trying (again) to learn to crochet and do some sewing.

We are not going to walk our dogs as we have a big enough garden that they can run round and exercise there.

Trouble is, the way I feel at times, I think, ok it might be over one day but at this rate am I going to come out of it alive.

I have quite dark pee, as if I’m dehydrated and I’m quite thirsty. But I keep on and on drinking, way more than normal. I’ve got through a jug of water (just over a litre) and 3 cups of tea since I woke up and still I’m thirsty and it’s making no difference. Don’t know if I should drink yet more. Is this just the body getting rid of the crap?

Utter relief. My work had decided certain staff dont need to work, I am one of them! So I dont have to go back next week when my isolation ends. Feels really strange again. Need to realise now that feeling strange and disjointed is the new 'normal'.

Day 6 now and I’ve been feeling dreadful for the last 3. Really struggling to get a deep breath, coughing and today my face is burning. I’m hungry but I don’t want to eat as last night I felt really sick after eating. My DD is only allowing me off the couch to go to the toilet as I frightened her last night because on top of everything else I had a panic attack.
We couldn’t get through to anyone at 111, tried to phone our GP this morning, they said phone 111.
I’m just sipping Vimto to try and keep hydrated.

Hope everyone is feeling better soon.

Day 8. OMG, what a night! Not the illness so much as having to get up every hour to empty a container in the bathroom: we have a leak from a pipe behind the loo that we couldn't isolate last night. I really bloody hope we can isolate it today because we can't get a plumber in here for a week due to quarantine! We turned the cold water off at the stop tap but it made no odds, water must be coming from hot tank in the loft (?)

Still, on the positive side, I was able to do this. DH wasn't well enough (I think he is a day or two behind me in symptoms).

How is everyone today? *@GenuineKlatchianPottery I hope you are feeling better