Optimism needed. If you think you've had it and have now recovered or know somebody, please come and talk to me

[Roostersmum2]

Hi all. I'm having a bad day

I have some symptoms which could indicate the onset of the virus (diarreah, chills, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, chest pressure, feeling wiped out from doing as little as picking something up off the floor) and I'm feeling a bit vulnerable. I'm currently being isolated in the bedroom away from my young DC but if I do have it then they've inevitably been exposed and both have a cough.

Chances are it is CV as we live in a hot bed.

I'm mid 20's but my immune system isn't great and I'm frequently poorly with something or other. I had some health problems last year which I recovered from but my immune system is taking a while to catch up.

Regretfully I was a smoker and that became a crux when I was going through some pretty crap stuff. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about that. Please no doom mongering about smokers, I know it was a terrible habit

I would really appreciate if any of you who believe they've had it would spare a minute to reassure me that they've come through it or know somebody who has.

I think I have had it.
High temperature, nausea and vomiting (Possibly due to the high temperature), Chills and shivering and a cough
Lethargy- I pretty much slept for three days.
Complete loss of appetite. Now on the mend- symptoms started Mondaynight/ Tuesday and now apart from a bit of fatigue seem to be ok

Hi @Roostersmum2
Just posting so I can find the thread easily as I'm finding it very morale boosting.
Day 2/3 here and Im feeling better than yesterday. No further diarrhoea but very lethargic, and skin on back and arms feels like its burning but no temperature. Sore throat is back but no cough yet.

This is a very reassuring thread, thank you.

Interesting to read about the reports of taste disturbances and mouth ulcers. I’ve had chest tightness for about 4/5 days, and some mild/sharp chest pain but nothing to write home about. Barely any coughing. No raised temperature. My mouth has felt sore for a couple of days. Very dry lips and sore patches inside.

I keep thinking this must be it, but it’s not getting any worse and it’s not stopping me from doing anything so then I convince myself it must be just anxiety causing the symptoms.

I’ve heard that a high proportion of people probably won’t even realise they’ve had it, so I suppose I could just have a very mild case. Or it could be something else entirely . I wish we could just get a test so we could find out.

Best wishes to all those feeling rotten

It's very hard to help OP. A lot of people think they had it but they may not so it's just false hope really. They are telling you it was fine because they were fine when they might have just had a cold. Unfortunately because they refuse to do more testing it is so difficult to know. For example in Ireland they completed 10,000 tests with 790 positive do 9,210 thought they had it but they did not.

Think I have it. 5 days of high temperature (between 37.9 and 39.1) with slight headache. Day 5-7 short of breath. Not too much coughing. Metallic taste in mouth. No other coldy symptoms.
Coped fine with the temperature. Breathlessness unnerving but fine when still and distracted.
I'm fit and healthy but have in past had pneumonia, bad asthma and pleurisy. These were all much worse (the pneumonia tasted the same).
Don't want to count chickens because we don't know if rest of the family will get it. But put it this way, even under normal circumstances I wouldn't have gone to the doctors about it.
Hope that helps

He didn’t tell me all the symptoms he was/ is experiencing but dh appears to be getting better. No more fever after 5 days of it. He told me his chest feels better, I didn’t know he had an issue with his chest. He is a mental health nurse and this was his first time off sick in 3 years.

My throat is getting more sore now, my hands are clammy and when I clear my throat it's more of a hoarse cough

Poor you. From what I remember from other posters on the previous thread that seems like the "normal" progression so try not to worry (you can repeat that back to me in a couple of days time).

My chest feels tight tonight and my lower back is really really hurting me I'm hoping I'm not coming down with it I feel exhausted also no other symptoms but I've had body aches all week

I'm half convinced I had it two weeks ago.

DS was very poorly, high temp, barking dry cough, no runny nose but gagging with mucus in his throat, tired easily and very whiny (he's 3) I was a couple of days behind but was absolutely exhausted with it. Horrible dry, barking cough, same awful mucus in throat, headache, horrendous tight chest and breathlessness (put down to the cough) high temp, body ache and shivers. I took to my bed which I never do. Lasted about five days and by day six I felt better, day seven I felt alright. The cough did hang about for another few days.

My DH works (customer facing) on public transport in a large city (not London) so I'm not genuinely wondering if it was. I joked at the time about it being CV.

It does seem so porcupine ill definitely update over the coming days. This thread is my sanity atm.

Ginger I had lower backpain the other day too, it went hand in hand with the squits (sorry if tmi). I hope you're ok and feel better soon

Penny what you had sounds more like corona than what I'm experiencing to be honest. I'm yet to have a real prominent dry cough or develop a temperature, but because the way I feel is so bizarre I can't help but think it is that because I've seen my symptoms mentioned in confirmed cases in the media.

I need to remind myself that the absence of those prominent symptoms is a good thing but it feels like I'm just waiting for them to start.

I feel really strange, depersonalised, not quite with it.

I'm an anxiety sufferer with PTSD so I recognise this level of anxiety very well. It is how I felt when coming out of hospital last year for something different. I was basically in shock. This corona virus has terrified me to the point where it is making me a nervous wreck.

I'm going to lose the plot soon, 12 months of this I'll be sectioned off

Positive thinking rooster!

I have asthma which is usually reasonably well controlled with inhalers. I have been unwell now for 17 days. Starting with chest congestion and tightness, fever and body aches for 4 to five days. As these symptoms diminished the breathlessness came, not constant but hard to get on top of. I doubled or more my dose of preventer inhaler and on the worst days took my reliever every hour. It helped but not for long. It got to the stage that I thought I needed medical help and GP prescribed steroids and antibiotics over the phone. However the next day my breathing was easier and I didn’t end up taking the extra meds. Day 17 and I’m still pretty exhausted, breathless on exertion, still a bit feverish and generally feeling unwell but much improved. I think if it was Coronavirus I have been lucky.

Oh I forgot, the cough. It has been bad but looser now and not so painful.

I think I have it, awful sore throat and felt like a scarf was wrapped tightly around my throat, headache and temp. Two days later the sore throat seems to expand down into my lungs which were really warm and felt like the scarf was now wrapped around my chest. Temp and sore throat coming and going, now no temp but still sore throat and chesty cough.

Gamboge that sounds really frightening but it's great that you turned a corner. 17 days is a hard slog and after just 4 days of "maybe" symptoms I don't know how I would cope with the respiratory symptoms for so long. I hope you made a complete recovery and soon!

Same to you FAQ, I do hope you feel alot better soon. I've seen a few people describe it as feeling as though they had something wrapped tight around the lungs

These descriptions sound terrible and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm an absolute wimp when it comes to matters of health. I had a scary brush with death not too long ago and it really hit home how fragile our health can be.

Does anybody know what the most dangerous aspect of this virus is? Is it the pneumonia which stops breathing or the cytokine storm that happens with some patients immune system?

I said to DH today that I wish they'd just exterminate bats completely given all the disease they carry. I felt terrible afterwards as that isn't my nature at all.

Thought i would update
20 days from my first symptoms
8 days from test and still waiting for results but today for the first time in 3 weeks i feel almost back to normal, the weakness and fatigue has passed and the annoying cough and breathlessness is passing.

I think I've had a mild version. No fever. Cough scratchy throat and sore lungs plus wheezy breathing, feeling bit breathless. When breathing my chest rattles.

Occasional exhaustion after just popping to shop (ie feeling wiped out like you must lie down for a bit). That's very unlike me and is the thing that makes me think something odd going on.

But absolutely no fever ...

Oh and yesterday my dh rushed into the kitchen and said the brownies are burning! I was sat in the kitchen and just couldn't smell it ...

I too think I may have mild CV and am currently self isolating at home, although I am not sure if I need to as my symptoms, albeit mild, have been hanging around for about three weeks.

All stared with a sore throat and tight upper airway, this then changed to a dry sore throat and the constant need to clear my throat. A few days later I experienced mucus running down my throat which was horrible but has now mostly cleared.

I have also had diarrhoea and loss of appetite and on Friday night through to Saturday lunchtime Hot flushes - which started very suddenly and came on worse when I worried. I am feeling extremely anxious at the moment which I dont think is helping these symptoms.

On Wednesday the need to clear my throat changed to a very mild dry cough, which has got a little stronger but is not too troublesome and mainly comes about if I breathe deeply or laugh. Occasionally I find myself a little breathless but this seems to ease a little if I cough, almost as though it is clearing the airway.

I have found drinking lots of water has helped with the throat and cough and for the first time, today my throat does not seem so bad.

What I Am really worried about is the fact that some people get worse and require hospitalisation - I have issues with doctors, dentists etc. It also doesn’t help that we lost DFIL to pneumonia at home very suddenly a few years ago, which is skewering my worries too.

Does anybody know if I should count day 1 as when the sore throat arrived or when the cough turned up? As I am sitting anxious in my bedroom
for fear of infecting anyone. We did not leave the house at all last week to be on the safe side but it would be nice to go sit in the garden now the sun has arrived - this may help my anxiety too.

I'm in Oxfordshire, beginning of January OH had what now sounds like Covid, horrific temperature sweats, dry hacking cough. After a week I said he sould see the GP for his cough and he said there was no mucous at all. At one point he didnt get out of bed for three days and lost all track of time. It took hi a good while to recover and was off work for two shifts (very rare for him).

As he was recovering he was getting texts saying who had gone down with it at work. Most of the people in his department and when he returned found out three were off with pnuemonia.

His company have a factory in China and have people travelling back and forth

I think that I had it in January too, fever,fatigue,e tc terrib!y dry cough, I thought I had a crack ed rib from coughing.Rest of family had a bit of a cold.
I also had swine flu a few years ago and rest of household was ok. I think this Cv has been around for a while . Am fine now but staying at home due to underlying health problems

Thank you for the updates ladies, iamonly I'm glad you're feeling better

It's day 5 for me and my throat and mouth is sore, the frequent need to clear my throat is still there. I've been taking Echinacea, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D and a multivitamin with iron.

I went through a stage of denial last night where I tried to talk myself out of having it, putting the symptoms down to other things like being stressed and anxious, but now the soreness has settled in I don't think there's much chance of that.

DH hasn't helped this morning by reminding me that nothing can be done until I get bad. I'm sure he means well in his own way but that's not what I needed to hear.

I wish this was happening a fortnight ago before the NHS was under so much pressure

I'm pretty sure I have oral thrush and I know that was detected in the first two US patients. A lady on another thread has said she and her partner have it too and are also in isolation due to symptoms.

I would be interested to know just how many people have that. It explains the metallic taste and burning mouth.

Thank you for this thread OP. We are all healthy so far but each member of the family is in an at-risk category for one reason or another. There's a part of me that has managed to half convince myself that when (not if) one of us gets it, we can't all three be lucky enough to survive. The rest of me is trying to be a lot more sensible than that. This thread is helpful for focusing on the fact that actually it probably will be just a few days of very unpleasant illness.

Try to think positive Vadenu, it helps me to remember that almost all people really do make a complete recovery and that includes the (very) small amount of those who need medical attention

I'm in the "at risk" category myself and so is my DM so I totally understand where you're coming from. We will get through this though!