My lungs feel like they are on fire - part 3

[Casino218]

@longshot started a new thread as the other filled up and I thought you were poorly and people would be wanting to find out how you were doing.

I know that this could be any other bug, and that statistically on here someone, anyone, could have something mainstream like a chest infection.

But I can categorically say that I have NEVER EVER felt this ill in my life. Whilst each stage and symptom you can navigate through. It is relentless for me. I have felt awful for 7 days solid. Today ive had to crawl to the shower for DH to wash me. I just wanted to feel cooler but my skin is prickling and alive and the water was an awful sensation.

When the GP rang me he was emphatic that this is what he is hearing in all the patients that he is talking to continually day after day. Low grade fever, shakes, chills, shortness of breath, fever spikes diarrhoea. And the fear. The fact that we’re all consumer by the sensations of it and frightened by the grip it has on our bodies.

Surely this is what the government was trying to engineer. Enough of us with it to start herd immunity.

Day 13. No paracetamol for 24 hours and thinking I’d finally got through.... and now fever 38C again. If I knew this was what to expect I’d relax and go with it but... anyone else still having recurrently spiking temperature at this stage and beyond? And then got better?

@Bucketgarni none of us really know if we have CV.
What we do have in common are frightening and unusual symptoms that we have never experienced before.

Please either skip this thread or try and develop a little empathy; a quality you may find invaluable in the coming months.

@Cary2012 Thank you for those reassuring words . I’m trying not to panic but it’s hard not to . Also I’ve had a low grade fever for two weeks now and I’ve never had anything like this before . The pain I’m feeling doesn’t feel like when I had pneumonia 15 years ago as back then I just aches everywhere and couldn’t stop coughing and coughing and coughing . This feels like I’ve cracked my ribs

@littleblackdress04 heat (try lying in the bath with warm water covering your neck or a hot water bottle on it in bed) hot drinks and super high dose vitamin c shifted the throat "thing" it was never sore at all but felt restricted and couldn't swallow properly.

@Sambucus I’ve just checked my temp and it’s back up again

@Cary2012 our messages co-incided and it makes it sound like I was contradicting you a little bit.

Your message is so reassuring. Today I am in a black hole. Day 7 and its unrelenting. I know logically that you either worsen and die, or recover. I know that my breathing is manageable right now...but being stuck in it so deeply with hours and hours (especially of nightime) stretching out is starting to put me in a dark place

@Casino218
I’ll explain my daughters calls, questions asked and advice given if it’ll help anyone.
111 call went through the main basics as normal and then my daughter explained her symptoms. Immediately after explaining her symptoms she was told a Medical Commissioner would call her back. About 30 minutes later they did.
Questions asked were expected...have you had a temperature, continuous cough...My daughter says no because she has not. Man asks what her main symptom is and daughter explains about the chest pain. Further questions and answers lead him to believe she is not having a heart attack or anything that requires an ambulance but it’s most possibly Coronavirus. A report is written up and sent to GP. (He told her she sounded such a lovely young lady and I nearly cried when I heard that as she was in so much pain but bravely carrying on)

GP rings back as daughter had called surgery and asked for advice. She sets up a video call with daughter and we go through the symptoms. She can see my daughters red eyes and my daughter is able to point out where it hurts which is left lung feels like it’s being stabbed and burning heavy chest pain across the whole of chest area, pain and discomfort down the throat and lower respiratory tract.
Doctor requests my daughter perform a test where she is asked to hold her breath and count backwards from twenty out loud (I was entirely dubious about this as there was a hoax on internet about holding your breath for 10 seconds) My daughter is unsuccessful with this on each attempt according to the doctor?
The doctor ruled out Pleurisy (this causes nearly all the same chest symptoms) and suggests starting her on Clarithromycin immediately. Doctor decides she does not want to X-ray her chest (says she would in normal circumstances) as possibly putting my daughter more at risk as if it’s not CV then she could go to hospital and catch it there or anything else. Doctor says she believes it is Coronavirus but testing is limited.
We are told to self manage at home, if she starts to find it really hard to breathe (it becomes more of a struggle and a change in skin colour) then we must call 999. GP says she will do another video call the next day to monitor symptoms.
Advice given...water,water,water, and rest. Eat when you feel like it. Sleep when you can. If it is Corona it takes a while to get better. Symptoms seem to come and go.
Here’s some other things I’ve found helpful...
I’ve put my daughter on Vitamin C supplements, she has slept on her front as that eases the pressure on the lungs and even though she didn’t have a cough, I gave her Robitussin mucus cough to get rid of the horrible yellow catarrh she was struggling to clear from her throat. She also seemed to be suffering from a post nasal drip at night so I was giving her an antihistamine as it was making her wake up choking.

I also hope that some of you will find this reassuring...my daughter has asthma and has had pneumonia, she also has a slightly weaker left lung due to it partially rupturing in labour. She also has fibromyalgia and some other underlying health issues. Today she is brighter and more active. Chest pains have dramatically eased off, no shortness of breath and the colour has returned to her face. Things are looking more positive after nearly a month of it!

Thanks for posting, Spacecadet. I’m sorry you’re suffering too. The 111 website doesn’t help with the worry - it won’t even let me register for texts as the illness has lasted over 10 days. Makes me feel like an outlier but I’m clearly not alone.

I've just has my test results come back negative. Actually disappointed as it would have been reassuring to know I had a mild case of it. But I've heard the tests (bought from Better2Know and done through the post) may only be 75% accurate so who knows?

I'm on Day 14 of chest tightness (which I've never had in my life before), sore throat, mild cough, achey legs, fatigue, occasional slight temperature (37.4, when I'm usually around 36.5). The biggest symptom by far is chest tightness, which DH also has and he lost taste/smell a week before this all started for us.

Not sure what to think. If it's not corona I'm worried that we've got some other respiratory illness, which might mean lower resistance to corona if we do get it now.

@mellowmelly thank you for that post . I hope your daughter continues to feel better . I just need the count backwards from twenty thing with no problems . I’m wondering if I have pleurisy.. I’m going to try and hang on until tomorrow as the thought of paramedics in my house or going to hospital terrifies me . I’ll see if GPwill maybe prescribe some antibiotics.

We all seem to be getting rib pain in varying stages and I wonder if most of us have Costochondritis or Tietzes as this can happen with a virus

Could anyone put a clicky link up for this please?
It's a half hour video, I found it incredibly reassuring yesterday put lots into prospective for me.

Hmmmmm forgot to attach 🙄

@stayathomegardener thanks- been taking 2000mg berocca & also hot drinks & a hot shower & it’s def helped!

My relative tested positive and they had

• runny nose
• headache

Then 2 days later

• aches and pains

Then 3 days after that Cough & fever

In the same household
3 young adults with very minor cold symptoms (no cough)
1 older person with flu like symptoms, bed ridden and severe coughing and fever lasting over 7 days. Medication needed.
1 child - no symptoms whatsoever

Very likely they have all been exposed. So can reasonably assume this is a profile of the types of variation we might see.

@MellowMelly thanks for sharing and glad your daughter is starting to feel better. Must be a huge relief.

That's great @littleblackdress04 do watch that video if just posted the image for.

I just cannot stop shivering and shaking, it’s been 4 days now with a brief respite yesterday. I’m taking paracetamol but the fever is so bad it means I can’t sleep or eat anything. I’m so worried

@Ipanema the shivering shaking is horrible but it's not dangerous. Just shows your immune is fighting back.

@KingaRoo oh that’s disheartening.. although possible that the test isn’t accurate ?
I’ll be honest enough to say that if cv wasn’t around I would not be freaking out quite as much .
I’m currently on blood thinners for a DVT so it’s actually possible I have a PE yet it hasn’t been my first thought because if this virus .
I have osteochondrosis which is a genetic spinal defect meaning the discs in my spine deform causing severe thoracic pain . I was at the gps in October complaining of pain and GP diagnosed Costochondritis. Also I get loads of nasty sinus infections so if we weren’t all living in the threat of a horrible virus l would probably have visited the gp for anti biotics thinking it was an infection . Maybe gone to hospital to rule out PE .. instead I’m sat at home shaking with fear because even getting the reassurance of someone listening to my chest feels like I’m putting myself at huge risk .. it’s all getting to me a bit today .

How high is your fever?

Hi everyone. This has been a very interesting thread, thanks all for posting and I hope you recover quickly.

Did any of you develop breathing problems at an early stage? DD (23) is away from home and thinks she has CV. Felt tired and aching jaw 4 days ago, then chest tightness and shortness of breath. Also dry cough. She feels Ok in herself but is breathless on walking to the loo, only 10 feet away.

All my reading suggests this is a later sign. Of course she could have been asymptomatic in the earlier stages and this is her day 8. Her flatmate lost his sense of smell for a day or two earlier in the week, but now totally well.

She's away from home, so I'm stressing!

@TheDrsWife46
Sorry you feel in a black hole.
The English teacher in me is just going to pick out a phrase in your post and correct it

You wrote: I know that logically you either worsen and die or recover.
Please amend to: I know that a small percentage of people who test positive, may worsen and a proportion of them might die. I know that logically, I have an extremely high chance of recovery.

There, much better!

Day 19
Fever gone
No cough
BUT BLOODY HELL I just went outside to hang some washing on the line and |I'm seeing stars, have a bad ache between my shoulder blades and out of breath.

If anyone has ever blown up a lilo - it feels exactly like that. Well that's me whacked for another day. DH is now actually ignoring me because he thinks that just because he made a miraculous recovery from his dizzy spell last night, all this is in my head. Apparently.