My lungs....part 4

[Casino218]

Continued support for those who need a few kind words to help them through the dips.

Please do not come here to ask 'but how do you know if you haven't had a test'

Just checking in. Trying to eat a little but chest pains are back. All I can manage is tea.

thanks for the advice, that's a good idea - I will tell her to stay in her room for now (not hard for that age group!)

Also checking in. Felt better yesterday evening and first thing but went downstairs just now and now feeling very weak/heart racing a bit. Think I might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel though, head is much clearer .

Day 8 so don’t want to speak too soon. Very worried about another family member (not living with me) who has it much much worse.

Morning all. Day 12 here, hopefully a better day (yesterday was grim). I currently feel ok but I can feel it inside me, under the skin and in my lungs just waiting to flair up. Plan is eat, drink.and rest til then.

I really hope everyone feels better soon. Am going to dip out now as I feel I've been offering more support than I have been getting in return. I know its probably irrational but have found it a bit upsetting as have been ill for over 3 weeks now and whilst I've tried to support other people earlier on in their illness my posts about myself have been overlooked so its probably best for my own mental health if I'm feeling over sensitive to step back. Take care of each other x

@tangledyarn I’m sorry to hear that 🥺 I think sometimes the thread has moved at a rate where it’s not possible to keep up with all the posts and certainly now it seems to be feeling up very quickly !

Day 18 here. Ugh. Worst days were 8-11. Then was definitely recovering from worst of chest tightness, fever was down and gone by day 13. Only residual cough (which didn't start until day 8) at end of last week. Felt quite good on day 14-16 and thought I was past it. But yesterday had a sore throat again, as on and off throughout, very bad coughing in night, ear pain, fever and chills in evening, now muscle aches, sore throat, feeling generally weak and bad. Will it ever end? If the symptoms weren't so continuous (particular KIND of sore throat, just one one side, sore of lumpy and itchy) and if I hadn't been isolating, I would think I had a new illness.

Somehow kind of ironic that one of the possibly useful drugs is an anti-malarial. The combination of fevers and chills coming and abating, often back in the evening about 5pm, is honestly a bit as I imagined malaria would be! Starting to worry it will never end.

Just checking in.
I can imagine this thread will only get busier and busier as more of us get this virus.
I'm sorry you are feeling unsupported tangled
The thread does move very fast now. I don't think anyone will have intentionally done that.

@hopsalong ..it seems to lull you into a false sense of security. I’m day 17 going from the first day I had a temperature and day 12/13 from first day I felt ill and yesterday evening I felt ok ish .. then this morning I feel like death again .. this seems to be the pattern. My temperature is up again too

I am super wheezy today. Day 20. Had a lot of panic attacks yesterday I don't think it has helped. It's hard to know which is symptoms of this, asthma or anxiety. Had a really pants night sleep too. Chart pain still there I need to drastically limit my time looking up facts and social media. I am so fed up if being ill. My wonderful hubby is too it his breathing has been fine he's put up with me having the telly on all night being up and down for water and got up to work from home. The guy is amazing!

I'm sorry you feel unsupported @tangledyarn. It's a bit trickier when you are further along than some of us.

@tangledyarn sorry

I just realised that came across rudely. The whole thing it draining mentally. I hope that you feel better soon @tangledyarn I'm sorry.

@ tangledyarn please come back, sorry if you felt unacknowledged, i know I was trying to make sure that I was responding to newer posters as I know how panicked I was when I was earlier down the line.

I was actually coming on to ask you about the zopicolne you said you had taken for the sleep? I dont have any antidepressants
/medication etc. I only had diazepam in the house from a flight four years ago. The herbal kalms tablet I took appeared to help but I wondered what your medication is?

@emichel102 I did, yes.

Checking in ... day 9 (I think!) here.

Had very bad lower back (kidney!?) pain overnight and struggled to sleep with it. Woken up with that more a dull ache but now feeling pain lower down in my chest, feels like (I imagine, never have been) I've been kicked in the ribs and it's bruised? Has anyone else experienced that feeling?

Chest actually feels less tight but I am very aware of my breathing, still quite an effort (but how much of that is just me being hyper aware of it?!)

No fever and cough is gone as well, for a couple of days now.
Also one more symptom, and sorry if it's a bit weird/tmi but noticed I am not weeing as much as normal - even though I'm drinking quite a lot of water. Could this be a kidney issue??

Hoping you all have a better day today...

@Lovelesslily are you sure you are drinking enough? You may be sweating more and if that is the case then there will be less wee. Try upping your fluid intake. We should all be drinking 3 litres a day minimum

Morning all
I have just set my lovely yr8 class some work to do online, so here is your timetable for the day:
Rest, drink fluids, take paracetamol every 6 hours, even if you feel ok, if you've gone 6 hours from the previous dose, take them anyway. This helped me: You don't, as you know, gradually get better with this, you go up and down. Keep the required dose of paracetamol in your system, it will help with the chills and fevers. Don't leave it 12 hours and feel crap then take them, take them at regular intervals, obviously never exceed the doseage.
You're probably doing this, so apologies if this sounds patronising, but I'm reflecting on what helped me, and this definitely did. I replaced my evening dose with co-codomol.

Take care, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but travel there slowly, and for the millionth time, rest, rest, rest!
to all.

@Lovelesslily maybe call your gp? They may want to give you precautionary antibiotics in case of a kidney infection. What's your pee like if you dont mind me asking?

@Lovelesslily
I had lots of lower back pain, are you drinking enough. Increase it further and then some. Fevers dehydrate, so keep the fluids up and see if it improves.

@Cary2012 thank you - i stopped paracetamol yesterday for 12 hours and back to taking it again! what day are you?

@Tangledyarn please don't go - you have been great support to everyone and sorry if we haven't been as forthcoming. If you decide not to post then please do give us an update about your recovery.

@lovelesslily i have woken up with a similar chest pain lower down in my lungs - i could especially feel it when breathing. It's better after paracetamol but has really freaked me out as it's one new symptom to deal with. I am day 13.

On the wee - i have noticed this at night but i am finding i am awfully thirsty at night and so probably not drinking enough. Maybe try upping your water intake and then see if anything changes?

@Casino218 and @Cary2012 thank you, maybe you're right and I'm drinking less than I thought. I will try upping my fluids. Normally I'd be having cups of tea as well as water but it tastes funny (I haven't fully lost sense of smell/taste but tea tastes like soapy water to me now...)

@Porcupineinwaiting The pee is normal but a bit "stronger" than usual (sorry!) as normally I do drink lots of water... will try to add it more as maybe my lack of activity has led to me drinking less without realising.
My GP has a big notice on their website basically saying don't call us with any Coronavirus related symptoms, so not sure they'd speak to me ...

@user34254356 thank you I'm going to up my fluids, I am feeling thirsty this morning. Will keep going with the paracetemol as well.
Keep strong!

@spacecadetagain. We seem to be comrades in illness! I also had very mild symptoms at beginning (other than first day with very sore throat, chills, and high temperature) and then it came on properly. I will be really disappointed now if this turns out NOT to have been covid-19, because my lungs feel fucked and the thought of getting it on top really worries me! Hopefully the third week will be the last.

Just to try and reassure you further, I'll tell you about my dear friend, a colleague from school.
She is mid 50s and has a history of chest infections and has scarring on her lungs due to pneumonia, which she was hospitalised with 2 years ago. Her immune system isn't great and she would get every bug gong round our school.
A week before I got my 'virus', she was off work with a chesty cough, temp and feeling lousy. Her illness started half term, so mid Feb. She then picked up, returned to work with a residual cough, and lasted two days, before being signed off for a further 4 weeks in all. I'm here line manager, her doctor's certificates said, "Respiratory complications following virus". Remember, this was before all the cases and what we know now. Anyway, she was put on two different antibiotics and she improved. 6 weeks later, she is fully recovered, all that remains is a slight residual cough which her GP said could linger, but is nothing to worry about. When she spoke to him last week, she asked him if he thought she was one of the early cases. "Yes" he answered, "I think you probably were". She also had itchy red eyes, which she thought was unrelated.

So, older lady, history of chest infections, didn't need hospital with this, took a good few weeks to get better. Now, despite saying she felt "bloody rough" she is now recovered.

If the kids I teach didn't give it to me, I think I caught it off her.

Take care