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'

@OneDayAtATime123 apologies I did not mean you.

@hollytom this is very interesting about the antibiotics. Have your symptoms been matching all the others on the thread eg do they think it’s Covid but have offered antibiotics anyway?

I’m feeling ok this eve, pains have eased with a bath and rest. I can’t believe I’m still awake at nearly 11pm! Had my paracetamol and off to bed hoping not to be woken by stabbing pains and tight chest later.

Have a good sleep those who are in the same time zone!

Can I just pull this thread back up straight.

I just spent an hour talking to the samaritans. Im enbarrassed to even declare that when I have taken steps to offer my own identify on this thread. This illness has pulled me into the darkest place where I can hear my DH parenting my children and making me feel as though frankly I may as well be dead.

I couldn’t give a toss if someone wants to guzzle vitamin c unfoundedly. It is better than the fact that on Thursday I was pleading for valium.

Thank you to every single person who has offered me help, support and reassurance. I am exhausting my friendships because no-one in real life can understand why I am not either, well or calling the GP.

The samaritans have been wonderful at talking to me but also enabled me to see that this is also a tool in my toolbelt in coping. I dont have depression, anxiety, ocd or mental health issues in my usual life. I have never felt the need to call samaritans. This illness, its ravaging affect on my body and mind has left me depleted.

Please please please BE. KIND.

@stayathomegardener
I understand . Hoping everyone feels better soon.
Also, I request everyone to please share your experiences since we want to learn from that.

@thedrswife46 glad you found talking to them helpful..I volunteered for them 20 years ago. Its defo good to verbalise how you are feeling.

I've had the worst day today (25ish) I since day 16.. I've just felt absolutely awful and not been out of bed and feeling very broken by the whole experience really. Tommorow is another (hopefully better) da, im not sure I can do another day like today.

@tangledyarn: I'm sorry you are still feeling so rough. What are the symptoms bothering you most at the moment?

I found the humidifier really helpful too. I had my worst nights - 15-18 I think - and was struggling to stop coughing. I put some olbas oil in it. Hot drinks also help a lot.

I take vitamin B12 and took some turmeric with black pepper extract today - for my back pain but haven’t taken it for ages. I’m considering sending boxes of supplements to my parents in case they get ill, three weeks worth.

My back is really sore where the bra strap usually is, is this what others are experiencing. It’s just very tense. I get a bit of rib pain but not much. My eight year old has complained of rib pain, the bottom left mostly and it’s sharp and sudden but not long lasting.

Thanks @kitty (sorry cant spell the rest of your username!) Just feeling really unwell like really bad flu, still have chest pain and burning and shortness of breath but its bothering me less than just feeling awful, shaky, fatigued and weak, strong internal shaking, hot and cold and no apetite still so eating is really difficult. I think my temp has been up and down a bit today but been too tired to bother checking it but I had a really bad night sweat last night.

@tangledyarn thankyou. No Im not sure I can do another day. I know that I’ve tipped into a dark place because I am so crippled by tremors/fever/chest pain and physically lying still; I started to feel as though I was dead. Life in my home carries on without me and whilst my arms ache for my children, Daddy does a great job of running the home without me. I have felt as though Covid has consumed me. And that if this isnt even Covid it’s even more damaging as Ive been this poorly over nothing.

This thread and the stories of recovery are everything to me. That and this youtube account that I have watched on loop (watch it...its reassuring I promise you all... Argh ive forgotten how to do clicky linky!) anyone?

@Lovelesslily
please update when you see a practitioner. I think my desperation today to speak to someone was the sense that I feel abandoned by medicine. Hearing what medical practitioners say helps.

Yes @ShastaBeast that's where my pain started. It's migrated to mainly in between my shoulders now though.
Good idea about sending the supplements to your parents.

@SchrodingersKitty thanks for asking after me x

I got worse unfortunately on Friday. Been sleeping a lot since then. Got a 111 Dr callback today. She said probably Covid (as the Dr I spoke to 12 days ago), not to worry about having got worse, that as I can say more than a few sentences before getting out of breath then I won’t need hospital treatment and am v unlikely to know I’ve got to say 13. She said I’m very ill though (which I’m not sure I fully agree with) and to take it really easy. Few steps round the house and in my garden before venturing out. Make sure the other adult in my house keeps checking on me. Said it’s going to take time to recover as it’s not like flu in that way and does exhaust you.

@tangledyarn it's awful that you are so far on yet still having symptoms. You must feel like there is no end in sight.
I'm really hoping you manage a better day tomorrow.
Thank you for all your support and knowledge.

@DandyPenguin so glad that you’ve checked in. Ive been thinking about you too. I sent u a PM the other day but not sure if you saw it. Sorry that you have been so bad too. This thread shows me how much a simple clinic would have helped all of us. We’re all just desperate for a medical person to give us some comfort.

@tangledyarn: that does sound rough. I really hope that it gets better tomorrow and that you can manage a good night's sleep to build up your strength again. Are you managing to eat anything?

@DandyPenguin: good to hear from you again. I'm sorry to hear you've been worse, but good to hear that the doctor seems to have taken it seriously and been able to reassure you.

I am definitely not feeling as bad as either of you today - still have sore throat and occasional aches and weakness and breathlessness, but my coughing is much less than yesterday and I begin to feel post-viral rather than actively ill. I'm off to bed to try and avoid a relapse tomorrow. Sleep well all of you - see you in the morning.

@ofwarren thanks. I just need to try and stay calm and try and just trust my body to recover, I think I don't because I already have 3 chronic illnesses that have changed my life so much already that it's hard to imagine my body might do anything useful for me..which is daft and I know I've probably been so Ill with this because I have underlying stuff it doesnt mean this will become another chronic condition!

Thank you everyone :)

Been confirmed that I have a urine/kidney infection and have been prescribed antibiotics but can't get them until tomorrow so facing a difficult night I fear!

I'm sad to report the out of hours doctor was not at all reassuring, basically bollocked me for being there, told me the 111 doctor was wrong and I may still be infectious, and she couldn't tell me if the breathlessness and chest pains were likely to return. "Maybe" was her response.
I am going to ring my own GP in the morning as I want to be sure the antibiotics are the right ones for me (allergic to penicillin and this doctor seems confused by that...!)

So, reassured in a way that it is a secondary infection but scared of tonight and deteriorating. And worried I have infected others at the hospital due to the mixed advise given :(

This thread is such a great support. I'm sorry I'm not great at responding at times.

@Lovelesslily dont worry about infecting anyone you went because you were asked to. You did everything you were asked and called ahead first. U didnt rock up in a taxi or call an 999, cos people will you know. And you clearly needed help. Frankly the state im in im ready to ask the Dr for antibiotics as a placebo as I cant have valium. Maybe if I take antibiotics (even though I KNOW its wrong to take them for a virus (not ur kidney infection i dont mean that)) then maybe I can calm the fuck down.

After seeing recent news reports I am very worried about my children. My son 15 has said under his rib cage is sore and my 11 year old is coughing.

It'd really hard trying to keep calm. Back to checking obs in our house to try and keep watch on everyone.

@tangledyarn sorry you’re feeling worse again. It’s definitely a slow and bumpy road through all this. I think @Cary2012 made an excellent point - we all have to rest up to recover. A huge part of recovery is the body working to repair all the damage of inflammation, long after the virus has gone and that takes a lot of energy.

@TheDrsWife46 thank you I hope you have better night tonight.
I'm back in bed with the shakes in full force. Feeling very sick and trying not to think about sepsis/my kidneys shutting down :(

Hi. I'd appreciate any advice/hand holding as I feel completely lost. On the 1st of March, I had an Endoscopy. By the following Thursday, I developed a right chest. By the 10th, I was breathless. I saw GTD as recommended by 111. He said probably Covid19 but that I wouldn't get tested because I hadn't travelled. On the 15th I was taken in to hospital as I had issues breathing/chest burning. Test came back negative. I was getting better until the 24th, I woke up with a cough/fever. The symptoms started to process, my GP thinks it is C19. Saturday was dreadful. Could barely move. From Sunday I felt better. Today I did a little bit of cleaning. Now I am in pain all over, stomach cramps, loss of taste and smell and issues breathing. My chest feels so heavy and my upper back is painful.
I have Fibromylagia but I've felt nothing like this. I'm so fed up and miserable.

@Lovelesslily: I'm sorry to hear about the way the doctor responded: you did what you were told so don't blame yourself. Urine/Kidney infections are the worst. A hot water bottle might help for tonight, and drinking masses of water. I have the same issue about penicillin allergy and find lots of doctors seem to disbelieve me and give me antibiotics in that family.

@TheDrsWife46: about antibiotics: I and a number of other people were prescribed them at various points. Mine were from my GP who said over the phone that they'd been seeing and hearing about quite a lot of cases of probable covid with secondary bacterial infections. I finished the course yesterday and it does seem to have cleared up some of the bubbling feeling in my lungs and the deeper pains. I very often get secondary infections with viruses (particularly since having had atypical pneumonia a few years ago). Of course, any one of us could actually have something bacterial instead of covid, so for that reason it makes sense to try antibiotics if your GP will prescribe them.

@Andromeida59 sorry you’re struggling - your symptoms sound consistent with those experienced by lots of us on here. It’s horrid and depressing (especially since it fluctuates) and pretty scary too. It does seem symptoms flare up worse if you have a slight respite and try to do anything constructive! Rest up, sleep when you can and have lots of fluids.

I just want to say that I am now on day 20 of this piece of shit and today was the first day I didn't like clockwork have a fever starting just before dinner. I was eating dinner and felt very surprised. Will probably be back to crapness tomorrow, but do now feel, almost three weeks in, that the trajectory is up. I still have slight pain in ribs and find it hard to take a deep breath. But not nearly as bad as before.

Also, loathe to give bad advice about drugs when not a medical person. But I bought this immune-stimulating syrup at a Polish shop near my house in London a few months ago. You can also get it online. (I bought some more on eBay today.) www.aflofarm.com.pl/en/products/otc/neosine-forte-syrup/

Here in the UK it's a prescription-only medicine (inosine pranobex) and seems to be used for respiratory problems, among other things. I was a bit wary about trying it but feel it was the only thing in the end that helped. I started taking three spoonfuls a day four days ago.

Take this with a pinch of salt, but think it helped me.