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'

I am fairly certain I had Corona just before half term. I’m a dentist and as such was still treating patients normally. We have eventually been classified as ultra high risk and they have closed all dentistry down apart from actual emergencies until they can set up centres to treat patients.
I had seen patients returning from ski trips obviously mainly younger age group so there was a potential for infection from asymptomatic patients early on.
I had a sudden onset respiratory symptoms with the cough from hell. Not productive but sounded like a barking seal. Had to sleep on the settee for 5 nights and came close to taking myself to A&E on one occasion because I was struggling to breath. As the cough improved I had metallic taste and sinusitis develop for a week or two then experienced tight chest and mild fever towards the end of the 4 weeks. Throughout i experience leg cramps but since I have recently had really bad sciatica I put it down to that.
Also had quite a lot of palpitations but as I take meds for hypertension I have assumed that it’s to do with meds and constant panic attacks with the thought of having to go in and treat patients with zero social distancing.
It is only over the last couple of weeks, reading lots of online accounts that I have come to the conclusion it was Corona. Hopefully I will be tested for antibodies when the test is introduced in order to be redeployed in the NHS.
I will report back on this when I can.

I found the new thread! So proud of myself. DH suggested I get up more today and see if it tired me out to sleep better tonight. I know this goes against our thinking on here of resting. So after getting myself lunch and a quick hello to my kids from a distance I now feel exhausted and my body “buzzing”. Particularly light headed / spacey today. Only way I can describe it!

It’s absolutely doing my head in not knowing what day I’m on with this illness.

I starting feeling slightly off (like I had a cold coming on) about 12 days ago, which gradually got a bit worse and turned into a constant headache and sore throat/minor fever 7 days ago.

I was up-and-down with the same symptoms until 2/3 days ago, when I started getting a more obvious cough and chest tightness, nausea and a bit of diarrhea. Haven’t been sleeping well since it got worse and I felt feverish last night.

So far I haven’t been terribly unwell and if this is all I’m going to get I’ll think myself very lucky. But my pessimistic side is thinking (and being anxious about) this just being the very start of the proper symptoms. That I’ll start getting much worse fevers, breathing difficulties and pain over the next couple of weeks.

I really really really hope that’s not the case, but I know only time will tell.

Gim so worried about missing name checking people as hate anyone to feel overlooked liked @tangledyarn has. @longshot that list is so so helpful, I think when you’re in the “i cant cope anymore” of day 6/7/8 its easy to skim read those who have had a little walk or managed a bit of tidying. That list is a great way of keeping us all sane.

@Moopoint was seriously ill and had paramedic twice, is she around to report back.
@littleblackdress04 i think we are within a day of each other. Im on day 8. Although I slept, today my body is just consumed with cramps, pain, like convulsive ripples of tension. @willdoitinaminute your comments about leg cramps are familiar, the sheer cramping and pain in my body starts in my legs but waves older my body. This thread is all I have to hold on to that I might get better, but I cant see a sign of that yet and its pushing me to want to call 111 but with the panic and despair of it not breathing.

@SchrodingersKitty
"So your post was reassuring apart from the horror of the description, "older lady"
She would have my guts for garters if she knew I'd called her that!"
I am late fifties, and mentioned her age, and previously mine because I assume most of the posters on here are much younger than me! I see them in my mind's eye like Little Mix! Colleague and I are Blondie (Who the hell's that, ask all Little Mix)

@TheDrsWife46 please just concentrate on getting yourself better. People will come and go from here. You can't worry about upsetting strangers as well. That's the last thing you need right now.

Shout out to tangledyarn and anyone else I've missed replying to. It's a fast moving thread and most of us are feeling line crap!

Day 7 for me, I think. Thought I was better yesterday, woke in the night with burning lungs and breathless and diarrhoea. Now can't talk much or breathe properly.
Poor partner.
Hope this goes soon, I have 2 kids to look after!

Has @oncemore with feeling found this thread? She was the last post on the previous thread and sounded pretty sick.

Apologies for having a strop, I was just having a bad morning as am very breathless and heart rate is high and just tearful and struggling and fed up of being in bed! But I know nobody meant to overlook my posts, its just been a very long and difficult 25 days with all the stresses everyone else is under in terms of the pandemic too. So im sorry..am honestly not usually so highly strung in my real life.

Aw tangle bless you! No need to apologise, we understand.

@Tangledyarn aww I am sorry to hear that. Just when you feel you may be getting better and the symptoms are back. Are you any better now?

Have you spoken to your GP?

@tangledyarn oh thank god you came back. Please dont be sorry, you’re so entitled to feel despondant. Write out your timeline again for us on this new thread, then we can benefit from your journey but see the times when you became desperate to try to support you more. You are cared about. You are so much further along than many of us, that means that whilst you felt unsupported you are acting as such a beacon fir others. But we ARE hear and ready to help you. X

@tangledyarn
It's dreadful you are still getting symptoms after 25 days!
It must feel like there is no end in sight.
Thank you for all your advice on here. Glad to see you back.

Just spoke to my mum on the phone for the first time since the symptoms and omg, I feel like I've ran a marathon!
The burning and breathlessness is back with a vengeance.

@tangledyarn no worries I actually think this is a place we don't have to put on a brave face and we can say when we are not coping. We try to smile and say we are ok for our kids but inside we are all struggling aren't we.

Absolutely, Casino.

wild, the dentist - I think you probably have had it. Hopefully tests for medical staff coming out will go to dentists and care home workers and not just those off sick to test both for those currently with it and those who have recovered from it. (however you may be able to get it twice so a false sense of security that you had it and have antibodies I suppose might be quite dangerous)

Dizzy, heavy chest, cold extremities. I honestly felt yesterday/this morning I was on the mend, now I feel rough again.

Hi everyone, been reading these threads with interest. Touch wood so far I haven't been suffering as much as some of you, I'm still wondering if my symptoms are covid19.
Mild dry cough , started to get get what I thought was heartburn/indigestion around day 6, gaviscon doesn't make it go away, start to feel a bit breathless doing normal activity like walking upstairs, day 7 start to feel better, still wfh and doing normal daily activities but pm of day 8 start to feel dizzy.
Day 9-11 heaviness/ slight burning sensation in chest is still there, as is mild cough, feeling a bit shivery and sometimes feel like there's a lump in my throat, also feeling a bit tired and occasionally dizzy. Due to WFH tomorrow not sure whether to push through, whether this is actually covid 19 or whether I should phone GP for advice? NHS websites don't mention feeling of heaviness on chest or slight burning sensation as a symptom could it be just really bad indigestion?!?

@Runnerduck34 it sounds like it. Use the Covid tracker app that has got more accurate list of symptoms take care try to rest

Hello, still struggling with breath. Day 9 (I think!)

Thanks guys for understanding. That's dead nice. I'm feeling a bit better again, its just hard work isn't it feeling so unwell for so long. I do have underlying conditions so I'm sure that's part of it.

Randomly my gp rang..had not requested a call but had emailed for a sick note for work so that was nice. I said I was still feeling very breathless and had a lot of chest pain/burning and that it was the worst I had ever felt, he was like yup! Its like the worst ever flu for some people...as long as you feel you are slowly getting better it's fine but it might take 4-6 weeks to feel recovered. I only spoke to him for less than 5 mins but it felt reassuring xx

You know that feeling you get when you've been doing heavy physical exercise outisey in cold air? Slight wheezy irritated sensation?
Well that's what I've got today

2 weeks ago I thought I had it - temperature up for me but not 37.8. bad headache for a couple of days, cold and shivery, then a cough for a few days. Then I got a tight chest that fleet like I had phlegm I could not clear. Then a suddenly had a sharp pain as if I had breathed in frozen air for a couple of hours and I felt fine after! That was about 10 days ago and since then I've felt absolutely fine. Until today.
Does this sound weird?

@oncemore sorry you are still breathless. It goes on and on doesn't it?

@tangledyarn that's good. Any reassurances people get it's good to share as then we all feel reassured

Runnerduck I would check with 111 or your GP for a diagnosis or assessment.
As far as WFH goes - my approach is to rest as much as possible and drink lots of water. If you're not well, don't work.