Is it at all possible that I had coronavirus back in February??

[Tonyaster]

Symptoms were (in order)
Dizziness
Fever
Body aches
Fatigue
Awful cough
Breathlessness including waking in the night gasping for air
Weird feeling as though the air I was breathing in was burning my throat and lungs
Sinus problems
Total lack of smell, I mean completely gone, couldn't smell Vicks Vaporub
Lasted for about 10 days

Didnt even consider CV as only people with connections to.China and Italy were being tested.

It's really playing on my mind.

If it's not possible then there must be an identical virus around?

Just to say I hadn't been ill for years before this. Haven't had a cold for years

the first recorded case of covid-19 being caught in the community was at the end of February, so yes I would think it was possible. The testing was focused on China and Italy for far too long.

But with out testing even if you had those symptoms today, you can't know if it is or it isn't. It can only ever be suspected.

I really hope it wasn't because I didn't self isolate! I mean, luckily i felt so terrible i didnt go anywhere

If it was you didn't self isolate because that was the advice at the time. You can only do your best with the information you have.

Well, you wouldn’t have self-isolated, because the NHS and the government were telling everyone that it was only possible to have the virus if you had come back from one of the most affected countries or if you had come into contact with someone you KNEW had the virus...

Exactly! Also I would have freaked out about the breathlessness and called an ambulance

It's bloody stressful not knowing

It is possible. My fiance had pneumonia in January. We are told coronavirus spreading started in March, but they suspect it was in Europe in the last quarter of 2019. Italy noted rise in flu and pneumonia then.

Maybe my friend had those symptoms was hospitalised on day 10, hospital were puzzled but could offer no explanation. The antibiotics did not help. Her OH had it mildly, the under fives under the weather for a day or two.

She would like to know now if they did have it so that they could stop isolating at home and go out to work.

Possible, but not very likely.

Bear in mind at that point, of those that the NHS considered at risk and thus worth testing, only 20-30% were coming back positive. Which means 2/3 had something similar enough to CV, but not actually CV.

Ah I also wanted to add that his dad was travelling abroad for Christmas. When he was back, he had some really bad chest infection, his other son, his little daughter (and was in a hospital, doctors didnt know what caused it, as no bacteria in blood, urine etc.), his pregnant daughter ended up in a hospital treated for pneumonia. Weird coincidence isn’t it? When my fiance had pneumonia I had a dry cough only. Doctor said I might have had pneumonia, but not showing symptoms.

I suppose it's one of those things we'll never know. I had a few days in early February with a horrible dry cough and a temperature, and feeling achy, similar to a heavy cold, as did dd. Dp was still travelling a lot, although not to any of the places we then knew about, so theoretically we could have had it then. But then again, I could just have easily have had it a fortnight ago without any symptoms from any number of places, and no test would be able to say when it was.

I think it started sooner then it’s been stated

When we returned from Spain at the end of December it was an extended family trip and quite a few of us fell ill with dizziness, archy body, coughs and headaches at one point I ended up in a&e with shortness of breath but they said they couldn’t find anything, I’m wondering whether it was this virus

Bear in mind at that point, of those that the NHS considered at risk and thus worth testing, only 20-30% were coming back positive. Which means 2/3 had something similar enough to CV, but not actually CV

This is my thought.

It worries me that people think cv can be relatively mild. I hope that isn't because people have had what I had and mistakenly think they have CV.

This is why we all eventually need to be tested for COVID antibodies to see who's had it & what their symptoms were (or if they were asymptomatic)

There has been a lot of flu around too this year,we are only just emerging from the flu season.Our hospital has just stopped testing admissions as so few are positive.
I think until you get it people underestimate how grim flu is.

The positive side is that if you have had it you will hopefully have immunity.

You won't realistically be able to find out.

I was unwell and had to self isolate. My symptoms were not 100% right so I'm much the same as you. I did all the right things but now my work colleagues are getting sick so i feel terrible. My DP and dd however are fine two weeks later. Who knows?

It's a shit storm but you had no way of knowing. What is important is that you are well now.

This is why we all eventually need to be tested for COVID antibodies to see who's had it & what their symptoms were (or if they were asymptomatic)

X

I agree. Can’t wait for nhs to start selling these tests. I am pretty sure many of us had it without knowing it. Many people were tested positive for covid and had mild symptoms, i.e.tickly throat, so who knows.

I remember one of my mum's friends, a nurse, saying that there was a really bad bug circulating that gave kids really high temperatures with coughs and that she'd never known so many children admitted with fevers as at the start of this year. Of course, it was probably something totally different but I do wonder if it was covid-19 now.

Selfishly i hope i did have it, as dd who has asthma also got ill and in fact ended up in a and e but recovered quickly. It would be amazing if she'd had it and was immune. Dh had mild symptoms and dd3 was also mildly ill.

Doesn't sound selfish

Are you in London?

One of my DC is a medical student (clinical years) there. They (and many of their friends) had "flu" from mid February onwards, many had breathlessness and severe sinus pain (no sneezing or runny nose). All of them had had the flu jab.

Obviously you can't conclude anything from that, it could have been another severe respiratory virus, but with hindsight they think it may well have been COVID-19 on the balance of probabilities.

No, nowhere near London. Caught it from dd, she came home from South Wales very poorly fever and cough and breathlessness.

I and three colleagues shared a bug in mid December

I had a raging temp for a week. I had a cough so bad I couldn't breath which I was convinced was whooping cough but no whoop!
I ached top to toe and didn't move out of bed for 7 days. It built gradually with headaches, dizziness and nausea. I saw GP on day 2 and day 10. I was given strong antibiotics as I have asthma. I was still coughing at new year.

Complete tick list of symptoms. Except I doubt it was.
We work in a rural school and we definitely shared the same bug though.

I have said before, I had the weirdest bug in Feb. It started with a sore throat like I’ve never had before, and I have a history of throat infections, tonsillitis, etc. It stung like crazy all I could take to eat or drink was warm water. Then I just had low level crapness for a few days, then fatigue and a flu like illness. I also had sickness and diarrhoea, a cough, body aches etc. I was off work for a week. I remember saying to my husband I couldn’t pin what on Earth it was it seemed like a combo of the flu and norovirus but not quite like either.

My dad had a terrible cough when I saw him about 10 days before, he used to smoke but not for over 20 years and he’s not really had anything like this before, it was definitely a constant cough. He was up at hospitals etc as he’d been diagnosed with cancer and he’d also flown up and down to London. He had the cough for weeks and a chest X-ray after his cancer surgery showed his chest was clear though.

My husband and kids never got it but all my colleagues were ill as well

Part of me would love to think I’d had it but I guess it’s wishful thinking really