Ambulance just left and they think I have it

[MayDayHelp]

Woke up with a cough this morning and my chest was really tight, and felt like someone was sitting on it. Been the same all day, coughing every 10 mins or so and feeling quite out of breath.

I called 111 tonight after doing the online thing which told me to call an ambulance. That seemed a bit overkill as I’m really not that bad, up and about and doing what I normally do, just a bit coughy and out of breath. They insisted they should send an ambulance.

Lovely ambulance man came and was here about an hour doing obs. My temperature is slightly up and my blood pressure was very high. He heard me cough a few times and said in his opinion it sounds like I have it, he’s seen enough cases to know what it looks/sounds like.

So I guess that’s as close to a diagnosis as I’ll get 🤷‍♀️. Unless I take a drastic turn for the worse. Feeling strangely calm about it all. Although he said I need to self isolate for 14 days which is going to be difficult on my own with 2 kids.

Best of luck OP

As others of said its paracetamol the thing to take. But dont just take it because you think you should. Take it if you are really in pain or have a very high temperature. The body immune system works best at an elevated temperature so unless you are really hot it might be counter productive to try and lower it.

But of course as always you need to get professional medical advice about this, not just us lot on here.

Be comforted by the fact that a paramedic has done pretty thorough observations on you and is happy for you to stay at home. Get as much rest as you can. Not sure how old your kids are but if you need to use telly/ipads/phones or whatever other screens you have as babysitters for the next few days. It'll do them no harm in the short term! And don't hesitate to call the ambulance back should you feel you need to. Take care and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Not sure if this will be in any way helpful to you, but thought I’d mention it. I have asthma and when I have trouble breathing, I crouch down on my hands and knees. Sitting up/lying down seem to be the worst positions. I know it sounds weird but I find it helps.
Best wishes Op.

I'm planning on taking the advice of Mohster if I get ill. The body raises it's temperature in response to a virus for a reason. I don't know why everyone is so keen to immediately take antipyrexics. Surely you are letting your body fight with one or both hands tied behind it's back?
I will get warm and try and stay warm as I can bear and let my body do what it needs to. I am also taking Potassium Citrate and Vitamin D and C. People with higher potassium levels are recognised as being at less risk of the severe disease and in some countries it is used in the treatment of patients. If I get ill we are fucked as DH needs care.

Autogenic drainage as shown by this video can help clear the chest. Practising diaphragm/belly breathing is a god starting place.

Mohster's post should be put somewhere permanent on MN as it is really useful.

Good luck to everyone who has it. We are in the clear so far and have not been in touch with many other people even before lock down. I even cancelled a February dental hygienist appointment to keep away from people although all this does is defer things. Once we get back open again as a nation plenty of those of us who have kept it away from us will then catch it presumably.

I’m just coming to the end, however it’s been a good two weeks and I’m still coughing! I got a secondary bacterial infection which floored me last week too. It takes time and I’m still not 100 per cent. I managed to work through most of it. Take paracetamol religiously and plenty of fluids. It’s very nasty but not much worse than a standard flu. Get well soon!

Forgot to say no sign of my taste or smell yet either, which is frustrating .

And I believe a lot of people whether they are gong to get much worse or much better have a phase of feeling better. Don't rush to get back to normal things then because that can be precursor to things getting very much worse indeed.

I hope you feel better soon, please ignore previous posters saying find someone to have your kids because they will be infectious too and you will spread it. Kids might have had it already, they can be completely asymptomatic. Get well soon! x

Morning! Thanks for the messages. Still got the tightness in my chest and the cough, but don’t feel any worse than yesterday I don’t think.

To answer some questions, I’m in the SW. luckily I had an online shop delivered on Thursday so got lots of food in at the moment. Yes me and the dc have to isolate for 14 days, if I was able to isolate myself from them it would only be 7 but obviously I can’t do that. I do have friends locally who I’m sure will pick shopping up for me, all a bit awkward as I’d volunteered to be the coordinator for my street to help anyone who was vulnerable or self isolating, but I might have to un-volunteer now as I can’t go out putting letters through people’s doors.

Oh and the ‘online thing’ was answering the questions on the NHS 111 website.

@MayDayHelp not all ambulance staff are paramedics by the way! Hope you feel better soon OP

@MayDayHelp, sorry I thought someone was picking you up for saying ambulance man but have realised you were correcting yourself!

Please be careful. Sounds just like when I had a PE.

Just want to say thank you for the posters offering me advice. I ended up calling 111 and an out of hours doctor has perscribbed me two weeks of antibiotics to try and get rid of the uti completely. My throat.... Looks terrible.. white spots etc. Wishing OP and anyone else who's feeling rough all the best for a speedy recovery.

Good luck to everyone with COVID-19

Thank you @mohster so I should keep it a high but safe level - can you give me a range.
So it is ok to stay warm? Does anyone know?

I had terrible pain and raging temp over the last few days - now I am over 38 degrees it varies widely it maybe 37.5 then 38 then 38.2 etc and climb up to 38.8 bit now I am 38.4

I am in bed I am wearing sweaters and compression leggings and a comfy warm thin wooly hat - I can move today.

I have the windows wide open in my room but have a duvet and two blankets and feel quite comfortable.

I should order an inhaler..

I have not been having showers or baths but the last hot shower I had was bliss

I found the lung clearing to be really good

I have an autoimmune condition too.

Thank you

And sorry to derail thread - probably isn't right - after feeling ok I am now not.. this is so bizarre to me.. the uncertainty of it all

Love and care to everyone

I hope you recover quickly, to help with your tight chest at home, there was a video on FB from an ICU doctor at queens about breathing exercises to help with conid19

Take a deep breath and hold for 5 seconds. Do this 5 times and on the 5th breath hold, cough. Then do this cycle again.

Don’t lie on your back too much, this isn’t helpful for lung capacity, lay your front.

Hopefully you’ve seen the video or someone else can share

Thanks will look that up. Slept all day today, felt awful when I woke up but now I’m up and about I’m not too bad. Chest still feels a bit tight but not as bad as yesterday/last night. Cough isn’t as bad today either. Sat here feeling fine at the moment and wondering if I imagined the whole thing but there’s no way I could have slept for that long if I wasn’t ill.

Mayday this link has helped me so so so much.

It is the lung video that was kindly shared by mohster

Yes! That’s the video 👍

Pokemontrainer....40.1 is safe according to Dr Campbell on his very informative posts. Wrap up warm and sweat it out so your immune system works at max efficiency.
Take Paracamol above that only and do the lung coughing exercises to keep the bases of your lungs clear of mucus.