I’ve been unwell how do I know if it’s been covid?

[StinkyWizzleteets]

I’m sorry this ended up long
TL; DR - without testing how will I know if I’ve had it or am still high risk & need to hide away for 3 months?

I wasn’t even thinking it was at first. Headache, slight sore throat slight temperature, slight breathlessness and dizziness but no known contact with anyone considered a risk. I had phoned my GP about my lungs feeling on fire for 2 days & my chest very heavy but was told to phone my rheumatologist and completely dismissed. Thankfully that didn’t last too long. That all went away but I still had fatigue for a week then got a scratchy throat with very slight but dry cough & a very heavy feeling in chest but clear breathing... started to wonder if I was having heart problems with the heaviness which disappeared as BAM I was floored with a very very sore throat, the most intense full body muscle pain I’ve ever had that had me crying out and unable to ease it (even with strong opioids), no sense of taste, dizziness, stomach cramps, fatigue worse than before and breathlessness that affected my speech but still no real fever or persistent cough (although I still have one that returns with a scratchy throat every so often.) I’m now on antibiotics and while my mind feels less foggy my body is exhausted & my sore throat returns every couple of days along with out of the blue breathlessness.

They wont test me and at first I didn’t think it could be covid but the more people who were confirmed discuss their symptoms, the more I wonder if I have had it.

I’m immunocompromised but have been taking my hydroxychloriquine the whole time so wondered if perhaps that’s masked the symptoms or stretched it out as I know tests have been conducted on this drug. This bug whatever it was was horrific for how relentless it was. False sense of recovery then ill again. Not convinced it won’t return

I’m not convinced we’ll see an antibody test anytime soon and without knowing I’m stuck isolated in a room in my house (nhs advice) while the rest of my family are going their daily walk & generally hanging out downstairs. I’d I’ve had it and wait for symptoms to subside I could at least go for a wee walk.

I'm the samesame. We'll have to wait for the antibody test to be invented, tested, manufactured and marketed. However long that'll all take.

I don’t understand why there was so much talk of the antibody test if it hadn’t even been invented yet. Or is this just another government cock uppolicy to ensure as many people get it? The wait and see and soon you’ll be so sick of staying in the one room for months on end you’ll leave and catch it?

I dunno. I think it's been invented in theory, but yet delays. I'm googling every day waiting to know.

It's draining!

Sounds like you've had it, OP. There are a number of antibody tests that have been manufactured, but as yet none have been confirmed to have the accuracy levels required for distribution generally. The most accurate one has been made at Porton Down. Fergus Walsh on the BBC was talking about the tests and was allowed to do an antibody test on himself (a simple finger prick test then wait a few mins for the result, rather like a pregnancy test stick). It showed he'd had Covid-19. However all these tests need to be properly assessed as 'no test is better than an inaccurate test'.

You don’t. None of us do.

I’m in a similar boat in that I have a couple of chronic conditions, including asthma, and have had some chest symptoms. So it would be great to know, as I’m on hyper- strict lockdown out of caution because of my chronic conditions.

Hopefully we will eventually all get access to immunity (antibody) testing and will then know, but it won’t be soon.

I think the government handling of this whole thing has been a bit and miss. So we will have to be patient. PITA isn’t it?

I’m ok with lockdown for 12 weeks maybe even quite a few more but the risk to highly vulnerable people (as alerted by NHS) after that won’t be removed so are we expected to stay in in isolation within our own homes indefinitely? More frustrating when there’s a chance I’ve already had the virus but not knowing if that’s true means I may have to lock myself away unnecessarily and indefinitely but I cannot afford to take the risks having 2 young children to care for... and they may still bring it home if we haven’t already had it once school and nursery return, as might my NHS frontline partner. He already sleeps on a cheap uncomfy sofa bed in our living room with plans to move him to a leaky old conservatory as soon as he’s relocated to work with covid patients but then with no proper loo access or kitchen access. Are we (the most vulnerable) destined to live like this with zero contact with family and friends for years? I will do as is recommended for as long as necessary out of fear of the potential consequences if I don’t but it just seems so ‘exclusionary’ for already excluded and hidden away sections of society who don’t know if they’ve already had it or not.

These questions aren’t aimed at anyone here just society in particular & getting it off my chest!