My Lungs Part 6

[TheDrsWife46]

New thread here let me see if i can link back and forth...

@TheDrsWife46 thanks for answering and for the reassurance xx it's a nose & throat swab. Yes bittersweet re: dress but wedding isn't till beginning of August so maybe...!

@babdoc hope you are ok in hospital glad you were looked after and are improving

Virtual hug eveybody x

I'm also alarmed that my cat is coughing
Poor wee darling
He doesn't seem distressed otherwise though. Coughing yesterday and the day before

@longshot that described me perfectly three or so days ago.

Dull heavy pain between upper shoulder blades, rib and chest pain.

I took from the breathing video Queen's hospital that upper back was lung pain. Inflammation? Infection? Not sure but I've shifted it with rest, heat, lung clearing, positioning, fluids and inhaling iodine.

I suspect with any exertion it will return though.

Left with fatigue, headache and feeling odd.

I don't know how much more I can tolerate. I'm in absolute bits. I'm really not coping with this and I feel pathetic

Not sure what day now but over 3 weeks and counting.
Yesterday was totally floored by the worst headache I have ever experienced.
Like I had drunk a bottle of neat tequila. Codeine relieved it for 30 minutes as I then fell asleep most of day.
Been busy the day before ( gentle busy pottering)
So the boom and bust continues.
But to add I too have CFS for last 13 years after getting a very serious pneumonia in 2008. Last had a relapse about 6 months ago.
Underlying conditions hashimotos and scarring on left lung ( from pleural effusion and thoracic drain)
I think it may be that CFS sufferers seem to take a long time to bounce back?
Really hoping you all have a peaceful evening.

My poor dog has eye problems now and keeps licking his lips paranoid I've given something to him.

Hi I've got a question; today I started with a sore throat, I feel tired, cant get warm and my chest feels very slightly tight/heavy (like just before my asthma flares up). No cough and no fever and my taste buds are still working fine.

My DH has had a mild cough and sore throat, he's been off colour and sleeping a lot for the last 6 days so we have all obviously been self isolating just to be on the safe side. He started with symptoms 6 days ago so the incincubation period fits for me to be getting it now although we have no idea if it is Covid19 or not.

I have asthma so I'm worried about getting it badly even though it feels mild right now. Those of you that think you have it; if you started with a sore throat first, how long before you got a cough/lung issues? I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it stays mild!

I forgot to add - my chest aches slightly!

@taffyapple8 hope you feel much better very soon

@stayathomegardener what a beautiful dog
I hope he's totally well very shortly

Here's my boy

Hi @Wontsomebodyplsthinkofthecats
Sorry I don't know as I didn't have a sore throat
My chest didn't start with anything except a very mild cough until day 6 or so
It's only mildly achy now with a deep breath and pulse ox between 96 and 98
I am a bit anxious as temp now 39 although I took 2 paracetamol an hour and a half ago
Feel pretty ok however so staying calm xx

@Wontsomebodyplsthinkofthecats I started with diarrhoea and a sore throat. It started affecting my lungs 6 days in and that's when I started coughing too.

However, day 28 yet and though asthmatic, no pneumonia (touch wood).

Thanks for kind wishes everybody. I think one of the demoralising things about this virus is the repeated “false recovery” - every time you think you are finally over it, it comes roaring back.
Living alone, as I do, the terror of fighting for breath every night, combined with the sheer lack of sleep - I got 2 hours a night for 13 nights and couldn’t have coped any longer - used up every reserve of strength I have. I’m a tough old doctor, but at 64 years old, I have limits.
I finally called triage when I was breathless during the day as well, on my knees with self care and hadn't managed a bath for three days.

Just lying in the ambulance, breathing oxygen, was such a relief- I finally felt safe.
Thedoctorswife, no, Im not in London. I live in Scotland. We still have plenty of capacity. They opened up a new covid ward for me as the first one was full. Three more patients joined me overnight.
I was v impressed with the infection control measures- even the cleaners
followed strict protocol.
My consultant was proudly telling me that he’d been on the national news at ten, and was a bit gobsmacked when I said “Ooh, get you! All grown up now then?!”
He then realised I’d worked with him when he was a junior registrar in 2005! Nice to have a familiar face though.

They only told me afterwards that my blood chemistry was in the “serious sepsis/septic shock range” - I would have been even more terrified than I was already! I was just clinging on to my normal chest x ray and decent oxygen sat level for comfort.
I’m not normally a wimp, but every time my diaphragm tightened up on the unit, I was petrified I was going back into the “air hunger” so typical of this virus - where you take maximum breaths but don't feel you’re getting any oxygen across into your bloodstream. I ended up sedated on lorazepam, I’m slightly ashamed to admit, but the flashbacks to those nights of panicking for breath were just too bad.
Anyway, I hope I’m now at last on the road back. Beginning to walk round the ward, enjoying the food and catching up on sleep. And telling horror stories of “ the olden days” to wide eyed young docs!
Best wishes to everyone on the thread, and my prayers for a speedy recovery for all. God bless.

Day 15 here, feeling much better but the tiredness is still pretty bad - for those at two weeks plus, how long did the tiredness last for you?

And also - how long until you were able to do some work (from home)? I have some booked on Wednesday and am hoping I can manage it. Had to go back to bed today and slept this afternoon...

And @longshot I had terrible back pain a few days ago! Upper back, between shoulder blades. I decided it was muscular so I wouldn’t panic but now I’m not so sure... it’s resolved now, more or less.

@babdoc more to the point have they tried to persuade you back in as a medic thats now immune!

God reading your story makes me so so happy and relieved for you, I think we’ve all struggled with the sense that we have been abandoned at home. What is the perception of the NHS, are they are of the extent that we are being pushed to remain at home.

Im so jealous, to think how i was begging to be sedated, im wondering had I been in hospital could I have had something, had fluids and nutrition and managed some sleep. To think how much ive been pushed mentally to the brink, that this has undoubtably changed my demeanour. Could I have come away from this less anxious and frightened.

@Taffyapple8 When I was on day 6/7 I was literally sobbing and begging 111 and a GP to sedate me through it. When I think back to those days i’m on day 14 (and touch wood i feel like im on the up) but its so far from where I am now i keep wondering if I imagined it. Please just try to do whatever it takes to get through one hour at a time. Every hour that passes is another hour closer to feeling normal again. And i dont mean well, but moments where you go...’oh i’m okay!’

I watched youtube videos (pre corona content), i facetimed friends or supportive relatives, i did puzzles in puzzle books, paced the garden or rocked back and forth with my head on a pillow in an open window. You CAN do this. But if you truly cant breathe call 111.

@Babdoc bloody hell! Glad to hear from you, I hadn't seen you post for a while and was a bit worried. So glad you are getting good care. Hope you recover swiftly now.

And and to everyone else still feeling crappy.

I'm on day 14 here, and while a bit wabbit, I think I'm pretty much back to almost normal.

Hope you all improve greatly, very soon.

@TheDrsWife46 Would you say that was your "peak"? I'm clutching on to anything right now. I felt so much better this morning and have been wiped out since lunch time. Not so much the breathing, it's the headache, nausea, aches. Can't sleep through it. So so fed up and scared it'll get worse. This is day 8 since high temp and day 10 since feeling initially off colour

@Mintypylonsfryingsurplus Yes there are a few of us CFS people, I also have hashimoto's, asthma and a few other bits and its definitely taking me a long time to recover.. am into week 5 now and the weekend was really awful, although today has been better so far. Hope you start to feel better soon

@stayathomethegardener what day are you on now? I know we are around the same. It's weird I sort of have pain all over my chest wall i guess...i think it probably is inflammation as I don't really feel unwell now apart from the pain so hopefully that is what it is!

I have some questions @Babdoc if you feel physically up to answering.

The pain many of us have felt under our ribs is that what you call the diaphragm tightening? And is that a really bad thing combined with the heaviness in the upper back and tight chest should we just continue to ride it out at home if the breathlessness/sleep is improving?
And bloods/septic shock? Were you completely unaware? Would we know that was happening?

And lastly are they confident you now won't relapse? That's such a pattern of this illness.

Apologies for so many questions

Am tentatively joining you. Only been out once in the last few weeks, to a hospital scan 5 days ago (private through employer hence not cancelled like all the nhs ones). The staff said there were no known covid patients in the hospital.

Fine this morning, then developed a fever this afternoon (37.6) plus chest started to feel achy and odd pains. When do you start counting days from, start of symptoms? I’m prepared with oximeter, paracetamol and dh (!) so will just have to see if it develops.

If it is indeed the virus I hope I’m as brave as you all are

@longshot just counted back day 26 since lung burning started.

@Calyx72 he IS a handsome boy and such a comfort I wager.

Thanks @TheDrsWife46, @longshot, @onlinelinda, @stayathomegardener and anyone else I've missed. DH had his scan ok and we phoned the haematology department this evening to check when he'll get results and to report the episode of confusion (the only one so far). The nurse who we spoke to has emailed his consultant and another doctor he knows well and says they will look at the scan tomorrow and get back to us (the proper report will take longer). She said we can call 999 for paramedics to come out and assess him if he has another episode of confusion, or call the ward at any time. I think we both feel a bit more reassured that they are on the case and will respond quickly if necessary.

I made the poor thing remove most of his clothes at the door and go straight to have a shower. His clothes are bagged up to sit in the cellar and de-virus themselves for a week before we wash them. I'm getting him to eat in other rooms from us and wipe door knobs, etc. It sounds like there were very few people at the place where they did the MRI and the staff all had protective equipment so I think he probably didn't get infected or infect anyone.

He's clearly very anxious, but he's managing to watch TV and will go to bed soon. Mental confusion is his absolutely worst fear (he's also an academic, recently retired) so he finds these brain symptoms really distressing (though I suppose anyone would). I'm sorry to keep hijacking this corona-anxiety thread with my brain-lesion anxieties, but for me they are very much entangled.

I'm now back to being the one who has to do all the cooking, etc. Its a bit of a distraction. My worst issue at the moment is really crippling lower back pain, caused by lack of walking and by sleeping on my front for my lungs, which causes my spine to curve too much (I have disc and other spine issues). Not really sure what to do about that - the paracetamol is really not cutting it.

Good news is the amazing support we are getting from friends and neighbours with shopping and lifts and general hand-holding (metaphorical). And the support on this thread, for which I am really grateful.

Is anybody getting kidney / flank pain? Day 21 here. Started getting weird pains there since yesterday

Stayathomegardener, I don’t have definitive answers for you as this is a new virus and we’re still learning about it. Interestingly, it doesn’t even present in the same way in all patients and there are differences between countries.
For example, there is a sizable cohort of British patients with no cough at all, or very little. So they are being missed by the 111 checklist operators who have been told that cough, fever and breathlessness are the main features.
Chest pain in Covid can have different causes. You can have muscular pain - like the deep aches of flu. You can have stabbing pain of pneumonia in a lung lobe, or pleuritic pain on deep breathing, if the virus is inflaming the lining of your lung. And there are still all the other causes of chest pain such as angina and indigestion.
What I felt wasn’t pain but a feeling of a restricting band round my lower chest, like a too tight belt, which made me feel I couldn’t get any air in, however deeply I tried to breathe.
Some lucky patients have almost no symptoms, and others suffer life threatening complications. There seem to be few prognostic signs as to who will be worst affected other than age and underlying health conditions.
Treatment is purely supportive until your immune system has beaten the virus back.