30+

[stayathomegardener]

@Babdoc @baroqueandblue @Casino218 @ChippedPotatoesLloyd @DandyPeguin @EMichel102 @JackJackIncredible @KatySun @kevintheorangecarrot @littleblackdress04 @Littleninja1*@longshot @Lovelesslily* @ofwarren @onlinelinda @Porcupineinwaiting @SchrodingersKitty @ScrimpshawTheSecond @Spacecadetagain @Tangledyarn @TheDrsWife46 @TheDrsWife46 @TheWooisStrong

Welcome to a group none of us want to be in.

Apologies to anyone missing or added that didn't want to be.

Please do add more, don't feel pre day 30 is a barrier.

Baroqueand blue, longshot, mumlurker, tupperwaretowers,, I'm sorry you're still having a tough time today.

Pinkoneblueone, you must be really anxious-you have such a lot in your plate. I really hope you get good clinical support today.

I am genuinely apologetic for the names I've missed out. I did actually go through and reread everyone, but with my typing skills on this iPhone it's just too long! I'm rooting for you and remembering you though.

pinkoneblueone Hoping for a speedy recovery for your DC and yourselves xx

Hello to @user34254356 too! I think you're right and those will be the busiest hospitals but they also have a lot of world renowned specialists so hopefully the knowledge and care is good.

Day 30 and this morning I lost my sense of taste and smell, I thought this was supposed to be an early symptom!

I’m glad I’ve been able to comfort some of you, I know how scary this vile illness is. Just a caveat - I’m not a covid specialist, just a retired doctor who has been on the receiving end of treatment up til yesterday. I will answer the queries above where I feel competent, but I don’t know all the answers by any means!
Someone asked if covid shows up on a chest x ray or whether you need a CT scan - it definitely does show on x ray, with characteristic “ground glass” opacities, if your lung tissue has been affected. An x ray will also show up if you have developed a secondary infection such as a pneumonia while weakened by covid.
Someone else asked about liver function. Yes, there is a characteristic pattern with covid, where it raises a specific liver enzyme called ALT. But again, not everybody gets that- I didn’t myself.
The vast majority of people will not need x rayed and will recover under their own steam.
However- and this is important - if you develop a new cough during the illness, I would advise you to contact your GP and get reviewed, in case this is a bacterial chest infection or pneumonia on top of the covid. Bacterial ones need antibiotics, and the sooner you start, the quicker you will get on top of it.
The good news is that least such infections are treatable - covid is really just supportive therapy until you clear it yourself.

@DandyPeguin I think it would be amazing if you just set up a lungs 7 thread for continuation.
I'd definitely help support on there.

@stayathomegardener I’d be happy to on the proviso I request that posters, however anxious, try and dial down the catastrophising

It’s a minority, but I can’t be doing with self-indulgent, breathless (pun intended), ‘Covid porn’ posts that read like the poster’s cranking one.

Still want me to start Thread 7?

@baroqueandblue isn't fever also a sign for pneumonia which you don't have?

I am also concerned now as the article states raised heart rate is a sign of pneumonia? I don't have fever though so far.

Thankyou @Babdoc I would like to get my liver function checked but not a high likelihood of that at the moment. Take care x

Is anyone else getting an increase in eye floaters at all? I’m wondering if this is linked to low iron but I’m finding it hard to read a book because of them which seems unusual.

Sorry if I'm missing posts or cross-posting but my mind is racing. I've got a 3 week supply of Cephalexin here which my friend with COPD gave me a couple of months ago. (They throw it at her like sweets and she hardly uses them!) It's prescribed for community acquired pneumonia, among other things, so I've just taken 500mg and will do the same in 12 hours time and so on for at least a week. Even if I got 111 to prescribe antibiotics for me I have nobody to collect them at the moment and obviously mustn't go myself. But that's fine, I'm lucky to have this potential solution in the house. If I get much worse of course I'll call 111, but hopefully it won't come to that.

I've been telling myself for days, you'll be fine, you don't need antibiotics, you don't even know you've actually got the virus! I feel the dry cough/fever bottom line has been extremely misleading for some including my GP

Hmm @baroqueandblue you really shouldn’t be taking antibiotics prescribed for someone else, for lots of different reasons including that it won’t be recorded on your medical records which means your medical history will not be fully accurate. I can totally understand why you are but not the best move.

Thanks @user34254356 I haven't been feverish as such for most of the 25 days, but my immune system isn't that great and so I wouldn't necessarily have a fever with pneumonia, certainly before it got 'critical'.

@DandyPeguin yes you're right and under normal circumstances I wouldn't recommend it, but the whole thing is a shitshow at the moment so I'll take my chances!

Just wanted to add something I forgot to mention. You all know your own body best, so trust your gut instinct. If you feel that you are deteriorating, don’t wait too long to seek help. Your GP or local triage would much prefer to see you and assess you early, than have you get severely ill and need a lot more intervention to rescue you. I think a lot of women patients feel they don’t want to “trouble” the doctor or make a fuss, but please use your commonsense and don’t be afraid to ask when you need to! Hugs to everyone.

They sent an ambulance out and he is ok! I should add he is epileptic but he’s not had a fall like that before. All his obs were good which is encouraging.

My kids haven’t been sent into a clinic it’s a special unit for support for families who’s children are showing signs of the virus. I am so glad they are still here I don’t know how I’d cope if they were taken into hospital.

Hope I'm ok to post here as a mere day 20 dweller.

Not having a good day today at all. Got my antibiotics and have taken first one so hoping they work quickly, if indeed there is any secondary infection...
Just feel constantly shaky and now like I keep forgetting to breath and have to remind myself to do it. Done some breathing exercises but really need this to be over now!

Un-Mumsnety hugs to all.

@Lovelesslily one thing I found helpful was run a nice warm shower lots of steam then do deep breathing and cough after 5th deep breath.

Just so I’m clear on this fellow day 30+ lot (or thereabouts) if you walked up two flights of stairs now how would you feel? I’ve just done that and i can feel pulse increases quite a bit (can feel it pounding a bit) and a little breathless but not terrible. Usually I would be able to run up them of course but I’m unwell and assume this is within the realms of ‘normal’? Are you all still at that sort of level?

@longshot yes that’s exactly where I am. Pulse increases a lot but I could do it (day 24). Maybe not as well as you though as I haven’t even tried going for a real walk!

@lovelesslilly I’m also physically shaky today too but hoping that’s just the exhaustion from not having a good nights sleep and fatigued.

@longshot @EMichel102 i have been testing this on my pulse oximeter in fact a few times today because the GP asked me to test this (but from an oxygen rather than pulse perspective). My oxygen levels aren't dropping dramatically ie with exception of once, it stayed in 95-97 range but the heart rate shot up to 120/130 and oximeter starts to beep above 130!

Glad to know others are feeling the same. I am probably a bit further behind as i normally even would have a raised heart rate on walking up stairs but that would normalise quicker but i can feel it's more pronounced now.

I am going to speak to my GP at our call about this. Just walking around the kitchen my pulse also goes up compared to sitting but not as much as when climbing stairs.

@lovelesslily hope the antibiotics start to work soon. Which one have you been prescribed? Can you distract yourself with some tv? I found myself breathless on my own and every time i spoke to 111 i was so calm that they wouldn't believe I am breathless (as i wasn't focused on my breathing then).

@babdoc so glad you are back home and getting sleep. How many days were you at the hospital?
Thank you for sharing all the information. I am keen to get a chest x-ray so i can relax or know if there is some lung damage but don't know how we can get it done in current circumstances unless I call the paramedics.

What have you been told about recovery? Have you tested negative to covid now - is that why you were discharged?

@Casino218 I've tried the 5 deep breaths and cough but it just seems to hurt ... will try running the shower!

@user34254356 They are called ciprofloxacin and disturbed myself by reading the side effects leaflet, with one being shortness of breath - how on earth will I know if I'm having a bad reaction or just more symptoms? :( I know I need to distract myself, I've started watching Tiger King on Netflix. Just hard when my chest/breathing has been mainly clear for a week until today.

@Babdoc So reassuring to read your posts, glad you are back home and recovering well :)

Are others still fighting with heartburn / reflux as well as an ongoing battle? Seems to crop up afternoon / evening each day pretty badly even though I’m doing Nexium and Gaviscon

@EMichel102 yes I'm the same.The Gaviscon is keeping it under control though.