AIBU to ask if you think you've had CV what were your symptoms

[summervines]

I think I have had it but only mildly.
I had a dry cough, had to keep stopping when walking because I was out of breath often, sore throat. Sometimes I was cold when others at work were hot.

I had something similar to you in the last few weeks OP, along with mild chest pain. Only reason I'm thinking it might have been corona is that I've never had a dry cough before - my coughs are always melodramatic phlegmy ones that go on for months, to the point where I was once x-rayed to check I didn't have lung cancer. No way of knowing though, is there?

High temp headache/sinus and eye pain. Back ache that felt tingly/tender. Very dry sinuses and hot head. Slight cough, thought it was a sinus problem but then dh came down with more obvious flu like symptoms and cough.
We have both had the flu jab this season and it's late for flu so either we had a bad cold or covid.
No major breathing problems so far

Exhausted - slept for about 20 hours a day as I just couldn't stay awake.

Aches - like I've had with flu, but worse, I was in tears of pain from the soreness of my hips and elbows.

Fever and sweats - raised up to 2 degrees above normal, so.much night sweat.

Headache - in a headband style arch across my head from temple to temple. It stung. Never had one like it, not even a migraine.

Lasting symptoms - intermittent chest tightness round the bra band area; thickness of breath in the back of my throat. Tired for a fortnight.

I had a very very mild cough at night (coughing 4 times every 20 mins until I fell asleep maybe) and an upset stomach at the same time my partner had more severe symptoms
At the time I thought it was a hayfever cough and tummy bad due to eating mostly takeout due to not being able to go shopping for a while but looking back it could well have been cv very mildly. No idea why mine was so mild as I was with partner 24/7

This is 3-4 weeks ago btw

Started with a burning feeling in the centre of my chest and feeling freezing cold. I had a slight dry cough, I only coughed about 3/4 times in a day but it was worse in the morning.

After a week of that my chest felt heavy like someone was sat on it. Then I had a sore throat, swollen glands, felt flush in the face but no temperature.

I started getting breathless, I’d manage about two short sentences then have to catch my breath. Sitting up in bed felt like a huge effort. Felt exhausted in general and had terrible vertigo one night. Had nausea and a reflux type feeling once or twice. Started getting heart palpitations when I lied down to sleep, this lasted about 2 weeks.

I’m about 19 days in and I’m feeling generally a lot better. Still feeling breathless but I can do a bit more every day. Fingers crossed it carries on in the right direction.

Doctor said it’s more than likely Covid so I treated it as such, isolation, paracetamol, fluids and rest.

Sore throat
Dry cough
Fatigue
Brain Fog
Then slight breathlessness
Tightness in the lung on one side, as if someone's squeezing it
Then twenty four hours of bad stomach upset
Same night feeling I couldn't get my breath
Now left with lung tightness and tiredness if I overdo it.

I didn't have the fever or the headaches at all.

Meant to add however in January (28th Jan to be precise) I went to the gp with swollen glands, sore ears and a red raw throat so painful I couldn’t swallow spit. I had an intermittent cough for weeks though, since before Christmas. The gp said if the cough didn’t go away in a few days to go back as it is a persistent cough. He listened to my chest for ages and said it was ok if a bit ‘turbulent’. He said my throat wasn’t infected and it all looked viral. I felt better after about 4 days. I actually said to him that I taught children who had been to China and should I worry about this new corona thingy and he said no he wouldn’t worry about it. Wish I’d been swabbed !

Have it now.

I believe I have it moderately not terrible but not lightly.

The main big differences (for me) that distinguishes it from even severe flu is the ongoing breathing difficulties and the chest pain.

Big red flag is that you can have the initial nasty symptoms: very high temperature, cold sweat, headache, sore throat, muscle aches, loss of taste etc and get over these quickly in a few days and even feel you have turned the corner only to suddenly develop breathing difficulties and deteriorate again around day 6 onwards sometimes as late as day 10. I believe some people have described feeling worse well after the 14 day isolation period. I can't understand this and can't get any answers as to why. Certainly the breathing is much more painful and harder for me now, well after 2 weeks than it was 8 days ago, despite barely having had a cough.

The breathing and lung/chest pain is what sets it apart. I have asthma and it is not like having an asthma attack. To be honest if it was significantly worse I know my inhalers would not really help me at all.

It also comes in waves, waxing and waning from one day to the next. Possible to be relatively ok then need to rest or become very ill again in a few hours.

Started as a cold; sore throat and headache, terrible nausea second day. Since then (3 weeks) it’s been up and down with a range of symptoms (never had fever or temp):

Diarrhoea
Cough
Sore eyes
Loss of smell/taste (not come back yet and I’m worried!)
Fatigue

I'm wondering whether I have it.
About a week ago I developed a really headache. I do sometimes suffer with migraines, but this headache just felt different- not like a tension headache. I then developed a really sore throat which I still have. My throat feels like there is a golf ball in there and it's really painful generally but even more so when I swallow.
I have been able to do stuff with the kids but have been feeling a lot more drained and tired then usual. The last 4 days had a very dry cough which is painful in my chest and makes me feel breathless.
However I haven't had a temperature (haven't got a thermometer but haven't felt particularly hot/cold/shivery). I live in a house with others and no one else is showing signs of any symptoms and we have been together obviously continuously due to the lockdown. I want to know if it's covid, but the lack of temperature and the fact no-one else seems to have it make me think it might not be

I think I had it back in February. It lasted three weeks. Symptoms in order were worst cough I ever had, chest pain, severe chills with drowsiness / extreme fatigue, general fatigue, constant bad headache, loss of appetite, loss of taste and smell, worsening cough with choking/struggling to breath sensation. Then I was fine. A week or so later I had a severe chest/heart pain that lasted for ten minutes. I am very worried about latest reports suggesting it attacks the heart and if it has left lasting damage.

Only diarrhoea myself. But my partner and daughter who were ill at the same time had more classic symptoms (fever and cough).

I have just one minor symptom: a little breathlessness when active. It feels as if I'm always just on the edge of having an asthma attack, but it never does get any worse. I don't think it can be asthma - it doesn't feel like asthma and is remarkably constant from hour to hour and day to day. Oddly, it hasn't triggered my asthma. Usually any sort of chest problem will set my asthma off.

It's remained just the same for three weeks now.

I developed it soon after my young adult daughter, plus her friend who'd been staying with us, developed the classic symptoms associated with Covid-19 after going out clubbing in London and to many crowded places locally.

I have no idea if I had it, both my children had the same thing before me, I got it in early March...I have a note in my training diary saying I felt rough on the 4th March.

Upset stomach for a couple of days but not really anything bad. Maybe I ate something that didn't agree with me?
Then...
Sore throat and a temperature (peaked at 39 degrees) that lasted 5 days.
Horrendous sweats, told my husband it must be my age catching up with me?
Horrible headache that wouldn't shift for days.
Joint aches and pains, especially in my neck and shoulders.
Tight chest, walking upstairs felt hard work although I was still exercising - albeit my performance dropped significantly.
Then I got sinus/eye pain but I wasn't snotty.

I put it down to a virus and carried on training (I was meant to be running a marathon in April - aiming to go sub 3:40). It took about three weeks to get back to feeling normal but I'm still not as fit as I was before.

Looking back I wonder if I had it? Normally I'd think it was just a seasonal virus but it really took it out of me. I'm still not 100% despite being fit and healthy for my age (46). Whatever it was it was nasty but not a flu that would have put me in bed.

Dry cough, breathlessness, fatigue, feeling cold shivers followed by hot flashes. Thumping headache.

If you do have symptoms it might be worth completing this nhs survey as it helps them track symptom data. Annoyingly it doesn’t seem to have a section for people who suspect they’ve symptoms and recovered though.

www.nhs.uk/coronavirus-status-checker

It feels as if I'm always just on the edge of having an asthma attack, but it never does get any worse. I don't think it can be asthma - it doesn't feel like asthma and is remarkably constant from hour to hour and day to day. Oddly, it hasn't triggered my asthma. Usually any sort of chest problem will set my asthma off.

Yes! I've been trying to explain this over the phone to doctors and they are

But you describe how it affects you but doesn't trigger the asthma much better than I did.

I’m not sure if I have it but we’ve all been suffering from whatever this is for the last 2 weeks, started with 3 days of bad headaches and mild body aches and fatigue. DH and I both have back pain now and complete loss of smell and taste, sore throat and dizziness. Today, day 10 I have developed a blocked nose.

DS1 had it last week, symptoms lasted a day, he had a high temp, and complained of chest pain and said his eyeballs were hurting inside. Been fine since, and toddler seems fine so far touch wood

I had the classic cv symptoms early December. Had a prolonged period of rumbling symptoms which became more 'seasonal-flu' like and culminated in me having to have antibiotics in early Feb. Obviously at that point I hadn't even heard of cv19 (thanks China) so didn't think anything out of the ordinary. Wish I'd documented everything now. Also wish I'd had a swab taken although not something that's ever been offered to me before. I was diagnosed with a serious upper respiratory infection which was likely viral in December. I remember thinking it was strange that my nose was completely dry as I normal get a bunged up nose, but put it down to maybe being a stomach flu as I had diarrhoea. I feel like it's unlikely I had it in December as wasn't in contact with anyone who'd come in from China although did fall ill after a visit to a large city where people may have flown in from other countries. I do think in theory, given what we now know, if the earliest case was found in China on 16 Nov for example it is possible for it to have arrived in the UK a few days later. I can't believe it took until mid Feb for it to arrive in the UK. Not sure what to think but I'm eagerly awaiting the antigen/antibody tests which are showing no signs of arriving any time soon, if ever.

That should read I had the classic symptoms in December. Cv symptoms lasted some weeks and THEN had a sore throat/rumbling illness culminating in Feb.

I’m on day 24 (although I consider myself pretty much fine now). Trying to list in the order they appeared:

Sore eyes.

Increased pulse (I have PoTS - postural tachycardia - though and this is normal for me with any illness) - usual for me is 70ish, it’s been in the high 90s for over 3 weeks.

Sore throat around tonsil area which led to ear pain too. Assumed tonsillitis (viral - DD1 came home from school with the same thing, then DS had it, then me) which it could’ve still been of course but the other symptoms aren’t normal for me with that (I used to have tonsillitis a lot). It felt like I was being stabbed in the ear with a knitting needle but there was absolutely nothing visibly in my throat or ear. I was religiously taking paracetamol as often as allowed and sleeping with my face on a hot water bottle for several days.

Increased temperature - didn’t set the fever alarm off often but I’m usually around 35, so being above 37 is still high for me. It’s still raised now.

Sore muscles and joints - not exactly sure when that started as I have fibromyalgia but it was definitely worse than usual. Particularly noticeable in my knees and fingers.

Insane sleepiness. For a few days I just couldn’t keep awake for long, it felt (I imagine) like being drugged.

No appetite, although even when I wanted to eat it hurt due to the throat pain. Lost >5lb in a week.

Wouldn’t say I lost sense of smell/taste completely but it was definitely “less”.

Vile vile taste in my mouth. Like metal, or something bitter.

Slight tickly cough.

Random chest pains, couldn’t tell if lung or heart related (the latter happens sometimes anyway).

Nausea. This was after the throat pain had mostly gone. Got really worried I’d be sick for a couple of days.

Weakness/getting exhausted easily. Once I stopped being actually sleepy I still couldn’t do much at all. Even things like drawing, which I wanted to do to relax, felt impossibly demanding as I’d need to sit up and grip a pencil etc. I said to DH at the time it was like when I first got ME, being scared to do anything as you didn’t trust your own body. I got really upset at this point. Luckily it’s not lasted too long at that severity.

Occasionally slightly “chesty” cough but nothing too bad. This is what makes me wonder if it was something else as the respiratory issues didn’t really happen. But everyone else in the house had a cough (I’ll list their symptoms in another post) so I’m not sure if it was just some random fluke that I didn’t.

I'm curious, I've read a lot about the extreme sleepiness/sleeping 20 hours.

Does this make it a more manageable illness on the main (in the absence of the scarier symptoms)?

My most miserable illnesses were bronchitis and tonsillitis, but what made them so much worse was how I couldn't really sleep well.

DD1 who seemed to have it first - she said others in her class had tonsillitis.
Sore throat intermittently for a few days, then it got really bad and constant for a couple of days, couldn’t swallow
Lost appetite
Fever a couple of times (39+)
Weak and tired
Achy muscles and joints
Coughing after the throat was better - only mild, very noticeable but not enough to cause an issue

DS got it a few days later.
Sore throat/swallowing difficulty
Fever got to 39.9 several times over a few days
Chills and shivering (forgot that in my own post although DS was much worse with it)
Ear pain carried on a few days after throat felt ok
No appetite
Sore eyes - kept saying they felt “hot”
Tired/lethargic - this carried on far longer than DD. His ADHD means he’s normally bouncing around all day, but he was very static and has only started leaping about/stimming again in the last few days, he’d be about day 28ish now. Totally unlike him.

DH had a sore throat and dry cough for a couple of weeks, he also had fatigue/achy muscles but like me he gets those anyway so hard to tell. He wasn’t floored by it but definitely run down.

I know a lot of people (myself included) who went down with some kind of bug in February and March. None of the classic coronavirus symptoms (fever cough) - but head cold, sore throat, general achiness, feeling feverish but temperature lower than normal. Possibly just an ordinary bug - but my perception is that a lot more people had it than I would expect at this time of year. Mild dose of CV? Or just coincidence? We probably won't know until routine testing comes in - whenever that is.