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[WorriesomeDad]

Thread for continuing long-term Coronavirus support

@alittleprivacy I have this problem! I have on off worn one over the last 7 weeks. I really really hate not wearing a bra, it is uncomfortable for me and I look awful. I have a sleep bra I have worn a lot but I am now finding I can manage a bra on most of the day and swap over to crop top thing or bra less early eve. Progress lol. I also dug out some old maternity bras!

No problem with jeans but I have not had any stomach issues, I think I’m in the minority there.

No bra yet and into week 8. I guess I'll have to wear one at somepoint again!

@WorriesomeDad high five for copy and paste of the article, I see the BBC has an article as well saying 2-8 weeks recovery. The tide is turning...people might start believing us!!!!!!

I too were the soft crop tops, have gained so much weight I doubt I’d get into anything else

I have purchased two sleep bras.
Being rather large of chest, I daren't not wear a bra. well I can,but they would be down to my knees.
Yes, my usual bras are bloody uncomfortable.

Help! Day 27 and exhausted today. Fatigue hasn't been an issue until now.

Also the sore, stretched throat sensation is back.

And my chest is sore. Like just under mid front chest skin. Not ribs but like the lung lining is sore just underneath. It pulls sometimes if I move position or stretch to get something. But it's not really painful, and no worse on deep inhale. Just annoying and sore. What is it?? No temp and sats OK.

@dorual My fatigue came pretty late on. And the sore throat was my first symptom but it is here now again.

Day 36 today and I ventured back to work remotely for the first time.

I managed an hour and a half in total- and I had to spend the whole afternoon trying to recover.

I feel ok now again and I am planning to do similar tomorrow. It was nice to be in touch with my work mates again and have a bit of purpose to the day.

It's amazing how tired out I got from reading a few emails.

My symptoms now are just fatigue. My heart feels ok, but I feel I'm just keeping everything at bay and it could come back to get me very easily.

Oh yes and re bras, I've dug out an old maternity and breastfeeding bra which I'm living in. But broke the budget and ordered some new comfort bras last week- thought it was worth the investment- waiting for them to arrive now.

Normal bras hurting chest far too much. Even though they are new and fit perfectly!

@mumlurker

In response to your question to anyone else having heart issues.

I have been suffering very badly with my heart for the past week. It's ached, felt sore, swollen, crampy and it's been beating so hard I cant sleep. It has also been racing upon any movement.

Today I went to the hospital after speaking with a dr via 111. I felt it was getting worse so they wanted me to get it checked for possible swelling.

I had an ECG, new blood work, chest/heart xray and other standard tests -- pressure etc. Everything was absolutely fine despite the pain and terrible sensations.

@WorriesomeDad fantastic article!!! Interestingly that Dr quoted is one that I followed on twitter as she documented her journey. Twitter handle @OxfordDiplomat if anyone else wants to look. Hopefully cases like hers will ensure that we are seen!!

@dorual The bad fatigue for me didnt arrive until about day 35 (I'm day 50 something now) its really crippling me along with the sore throat but the other symptoms have gradually got better mostly (still have a bit of breathlessness and chest pain intermittently)

@MillStone

Wow, glad you're ok. Do you feel reassured? Did they offer any suggestions?

I called my GP today and she felt it wasn't my heart but inflammation elsewhere in my chest. Tried to go for a walk this evening though and everything flared up - felt heavy, achey, almost constricted - though radiating down round my ribs rather than up into arm and jaw. Really threw me though and came straight home. Feel fine half an hour later now, apart from familiar dull ache in the chest area. But it's scary and hard to trust it's not my heart!

And the virus keeps on giving. Sitting here have a tight chest and pains in my back plus a bit of the breathlessness once again. I feel tired as well. Had a glass of wine tonight before I start my antidepressants in the morning. My first drink in 43 days. Bet I pay for it tonight. However after the talk with my doctor I do feel at last it is being acknowledged that you just don't recover in a week and it can go on a long time and that has somehow made me calmer about this episode as he said I was over the worse and it will take time to be fully fit.

@mumlurker can I ask how far did you walk and at what pace? I’m sure it wasn’t fast but I have found if I walk pretty slowly for 10-15 mins I feel ok any more and I can tell my body is getting tired and that I’m going to get all the feelings you mention back.

I’m hoping in a few days I might manage 2 x 15 min strolls a day, tbh though I’ve stopped worrying about what I ‘manage’. I’ve realised it’s better if I can sort of be ok at home with my kids than if I manage 5000 steps or whatever. As long as I am up and about enough (and not lying down all day which I no longer am) my muscles will not waste away just yet! I’m no way getting anywhere near my fitness back for weeks probably months so why bother trying and putting myself back again is my new attitude!

My DH has also stopped any cardio as he has the weird heart sensations too (he’s not been very unwell like me, all mild for him) but it has really scared him. It’s made it much much easier to not watch him going off for a run tbh. I have stopped feeling ‘oh I need to be out running’ and being a bit more grateful I’m still alive and can put the kids to bed and read them a story without gasping for air!

I've dug out an old maternity and breastfeeding bra which I'm living in.
Would you believe that as part of my Coronavirus preparations I cleared out my wardrobe a week before I got sick. (I didn't want to have musty old clothes I never wear in the wardrobe if I was in bed with a cough.) And as part of that I threw out all my maternity bras. I've been cursing myself for weeks because they are exactly what I want now.

So in a fit of looking for something to be optimistic about, I researched recovered athletes and found this. If a professional athlete can recover enough to get back into training, so can all of us!
www.football.london/chelsea-fc/players/callum-hudson-odoi-cheslea-fitness-18072553

@Dorual the lung lining pain is pleurisy I think. www.nhs.uk/conditions/pleurisy/

I think some of us are also getting costochondritis www.nhs.uk/conditions/costochondritis/#overview

I found the fatigue was terrible in the 20s.

@longshot

Only about ten minutes or so at my normal pace! I was walking 45 minutes last week! But I have a feeling I overdid it last week (lots of vigorous hoovering and other housework, walking every day) so perhaps paying for it now. You're right though, we won't waste away completely just pottering round the house for now.

@Egghead68 I thought pleurisy, but then it doesn't hurt more on deep breaths. Just feels a bit "carpet burny" when I move about, like the lungs are rubbing on my ribs front and back. But it's not really bad pain like I'd expect with pleurisy. I guess you can get it mild though.

Can I ask the knowledgable people here, please -
I've had a funny feeling in my nose - like I've been punched hard in the bridge of my nose. Plus a slight loss of taste / smell, cold sores for the first time in years, fatigue and oddly about a week ago, a sudden episode of heart palpitations / tight chest that I've never had before and an awful feeling of DOOM accompanying it (only lasted about 10 mins tho). My sleep has been very disrupted. I assumed all this was down to stress but I have had periods of intense stress before and only my sleep and coldsores have been affected, not the other things.
Could any of this be virus related, do you think? I live in such a remote area and have left the village only 1 time in 5 weeks that it seems unlikely I've picked up anything?
Anyway, hope you dont mind me asking, as you all seem to actually have the virus, so sorry if I'm barging in here, and wishing you all well in your recoveries. x

@OldLace sounds like it. The taste smell thing is pretty convincing and I totally get the doom feeling!

The sense of doom is absolutely real and terrifying. It's pretty much the worst part of this virus for me.

@OldLace sounds like it to me too. Loss of taste, tight chest and DOOM being the main indicators!

Are you on the mend? Feel free to join us here. It's good to have people in the same boat that you can talk to and to feel less alone with the symptoms.

@OldLace it sounds suspicious.
Especially the doom feelings. I have suffered so badly with that. Stay on here and on the My Lungs thread. We are all here for each other. I've had such wonderful support from everyone when I've felt truly at rock bottom and unable to cope.

Today has been a day slightly better. I've still been having weird rapid heart beats on and off, but not so intense. If I raise my arms above my head it gets worse
I sat in the garden. I lay on the sofa and dd and I did her schoolwork. She's been very tearful today but I was strong enough to deal with it. I felt like a parent again, which is nice. And I have washed and dried her hair all lovely.
I haven't had any massive attacks of fear, even though a friend of mine has sadly died from this virus today. Which makes me think the panic attacks are virus produced.
And for the first time in 28 days I have sat downstairs in the evening and watched a bit of telly.
I even got hungry today.
I'm actually looking forward to fatigue, is that weird? I'm exhausted with getting so little sleep, a big relaxing deep sleep would be so welcome.

I've just realised I seem a bit callous talking about my poor friend like that, they were really poorly. Really poorly.
And I haven't seen them in over twenty years. Our sporadic contact was through facebook only. We used to go clubbing together in the 90s.
I am very sad though.
And a wee bit in shock.