Covid Lungs Week 7/Day 49 and onwards

[Dandyish]

Support thread for those who've had Covid symptoms or post-viral fatigue for at least 7 weeks/49 days or longer.

If your symptoms haven't lasted that long, check out the Lung 7 thread (or later).It'll be more helpful as people there will be in a more similar position.

@LetsBeSensible thank you for posting the article. It’s good to see that prolonged symptoms are getting publicity.

@Dandyish I am sorry about your DH. I don’t like the sound of his Sats. Can he get to A&E if they are still down?

@hollieberrie thanks for your reply. No I plan on calling the GP tomorrow about it, I just find them so dismissive and they are currently refusing to see anyone and I suspect that they will refuse to accept my readings

@MickeyMouseEars my blood pressure has been erratic, as has my pulse.

Doctors and nurses can indeed be quite dismissive (if I’m told it’s anxiety again I won’t be responsible for my actions). However, they are seeing more and more cases like ours (sadly) so hopefully we will have more chance of being taken seriously soon.

@MickeyMouseEars Oh gosh really? Mine have been very good. They did say that when you are ill it gets pushed up and could well go down again.. I think if its up high they'll have to do something? Can you ask for a 24 hour monitor?

@Egghead68 yes my pulse has been crazy, it's the reason I decided to check my blood pressure (although there seems to be no correlation)

@hollieberrie I hope that's the case, I'll try and get them to do something tomorrow. Mine is definitely in the 'high' category (150/94 this evening).

My blood pressure was in the pre hypertensive bracket three weeks ago.
It's back to normal now, well it's still high for me, but it is in the normal category.

Schuyler thank you . Hope you carry on feeling well. That’s really helpful. I will request some kind of phased in working when I go back.

I don’t have a way to measure my bp Mickey but my pulse is definitely quicker than normal.

With o2 at 91 I would call 111 Dandyish.

@Dandyish Thinking of you and your DH - hope you’ll have some luck with 111. Keep checking his sats as I found that I’d dip to 91 sometimes and then 10 mins later I’d be back up to 95ish again in the early weeks. Best of luck

Oh my!
I have had a proper relapse today.
I have a terribly bad upset stomach,
I can't stay awake, I feel really sad, I am so breathless, I have dreadful heartburn, my heart keeps beating out of my chest.

It's easing off now but it has been so scary.
I just want to go to bed but am caught up in a family Quiz night.

Hoping to wake up and it's all gone away.

@Dandyish

Just re-read my previous post and made a hash out of it when typing. It’s meant to say that with O2 of 91, he really does need medical examination ASAP.

Sorry you are having a bad day @IamEarthymama. The ups and downs are really tough but there will be better days ahead.

@Dandyish I hope you get your DH seen. O2 below 94 would trigger hospital I think.

As for me - I’m day 57ish. Mostly better except for the morning chesty cough - I can feel the rattle deep inside. Bit of costochondritis, but I’ve had exactly the same pain pre covid so although annoying it’s not worrying. Still have occasional palpitations when tired and a bit of reflux, but both are improving. I was running around the parking yesterday, needed a quieter day today to recover, but it’s not the relapse that much exercise would have triggered last time.
I won’t be around as much, but have hope everyone and get well soon.

Thanks all for your support re DH, very reassuring to have you lot.

His Oxygen levels were back up above 95 during the three times I’ve checked since. He’s been sick. He has a raised temperature but not too high. He’s having a bath. I’ve told him if his sats aren’t better tomorrow and he’s still unwell, I’m taking him to A&E or calling 111 depending on severity. He’s not feeling breathless thank goodness, so perhaps that reading was a quirk?

When I went to A&E last week and they said my O2 saturation was too low, that was 91. It went up to 92 when I breathed deeply. So not great, which is why they kept me in for a while on an oxygen tank.

That was before I had a pulse oximator so couldn’t do a reading myself.

@Dandyish something to bear in mind is that our spo2 naturally drops when we sleep as we breathe less deeply. So if its low when you're awake and breathing "normally" then sleep can bring on a real deterioration.

I dont want to alarm you but please do call 111 for advice if you feel at all worried. They go straight through the night I think.

Also the waiting time for 111 is minimal at the moment. Last time I called I don't think I was even put on hold and a doctor called back within ten mins. So it's not as arduous (or emotionally draining) a process as it was a few weeks ago.

Thanks he doesn’t want me to tonight but I think I will.

That’s interesting to know @Porcupineinwaiting He has just woken up when I took it, in fact I’d woken him bu gently resting my hand on his forehead to see what he felt like. So maybe that was why it was low?

I’m hoping this is a 24 hour bug and not Covid. It would be so cruel for another of us to get it now after 52 days of me having it, and is hate to think I was infectious still.

Good luck Dandyish & your H. Hopefully he'll be ok tonight but if you have any worries definitely call 111. And it's very unlikely you are still infectious at this point. I don't think any studies have shown someone still infectious at such a late stage.

@dandyish I hope you DH is ok, I really would have him checked over for his sats being so low I freak out if ours get to 95 tbh.

Ladies and Gents today I celebrated the start of week 9 by having check ups at hospital. I really over did it on Saturday just passed by cleaning down a big food shop then cutting the grass, I was feeling very sore from a Friday night zoom call with some friends that involved a lot of laughing. I should have rested. I went to far and gave had chest pains very severely where my heart is. So much so I am struggling to get comfortable and am sat with a hot water bottle on my chest. To help ease the intense pain that paracetamol and I ibuprofen isn't even touching the pain for. The moral of the story is REST, go for a small walk do some stretches maybe light yoga but do not cut the grass no matter how much looking at it is getting on your nerves just don't do it.

I took myself over to A&E yesterday afternoon and they did and ECG and it wasn't quite right, they went on to do blood tests for liver and kidneys function, d dimmer. Heart functions and something else, X-ray and obs and all came back normal so.

The moral of the story is rest! Do not over do it it's not big and it's not clever.

Someone mentioned ice blocks for feet, I would often have cold hands and feet with this and very dry lips keeping drinking didn't really help that. I have had so many symptoms I have lost track tbh. A friend mentioned her hair was falling out and was growing back tufty as though she'd been having chemo months after being sick too sadly

Morning. Day 51/52. I’ve been awake since 5am and have some gland, breast, head and chest pain and am very tired but otherwise not too bad.

Hoping today is an ok day for us all

@pinkoneblueone
I’m sorry to hear of your setback. Know it must feel like a real blow after your recent progress. You’ve been doing so well. I’m glad at least though that the hospital ran the tests that they did and that you’ve had some sort of indicator. At least that shows that you’re not imagining it - not that I think you are, but so many of us have met with the response from HCPs that we might have anxiety, as if we’re reading far too much into every little twinge. It’s good that your heart functions blood test showed up normal though, along with X-rays etc.

And yes, agreed - rest is really, really important in recovery from this and I know how tempting it is to try to get back to some kind of normality in our lives sooner than we should.

So rest, relax, recuperate. You’ve done fantastically to get to the point where you felt you could cut the grass, do some cleaning of shopping and have a good laugh over Zoom. Even if it turns out that you overdid it. So it sounds like your overall trajectory is onwards and upwards, even if you have to be careful. Hope your pain eases soon and you can perhaps find things to take your mind off of it until it does.

@Moonminmamma33

Really good to hear from somebody else who has been BF while going through this. It’s only been within the past week or so that I’ve heard of others with protracted ‘mild’ (i.e. non hospitalised) cases of suspected Covid-19, now that this is being picked up more by the mass media and e.g. the British Medical Journal. Until then, I’d assumed that pregnancy, breastfeeding and frequent night wakings must have really temporarily hammered my immune system (which may well be the case). I really feared that as long as I was BF and waking at night, I wouldn’t be able to get better.

Now, despite continued night wakings (DD’s sleep has regressed again), I feel I really am starting to feel better - not just a one-off good day. But taking great care not to rush my recovery, as I’ve been there a few times before. Knowing so many others have had a similar pattern of illness with this makes me realise that (possibly) compromised immunity due to pregnancy and BF can’t be the whole story.

I’m taking Pregnacare Original, Algae Oil (for DHA), Calcium & Vitamin D, soluble Vitamin C. I really feel the Vitamin C was a gamechanger in my recovery, especially when I upped it to 2000mg a day. 2000mg a day is apparently the maximum advisable intake for breastfeeding mothers. After doing some research, it seems excess vitamin C is excreted and does not affect the levels in the breastmilk, even at intakes above 2000mg. Still, I wanted to err on the side of caution. I was interested to read though that researchers like Linus Pauling were treating viral pneumonia with vitamin C way back in mid 20th century. His research is controversial but he still has many advocates, including doctors.

@Dandyish. I did not require oxygen so none was given. The paramedic kept me talking after they arrived and my breathing calmed down then.

They were concerned about the chest pain and fast heart rate though so wanted to take me to be checked out in hospital. I was reluctant to because of DD but they felt I should, so I did.

I continued to get waves of mild breathlessness in the hospital but was fine in the ambulance. Even had a nice chat

They didn't seem to suspect Covid-19, though they did wear a mask and apron. I feel sure I've had it though.