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.

Thank you pinkoneblueone I feel like my chest and shortness of breath is definitely back (day 54) and I had awful fatigue yesterday afternoon which I had not had since week 5. I am heartened truly by the posters who are further on and slowly improving (not that I wish such a long recovery on anyone of course).

I do not fit the criteria for testing either but I have to say I don’t really understand the science/medicine of this. The symptoms still feel like the virus, not post-viral, and the doctor I saw in week 5 said when advising me to rest, to think about how much energy I was expending fighting this virus. It is now week 7 and it is the same set of symptoms.

Wishing you all a better day ; courage and strength to those experiencing dips

@WorriesomeDad are you suggesting then as per that link we have been exposed to a biotoxin and not a virus?
I don't agree with that.

I do 100% believe what we are dealing with is inflammation though.

@Notgoingouttoday wow 14 weeks, you really are a veteran!
I'm 9 weeks and left with fatigue, pressure round the chest which progresses to stabbing pains in the sternum/chest area on any minor exertion. And acid indigestion.

Was this something you experienced?
And if so did it lift? I'm beginning to think I'm lumbered with it for life.

I'm taking note of your sciatica experience as I suspect I'm much weaker than I think. Gentle Pilates/yoga for recovery.

Piecing together what A&E said and what my GP has said in the last 2 months, I've had: probable covid that has left me with pneumonia and pleuritic inflammation.

So for each of the last 2 days I've taken 2 double doses of doxycillin (100mg each dose), 2000mg vit C (Solgar capsules), 1 Probio 7 Advanced probiotic capsule, 3 swigs of Metatone tonic, and 2 doses of cocodamol 10/500mg. Back in March I was taking 30/500mg cocodamol for a while, but I had a dream about 10/500mg so since then I take 1 and a quarter 8/500mg per dose. I trust my dream was telling me not to overdo the codeine! For the last couple of weeks I've been tapering down my Sertraline dose from 100mg per day to approx. 60mg per day at present. I just had a sense it was probably making the inflammation worse, because when I started taking it last September it gave me costochondritis as a side effect. Also, I found out SSRIs lower bone density, and I've got osteoporosis so it's risky for me. Going to get down to 50mg over the next few days and have a review with the GP next proper chance I get.

Yesterday morning I felt fantastic after a rough start. Walked into town, did some shopping, came back and made lunch and then wham! the fatigue hit me and I slept most of the afternoon. But then made dinner, vacuumed the living room and watched tv for most of the evening. Since starting the little meds and supplements routine on Monday morning I've seen a huge difference in how much I'm sneezing and blowing my nose. It's hardly running at all, which feels like a miracle. But each time it kicks off I get some awful gunk coming out, rather than the clear watery stuff that was pouring out of me last week, so I'm guessing the infection is fighting with the doxycycline and bringing out the big guns. But so far the antibiotic seems to be winning. Woke up very early again this morning, which is much more like my usual time than it has been for ages. Took 50mg doxycycline on waking, will take another 50mg before dinner and see how the lower doses go today. If I feel like it's going backwards tomorrow morning I'll take double doses again. Sometimes antibiotic therapy has to be aggressive and I don't want to go back to how I was last week. I was losing the will to live by the weekend.

The pain and inflammation is a bit better, as well as that awful anxious feeling in my chest and solar plexus. Think the probiotic and cocodamol are definitely helping with that.

Sorry, I know this is a boring post but just wanted to log what I've been doing. Also eating regularly, drinking a lot of water and herbal teas, resting lots and some meditation. Feeling much more hopeful, but cautious of getting carried away with hope at the same time! Will go out for a walk again at some point today but expect to need to sleep again for a while this morning.

Forgot to say, coughing a fair bit this morning. Dry and sore. Remember reading years ago about a theory that symptoms can reassert themselves in reverse order when healing starts. Not sure how much I believe it but times like this always remind me of that theory. Might be just wishful thinking, but fingers crossed...

Ah, that is so interesting about the Setraline baroque as I am on 50mg and my chest pain does not seem to be lifting. In fact, it seems worse this morning.

I am finding it really difficult to get medical support though - my doctor basically says yes, they are seeing people with a longer recovery. What symptoms did you have which led to the pneumonia diagnosis?

Morning. Day 53/54. Feeling really good apart from chest pain but my heart rate is high again (106 on standing, 122 on minimum exertion, 99 at rest). I’m also worried about pain in my left calf - I think I am a candidate for a DVT as I am on HRT and have been mainly lying down for the best part of 50 days.

@KatySun it was last month, GP on the phone wondered if it might be pneumonia because at that point they were mostly still only diagnosing covid as a cough and temperature. I had resting breathlessness, productive cough with thick dark phlegm, muscle aches and chest pain and felt exhausted most of the time. Then when I went to A&E they said probable covid that had left me with a secondary infection and pleuritic pain, but the antibiotics they gave me didn't work. I soldiered on and even thought I was recovering weekend before last, but then relapsed badly and the infection came back with a vengeance. So GP prescribed doxycycline again on Monday.

I'm sorry your chest pain is feeling even worse today. How long have you been taking your Sertraline for? Back in the autumn I put up with the costochondritis for weeks because I was determined to get my depression and anxiety under better control. But since I got the awful back and rib pain two months ago, which slowly spread to my chest and sternum (although not as painful as my back) I've suspected that the Sertraline might be preventing me from recovering to some extent. Absolutely no proof for that, just a hunch! But I've been so depressed since March that I figured I had nothing to lose by reducing the dose for a while and seeing if it makes a difference. I certainly wasn't going to increase it, particularly after finding out it causes bone density loss. But also, in the absence of an x-ray I have had to wonder if I somehow got an osteoporotic fragility fracture in my thoracic spine in March, in which case the surrounding muscles would be inflamed and painful for ages and the Sertraline wouldn't help that either - might even have caused it. I mean, I have no idea how I could've fractured, I didn't do anything that could've caused it, as far as I know. But I've fractured there before, in an accident 7 years ago, which is how I found out I had osteoporosis. So it's complex. When I went to A&E last month to get checked over for covid they said I could have x-rays but would have to go through the covid ward to get to Imaging! So I took the antibiotics instead, and if I'm honest, after they didn't work I decided to try and tough it out rather than go to the hospital again to be x-rayed. Which explains why I was really ill again until Monday.

It has been so difficult to know what's really been going on with me because the back and rib pain seemingly came out of nowhere days before lockdown. Prior to that I'd had a very sore throat and awful headaches for 2-3 weeks. Then I began reading the early Lungs threads on MN and realised lots of people who suspected they had the virus were getting back and rib and chest pain too.

@baroqueandblue Your symptoms sound virtually identical to what mine have been a lot of the time, the phlegm blocked my airways and breathing was very difficult. That part thankfully seems to have passed apart from very occasional buildup of phlegm.

It's so horrible, isn't it? I was really scared a number of times,

I spoke to gp who is getting some bloods done on Friday and an ultrasound on my side. I keep getting the horrible skin crawling feeling again.

GP has sent me back to A&E (sigh). She does not think my heart issues are anything to do with covid at this stage (day 53/54). I beg to differ. Didn’t have any problems before. She wants me to call back tomorrow with the results and then will think about whether a cardiology referral (NHS or private) is indicated. She kept stressing that my previous raised troponin level does not mean I had a heart attack (never thought it did) but agreed it might mean my heart was inflamed.

@baroqueandblue i have also resisted an x-ray for quite some time for this reason but i am going to the walk in section probably today as suggested by the GP. It's been long enough with the symptoms and I really need to know what is going on.

@Egghead68 I was sent to A&E too, because there was concern about my heart. I had an ECG and blood tests, which revealed nothing. I also had a chest X-ray, which revealed nothing wrong. The blood tests were okay, apart from showing signs of infection. (Last year, I had pneumonia, but not this time.)

It actually feels very much like the pneumonia, except that antibiotics haven't worked. I've had 5 prescriptions of 2 separate antibiotics, none of which made any difference at all.

I certainly never expected the ECG to reveal anything wrong with my heart.

I am on week 8 and have been better for two weeks. But I'm now feeling feverish and awful again. Feeling of doom back - I'm really frightened.

They have me in the coronavirus positive area of A&E again even though it’s 53/54 days since I developed symptoms...

Thanks @Mittens030869. I am a frequent A&E attender with covid as my GP keeps sending me! Third time!

@godhelpusall same timeline as you - 8 weeks and body temperature raised and feverish since yesterday. I worry i have caught it all over again as i am getting the exact same symptoms.

@user34254356 do you have the horrible blood running cold sensation?

I haven't been back at A&E, @Egghead68 but the surgery have referred me for another X-ray, but this hasn't happened, there's a logistical problem, I've been told, and I'm not particularly concerned about it, as I don't expect they'll find anything we don't already know.

My cough is worse today and producing more mucus. Not helped with my DDs bickering and my DH WFH. I turned into a shouty mum, which I feel bad about. I'm worried about school starting again, with my DH having asthma, on the other hand this isn't a good situation for our DDs, I know that.

@godhelpusall it started off with freezing hands and feet and now i feel like my insides are burning. Don't think it's exactly like how you are describing.

Good luck @Egghead68 - hope you're in and out of A and E quickly.

Thank you! Saw doctor who said all my obs and ecg are slightly improved relative to 12 days ago and that this is just a very slowly improving post-covid syndrome. Advice - drink a lot and increase activity very gradually, as we know. He also said that it is normal for covid to raise troponin levels (mine were raised last time). I just have to wait for my blood test results and then I can go. No mention of anxiety this time which made a nice change.

@godhelpusall pancreas pain is usually on the left and radiates to the back, liver is on the right and gallbladder pain is to the right or central - both gallbladder and pancreas pain flare after eating (gallbladder worse after fatty foods). You can also feel lung inflammation or irritation of the pleura quite low down.

@user34254356 my low grade fever is back for week 8 too. Feverishness comes and goes. Yesterday had chest pain around heart/left side, today it’s the burning sternum again.

@egghead68 glad you’ve got some reassurance and have been taken seriously - great that there’s a point of comparison too that shows improvement.

After my week 6 xray that showed infection I’ve just got an appointment for beginning of June for a follow up one, so hoping that will show improvement (and at least not worsening) for my sanity!

Thanks @Needsomegoodnews . I'm getting an ultrasound to look at liver and gallbladder.
Hope you all make it through today without too much hideousness.

@godhelpusall, @user34254356 i am approaching 9 weeks and am in a similar major dip to you starting about a week ago. My low grade fever is back, very cold hands and feet and chills. My headache returned on one day and have generally felt rubbish again and very weak. I am assuming this one will also ease in time, but it does make you wonder how we get off this roller coaster ride. All of my family have dipped again, even the kids who have had a very mild version. All very strange. Hope you feel better soon.