COVID lungs 7 weeks plus/ 49 days plus plus

[pinkoneblueone]

New thread,

I won't be a very good host as I tend to dip in and out of these things but have filled up the last thread. (Sorry)

Thanks I haven't worked out how to link on my phone. Start of week 10 here. Still feel awful but better than last friday. Just had a nap and woke up to heart rate of 100 BPM. Disappointed as it's been a few days since I've had heart symptoms. My main issues now are inflammation, shortness of breath (just in general, not on exertion) and fatigue.

Comforted to read about those posters who've been checked over and assured there's no long term damage.

Thanks @mumlurker and @egghead68

Did anyone else get severe back and neck pain at any point? I had one or two days where i could hardly turn my neck at all. I put it down to a pulled muscle but now I'm starting to wonder.

Also night terrors - is that anything to do with it? I've had recurring ones on and off since this all started but hardly get them now which makes me wonder if they are reducing as I hopefully get better.

@mumlurker can you link article please?

Just seen it!

I have this vague memory of someone mentioning a study that showed that around 6% of patients in s Korea had the protracted version which would accord with the 1 in 20 mentioned in the article. Not sure if I imagined that but still...there must be a decent number of us out there...

Thanks for that link @Egghead68 good that the word is getting out there.

I feel like we are some kind of strange and unwanted abnormalities that have been hidden away. I hope they will be taking us more seriously from now on and hopefully give us some kind of support.

A post-Covid clinic would be a good place to start. An idea for the Nightingale Hospitals perhaps? GPs could send us home tests in the post to confirm we are not contagious before our appointments. They could offer specialised tests for the symptoms we've been experiencing (neurological, heart, lungs, etc) as well as psychological support and eventually antibody testing. I think it could work!

Shall I email Boris my plans?

@fedupofbed Sounds familiar, I am fine in myself, went for a walk, but the sob feeling in my windpipe is there.

@satsunday I had a couple of days with back pain, upper rather than lower.

@mumlurker I have this vague memory of someone mentioning a study that showed that around 6% of patients in s Korea had the protracted version which would accord with the 1 in 20 mentioned in the article.

I had posted a link to a survey by the quarantine authorities in S Korea showing that 37% of mild cases were hospitalised for a minimum of 4 weeks.

@alittleprivacy I feel quite envious of them. Four weeks of close observation etc

@SimpleKindofLife not to get too political but you might be better contacting Keir with your plans. We don't feature in Dom Cummings plans at all

@pinkoneblueone sending good wishes to you today and your lad.
@deano1647 we’re over here now
I have tried ibuprofen and it helped in some ways to reduce pain, but it also caused upset stomach/reflux so I had to stop it (and I ran out)
Ibuprofen and aspirin can cause issues with asthma and stomach lining, you should actually get advice from a chemist if you’re unsure.
I am already on Lansoprasol and had eaten before taking ibuprofen and it still caused bother for me. Most on the thread are on Lanzoprazol or for stomach problems/acid reflux/ GERD, and the rest have bought shares in Gaviscon!

@Satsunday and @Moominmamma33 thanks for your replies.
I've had a really bad afternoon, so exhausted and chest pain is bad even with paracetamol and ibuprofen. A longish walk this morning obviously wasn't the right thing. I'm sick of my daily life feeling so limited and even trying to rest doesn't seem to have a proportionate reward if that makes sense
Thank you for that link to the guardian article . It is so reassuring to read things like that and this thread. I mentioned my ongoing symptoms to my boss who said they had seen a BBC article about long recovery and I felt so relieved that it is becoming known and understood.
However does anyone have a really odd fear about taking an antibody test and not showing antibodies?! If this wasn't covid I would be very scared right now!

@faithinnature1 my fear isn't that it isn't COVID, it's that my body can't make sufficient antibodies.

Two longish phone calls with my GP this morning (over an hour in total) - whatever else, he is listening to me and taking my symptoms seriously. He advised I start going for walks so I did around 2000 steps this afternoon and managed to do a bit of weeding outside my flat when I got back. My gastric pains are awful at the moment - I had some nuts last night and for an hour after it felt like I'd swallowed razor blades. Then an innocent sandwich at lunch resulted in spectacular gas/bloating for an hour. I've been on 2 Nexium a day for around 6 weeks and am going to try cutting down to 1. Gas/bloating is often a sign of not enough stomach acid. I just don't know how I can have low stomach acid but also heartburn. No more nuts anyway. I'm kind of resigned to having these symptoms until my body figures all this out and meanwhile there's little I can do about it except manage the pain. Have invested in some Gavascon Advance. Gavascon comes in three strengths and the Advance is the ultimate one. It can barely pour itself out the bottle it's so thick.

Coughing has been hurting everything this week and making everything worse. I'm sick of waiting for this cough to clear up on its own: it was the first symptom and has been with me the whole 8 weeks of this prolonged series of Casualty where I play every patient... so I've also been taking Lemsip mucus cough medicine and have barely coughed since. And that's reduced the pain a bit.

@deano1647 I've been on ibuprofen for around 9 days now and my chest/rib cage/back pain is much reduced. Like @LetsBeSensible I've been having gastric issues (see above) but I don't know if it's the medication or something else.

Thanks for the Guardian article - we are the 5%!

@Satsunday I had weeks of back and neck pain. Could hardly turn my neck. I assumed it was sleeping on my front as this was the most comfortable for my lungs but not my usual position.

@pinkoneblueone thank you for this thread. I've just been reading through a bit more and thought I'd let you know my ds14 is still poorly too - he's on 4.5 weeks and most days he is pretty much ok but today he says his tummy feels funny/nauseous. He gets blotchy rash on elbows feet from time to time at the moment. Is up and around most of time but has dips. It is worrying so I wanted to let you know that I have a poorly boy too to help support each other. It definitely doesn't help with anxiety I'm finding x

@fedupofbed I hear you!! It's day 59 here and extreme shortness of breath today and really high pulse on doing almost anything. When it goes away i get my temperature spikes back or the chest pains back.

In fact when i have a temperature spike i hardly have any breathlessness and feel more energetic.

I have also had my ecg and echo with a private cardiologist and all my results were normal thankfully. So he ho no one knows what is going on.

I have even tested negative on PCR swab and antibody test so I almost feel like a fraud on the covid group.

Week 7/9.
I'm feeling very sad today.
The fire in my armpits is back with a vengeance, so I guess my immune system is still firing away.

@emoojoo all that crap about kids not being affected 😡

@Crayfishforyou here's a big hug for you. Isn't lymph nodes also post viral?

So panic over my son slept till 11.30am checked his arm one of the rashes had gone.
Checked a while later to take an updated picture to send to our doctor and they were both gone. He is feeling great today same can't be said for DH and I, DH is shattered with chest and joint pain.

My body seemed to take a sigh of relief and instantly hit me with a wave of exhaustion and sore throat my glands are raised behind my ear and on my neck still too. I have barely moved today as the blood appointments finished at 1pm at our local hospital and we missed it till Monday

Mine too @Crayfishforyou.

@godhelpusall
I don't know, I haven't heard that. I hope that is the case.
They fire up about once a day, today is particularly bad.