Would you self isolate with these symptoms?

[AwkwardAsAllGetout]

I’m feeling unwell today, have been since yesterday tbh and I’m wondering if I need to officially isolate. We live in one of the areas the media are saying haven’t yet hit their peak fwiw, but I’ve been getting out every day to take baby dd for a walk in her pram. I don’t have a temperature but since yesterday I have a sore throat and feel a bit breathless, headache but my main symptom is feeling dizzy, like I need to keep my head very still to stop feeling sick. I think this is how I felt last year when I had the flu, before it really hit me so hard I couldn’t get out of bed. Obviously I’m not going anywhere while I feel poorly but do we need to isolate as a household?

Call 111 for advice and see if you can book in for a test.

If you put those symptoms into the online NHS symptom checker it would tell you to self isolate.

A friend of mine had it back in March (tested positive) and he said for about 2-3 days beforehand he felt grotty/dizzyish.

Might be worth getting a test.

*2-3 days before developing a temperature.

Call 119 and arrange a test.

On what basis would nhs 111 say to isolate? The op has none of the main symptoms.

The site doesn’t even say to call the helpline.

Yes I would. And we did when we felt under the weather at the end of March for 24hrs.

I wouldn't isolate based on those symptoms but would keep an eye to see if anything more comes from it. I don't think you would get a test with those symptoms either.

How can the op get tested? She has no symptoms.

PurpleDaisies, because it's emerging that many people start with a sore throat and dizziness and it takes a few days to get hot. My DD didn't get a cough when she was at her worst (and her most infectious), the cough came later and has stayed two months on.

The OP won't have flu, flu isn't circulating and the hygiene measures will prevent it. So it's right so assume and get tested.

It's worth getting tested because they are saying most healthy people will have immunity for at least six months. So it's reassuring.

I wouldn’t isolate with those symptoms, though they would usually make me feel too grotty to go out much for the next few days anyway.

Keep taking DD for walks and just distancing from other people. If you feel like it of course. It often helps clear your head.

Be that as it may pooka, the NHS isn’t using that as a basis for testing people or telling them to self isolate.

How can she get tested without meeting the criteria for being tested? She doesn’t have any of the key symptoms. Unless you think she should lie?

You can book a test online very easily, I did last week and had it the same day, results the next day.

Any change in sense of smell or taste? That is also criteria for booking a test.

Take the test, the test centres have hardly anyone using them, it’s costing a fortune, even if you have slight symptoms get tested, you get the results in 24hours and then you won’t have to self isolate on guess work.

I think you should seek a professional opinion, is 119 the new covid line? Alternatively ring your GP.

There are quite a few early symptoms emerging that aren’t official but it may be that yours raise a flag for testing and consequently add to the data being gathered.

I don’t know if you use the ZOE symptom tracker (run in partnership with Guys and St Thomas’s hospital) but I know some people have been offered a test through that when they’ve entered their symptoms. If you don’t use it maybe download it and enter your current symptoms.

They want people to take tests, no one is going to check up on what symptoms you actually have. Book one online, I wouldn't isolate for no reason.

When you say an area that hasn't hit the peak what do you mean, there's no set number of cases per area, going out for a socially distant walk is just about no risk unless you've missed something out how would you have caught the virus?

I would agree that you should try and book a test. On another point all areas of the country have had their peak it is just some areas have cases and deaths falling quicker than others.

I don’t want to say specifically where I am but we’re in an area which seems to be lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of the expected number and scale. Anecdotal evidence from people I know that work in the local hospital seems to back this up and it was widely reported last week. I have been walking every day but also done a few trips to the post office and super market, as well as the pharmacy and although I carry sanitiser and use it religiously I know I could still contract it as we’re being quite relaxed about things like post and shopping (as in, we’re washing our hands after handling things but not bleaching the shopping or leaving things to the side for a few days). I’ve downloaded the symptom tracker so I’ll see what comes of that, thanks to the pp who suggested it.

Bbn81, you’ve put it clearer than I have, the numbers and deaths here aren’t falling as quickly as most other places

Sorry to bang on, the app has actually asked about symptoms which aren’t on the government pages but that I have, such as nausea, headache and sore throat. I’ve ordered a home testing kit which wasn’t as simple as it should be, lots of pages are only accessible to key workers though it says anyone can get a test. Finally managed to work it out and it should be here in a day or two. I’m not likely to be going anywhere, but my worry was more about dh, who might otherwise still go to the supermarket or post office but I think we need to stay here til I have the results. Thanks for the advice all x

Go through the NHS online system and you will get a call back. They will tell you whether to have a test or not. We booked for ds yesterday and got a slot within 2 hours of getting on the website. It was very efficient.

@PurpleDaisies

On what basis would nhs 111 say to isolate? The op has none of the main symptoms.

The site doesn’t even say to call the helpline.

I was talking about the NHS symptom checker, not the website. I had just a headache and it told me to self isolate.

The symptom checker told you to self isolate for two weeks because you had a headache? That’s quite hard to believe.

So are you calling me a troll?

A liar?

A fantasist?

You may as well spell it out. OP has already said that the symptom checker asks about symptoms other than the main three.

And no, it didn't tell me to self-isolate for 14 days. That's for people I live with. It told me to isolate for seven.