Covid Lungs week 8 plus plus

[AndsLee]

Hope this has worked... Welcome all.

Thanks @godhelpusall, I've signed.

Hi all! How's things for everyone? Remember me? I've been about a little bit but under a different name as I didn't want posts to be linked.

I'm on week 13+3. I still have very little taste/smell (I often smell burning when there is none), burning and pressure in my chest, dizziness, limb numbness, brain fog, eye floaters, ear swooshing, trouble sleeping/vivid dreams, aching neck/back, difficulty concentrating, fatigue--the list goes on. After too many calls to the GP surgery, today I had the result of a whole range of blood tests. The only 'positive' I had was for COVID antibodies. It shows that all of these issues are from COVID and not as a result of any other nasties. I'm not sure how I feel about it tbh. It's good to know for sure, takes away some of the what-ifs but there's still no answers about the future except 'be patient'. Anyways, I thought I'd update you all.

@fedupofbed happy to help. Very little response to it so I assume it did the trick
@isitorisntit well now you know - it is!

@Let'sBeSensible I need another name change

Can anyone remember the video by the nice dr where he explains the Korean study and how the virus isn't latent? What's the nice dr called?

So, do we all still have the virus or is it gone?
I’m assuming we wouldn’t pass it on to anyone at this stage?

Do we have/know of any positive stories?
Will we get better from this?

@whatnext2018 I think some of the long-termers from previous versions of the thread got much better and I heard of one person who has returned to running.

Thanks @Egghead68 you don’t hear of any positivity and feel like this might not end. I have to get positive somehow!

Did anyone see this BBC article about long term Covid symptoms/PVF? Very familiar stories to many on here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-53056785

Doctor suggests six months to full recovery. I don’t know how I feel about that but it seems realistic if we are still having symptoms at 3 months in point. Hope today is a better day for everyone.

@godhelpusall is it Dr John Campbell and this video?

I can cope with six months, awful as it sounds, if I just know we’ll be okay, no real lasting damage and we aren’t still spreading it.
My parents (dad 71) come to stay in the second week of July and I’d hate there to be a risk of infection.

@Whatnext2018 I'm sorry you're still struggling with an array of symptoms. On the Slack thread at the moment there seem to be lots and lots of people recovering at around the 11-12 week mark.

Unfortunately at week 16 I'm not one of them though! I've been in the doldrums these last few days as my SOB, pounding heart and facial numbness have returned. I find these symptoms so hard to deal with, both physically and mentally, especially the feeling that I just can't get enough air in my lungs. I try to tell myself that I've had it loads in the past and been fine, and that it will pass. But it's hard to keep a positive mindset and it throws me back mentally to the early days of fear and distress.

I've also noticed that my vision has deteriorated in one of my eyes (no driving to Durham for me)... has anyone else had this symptom?

@Moodgie keep us posted on the celery juice! I'm thinking of seeing a herbalist. Has anyone experience of this?

@fedupofbed Aww I’m sorry you’re still struggling, hopefully this is the last big one then it will improve, it’s so hard to know what’s coming next.

I’ve not had real eye problems yet, but my pupils always seem smaller..odd and just generally red and sore at the moment, but could be a couple of days of crying and no sleep.

Where is the Slack group, please? I’ve only seen a Facebook group, but it often worries me more when I see people’s posts,

I still feel the numbness around the mouth too, feels shakier in the mornings.

I’m definitely not in the mood too, but out of interest has anyone drank alcohol and had any reactions? The last time I did was Easter Friday, one glass in the sunshine..woke up in the middle of the night with the strangest chest feelings..fizzy and hot, took hours to get to sleep. At the time I thought it was probably anxiety. So hard to pinpoint when I got it as near the start of March I had a sore throat, low grade fever and some chest tightness..it seemed to come and go after that. I’d say the main problems have been from around a month ago with the numbness etc..so the after effects are worse for me, doesn’t seem right?

@fedupofbed Sorry you’re suffering. I sincerely sympathise with your pounding heart. It’s relentless.

the 11-12 wk recoverers, please can you elaborate? Sorry I’m not on social media or slack and I was wondering...

Are they reporting back that at 12 weeks things turned around for them and weeks later they are really good ... or are they now at 12 weeks and have started feeling much better for a few days?

Hope everyone’s feeling bright this morning.

*Mood to

@fedupofbed, it is disheartening when these symptoms return again and again. Have you had blood tests, X-Rays etc? I think if you had an underlying condition then it might take longer for your body to adjust.

@godhelpusall, was he the young Dr? I can't remember his name but will see if I can find out.

@Whatnext2018, we are very unlikely to still have the virus in us - these symptoms are the cell damage the virus has left us with from what I can gather.

Thank you @Whatnext2018 yes I hope this relapse will be shorter so that I can see some progress.

Here is a link with more info on the Slack group. It's a huge international support group, has generated loads of publicity and is very useful and informative. But like the Facebook groups, I have to ration my use of it as it can increase my anxiety levels. The Victories channel is always very uplifting though.

www.wearebodypolitic.com/covid19

Sorry you are still feeling so bad fedupofbed. You really are having a rough time of it. The tablets my GP gave me for my injured arm, really set my GERD off horribly. I only took two of them alongside double the dose of the pantaflux and even still the GERD was unbearable. It's settling down finally but it really goes to show that even when you feel completely recovered, you still have a weakness in a lot of your systems so don't push it. A positive I'm taking from it all is that it slowed me back down. A friend of mine is doing this huge sporting charity challenge, and I said I'd try to help him out towards the end of this month. I was pushing myself back into fitness training to be of a standard to help out and I know now that would have destroyed me. Being able to mow the lawn and dance around the kitchen a bit is not remotely comparable to going out for a few of hours intensive fitness work. So having an injured arm is just what I need to make myself slow back down.

In other news I have a blood draw for a Roche antibody test booked for tomorrow!!!! I'm really excited and scared. I know now that a negative only means that I don't have detectable levels of antibody not that I didn't have Covid. So I'll try not to be disappointed by a negative as a test for t-cell changes will be the definitive test. But god, if I get a positive it will be such an enormous relief.

Thank you @MillStone I hope you're okay today? The victories on Slack are a complete mix - either they're now fully recovered (but I sense that they started improving weeks ago) or they're now reporting that most of their more debilitating symptoms have gone and they're confident that they're on the road to recovery.

Hope you're okay too @Lightsabre . My latest bloods were all good and I had an X-ray much earlier on which was 'pretty clear' (whatever that means). I'm usually very fit and healthy but think I've been struck bad because of my coeliacs (autoimmune condition).

Hi all @fedupofbed I'm wk 12 and also suffering with SOB, pounding heart and chest pains, bad night last night, spoke to GP this morning and have got an appt at the surgery for ECG with nurse at 3pm then face to face appt with GP, I'm nervous but relieved. All blood tests including auto immune ones came back normal.

@Whatnext2018 my vision seems to be greyish round the edges.

@alittleprivacy Good luck for the test, mine was negative

Can we ask for a TCell test?

I can almost hear the "Oh you havn't had it thens"

Im so glad we know a negative Antibody test does not mean we havn't had it, the more this info gets out, the better.

@fedupofbed thanks for the info. Good to hear people are recovering. It brings hope that things will turn around for all of us soon.

I’m doing okay thanks. Improving very very slowly but still debilitated and unable to work or do anything with my day.