Doctor says DS (7) probably had CV in December

[Freetodowhatiwant]

Just that really, fascinating if we could find out. DS, 7, had a cough like I’ve never seen before at Christmas in Spain. I’ve been to hospital about 15 times with both of my children, more often the younger one, when they’ve had croup or a viral wheeze so I’m very used to what these sound like. The cough ds has at Christmas saw him coughing for weeks and weeks but at the peak had him non stop for 5 whole hours without any break. By 2am that morning when nothing was stopping him coughing I went to the chemist to get some steroids as I know this is what we are often given in hospital for croup but I knew there was no croup or viral wheeze, just this constant dry cough. As it was by the time I got back from the chemist he had finally stopped coughing enough to sleep and they next day at the clinic they gave him inhalers which he needed for a good few weeks afterwards.

Anyway I had a call today from his younger sibling’s asthma doctor and although I was pleased to report the 5yo has not had to use an inhaler for months and months I said it was funny as DS had had to have one. She asked for details about this and said it sounded like he had had Covid back in December, especially given we were in spain.

Who knows! Would BA interesting to get him an antibody test but as far as I’m aware they are expensive and not always accurate.

@Heatherjayne1972 don't rely on the antibody tests too much lots of people who had covid positive swans have tested negative with the antibody test.

Swabs

Me and DD often get coughs that are like that and she is often sick with it . Could have just been a cough, could have been Covid, but I’d put money on a normal cough .

I've seen more people claim to have had it before march than after march. That doesn't really make much sense.

People here are talking about the antibody test @ChristmasCarcass but unless you are working in nhs/carer and eligible, how do you get it? The ones you can buy online are not supposed to be accurate.

Dp thought may have had it earlier this year before lockdown. He is a keyworker (nurse redeployed to work with Covid patients in icu. Had his NHS antibody test and he hasn’t had it.

My IL’s visited from Spain at Christmas. SIL had a horrific cough when she was here, like nothing I’ve ever heard. Her partner had a cough too, not so bad but quite nasty. While they were here MIL came down with a high temp and a cough. We ended up barely seeing them as they stayed at their apartment, too ill to visit us, then went home! SIL and MIL were both given steroids and inhalers when they got back to Spain.
Interesting!

The UK had a very very mild winter, so the excess deaths you would normally expect to see with an outbreak like CoVid were disguised within the 'normal range' however this winter should have expected to see far less excess deaths than normal, because it was so warm and mild, and we do not see a massive flu wave. So no one picked up it up. No one even knew it was here.

I am 100% sure I had this in December, my friends and I all had classic coronavirus, and one is STILL on antibiotics and we are now in June. The chest pain when walking up the stairs and the dry cough was pronounced. Most of us were fine, although completely floored by it. It ruined December for all of us. My children also had it, and were fine with a very mild case.

I would like the government to launch an investigation, and test patients that died from corona like illness retrospectively if possible to see if was indeed here. France have done this, and found their first case...in December.

Even for people that had corona the antibodies after a few months are weak, so the antibody test may not be bullet proof.

My daughter (2.5 at the time) was very unwell over the run up to Christmas, to be honest she wasn’t really right for the whole of December. She had an awful cough and temperature (over 40) and struggled to breathe at times- we ended up in A&E one morning with it. I’m a nurse, not one to panic, but she was poorly for weeks.

The doctors said a viral illness, then maybe a chest infection, but it didn’t improve with antibiotics.

I have been wondering if it was CV, although we hadn’t been abroad or anything.

I remember winter before last and other winters people complaining of coughs that wiped them out for weeks. Another year loads of people were getting very visible lumps on the side of their necks. I had that one. Existing lurgies change and the most common symptoms vary from year to year. Lots of people think they had it in the last couple of months but test negative. It's even more likely that people who think they had it before march are wrong. That's not to say its impossible no one had it before the official first cases but if it was in the numbers claimed in all corners of the country then I cant see how we wouldnt have been looking at massive excess deaths much earlier.

I've been saying this, my son (12) had it in early December I'm sure, coughing for weeks, two weeks first then I took him to the Dr's, first antibiotics didn't work, had to go back for stronger ones. His cough was constant, he text me one day and said mum it feels like someone's sitting on my chest, and completely went off his food and said there's no point I can't taste anything. Glad more people are saying it's been around longer

@ChristmasCarcass

I had it in January, in the UK. Lasted a good month, and DH caught it after me, cough and fever with CXR changes, identical relapsing remitting course over four weeks, no improvement on antibiotics.

Both of us have had now antibody tests (NHS screening programme), and we are positive. Neither of us have had any other illnesses since then, so almost certain it was Covid. I became ill on 16th January, and had not been anywhere except home and work for six months beforehand.

Worth emphasising this once more. A family member and a work colleague had similar prolonged symptoms in December. Widespread Antibody Testing would be revealing I suspect.

Maybe this is why there is no sign of the NHS antibody tests? They don't want people knowing that it's been about for a long long time!

I had this horrible cough that started in the middle of November, and I still had it over Christmas. I ended up with a bruised/cracked rib it was so bad. I had none of the usual symptoms for chest infection etc. Eventually, a doctor decided I had a throat infection "because my throat was a bit red" and prescribed me some antibiotics which would also clear up any chest infection if I had one he couldn't hear. It took the full 10 days course for them to start working. But thank goodness they did as my DP and work colleagues would have throttled me eventually!

I remember a few threads of posters with similar symptoms around Christmas and afterwards and advising people to get some Day Nurse as it was the only thing that had helped me with the coughing. It would be interesting to know if they (or even I) had it.

@Bol87

Interesting even doctors think it’s been kicking around that long! I thought it was largely conspiracy theorists..

IME doctors are as inclined to be conspiracy theorists and crackpots in general as any other person!

That being said, I think that it is very possible the GP is right in this case.

I think I had it early/mid Feb, and on my first visit to Out of Hours GP he gave me the ‘you just need to wait it out’ chat and said not to worry, there was a really odd virus this winter that was taking about 3 weeks to recover from and he’d had it himself! I too was coughing non-stop and had the relapsing/remitting thing over about 4 weeks. DH the same.

My brother works in a hospital and they have had their antibody tests. He said the results were surprising. People who were convinced they had it tested negative and one person tested positive when the only time she’s been ill was December. Obviously could have been an asymptomatic case since then and proves nothing but I think more widespread testing would be interesting.

I thought I’d had it in December but had a negative result from Abbott antibody test.

I’m sure I had it in Feb. Bad cough, was sick a few times through coughing. I felt awful. I work in a school. One afternoon when the kids had gone home I lay on the floor until I felt well enough to drive home, but then couldn’t get up. One of my colleagues drove me home because I wasn’t well enough (and took my kids out for a meal because I couldn’t cook and DH was away for work). I had a few days of that, then felt a bit better but lost my sense of taste completely. Kept complaining That there was no point in eating because I just had no taste at all. That lasted about a week. Then I got conjunctivitis (which I have since seen has been linked to it) and had days off school because I couldn’t open my eyes. The chemist refused to treat the conjunctivitis because she said it was too severe so I had antibiotics, oral and eye drops, from the GP. I had a cough through all this. I ended up back at the drs. Saw a nurse who thought I had pneumonia so sent samples off for testing but they came back negative so she said I just had a virus and would have to wait for it to go. The cough took around a month to clear.

I hadn’t heard of Covid at that point, or if I had didn’t connect it with me. Would love an antibody test!

There have been news articles on this. There have been cases of patients who died in France of suspected flu that have been retested and found to have had a covid 19. Other surviving patients in places like Italy and Spain have since been given the antibody test and found to have had it, which is suggesting that several countries had it before they initially thought they did. The likelihood is that it was in Europe earlier than initially thought.

I don't see how people think this is a conspiracy theory. To me, it seems common sense. No matter what country it started in (I know a lot of conspiracy theories are based on distrust of the Chinese) a lot of people would have had to have gotten ill and died before the authorities noticed it was something new, which would have allowed time for it to have spread elsewhere.

France and the US have identified earlier cases, and there is growing evidence it was circulating in the UK at the end of last year.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52935644

www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/28/andy-gill-gang-of-four-to-release-guitarists-final-recordings

I've seen it speculated that because initially it was circulating amongst less vulnerable populations -so workplaces, schools, universities - the number of deaths was relatively small. The death rate rose when it started to spread amongst more vulnerable people, and became really high when it got into care homes.

I had all the symptoms late last year too. A terrible cough requiring me to have an inhaler for the first time in my life ( I'm over 60), total loss of smell and taste, high temperature and weeks of exhaustion. Sinus problems continue to this day. Some of my family had other milder symptoms and my grandson had a Kawasaki type rash. When I eventually saw my GP she said there had been lots of similar cases and had just returned to work after being off sick herself. If I didn't have it, I wonder how many people in the early days of the pandemic had symptoms like mine and assumed it was COVID-19?

I was in Seville for New Year and Tenerife (the early affected resort) in Feb. Was slightly unwell, lethargy, headaches around that time for a few days. Nothing since.
My antibody test came back positive last week.

I think a lot people have had the milder form Covid 19 in Dec/Jan and Feb but just thought they had a bad flu/chest infection.

The 'first' reported case was around the 21st January, so it must have been around before then. It makes me wonder if we are actually on the second wave now, and that why it's been so bad.

I think I had it in mid December.

Cough that was like nothing I’ve had before. I ended up in urgent care after two weeks being diagnosed with what they thought was pneumonia and pluerisy (due to the severe pain in my chest, I couldn’t breathe), although they would do no tests or xrays, just sent me away with painkillers and anti biotics. Despite me not being able to speak one word at a time without gasping for breath.

Ended up signed off work for two months, I couldn’t breathe without pain for three.

I was 39 with no other health conditions at all. Lived basically on top of Heathrow airport at the time.