Have you actually had covid, if so how bad was it?

[Closingtime94]

Hello,

Sorry about the weird title, I'm just a bit I guess confused - I live in the NW and we're a really high risk area but I don't know anyone personally who has had covid and out of our joint 800+ friends on Facebook no one has mentioned having covid (I know they may not put it on fb but people do tend to haha) and I just thought if our area was so high risk then you'd think you'd know someone who had it (don't get me wrong completely thankful I haven't had it or anyone I know has had it but it just seems odd) I'm still taking the risk very seriously and following guidance but I was wondering if you've had covid19 and what your experience was? (Or someone in the immediate family) you don't have to live in the NW or anything.

Please can we keep it to you personally having covid (or someone in immediate family) as I think these threads can very easily turn into "my grandmas best friends dogs previous owner had covid"

[Dawnlassie]

Where are people getting their antibody tests?

[silentpool]

I think I had it in March but no test (London). It started with multiple symptoms,: sore throat, mouth ulcers, mild fever, aches, malaise. I had the breathing issues though, it would feel like someone was standing on my chest. I had to have a humidifier going through the night. My chest has not felt right ever since and I feel like I am short of breath.

[Realitea]

@Dawnlassie There's a chance of getting one if you sign up to UCL. They're doing research now.

[Tootsey11]

Terrible. Had it in March. Still struggling with burning in chest and back. Waiting to be seen about nerve damage in heart. I'm 45.

[Aragog]

My nana had it in May/June. She got it in hospital. She didn't have symptoms that we know of but was tested routinely in hospital. She actually died of something else - Covid not mentioned on death certificate though she did have it at the time of death.

Don't know anyone else personally and so far we've not had a case in my school, though we've been open from March.

18y Dd has just arrived home from university for a few days and got a message to say a friend's flat mate has just tested positive. Dd hadn't been in close contact with the other flat mate so no self isolation for her at this time. Girl has mild symptoms.

Dh knows 3 members of staff from a different floor at work have had it recently. All mild cases and now back at work. He also knows two other older people who had it - one quite ill but no hospital level, other less so. Both recovered though one only just getting sense of taste back.

[MadameBlobby]

So sorry about your nan @Aragog

[Brissiegirl]

Had it in the early days, breathing no problems, sore muscles everywhere, temperatures, strangest cough I ever had, no energy. Recovered well now and no problems. A friend of.mine is still not right almost 6 months later. She has problems breathing and no energy at all. Wouldn't wish it on anyone

[dollychopss]

@silentpool

I think I had it in March but no test (London). It started with multiple symptoms,: sore throat, mouth ulcers, mild fever, aches, malaise. I had the breathing issues though, it would feel like someone was standing on my chest. I had to have a humidifier going through the night. My chest has not felt right ever since and I feel like I am short of breath.

I had exactly the same in March

[dollychopss]

@silentpool I was working in London at the time

[MrsBennetsnerves]

In March, I had all the following symptoms but no test.
2 days of sore throat/mild chills.
Followed by 4 days fever, violent headache, swollen lymph nodes, aches.
Next day fever gone but had a day of nausea and vomiting.
Then after that the cough/chest irritation/shortness of breath started. I felt very fatigued.

Some of the symptoms came back in May - sore throat/chills/fatigue/SOB/chest irritation. At that point I was invited via the Zoe app to swab test and it was positive. My gut feeling is that it reactivated rather than being a reinfection. The fatigue stuck around for ages. It's gone now so I'm all right taking some exercise but I now need an inhaler. I wasn't asthmatic previously.

[thisusernameismine]

Wouldn't have known it was covid (we were infected by a friend's newborn who I looked after as a favour for an hour in my home, while she went to an appt and found out from her that we could have it). I'm 40 and always been very active, fit etc but I do drink alcohol and eat daily magnums! Diet healthy otherwise (just some health context).

4 days post exposure - tight throat (not sore or scratchy, didn't hurt when swallowing), slight headache.

Day 2: stomach upset and headaches, and coughed a handful of times throughout the day. That night had a feverish sleep in that I was cold all night then had a night sweat (I do suffer from night sweats occasionally)

Day 3: really tired from bad sleep, but no symptoms - stomach wasn't as bad

Day 4: did a HIIT workout for half an hour as felt okay! In hindsight realise this was stupid although physically felt better for it! Found out late that night DD's positive result so slept badly - even though we knew it was going to be

Day 5: felt like half a person but from complete lack of sleep. Slight tightness in chest and sometimes a bit breathless after stairs etc

Since then I feel fine.

Two year old DD had a mild temp for about 48 hours and her voice was different one day but otherwise you'd never know

DH - relatively same symptoms as me, but a much worse stomach upset and any symptoms are lingering for him a lot longer (which is what I'd expect as he's a pretty bad man flu candidate). He's 41.

[thisusernameismine]

Oh - lost sense of smell yesterday!

[Premiumbond]

@Dawnlassie
Antibody testing was offered to those employed in my NHS Trust. I expect that's the case for others on this thread.

[NRatched]

You can get the antibody tests at superdrug at the min, its probably easier for many than going elsewhere as superdrugs seem to be everywhere. Costly though

healthclinics.superdrug.com/services/in-clinic-covid-19-antibody-testing-service/

[HitchikersGuide]

I felt like I was getting a cold, but it came to nothing, and I had sore eyes for a day - quite a common symptom I understand. I did lose my sense of smell and now everything smells of soil and burnt toast!!
4 other women of my age (early 50s) all had the same symptoms.
DP had a terrible headache and was really tired for a day. Again, at least 3 of his mates had the same symptoms.
None of us discovered we'd had it until we got antibody tests when we all realised the similarities (obviously as they weren't testing non-hospitalised cases).
Only one person I know got the cough that is meant to be so common.

[aibuQuestion]

@HitchikersGuide oh no about your sense of smell. How long ago did you have the virus?

I can't smell anything and wondering when that will change.

[Furrydog7]

I don't know for sure but i had a mild cough and slight breathlessness in February. My symptoms were only present for about 2 hours on a morning and i was completely fine for the rest of the day. I have had far worse colds and if i hadn't heard of covid i would have blamed my hayfever.

[HitchikersGuide]

aibu
Last wk of March probably but I didn't notice for about 3 or 4 weeks. Started coming back about a month ago but with stuff smelling (and so sometimes tasting) different . It is really annoying (but I did think it was a bit ridiculous when the private doc who did the antibody test told me that that meant I had 'long covid' - for goodness sake, it is quite sad to me that prosecco now smells of cabbage, but it's hardly on a par with post-viral fatigue!!)

[Belle0705]

Not me personally but I have a friend who has it now. Very mild and a single parent looking after 2 kids. Is uploading photos onto fb doing jigsaws etc with kids, of mince and dumplings delivered by parents and of mcdonalds breakfast delivered by friends!

[Elsa8]

I've found this thread pretty reassuring on the whole.

Can I just ask, those who had antibody tests, how long after having covid (or suspecting you had covid) was it when you tested positive for antibodies? I wonder if I had it in February - although I wasn't that poorly I had an absolutely awful cough, there was a load of gunk stuck in my lungs that I could actually hear and feel wheeze when I breathed in deeply to cough. It was around the time that a couple of my department were absolutely floored by a virus (could have been flu though) too. I've thought about booking an antibody test but not sure they'd be detectable at this stage?

[MrsGradyOldLady]

My son and his 7 housemates just had it. All confirmed cases and most of them just compared it to a mild cold except for one lad who had it more severely as he had quite bad asthma. All have fully recovered now though. My son said the worst thing was a headache which went after a day.

Both myself and my partner think we had it back in March but that wasn't confirmed. I had fever, cough, fatigue and he just had a fever for a few hours. He had contact with a confirmed case but as we weren't tested at the time we don't know for sure we had it.

[whereisthejoy]

@miimblemomble have you got your taste and smell back? X

[Ellapaella]

I'm pretty sure I had it in March when many of my colleagues also had similar symptoms with varying degrees of intensity.
I'm a nurse but couldn't get a test at that time.
I had a dry irritating cough for 3 weeks - chest felt like breathing in sandpaper. I had 48 hours of mild fever (never any rigours), felt flushed, chills and extreme fatigue, dizziness and a headache. The cough carries on for two weeks after I felt better.
My husband is a doctor and had similar symptoms to me at the same time, he also had a change in his sense of smell.
One of my DC had a mild fever for 24 hours and was a bit out of sorts, the other one had no symptoms at all.
Many of my colleagues at work got it later and got tests - again similar symptoms to me but some simply had extreme fatigue and nothing else. Lots has loss of smell and taste but by no means all of them.

[Ellapaella]

@Elsa8 I know colleagues who had positive tests while symptomatic that alter had negative antibody tests. I'm not sure what value the test is to be honest.

[Ellapaella]

*later had