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Original poster

A positive test- my journey so far

227 replies

CovidClara · 17/10/2020 22:42

I have really struggled to find a description of someone with CV19. So here is my story (so far). I received a positive test back this afternoon.

Friday. I went out to the pub with 3 family members from 2 households. This is significant as my adult DD who lives with me also has CV19 and this is the only time that she has left the house for 2 weeks and so it looks like that may be the transmission point. We are in a tier 1 area.

Tuesday. I wake up with a splitting headache. I am prone to sinus problems and I thought it was that. Take ibuprofen during the day which numbs but doesn't remove it. Have a really sore throat start during the day. My DD wakes up with what she describes as a cold.

Wednesday. Slight cough, mostly dry but some mucousy. Headache continues and throat is really sore. DD still has a 'cold' and a very very slight cough. I decide to order a test online- for home testing. We dont really feel ill- this is like a very mild cold.

Thursday. Feel a lot better. Throat hurts, headache continues and light coughing. Sneezing (so it must be a cold) . Regret ordering a test as we are fine. I dont think I have had a fever, had a few moment of feeling hot maybe. DD says she feels a bit hot. We dont have a thermometer to check.

Friday. I wake up with almost no smell. Still got a headache. Throat hurts (but really very mild sore throat). The post comes and no test arrives and so I book drive through test for me and DD. We have to do it ourselves in the car- I am very skeptical that I have managed to swab correctly.

Turns out the home tests had been delivered by amazon and left behind the bin!

Friday evening I feel really cold in bed (but I live in a cold house so not unusual). Still no smell back. Headache has gone

Saturday. Feel a bit tired in the morning. Sore throat has gone. Have a slight cough. Woke up with a bad headache that took hours to go. Saturday pm- feel fine- spend 3 house gardening.

Saturday evening. I receive a text/email with a positive result. 4 hours later my DD gets a positive test result.

Turns out another person who was in the pub with us also developed a 'cold' on Tuesday and is now booked for a test tomorrow. So all 3 people got symptoms on the same day. The 4th person says they may have had a cold last week ??? but they are fine now.

DD symptoms now are: slight irregular cough. Sore throat gone. Can still smell but a bit reduced. Sneezing from time to time. Odd taste in mouth.

My symptoms are now. Low level headache, slight cough, slightly tickly throat. Sneezing from time to time. No smell, reduced taste.

At this point this is like the very mildest of colds. Lets see what happens now.

OP posts:
BumbleFlump · 17/10/2020 23:46

Thank you, can I ask did you have any sneezing at all at the beginning. DS has been in contact with someone who has it and is now self-isolating so we’re on tenter hooks here. He’s been fine so I’m wondering if he may be symptomless but could have passed it to me. I sneezed a bit earlier and feel ever so slightly like I might be getting a cold 💁🏼‍♀️

AintPageantMaterial · 17/10/2020 23:47

Thanks OP. Very interesting. I would be interested to hear more about you having to swab yourselves and what that entails.

Tanfastic · 17/10/2020 23:49

@MrsJackRackham

Oh, and I think I got it from the other shift member who also tested positive. He'd visited a local 'hot spot' earlier in the week. DP has had no symptoms which is the most irritating thing of all Angry
Out of interest were you all wearing masks throughout your shift? Just interested.
Original poster
CovidClara · 17/10/2020 23:55

@BumbleFlump

Thank you, can I ask did you have any sneezing at all at the beginning. DS has been in contact with someone who has it and is now self-isolating so we’re on tenter hooks here. He’s been fine so I’m wondering if he may be symptomless but could have passed it to me. I sneezed a bit earlier and feel ever so slightly like I might be getting a cold 💁🏼‍♀️
Yes, it was the sneezing that confused us as every chart says that if you are sneezing it isn't CV19. I think my DD was sneezing from the start.
OP posts:
Original poster
CovidClara · 18/10/2020 00:02

@AintPageantMaterial

Thanks OP. Very interesting. I would be interested to hear more about you having to swab yourselves and what that entails.
You have to do the test yourself. So you are given a bag with all the the equipment and an instruction book. You are asked to bring hand sanitiser and a tissue.

Sanitise hands and open the kit. Blow your nose. There is a long swab in a packet, 10-15 seconds on the tonsil area- avoiding the tongue. Then using the same swab 10-15 seconds up the nose. Then you place the swab in the vial and seal it all up in 2 bags. It wasn't painful just a massive gag reflex and watering eyes and coughing a bit afterwards.

OP posts:
Staffy1 · 18/10/2020 00:02

Thank you. It's so rare to hear people's experiences of it.

TheBaroucheBox · 18/10/2020 00:08

Thanks for posting OP, hopefully you are all on the road to recovery now.

Something bothers me about your post though, am I right in thinking person number 4 had this 'cold' a week before meeting the rest of you? If so, I think there is a lesson to be learnt here.

Bolshybun · 18/10/2020 00:12

Just wanted to add as my husbands symptoms are like a cold too. Monday - bunged up, no running nose, sneezing. Slight headache. Cough by Wednesday so he had a test. Cough continues and positive test Friday (took 55 hours for the result) His chest is now tight and coughing sounds deeper. He is fine though, wouldn’t think anything more than a cold in normal times.
We’ve been semi isolating for a while as our sons bubble burst at school. He’s been to work, our daughter went to school until his cough started and I’m wfh. Sounds like he caught it at work according to track and traces dates

Original poster
CovidClara · 18/10/2020 00:14

@TheBaroucheBox

Thanks for posting OP, hopefully you are all on the road to recovery now.

Something bothers me about your post though, am I right in thinking person number 4 had this 'cold' a week before meeting the rest of you? If so, I think there is a lesson to be learnt here.

No, I think they got a 'cold' a couple of days before we did. So they may well still have CV19. They were certainly not ill when we were in the pub.
OP posts:
BumbleFlump · 18/10/2020 00:18

CovidClara ok so this could be it for us then too 😳 I may have to come back to compare notes!

Glad you’re both over the worst of it now x

Unsure33 · 18/10/2020 00:19

Out of interest were you all socially distancing while in the pub ? Or sitting close together ? Just wondering how you thought it spread ?

Feelingconfused2020 · 18/10/2020 00:19

Did you swab yourself I did, I follow the instructions to the letter though. What more can we/they do?

Riv12345 · 18/10/2020 00:27

It's so strange
How people can have all different symptoms and some have no symptoms at all but still have positive antibody test

Take care everyone hope you feel better soon op

Original poster
CovidClara · 18/10/2020 00:33

@Unsure33

Out of interest were you all socially distancing while in the pub ? Or sitting close together ? Just wondering how you thought it spread ?
It is a restaurant really- we had dinner. The 4 of us were at a square table right by the door. We were a good social distance from the other tables . Serving staff wore masks. Everyone wore a mask to walk to the tables. We all sanitised our hands on arrival.
OP posts:
Riv12345 · 18/10/2020 00:40

How do you think you caught it?

Did you use toilets etc?

DramaAlpaca · 18/10/2020 01:28

This is very interesting. Thanks for posting, OP.

bluetongue · 18/10/2020 03:42

Good description OP.

I’m sure I read yesterday somewhere that 14% of tests in the UK are coming back positive. This is likely to mean that many cases are being missed. The tests really need to be available to anyone with possible symptoms like they are here in Australia. It is likely that many people who think they just have colds are probably spreading the virus.

Okbutnotgreat · 18/10/2020 07:09

Wow I had a cold with very similar symptoms to yours. no continuous cough just a mild infrequent one, a sore throat for a few days but lots of sneezing and bunged up sinuses. DH got it after me too. Didn’t even consider testing as we didn’t have ‘the’ symptoms and both much better in a week. Interestingly the DC didn’t catch it at all. We both had that off taste thing that happens when you get a cold too but the covid loss of taste/smell seems quite different.

Drogonssmile · 18/10/2020 07:13

Thanks OP really interesting particularly the sneezing. I think the guidelines are wrong in not including this in the list of symptoms but then again everyone with a cold would then go and get a test 🤷🏻‍♀️ it's a fine line isn't it.

MarshaBradyo · 18/10/2020 07:14

I read something that said there is a big % of false negatives due to poor swabbing. It was quite hard to do.

It is difficult I agree. Are poorly done swans false negative or do they come back as ‘not able to read’ or similar words? I’ve heard both but not sure

eleflump · 18/10/2020 07:22

Sounds very similar to my DS, aged 16. One evening after college he started coughing and fell asleep for an hour on the sofa which is unusual, so we booked a test for the following day. After coughing for a few hours it stopped and never returned.

The next morning he was a bit sniffly and said his throat was sore - to be honest if we hadn't already booked the test I think I may well have dismissed it all as a cold and packed him off to college. The first test came back that they couldn't get a reading and to take another test, the second test came back positive. A day or so later after he started coughing, DS had no symptoms at all - I can definitely see that a lot of people who may be positive will be regarding their symptoms as 'just a cold'.

hellisotherpeopleandhorlicks · 18/10/2020 07:53

@emilydickinson I wasn't going to as I didn't think it could possibly be Covid but now I'm thinking maybe I should! So many cases must be missed this way especially if people have these kind of wishy washy symptoms for quite a long time with sneezing etc as you would most likely presume a cold

hellisotherpeopleandhorlicks · 18/10/2020 07:53

Posted too soon

Whats interesting is a lot of people I know who have have a bad cough and fever and tested have tested negative

10storeylovesong · 18/10/2020 08:10

My friends husband had a stuffy nose and a loss of smell. He presumed his loss of smell was due to his stuffy nose, as no other symptoms. His work made him test as there is a pregnant lady in the team so being cautious, and he came back positive. He started with symptoms Monday night and was back to normal Wednesday. No other symptoms. Neither my friend nor their 3 children are showing any symptoms.

MrsJackRackham · 18/10/2020 08:27

@Tanfastic masks were worn at all times in the pub but I did sit for an hour with my colleague for a drink after with no masks as we were seated. The pub follows all the rules very strictly which is why I think no customers were affected/ infected. Full track and trace contacted after. We both worked 6 hours and pub was busy.
@CovidClara yes very similar, my colleague was very mild. Sore head and tiredness only. He's in his fifties and a smoker.

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