Covid for the 2nd time

[ScottishDream]

I was incredibly ill back in March with what we all thought was Covid. No testing at the time.

This week I’ve just had a positive test, very similar symptoms.

Is there anyone else who thinks they have had it twice? How was the second time for you?

After a weekend of headaches and coughs, I’m feeling a bit brighter, and certainly less ill than I was back in March.

I had it back in Feb. Not tested but had cough, headache and lost my sense of smell for 3 months. Had a close contact 4 weeks and had to self isolate. Had an early test which was negative. I developed very very mild symptoms, headache and altered taste but no cough. I developed arrhythmias and palpitations a month after the first dose and had to give up caffeine for a few months. Interestingly this returned while I was self isolating a couple of weeks ago but has disappeared quickly this time.
I didn’t really feel unwell with either episode, just felt that I was coming down with a cold for 24hrs but didn’t.
I would say the second dose was a sub clinical infection where the immune system rapidly reacts giving background symptoms. I work in healthcare and I am frequently exposed to cold viruses but my immune system tends to pounce on them quickly so they never really amount to anything. Since some colds are corona viruses maybe I just have a well honed immune system.

Sadhoot the loss of smell is bizarre, I really on my nose to judge whether food in the oven is cooked, I continually incinerated everything. Even when I opened the oven door I couldn’t smell anything.
On the up side I couldn’t smell DS’s bedroom and when they were muck spreading in the field next to us I was blissfully unaware of the smell.

I was sick in March with many covid symptoms. 8 weeks later a few symptoms came back, but milder. The Zoe app told me to take a test as part of the study it was running and I tested positive. So it either reactivated in me or I caught it again - although I had only been to a couple of shops very briefly in the week before.

Let's not start freaking people out that you can get it twice.

Loads of people are "sure" they had covid in March/April but you weren't tested, so it could have been something else.
Current tests have false positives and may also pick up fragments of RNA left over from previous infections.
So you may have had covid once, twice or not at all. But let's leave it to the experts to tell us whether it's possible to have it twice and whether that's something we ought to be concerned about.

People do realise that other illnesses can be like covid so if not tested you can't be certain you had it
I had illness in dec with classic symptoms but unlikely covid
Also had illness couple years ago that would of now made me think covid
Again i had symptoms march could of been covid but no testing
Also some of us have no symptoms so we could have it twice and not even know

I had something grim in March - felt really really unwell & was an avid reader/contributor to the 'lungs' boards. Antibody test was negative. Had temperature & other symptoms a few weeks ago & tested positive. Assumed what I had in March must've been flu. Not so sure now. March was def worse.

Covid has definitely been a mild illness so far for me, it feels more like a sinus-y head cold.

Whatever I had the the spring was worse, and I ended up with pneumonia which took a long time to get better for.

It still doesn’t stop me symptom spotting and worrying though.

Pretty sure my DP and I had it in March. No PCR test but both had positive antibody tests in May.

FWD to august and we both tested positive again after a holiday where lots of people got very ill and also tested positive.

The symptoms were much milder second time which Dr friends have suggested is an immune response and good news.

Lots of people who tested positive in august who we know have recently tested negative for antibodies.

I was very ill in March with the worst cough I've ever had. My dh then caught it to. I am NHS, got tested and negative. Dh sent for chest x ray, no glass like lungs. Was still convinced it was covid as cough was bad and only 1 kid caught symptoms but much milder. I ended up having 3 sets of antibiotics to clear chest. June i had antibody test. Was convinced it would be positive even with negative covid test but nope, i didn't have Covid. I had some other respiratory illness that had very similar symptoms to covid. Oh and week before my symptoms i had been in contact with someone who tested positive for covid. So strange

@KitKatastrophe research has already proven multiple times that reinfection is possible. What we don’t know is how common it will be. I cannot prove to you that i had covid in the spring, but i can tell you that my symptoms were consistent with my recent infection (confirmed positive) and that my initial symptoms and journey with long covid tallies very closely with thousands of others. My multi-system experience with covid has been nothing like anything i have previously experienced and I get more than my fair share of colds, flu and similar viruses. Possibly for those who get a milder predominantly respiratory based infection, it might be harder to distinguish.

Definitely my illness this time (confirmed positive) has been like a much much milder version of what I had in March.

Day 11 today and I’m back in work - I was ill for 6 weeks+ in the spring.
Now all I have is a lingering headache and decreased sense of smell.

I can prove that the science has told me I have had it twice. And so can many of my Care Home colleagues. Yes we don’t want to scare people but all these people who have been poorly are well now so it is not all doom and gloom. It’s been about 6/7 months between cases.