I'm in hospital with Covid

[Hellofayearsofar]

I've been here for six days now and starting to feel better. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding my experience as I was initially terrified. The NHS are completely understaffed due to colleagues with Covid or isolating but are absolutely life savers and brilliant. Stay safe and please respect the restrictions. I would not wish what I have gone through on anyone.

Get well soon

Get well soon. Could you say what your symptoms were when u started to get worse please? I am on day 9 now and feel horrendous. Just wondering if how I feel is normal or I need to call GP? Thank you

Hope you feel better soon and get home. Have you any idea where you picked it up?

Yes please another one for what symptoms you had when seeking medical help? I'm feeling awful and a bit scared to be honest ☹️

Get well soon! It sounds absolutely terrifying from everything I’ve read.

Get well soon

Suzysus me too. Barely slept last night as worried I would stop breathing

Glad you are feeling a bit better.
Anyone worrying about symptoms or feel they aren’t improving or getting worse please call 111 for medical advice.

I tested positive on the 29th, thankfully not feeling too bad with it so far, did you go down hill in the second week?

I have asthma and initially felt a bit breathless. I mentioned it to the GP And she advised to increase the amount of inhaler I use and to get a Covid test. I then started getting a temperature. I bought a pulse oximeter to check on my oxygen levels. I basically was keen to manage as much as I could at home without risking coming into hospital. When my oxygen levels remained under 95% and I had a temperature of 39, my husband phoned the paramedics. They came and took me to hospital.
Frustratingly I had a Covid test on 22nd and 26th December and did not receive the results until after I got to hospital. A test at hospital confirmed I did have Covid. I also subsequently found out that a friend who had given me a three minute lift somewhere tested positive but her symptoms were extremely mild. Ironically my leg is in a cast and I have only been outside twice since the start of November. Sod's law...
Remember that with the new strain there are quite a few more symptoms. Don't underestimate the loss of taste or smell. It can also be a change in taste and smell. I remember my Christmas meal tasted fairly metallic but I could definitely taste it. And I had terrible headaches and a bit of a runny tummy. Another odd one but which is also a symptom is on the first day of symptoms at home I felt very delirious and was snapping at everyone. I just stayed in bed all day and was thoroughly unpleasant to anyone who came in my path.

Glad you're starting to get better and hope you can get home soon 💐. Have you any idea when that might be, or is it a case of one day at a time?

Just wanted to reiterate what you said about understaffing. My friend's DM was recently in hospital (end if life). She was in a private room on a Covid ward, and trying to get anything above routine checks (ie painkillers, a doctor) took hours.

Op 💐💐 and Iamsodobewiththis2020 💐💐

I was in hospital for 9 nights and was on CPAP - I came out last Saturday. I know how frightening it is and my heart goes out to you. Stay strong and fight it with everything you have.

My husband has been very ill with it too. A man in his mid 50s, a big guy, someone who runs and exercises to the extent that he is in better shape than when I met him decades ago. He’s been unable to move for about 10 days and has been in so much pain, but thankfully he started to show improvement yesterday.

At least two of our three young adult kids have it now, although their symptoms are, thankfully, like a bad dose of flu. I have been so afraid for them.

Listen carefully everyone - there are NO standard symptoms, whatever it says on the NHS website. I was told this by the docs in hospital. No-one in this house has had a cough or has lost their sense of taste or smell. My sense of smell became more acute. Some of us had a fever, but it was very short with the DC.

Please, please follow the rules. We had been very careful and we don’t know how I caught it and brought it into the house. It is extremely contagious so don’t let it into your house. Once it has you in its claws, you have no way of knowing how hard it will hit you.

For those of you who have to go out to work, please take every step to protect yourselves and your loved ones. Thank you for all that you do.

The vaccine will save us all, but we need to take care in the meantime.

I would call your GP as soon as you feel unwell. They really are there to help if possible.
It definitely goes in waves and just as I thought I was getting better, I relapsed again.
Understaffing is everywhere at the moment due to the pandemic. Even with the paramedics, I had only a technician and a trainee come and see me as there weren't enough actual paramedics. My ward is apparently down by 10 of its regular staff so they are having to get inexperienced bank staff in.
If it helps, my data prior to coming to hospital were as follows:
Day 1: in bed, delirious, grouchy, loss of energy and motivation
Day 2: breathlessness in evening
Day 3: breathlessness evening
Day 4: fever of around 39 but came down after lots of paracetomol and ibuprofen
Day 5: Taste and smell were different and I craved strong tasting liquids like ginger cordial
Day 6: Lack of energy, fever, breathlessness
Day7: sweaty with the slightest bit of movement. Oxygen levels down. Fever. Admitted to hospital.

I strongly recommend getting a Pulse oximeter. Was £20 on Amazon and a great way to monitor your oxygen. When I get out of here I have been told to continue using it and to call 111 if it goes under a certain number.

I was put on 4 litres of oxygen when I got here. They have tried dropping it to 1 litre but I feel more comfortable on 2 litres.
My temperature was spiking a lot for the first few days here but seems to have stabilised and is much better. I will be able to leave when I can breathe comfortably. The staff have been outstanding in helping me.

@LittleSpyintheSky gosh, what a scare and so happy you are out. Yes, so true that the symptoms are now so varied and not just the initial three that were talked about in the media.
I am 45 and the youngest person on my ward of 32 people but this new wave doesn't seem to favour age groups, ethnic groups, etc. The fact I got it when in a car with a friend for a few minutes shows how it spreads like wildfire. My husband caught it off me and whilst having it more mildly, he is definitely having good and worse days.
Yes, listen to whatever the staff tell you. I had a brilliant consultant who on the first day said she was going to try to attack the Covid with amoxicillin and Remdesivir, both to be given IV. I read so much that scared me about Remdesivir but she was able to reassure me that they had to try what they could. I am happy that I listened to her as feeling far better now.

I hope you are on the mend soon OP!

I am at home awaiting a home result test. I think it might just be flu, but not sure?

I have had no high fever, but I had the ''shivers' for about 4 days and could not warm up. Sore throat, constant coughing, runny nose, constant sneezing and a rather random 4hs in the middle of constant being sick and diarrhea. Sense of smell and taste went for only a day when everything smelt like vinegar. Really odd symptoms all in all, so not sure if I have had a mixture of bugs?

Will wait to see what the test says. I hope you are back home soon OP X

Glad you are feeling better op.

I know those telling to stay at home mean well... But myself and my family didn't even bubble with anyone this Xmas, we have been just us. Dd has had breathing issues in the past requiring urgent care and it's a weakness

But whilst over the holidays we can stay at home and stay safe and choose where we go, very shortly we will be forced back into crowds of 100s with no ppe via schools...

Then suddenly our safety is reliant on everyone else.

@IsAnybodyListening hate to say it but what you are describing sounds a lot like COVID to me. I recently tested positive with very similar symptoms. Hope you make a swift recovery.

I hope you will soon be on the mend and that you fully recover OP and also hope that @LittleSpyintheSky is feeling much better now.
@Iamsodonewith2020 - from what I have read , and I really don't want to scare you, you approaching a stage where the condition can start to deteriorate. If you have a pulse oximeter use it regularly to check your oxygen levels. If you don't have one, order one now and pay for next day delivery. Test even when you don't feel breathless. Don't be a statistic of 'happy hypoxia'. Don"t be afraid to call an ambulance in case you need supplemental oxygen. I really hope you will feel better soon.

Just to echo what Calmandmeasured1 has said.

I knew I was in trouble because my temperature was so high (just under 40) and my oxygen levels were tumbling. If they start to fall towards 85, as they did in my case, you are in need of URGENT medical attention. If that happens to you, call 999.

@PandemicPavolova I get where the op is coming from too. Unfortunately the government have earmarked some of us as collateral. Including DH, and my DF in his 70’s. All work in schools with kids, with no PPE, distancing of 1.5m if they’re really lucky, windows open a bit and hand sanitiser if it hasn’t run out. Boris says this is safe. We would love to stay home and actually stay safe but would lose our home.

@IsAnybodyListening I would call 111 and then a paramedic can come and assess you. It sounds as though you are going downhill and you need the right advice

Lemon it wasn't op, but I totally agree, stay at home its just maddening when we are being forced out of the home and into crowds!

@Hellofayearsofar Thanks for this thread, I hope you're on your way home soon.
You said you caught it in a car - out of interest, were either of you wearing masks, windows open? Just wondering which measures may or may not be effective!
Get well soon!

There needs to be wider awareness of the different symptoms. The things you describe OP are not unique to the new variant, people have been reporting them all along. Also IsAnybodyListening, the gastro symptoms and headaches are very common.

The NHS had massive nursing shortages before the pandemic, this has just exacerbated an already working on a shoestring operation.

I hope you're on the mend very soon Hellofayearsofar, and next year is much kinder to you.