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Covid

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Original poster

Agghhhhh positive lateral flow test

32 replies

Dottydoodoo · 21/01/2021 14:36

I am a nurse on an emergency surgical unit and am doing the twice weekly lateral flow covid tests. Yesterday when I woke up I felt as if I had a cold I was all bunged up and I sounded blocked up when I was talking.

This morning I did my lateral flow test as my days to do these are Mondays and Thursdays and I got a glaring positive result! It only took about five minutes to come up. I’ve been and had a pcr test and now we are isolating waiting for the results.

I don’t even know why I’m posting this, I’m just so frustrated with the whole situation! I should have had my second Pfizer vaccine last week but it was moved to the beginning of March. I have been so careful, I know you can literally pick it up from anywhere but I have been so careful and done everything asked of us by boris and his crew and now to pick it up after all this time. Grrrrrrrr!

My husband (who so far has no symptoms) keeps saying maybe the lateral flow was a false positive and I might be negative after all but I’ve not heard of that happening, if anyone does have some good stories of a negative pcr after a positive lateral flow please share them with me!

OP posts:

ILookAtTheFloor · 21/01/2021 14:39

I think false positives within 5 mins are v v rare op. Much more likely on a PCR.

Hopefully it'll be super mild for you. My sister had a positive one, no symptoms aside from loss of taste and smell 7 days afterwards. She also felt tired.

Hope you're OK OP.

ekidmxcl · 21/01/2021 14:42

So you caught it after one Pfizer jab...that is terrifying.

Lateral flow is known for false negs, not false positives. Plus you have symptoms. Your pcr will be positive. I hope you are ok.

ScottishStottie · 21/01/2021 14:46

@ekidmxcl

So you caught it after one Pfizer jab...that is terrifying.

Lateral flow is known for false negs, not false positives. Plus you have symptoms. Your pcr will be positive. I hope you are ok.

Not really terrifying...

Its not 100% effective, no vaccine is. Its also meant to reduce severity of the virus if caught, so assume op is likely to feel a bit unwell, rest up at home and be fine again, rather than ending up in ICU and being very ill.

Have you read about what the vaccine is actually meant to do before declaring things terrifying?

loveyouradvice · 21/01/2021 14:54

Really sorry this happened - and PLEASE start resting.... curl up with a good book or movie and let your husband look after you.

All I know is that the more you rest once you've got it the milder it is likely to be.... Good luck

ThatVeganFeminist · 21/01/2021 14:56

@ekidmxcl

So you caught it after one Pfizer jab...that is terrifying.

Lateral flow is known for false negs, not false positives. Plus you have symptoms. Your pcr will be positive. I hope you are ok.

The hope is that the jab will at the least have reduced the severity of the infection. Also we don't know when the OP got her jab and if it was within the last 3 weeks she may not have developed any immunity yet

ekidmxcl · 21/01/2021 15:01

I don’t know why people are saying it’s not terrifying.

We are vaccinating millions of vulnerable people with one jab only, with the second not being given for 3 months - way outside the manufacturers guidelines. Sorry - but it is a terrifying situation and seriously impacts our route out of lockdown - which is crippling our economy and depressing millions.

PuzzledObserver · 21/01/2021 15:04

I hear the frustration about doing everything right and still catching it. DH works in a care home, they have followed all the guidance and the staff have also been limiting contact outside of work. The outbreak started just after Christmas and has been devastating.

It could be that the PPE measures in place are not adequate against the new variant - that’s our theory anyway. Could also be the family visits which were allowed with great reluctance after much pressure, starting a few weeks before Christmas.

At least you should benefit from reduction in severity if you had your 1st jab several weeks ago - I assume you did, as you were due to have the 2nd last week. DH had his first jab a few days after Christmas - actually the first day he showed symptoms, but we thought it was just a cold.

Rest up, try to relax.

Thiscantreallybehappening · 21/01/2021 15:04

I'm assuming OP had her first dose at least 4 weeks ago because she was due her second dose last week and the original guidance was 2 doses 3 weeks apart.

Ariela · 21/01/2021 15:05

@ekidmxcl

I don’t know why people are saying it’s not terrifying.

Yes but they've done the maths: better protection from numbers requiring hospitalisation / dying with double the number with 1 jab than half the number with 2 and the other half with none. I'm not a statistician but I can work that one out.

Thiscantreallybehappening · 21/01/2021 15:06

OP said in her post, she was due the second dose last week but it was cancelled until March.

PuzzledObserver · 21/01/2021 15:08

I don’t know why people are saying it’s not terrifying.

Because it is only one case.

If there were many more similar cases, and it turned out that by 8 weeks there was virtually no protection from one jab (to pluck a number out of the air), THAT would be terrifying. And a reason to change the strategy, which is what would happen.

Thiscantreallybehappening · 21/01/2021 15:10

Sorry to hear this OP, so frustrating but hopefully because you've had the first dose you will feel better very soon. Take care.

wellyjellymelly · 21/01/2021 15:14

A friend had two positive lateral flow and a negative PCR so not wholly impossible!

Hope you make a speedy recovery, whatever you have

WatchWatch · 21/01/2021 15:18

@ekidmxcl

So you caught it after one Pfizer jab...that is terrifying.

Lateral flow is known for false negs, not false positives. Plus you have symptoms. Your pcr will be positive. I hope you are ok.

No it isn't!

THE VACCINE REDUCES SEVERITY IT DOES NOT STOP YOU CATCHING IT!!!!!!

LindaEllen · 21/01/2021 15:20

@ekidmxcl

So you caught it after one Pfizer jab...that is terrifying.

Lateral flow is known for false negs, not false positives. Plus you have symptoms. Your pcr will be positive. I hope you are ok.

It's not terrifying at all. There has been a lot of discussion about the vaccine not preventing infection, rather just severe symptoms. So an infection will show as positive, but symptoms should be easier to manage and not life threatening.

DianaT1969 · 21/01/2021 15:24

Honestly OP, as a nurse on a surgical ward I'm surprised by your response. You seem very thrown by this and shocked at getting a positive. It's amazing that you haven't had Covid before now (even asymptomatically but know you had it from testing). You will also be aware that the vaccine doesn't stop everyone from getting it, but it reduces severity. So less people being admitted to hospital.
To the poster who keeps saying it's terrifying - you need to give your head a wobble, or get a job with the Daily Mail. It's a vaccine and over 4 million people in the UK now have some protection against Covid, where they are unlikely to be so severe that they are admitted to hospital. It's not fairy dust! 🤷‍♀️

Angrymum22 · 21/01/2021 15:33

One in two LRT positive results are false positives calculated from data collected from the Liverpool mass testing and has been reported in BMJ. This is why a PCR is needed to confirm the result.

Original poster

Dottydoodoo · 21/01/2021 15:51

Thank you everyone for your kind get well wishes 😊

I had my first vaccine on Christmas Eve.

DianaT1969 no I’m not very thrown or shocked by my positive result, as I said in my OP i’m just frustrated that I have gone this long without getting it and now when the light at the end of the very long tunnel is starting to show through it gets you! I’m not the first person this has happened to at work so it was somewhat expected but it’s still disappointing.

OP posts:

Busygoingblah · 21/01/2021 16:35

@ekidmxcl

I don’t know why people are saying it’s not terrifying.

Because it’s not terrifying. Vaccines are to protect the population as a whole. They will work best once most people have had them therefore massively reducing chains of infection. I had my first vaccine yesterday, I know that it gives me some protection but that I can still catch covid.

If covid is still spreading but there more mild cases due to the vaccine then that’s great. Less people will be in hospital/ dying and we will get out of lockdown quicker.

You’ve really misunderstood vaccines/ vaccination programmes and are scaring other people which isn’t needed.

Sparklehead · 21/01/2021 16:56

Hi OP, sorry to hear you’re going through this. I had a similar experience in they I had my vaccine then tested positive just over a week later. My DH and 3DC subsequently also tested positive. DH and I felt rough for a few days but nothing too terrible, the children fit it very mildly. I’m due back at work next week (AHP in a hospital) and I actually feel safer returning having had the virus, as I think it gives better/longer immunity than one dose of the vaccine? So that could be a silver lining for you?

Sparklehead · 21/01/2021 16:57

Sorry for all the typos.

RaggieDolls · 21/01/2021 17:02

DH has a lateral flow at work everyday he is on site. One of his colleagues tested positive on LF so was advised to have a lab test which was negative. He wasn't poorly with it though.

Hope you feel better soon OP.

Tumbleweed101 · 21/01/2021 17:23

My dd had a positive lateral flow as she takes them twice weekly for work. The other test was also positive but she recovered quickly and was only mildly unwell.

slidingdrawers · 21/01/2021 17:36

Dotty, yours is an experience I've seen a few times over the last couple of weeks in colleagues. The vaccine should confer some benefit if you are positive on PCR and sparklehead makes a really good point. Take care.

Daddeee · 21/01/2021 18:33

Here's hoping it turns out to be a false positive and if not hope the single vaccine dose gives you some protection and you feel better soon OP. Do let us know how you get on.

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