Lfts being weird

[Whatwentwronghere]

I started with a sore throat 3 days ago, the second day I did an lft at tea time and it was positive. Had pcr yesterday morning and still waiting for results.

Since the first lft, I've done a few more but they seem to be getting lighter and this morning was negative. My symptoms are getting worse though. Now have a cough and feel quite mucousy. Has anyone else had this? I thought it would light up like a christmas tree this morning.

Sorry I can’t answer your question but I did a LFT, same brand, that looked a lot like your strongest positive. I’ve just done a PCR. I’m here for info about your result… sorry
How are you feeling now?

I read that after 30min you disregard any result. The correct result is the one at 30min (although you can kinda tell after 5min which way it’s going to go!)

Sorry read your post wrong!
I’d wait for the PCR to be sure, but my friend did have a positive LFT then a negative PCR.

Yep. I had at least 10 positive PCR both old style and new from last Thursday and 3 negative PCR 🤷 attached some of them

LFTs are not accurate when you have symptoms, you need to do a PCR.

I had covid and the LFT was negative, PCR positive.

Just seen you've already done a PCR, you should get the result soon.

My pcr came back negative!

That is true about not using lfts when symptomatic. I'd forgotten about that. I wonder if it is just picking up this cold virus then.

@Whatwentwronghere I thought that too! I know they supposedly can't but I now think they can. I've felt rotten for a week!! Must be the mega cold going round!

I know that's the odd thing isn't it. But then again kids were getting false positives using fruit juice so they're definitely not infallible.

The other thing that doesn't add up is we all have the same symptoms at home yet I'm the only one getting positives.

Gah, I was weirdly hoping it was covid just so it had eventually caught me and I'd gotten off with mild symptoms.

None of them look positive to me the new ones have more liquid so the dye moves and that is what I can see

I thought that then saw you were negative!

@Whatwentwronghere

I started with a sore throat 3 days ago, the second day I did an lft at tea time and it was positive. Had pcr yesterday morning and still waiting for results.

Since the first lft, I've done a few more but they seem to be getting lighter and this morning was negative. My symptoms are getting worse though. Now have a cough and feel quite mucousy. Has anyone else had this? I thought it would light up like a christmas tree this morning.

One looked positive the rest negative.

My dd has had similar - three faint positive LFTs but two negative PCRs. She had a sore throat and cough for two days then fine. Me and ds both have negative PCRs and have negative LFTs

It’s so bizarre! I don’t trust the LFTs anymore.

Just to correct something upthread, it's not that LFTs are any less accurate when the person has symptoms. Rather, they are generally much less accurate than PCRs, so when we have symptoms we should do a PCR test rather than getting a false negative on a LFT and going about spreading it to people.

I did a PCR on Sat morning after a few days bad coughing, negative. Ok good but cough getting worse and now a bit breathless between bouts and LFT looked like it was about to have 2 lines but then after 15 minutes just one clear line ... very confusing but have to go with PCR result I guess though scared of making people at work sick

None of those tests look positive to me OP. There are some bad colds going around at the moment, and other viruses .

LF can be used when symptomatic. The advice is that, if you have positive LFs plus symptoms, you should isolate. A false positive LF is very rare.

Following on from my post above, this is from the school’s guidance:

If the PCR test is taken within 2 days of the positive lateral flow test, and is negative, it overrides the self-test LFD test and the pupil can return to school, as long as the individual doesn’t have COVID-19 symptoms

Therefore, if positive LF and symptoms - isolate.

@Yellowmellow2
The advice is that, if you have positive LFs plus symptoms, you should isolate. A false positive LF is very rare.

In England this simply isn't the case. My daughter recently had mild symptoms and did one clearly positive LFT followed the next day by a slightly suspect one. PCR on same day as first LFT was negative and all subsequent LFTs negative.

NHS / Government official advice is to go with the PCR result. I even called 119 to check and they said the same. There are articles online in which various scientists/doctors say that false positive LFTs are vanishingly rare (rarer than false negative PCRs) but it's opinion not official guidelines.

In the end I got my DD another PCR, which also came back negative, so I've sent her back to school somewhat reassured. I do wonder whether she had a very mild short-lived case of Covid, but I guess we'll never know!

Your 2nd quote from your school's guidance backs this up - a negative PCR taken within 2 days of the positive LFT overrides the positive LFT. The 'unless symptoms' bit is really unclear. My DD had some symptoms at the time of the first LFT / PCR but not by the time we repeated it.

I’m not sure that ‘unless you have COVID’ symptoms’ is that unclear? Positive LF and COVID symptoms (at the time of the test) is a clear indication that the virus is present from what I’ve read.

This is this mornings, yesterday's was positive too.

I agree the other ones are really hard to make out in the photo but it's clearer in real life. I don't think there's any doubting this one though.

So I'm on to 8 positive lfts, be interesting to see what the next pcr shows.

Everyone in the house has the same symptoms but no one else has had a smidge of a line on an lft or a positive pcr.