When do you think my symptoms started?

[Letmesleepitoff]

Currently feeling ill with covid and confused as to what day of recovery I might be on. Hoping that people who’ve been through it might be able to share their experience and give a clue to when I started with it. I have two small children so we’re constantly down with bugs and it can be hard to tell where one starts and another stops.

Day 1 (or another bug) overnight muscle aches and very sore throat. Negative LFT
Day 2 tired, sore throat, muscle aches
Day 3 headache, hungover feeling, lethargic
Day 4 felt well
Day 5 cough started and fever. Blazing positive LFT and positive PCR
Day 6-8 cough, congestion, fever, headache, loss of smell

The day 4 of feeling ok in the middle makes me wonder if they were two separate bugs, but have other people had the same experience with symptoms? I’m a bit worried if I’m actually only day 4 and feeling this awful.

Following because I'm on basically the exact same timeline except I'm still waiting on PCR results. I had something quite mild for a few days before feeling much better then started getting worse (with more typical covid symptoms like cough rather than it mostly being a sore throat).

I think if mine comes back positive I'll be counting from Day 1? I've heard of it getting better then worse with covid.

@jailby have you had a positive LFT? I think the fact I felt pretty ok on day 4 has thrown me a bit, and the fact that prior to that they weren’t any of the three textbook symptoms.

I had no textbook symptoms. I would say it's far more likely that your day 1 is your day 1. I have heard lots of people feel better then take a dip. I would isolate for 10 days from positive test just to be on the safe side.

I'd go from your day 1 because my dd tested positive last Tuesday and only had a sore throat, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday she was ill Saturday and Sunday fine again then back to being ill with on off symptoms from Monday. I asked nhs track and trace when I rang to chase up results and they told me go from the day 1. Hope this helps and hope you feel better soon

It looks like day 5 to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sore throat was my very first symptom and I had a positive LFT the next day. The ‘official’ symptoms are wildly out of date, especially if you’re fully vaccinated. According to the Zoe study, the most common symptoms in fully vaccinated people include runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and headaches. I think your day 1 is your day 1.

I'd say you contracted the virus a few days before your Day 1. Those initial symptoms are your innate immune system kicking in - the release of interferons will cause muscle aches and pains, general malaise. It's known that by around day 7-8 the virus can kick in with further symptoms, this is when your T cells really need to ramp up and defend you.

I don't think you have had 2 separate bugs, it looks very like a Covid time line to me. You need to rest now and look after yourself, hope you feel better soon!