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Covid

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Original poster

Distrustful of LFT

16 replies

Bunnyfuller · 17/12/2021 01:30

DD16 is full of the exact symptoms of Covid…or a cold.

She clearly feels really awful because she’s stopped her running commentary to the TV (ASD and nothing stops this!).

LFTs since sore throat started, all negative, but she’s definitely more poorly than I’ve seen her with a cold before.

OP posts:

TheTeenageYears · 17/12/2021 01:34

Get her a PCR just in case if you think she will do it. We've had multiple positive LFT's plus negative PCR and more than a week of daily negative LFT's followed by a positive PCR in our family.

Original poster

Bunnyfuller · 17/12/2021 01:39

Thanks @TheTeenageYears it’s so frustrating! I feel annoyed the tests aren’t more reliable.

Obviously if DD feels ill then she does, and we will look after her accordingly, but no wonder it’s going nuts if there’s no reliable testing!

OP posts:

Sparklfairy · 17/12/2021 01:41

Lfts aren't reliable at all if you test with any kind of cold/flu symptoms. Theyre only reliable if you're asymptomatic.

Sparkle275 · 17/12/2021 06:23

When we all had covid at the beginning of the month we all took lateral flows. 3 out of 5 of us tested positive on lateral flow but 2 tested negative on a lateral flow but were positive on a PCR, unfortunately lateral flows aren't always accurate. I would book a PCR. Hope your DD feels better soon.

JanglyBeads · 17/12/2021 06:36

A negative LFT should be taken as a bit like a amber light - you can GO, but very cautiously, because it can turn red at any moment, ie you could become infectious in the next few hours.

A positive LFT always means red, stop, because they are almost always correct.

Get a PCR: the most common symptom of delta and omicron so far is found to be a runny nose.

mumofEandE · 17/12/2021 06:42

I have had a week of negative LFTs but had a PCR as I had all the symptoms- that was negative too!
Seems there is (where I am and I work in a school) a cold /flu bug going around as well!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 17/12/2021 06:49

So get a PCR. My LFTs were negative when I had Covid, it only showed positive on the PCR.

Redcrayons · 17/12/2021 06:51

New symptoms = PCR test
It’s cold and flu season, so likely to be that, but get the test just in case.

VanCleefArpels · 17/12/2021 06:52

I’m having the cold from hell, not covid confirmed by PCR test. There are other viruses out there!

SpringheelJack · 17/12/2021 06:56

Lfts aren't reliable at all if you test with any kind of cold/flu symptoms. Theyre only reliable if you're asymptomatic.
That is absolute bollocks and I do not know why so many people have trouble understanding this. LFTs are unreliable. Full stop. If you get a positive it's a very likely indication you have Covid. If you get a negative it doesn't really tell you anything reliably, other than the test didn't manage to detect the virus - doesn't mean it's not there. This is true whether you have symptoms or not. The test is looking for the virus. The thing it's looking for does not change depending on whether you have symptoms or not. They're only worth using if you have no symptoms (and no known contact, and basically no real reason to think you've had it) because they're a semi-reliable but very quick check to pick up cases we'd otherwise miss, because it's unfeasible for everyone to take PCRs every other day. If you have any symptoms, any contact, any reason to suspect you've caught it, you need to take a PCR because it will give you a more reliable result. Not because LFTs "don't work if you have symptoms". They work the same whether you have symptoms or not.

Weeturtles · 17/12/2021 07:02

They were reliable for me, showed positive followed by positive PCR. Get a PCR if you think it could be covid but it might just be something else.

tangyandsalty · 17/12/2021 07:07

@Sparklfairy

Lfts aren't reliable at all if you test with any kind of cold/flu symptoms. Theyre only reliable if you're asymptomatic.

That just isn't true at all. They aren't reliable enough to depend upon them telling you if you have covid or not, (they were designed to pick up some asymptotic people who wouldn't otherwise have tested) so you should always back up with a pcr, but plenty of people test positive on them when they have it and that's mostly people who do actually have symptoms.

Sparklfairy · 17/12/2021 07:57

@tangyandsalty sorry, it was late when I posted and you worded it better than me! That is what I meant

SpringheelJack · 17/12/2021 08:00

They were reliable for me, showed positive followed by positive PCR

A positive result is reliable. A negative is not. It can't find something unless it's there. It can miss something though.

Cookerhood · 17/12/2021 08:03

@Sparklfairy

Lfts aren't reliable at all if you test with any kind of cold/flu symptoms. Theyre only reliable if you're asymptomatic.

Can we stop with the misinformation. How would a test know if you had developed symptoms. All it "know" is whether you are shedding virus which doesn't stop when you get symptoms.

WaterBottle123 · 17/12/2021 08:56

@Sparklfairy

Lfts aren't reliable at all if you test with any kind of cold/flu symptoms. Theyre only reliable if you're asymptomatic.

@Sparklfairy

That's not correct. LFTs only work if you have high viral load, regardless of symptoms. The test doesn't know if you have a headache and the pathology of your sample isn't different!

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