If you e recently had covid, how did it compare to expectation ?

[Wingingit15]

Interested in knowing how your covid compared to your expectations. Personally I have been in fear of it for the last two years but touch wood so far has not been that bad. It has really changed my perception of risk rightly or wrongly.

I have not been in fear of Covid as I have worked a key worker role throughout the pandemic, however I would say that having caught it recently for the first time (that we know about), I am definitely more wary of it.

When we got it I assumed that the adults would be worse and the children would be ok as that's how it has been reported in the media. In reality, my youngest child (3) was incredibly unwell and they were on the verge of hospitalising him at one point. He has no underlying conditions and is normally an extremely robust child. It really scared us with how poorly he was.

I was also more unwell that I perhaps expected, despite being double vaxxed and boosted. Even if I had been allowed at work (my workplace are still following 10 day isolation or 2x negative after day 5), I would not have been able to go in until Day 8 or 9 at the earliest as I would have been far too unwell.

I’ve recently recovered from covid for the first time (I think), and whilst I felt mostly ok, I still feel exhausted and breathless (it’s been over 6 weeks). My 4 year old was very unwell with it and I wouldn’t want to go through that experience again. Thankfully none of us required hospital treatment.

I was surprised by how unwell my children were… mostly because I was under the impression that children were very low risk.

I was surprised by how ill you can feel with 'mild' Omicron and just feel so glad not to have caught one of the earlier strains.

I am on day 14 (11 since my positive LFT) and still have a sore throat, feel exhausted when walking and have episodes of tachy/fast heart rate after climbing stairs. I'm early 30s and not clinically extremely vulnerable.

Had covid a few months ago and felt dreadful, could see why some people needed medical help. I'm double jabbed so was surprised by how poorly I was. Took 4 weeks before I felt back to normal and my taste/smell took nearly 3 months to return fully.

Am currently day 4 of covid again and just feel like I have a cold and my throats a little sore. If covid didn't exist I would just think it was like any other virus

We had it in January and while it wasnt as bad as expected at the time, we still feel the long term effects of it now.
I suffered with really bad fatigue for about 6 weeks after and there has been virus after virus going through the house.
I just feel like out immune systems are down at the minute making everything that comes into the house 10 times worse. I've had one virus in feb, and another in March and both symptoms wise have been worse than the symptoms I had with covid. But had i not had covid then maybe i wouldnt have been strucl down as bad with these 2 viruses.

At the time, it wasn't that bad but it's now two months later and I've gone from being someone who walked for miles and regularly did yoga to someone who can't walk to the end of the drive. I'm utterly exhausted. I've been referred to the hospital for heart issues and I'm waiting for results from further blood tests.
I'm worried about how widespread it is because I can't bear the thought of catching it again when I'm still so ill from the last time.

It was about as I expected… I felt pretty shit for 48 hours, then got better. Not nice, but have had far worse viruses.

My experience of it was way less awful than I expected. However, I think a lot of people have never really been properly ill before or not since childhood, so it is a shock to them. We treat sickness as separate from 'us' but it is normal to experience viruses like this. We're completely sheltered by modern living conditions and childhood vaccines. Thank God!

I had it and was tired and pressure behind my eyes for a few days but it was nothing like I expected especially as I am not vaccinated.

I’ve not been in fear of it and have only just had it recently. It definitely hit me harder than I expected and it’s taking a while to feel fully recovered but at no point have I felt afraid during my illness it just feels like a very bad bout of flu.

I would agree that although I’ve had bad colds as adults the last time i remember having proper flu was as a child so agree that as adults most of us aren’t used to having full on flu

I wasn't worried about Covid and am extremely fit and healthy, exercise lots and don't drink or smoke etc. I was very unwell with it and am still struggling 6 wks later. I was triple vaxxed. MIL has been anxious about it in a worrying way and has underlying conditions. She had mild cold type symptoms.

Very mild. Had a temperature for two days then a slight head cold. Lasted about 5 days in total with no real after effects.

@WhatTheWhoTheWhatThe

I would agree that although I’ve had bad colds as adults the last time i remember having proper flu was as a child so agree that as adults most of us aren’t used to having full on flu

No such thing as "proper flu" really. 75% of people with flu are entirely asymptomatic and the one in four people who do have symptoms, experience them on a spectrum. When dh and I had swine flu, he was really unwell and I had a slightly blocked nose for example.

Covid seems to behave similarly in that you can't predict how you'll experience it.

I was amazed I hadn't had it sooner as I work in education and am not vaccinated. I am currently coming out the end of it and what surprised me was all the various symptoms I had. It felt different to the original Covid. I didn't have a persistent cough or a temperature or loss of taste/smell but nausea, the runs, muscle aches.

I am currently on day 3 and DD on day 2…both of us have a sniffle and that’s it!
I had a cold two weeks ago that really knocked me for six (I tested daily as was convinced that was Covid) but this has been fine. DD has been bouncing around, annoyed at missing school!

It was worse than I expected. I’d had 2 vaccinations and a booster, and was in the window where the booster should have given me maximum protection. I was too ill to work for the full 10 days, and struggled on for another week before I felt vaguely ok.

I got my first symptoms eight weeks ago, and I’m still breathless and in pain after any kind of exertion.

I’ve got it at the moment. It’s awful. Tested positive last Saturday and have been exhausted all week. Sore throat, chills, the aches are the worst. Glad it’s the weekend so I can have a rest. Have just started a new job and although I’ve been at home, if I do t work I don’t get paid, so have been working all week.

Oh, and I’m in my thirties, healthy weight, reasonably fit, no other health conditions.

Myself and husband had about 12 hours of shivering and feeling rough, rest of the time just cold like symptoms with a sorer throat than usual. 6 year old was fine, 4 year old had a temperature, but 18 month old was really quite unwell. Roaring temp for a week, lethargic, shivering, not eating. Felt most worried about him and I was the least worried about him catching covid prior to this! So it was different to what I expected.

DH and I are just better - 2 days back at work. We were very surprised at how ill we were for 10 days. Had expected to be mildly affected - fit, active, no underlying conditions.

I currently have Covid, it’s my second time at the rodeo, first dose was in Jan 2021.

I’m really quite surprised tbh, as the first time found I was a week out from major abdominal surgery, was 12 stone heavier and hadn’t had any vaccines. I had a day of diarrhoea and tummy pain, and the several days later lost my taste and smell. I had a vaguely sore throat, and absolutely no other respiratory symptoms, but other than that my overriding memory of it was just the misery of being isolated on my own at home after already needing to isolate pre and post surgery (my boyfriend passed it onto me after his first day back at work, as he’d been off for a week looking after me). I wasn’t really poorly at all.

This time around, I’ve had three vaccines, I’m 12 stone lighter, much, much healthier and it’s like a very severe cold, I wasn’t prepared for how rubbish I was gonna feel, maybe I got cocky after being so fortunate last time.

Of course the disparity could all be about viral load I was exposed to both times, I’m not sure.

I’m day four today, have now developed a weird petechial rash on my left elbow, sick of being so snotty and bunged up but I do feel a bit better than I did yesterday and I’m still planning to do my night shift from home tonight, start at midnight and will go as long as I can. I do telephone triage, where I’ll probably have to triage lots of other people with covid

Hoping I’ve turned a corner towards getting better and my vaccine primed immune system has started doing its job.

About the same, maybe slightly worse than expected? I was never really worried about it. It was similar in severity to mastitis or tonsilitis.

I will say, the long covid after effects of my previous bout of covid were (and are still) quite seriously impacting on my life, far worse than the active infection itself. I developed Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and I’m still being followed up by cardiology, although symptoms now quite well controlled with medication. Ironically I was due to go and collect my second 7 day heart monitor on the day I tested positive this week. If I’d not gone private for my initial treatment and investigations I’d only have seen an NHS clinician two weeks ago after that bout of covid in Jan 2021.

Severity of initial symptoms doesn’t necessarily correlate with after effects.

Worse. And I didn't think my eyes would hurt.