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Original poster

I've got Covid and feel horrendous and it's only day 2!

245 replies

DumpedByText · 23/09/2022 00:06

I'm 53, no health issues and tested positive on Tuesday for the 1st time. I'm triple vaccinated and I feel absolutely awful, I can't stop coughing, I ache, I'm tired, no appetite and just want it to be over. Paracetamol does nothing, I feel panicked when I'm coughing to. I can breathe OK without tightness or wheezing which is a relief. I really hope its not worse tomorrow as its grim now. My 15 year old DD is on day 6 and she was really poorly to, it knocked her off her feet and she's very fit and healthy. I just need a handhold I think to see me through 😊

OP posts:
RaininSummer · 01/10/2022 19:28

Yes to the funny taste in mouth. Kept waking last night with such a dry mouth and horrible taste. Food is pretty nasty tasting. Made my favourite treat lunch for when unwell...tinned tomato soup and cheese on toast ... It was disgusting. The soup tasted like metal and the cheese on toast was cardboard. In better news I am feeling a fair bit better but still coughing, faint headache and low energy.

EnormousStuffedMarrow · 01/10/2022 19:39

Everything tastes normal to me.
But I seem to be hungry a lot - that might be because I am not snacking all day at work!

Polly99 · 01/10/2022 19:41

I'm just tired and dizzy now with a bit of a cough and brain-foggy (4 days from a positive test, though I think covid started for me about 10 days ago). And I've lost my sense of taste and smell. I don't want to eat until it comes back tbh. It's surprisingly distressing.

Still testing positive but have decided am no longer contagious so have re-entered family life. I guess I'll work on Monday but doubt I'll be 100% for another week or so.

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination · 01/10/2022 21:03

warofthemonstertrucks · 30/09/2022 10:34

Covid not counted at my work anymore either. I'm a care home manager. Go figure.

@warofthemonstertrucks that's terrible!!

2anddone · 01/10/2022 21:59

Am on day 15 tested negative back on day 8 but still left with the dizziness and nausea like constant morning sickness. One of the only things that seems to stop it is eating every 2 hours....I am going to be like a whale at this rate!!

CrunchyCarrot · 02/10/2022 09:01

Day 8 here. In recovery now, definitely on the mend, slept better without coughing BUT have noticed my senses of taste and smell have gone! Just been in the bathroom sniffing the strongest smelling stuff I have, like tea tree oil and TCP. Nothing. Tried one of several tiny ripe tomatoes off our own bushes - these have been so sweet! Nada. It's very curious. It's like just a blank placeholder where the taste-smell information would be.

I encountered the virus for the first time back in July 2020 but never developed symptoms. Found I had antibodies some months later. It was a few months after that I noticed some foods tasting bad or off. I never made a connection with the virus, it was early days then. Now however I think the virus affected my taste and that's why I've had some weirdness over the past 18 months. It does get you down because I never eat a meal without expecting at least one thing to taste 'off'. I guess now it will just not taste at all, which bizarrely is a relief. I'm curious to see how this develops.

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 02/10/2022 09:37

Day five. I slept marginally better. The cough is dreadful although possibly reducing. I don't feel quite as brain fogged either. I haven't completely lost my taste and smell but it is severely reduced and I have gone off eating meat and having milk in my tea. I guess that is taste/smell related maybe.

Madcats · 02/10/2022 15:54

For those of you coughing at night, I found that lying on my front with a pillow under my armpits helped calm reduce the duration of coughing fits.

I hope you all fell better soon

RaininSummer · 03/10/2022 14:45

Taste of food is improving thankfully but still feel like head is stuffed with cotton wool and keep coming over all hot. Only have coughing fits if I talk other than at night. My partner has a very painful ear and has been told he may have a perforated eardrum. He is way more achey than me too. Feel guilty I am still sick from work but it's still only day 5 or 6 and I can't cope with my job like this as I have to talk to people all day and stare at a screen which hurts my eyes at present. Hoping we feel better soon as on a week's holiday from Friday.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 03/10/2022 19:42

Joining the thread… two of us, mid 50s, fit, triple vaxxed - quadruple if you count the booster we had on Wednesday 😡(HCPs - back room but our Trust is encouraging everyone). We had vaccine side effects on Thursday and DH’s symptoms morphed into Covid by Friday. I started mild symptoms on Saturday afternoon and had my faint positive this morning.

DH is on day 4-ish. The streaming nose is abating but he’s feverish, coughing, has a sore throat and is aching, dizzy and lethargic. I (day 2 I think) have a tickly painful throat, sore mouth, a bit of a cough, everything hurts, head banging, dizzy, tinnitus is outrageously loud, and no energy. Everything got much worse from mid morning today despite my initial optimism about working. My temperature is 38.1, so it’s unsurprising I feel so grim!

So I’ve joined to have a moan, compare notes with other first-timers and wish everyone a speedy recovery. We’ve just been saying that it’s horrible, but at least it’s not as scary as 2020.

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 03/10/2022 20:35

I have finally got rid of the tinnitus which quite frankly was horrid.

I still have a temperature on and off plus a hacking cough which I can't decide whether it has turned into a chest infection or not. Plus that disgusting taste in my mouth is back.

EnormousStuffedMarrow · 04/10/2022 06:26

Still feeling pretty rough. The sore throat has put in another appearance this morning.

It's a week since I tested.

I've had a few people say 'you've got it really bad' but this is what I expected.
Really bad , to me, are the poor people who end up in hospital.

I hope some of you are feeling a bit better.

Cillery · 04/10/2022 06:36

DumpedByText · 30/09/2022 13:42

Day 10 and I'm still testing positive! I'm feeling back to normal in the day but by evening I feel sick and get a headache and feel exhausted, so I was in bed by 9 last night and slept until 7 this morning.

I had it was not too bad but I felt rough. My daughter had it before the vaccination was out and was ill for six months. I think the best advice is to look after yourself and to take things very steadily and not to overdo it. I certainly felt a bit rough for about two weeks afterwards. This is certainly a nasty thing. Get well soon

QuietLieDown · 05/10/2022 12:04

Day 14 here - feeling better every day, thankfully, to the point where I felt well enough to paint a bedroom yesterday. Despite already having other, non-covid post-viral problems and knowing that taking it slowly in recovery is so important. Not one of my better ideas. Back on sofa today, slight temp and generally feeling rough.

Taste is still kind of “off” for some things, but happy to notice that sense of smell is starting to come back.

QuietLieDown · 05/10/2022 12:06

@Cillery You’re so right - it can be really difficult to resist the temptation to crack on with everything that’s been on hold, but if you can keep making yourself rest every day it can be the difference between a good recovery and a post-viral nightmare.

EnormousStuffedMarrow · 05/10/2022 12:25

I'm feeling rough to varying degrees still. Some mornings I've felt better but then by the afternoon I'm wiped out again.

Some of my colleagues seemed to be back at work within 5-6 days and I am worried that people will think I'm exaggerating how I'm feeling.

Whataboutno · 05/10/2022 13:25

Joining as I have it for the second time! Got a faint positive but I assume that it's still covid!

QuietNeighbour · 05/10/2022 13:43

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 03/10/2022 20:35

I have finally got rid of the tinnitus which quite frankly was horrid.

I still have a temperature on and off plus a hacking cough which I can't decide whether it has turned into a chest infection or not. Plus that disgusting taste in my mouth is back.

How long did it take? It’s about 9 days since I tested positive and the ringing in my ears is still loud as hell and making me v grumpy. Most other symptoms are gone although I feel a bit nauseous again today

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 05/10/2022 15:43

@QuietNeighbour I think it was day 6 the tinnitus went. My chest is horrendous though and I have been prescribed an inhaler. Signed off for 10 days as well. I just can't do anything without wheezing. I am extremely tired as well.

QuietNeighbour · 05/10/2022 15:46

Thanks for the reply @whydoesitalwayshappentome hope you and all on the thread feel better soon

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 05/10/2022 15:57

@QuietNeighbour I hope you feel better soon as well.

EnormousStuffedMarrow · 06/10/2022 08:59

How's everyone feeling?

I'm on day 9/10 and did a test this morning. There's a very very faint line but I imagine it will be gone by tomorrow.

I slept for hours yesterday. I'm really hoping I start to improve now.
I'm still coughing but I imagine that will hang around for a while.

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 06/10/2022 11:29

I am on day nine I think. Apart from being exhausted and a bad chest/cough which the Dr has given an inhaler for as she could hear me wheezing down the phone, I am alright. Glad my taste and smell is back to normal as that was really odd. I am signed off work next week as well.

Underroad · 07/10/2022 07:31

I tested positive nearly 4 weeks ago but that disgusting chemical taste is still in my mouth most of the time. Is anyone else having this still so far down the line?

Furcoatandnoknickerz · 07/10/2022 13:28

I’m 61, 3 boosters, have Covid for first time. Still positive after ten days, feel horrendous, shaky, dizzy, head full of pressure, no energy, fatigue.
No empathy from my zero hrs contract line manager, even though I’m not being paid ! Rude reply of “ well shouldn’t you be in hospital “ . No hope you soon feel better or words to the effect!
Anybody else feels so bad for so long?