So fed up, ill every year with COVID, not coping

[dustoffthebooks]

Me and dh have got covid again. He's early 60s and I'm late 50s. Neither of us qualify for vaccine on the NHS. He doesn't get as sick as I do. I get so sick it scares me and it's like a full blown flu. I can barely manage to get out of bed and feed the cats and shower (scared of passing out). I don't have underlying health issues, it's just my individual response to the virus. I used to get a virus once every decade or more, but covid has become an annual dread.

Is it possible to get a vaccination privately? Me and dh have no one to help us and I'm scared of getting older if this is how it's going to be. We're carers for adult ds2 who has autism and ds1 lives away. Ds2 will not help in any way even though he could. He still expects us to do things for him. We're not formally registered carers as he's supposedly self caring, only he's not.

How can we get vaccinated? We pay for flu jabs.

www.boots.com/health-pharmacy/covid-19-information-products-and-testing/private-covid-vaccination?srsltid=AfmBOoreMWwdUzkeV7ylVvqvoZLkrDjcHuvE13gEKusu5ALy9CrYN-CN#price

Thanks, I'll look into this.

You could also try these: https://pharmadoctor.co.uk/patient/service/covid-vaccination

Pharmadoctor is easy, but costly. Also make sure they give you the latest version. We got given last years version even though the new version had been licensed in this country for a month at that point.

You can register with the GP as an unpaid carer easily, usually just via their webpage. They can't ask for evidence for this, because obviously being an unpaid carer doesn't come with evidence. Then you will be eligible for carer vaccines, although the NHS has just this year removed unpaid carers from Covid vaccines, but they do still get free flu vaccines. The reasoning behind the lack of Covid vaccines for unpaid carers is flawed and retrograde, but the JCVI is rather vaccine-hesitant anyway.

It's worth checking with your local pharmacy if you have one which administers private flu or holiday vaccines . As other posters say, it's certainly not cheap but DH and I are similar ages to you and yours and it's been two years now since we had the last booster so are thinking of getting it done .

I would not depend on the vaccination helping hugely.
I am over 65 so qualify for the Covid vaccine, I've had all the jabs which were offered since 2021. I had the annual jab last October then two months later I got Covid and was very unwell. Of course I may have been even worse without the vaccine, but it did not appear to do an impressive job.

The vaccination always makes me feel unwell for a couple of days, so if you do have it, allow for that possibility.

You should check your vitamin D levels too. I had very low levels, didn’t know (no symptoms)and had a bad Covid.

Because GPs don’t easily give blood tests and because I read about 2 studies who identified that all hospitalised people in the study that ended up in ICU and/or dead had vit D level below normal, I ordered an online blood test (cheap) from https://thriva.co (there are other companies too) and found out that indeed my vit d levels were very low. They sent a kit home, your pick your finger, collect a few drops, send back. It’s very similar to the Covid test kit, it is prepaid, etc. you post it back and get the results in about a week.

With that result I went to the GP and they prescribed 3x normal dose of Vit D for 3 months to get my levels back to normal (!). On my own I would have just taken the normal dose so I’m glad I went and got the dose I needed bc 2nd time I got Covid, some months later, I was ok.

so I’d say better check your vit D levels. Not just for Covid, other flu viruses will knock you down as well, your immune system suffers in general and it can affect many other things too.

there are quite a few online companies who offer an at home blood testing kit or you can go to a lab, but it’s more expensive. While you do it, if you can afford it, you could check other things too, maybe that you and issues with in the past, thyroid, liver, or just add some general blood tests (so called complete blood count).