A couple of days before the first lockdown in March 2020, I caught a really nasty, chesty cough. I don't know if it was Covid since I couldn't get a test, but it just felt like some sort of cold/flu illness.
Since then, every couple of months (almost like clockwork) I get ill again. It's the same pretty much every single time - so tired I could (and do) sleep for 14-16 hours a time (plus naps), feeling hot and feverish, no appetite, and this awful awful cough. I cough until my chest and back aches continuously and it hurts to breathe, and until I feel lightheaded and faint.
Over time it's now turned into feeling faint and breathless even when I'm not coughing during these flare-ups, if that makes sense. In September 2020 I ended up with a rash all over my entire body, bright red and itchy. I've also developed joint pain/stiffness in my knees, hips, wrists & fingers (mostly on my right side, except I have it in both knees). I have constant phlegmy feeling in my nose and always have blood in one side of my nose when I wipe it - I don't blow my nose now (just wipe) but still have blood every day.
I then had covid in August this year, was mostly fine surprisingly but had some stomach pain/diarrhoea. A couple of weeks later I then got sick with my same coughing symptoms for 2 weeks. It cleared up but I suddenly became constipated and only able to pass mucus, then followed with 2 weeks of diarrhoea, constant nausea, and awful stomach pain that I could have cried with. Now I'm finding that whilst I have some good days, I still have days with the nausea or this weird mucus.
I have seen my GP many many times during this period. My GP insists that I'm catching colds & suffering as I'm asthmatic. Salbutamol doesn't help the breathless feeling. They sent me for one X-ray last year where my chest was clear so refuse to look again. They have had to sign me off multiple times now for weeks at a time because of the coughing episodes which can last what feels like an age, meanwhile I am stuck indoors missing out on life because I can't breathe. I phoned for the rash - I was told probably response to a virus or heat rash & see if it goes away (which it did.. eventually). I also phoned during the 2 week diarrhoea and was told it hadn't been long enough for them to intervene and a stool sample could only be done after 14 days and if the sample was 'extremely watery' - which after 14 days it slowly began to resolve. Most of the times the GP will not see me because of the cough - despite having negative covid test results.
I'm honestly beyond fed up of dealing with this now as it has started to control my life and I feel like I literally cannot get any healthcare professional to care or even consider that something could be going on. I have an appointment with a private doctor next week out of sheer desperation for someone to actually do something or listen to me. I'm only 27 and my partner and I want to try for children next year but I could never dream of bringing a child into the world when caring for myself is sometimes an impossible task.
I suppose just looking to vent really or see if anyone has any ideas/possibilities. 