Have you had covid 19?

Nutser

Hubby has just had it. We are still in self isolation. His symptoms were diarrhoea, then some breathlessness, fatigue, sore throat, cough, aches and pains. All very mild. He seems to have recovered now. We are awaiting our second batch of test results.

sekond

I likely had it early March, after a trip overseas. Complete exhaustion and slight fever for a day, then sore throat for a few days, at which point in the course of a conversation about something completely different my GP told me to self isolate, based on where I had been (not one of the named countries, but one he was concerned about rising cases in). HSE helpline at that stage told me categorically that I didn't need to.

I'm very glad I (and my HR department) accepted my GPs assessment because a full week after the exhaustion, the cough and breathlessness started. I have never felt anything like it. I couldn't sit up and talk at the same time and needed a nap after walking up the stairs. It was difficult to sleep because the breathlessness got worse lying down.

At first I couldn't be tested because of where I travelled to, then when I got on the list they ended up revising the criteria again after I'd been waiting over a week and I came off the list. I was still incredibly breathless and coughing the whole time. After about 3 weeks my GP referred me to A&E to check vitals as I still couldn't walk up the stairs without wheezing and then needing a nap. (I should probably have not been quite so stoic earlier on in the illness)

A&E doc said I was too well to admit (oxygen levels and blood pressure were ok), which meant she couldn't get me tested, but to assume I had it and rest.

It was probably 4 or 5 weeks before I felt properly well again. I still get a little breathless now if the air is cold and damp, which freaks me out a little as it feels like the early days, but it usually passes after a day or two. Otherwise I'm probably completely recovered.

boege

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Interesting to see that, despite Boards being the busiest I've seen it in almost a decade, that there's just 17/18 replies to this thread so far

Just over 0.5% of the population have been confirmed positive.

Assume boards is representative of the general population (which I doubt) and approx 2000 people read this thread, and are prepared to post (which i suspect is an inaccurate assumption), then 0.5% of 2000 is 10 positive cases. Its crude but it gives a sense of the situation. Data also screwed by age profile of confirmed cases - 50% (and growing) of the case are under 45.

What is possibly more interesting is that the people here who suspect they had Covid, but were not get tested, appear to outweigh confirmed cases by at least 5:1.

Hats off to OP for the 'blow by blow'.....sobering! They are the forgotten people in this Covid crises and my best wishes for a healthy recovery.

Hawthorn Tree

AnnieOaks wrote: »

If so how does it compare to the flu? And how are you now? Are you “completely recovered” or are you having any problems?

Annie, are you okay?
So, Annie are you okay?
Are you okay, Annie?
You've been hit by
You've struck by
A smooth criminal

ShineOn7

A long list of celebrities (and "celebrities") who got Covid and their symptoms

It's crazy the difference in range of their experiences with it


https://www.vulture.com/article/famous-people-celebrities-with-coronavirus.html

Zebra3

Seems like I had it before it was a thing here.

Was in a heap for about two weeks.

Sweating profusely, would wake up (after barely sleeping) to a shortness of breath that I'd only previously experienced at altitude and all the usual flu stuff.

Fully recovered straight away, big advantage being fit and healthy (marathon runner, cycle for commuting).

Live on my own, so bar two quick trips to the shop, I was effectively in self-quarantine.

Never tested.

Fr_Dougal

Zebra3 wrote: »

Seems like I had it before it was a thing here.

Was in a heap for about two weeks.

Sweating profusely, would wake up (after barely sleeping) to a shortness of breath that I'd only previously experienced at altitude and all the usual flu stuff.

Fully recovered straight away, big advantage being fit and healthy (marathon runner, cycle for commuting).

Live on my own, so bar two quick trips to the shop, I was effectively in self-quarantine.

Never tested.

Be careful, I’ve had it 3 times.

Zebra3

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Be careful, I’ve had it 3 times.

Not sure if serious due to username. :pac:

Lillyfae

For those of you who were never tested, how do you know for sure that you had it? There was an interview with a doctor from Cork yesterday apparently warning of the dangers of it (even though he was back to normal life very quickly) who was tested twice and both tests came back negative- am I missing something??

sekond

Lillyfae wrote: »

For those of you who were never tested, how do you know for sure that you had it? There was an interview with a doctor from Cork yesterday apparently warning of the dangers of it (even though he was back to normal life very quickly) who was tested twice and both tests came back negative- am I missing something??

In my case an A&E doc who was, at that stage, dealing exclusively with covid cases, said I was a classic presentation of it - between timelines and symptoms, and to act as if I had it, even though I couldn't be tested because I didn't fit criteria. She also said that in some way testing was irrelevant for me - that it was more useful as a public health measure, and that for individuals knowing whether you had it or not didnt change the recommended treatment/advice. (Admittedlt, this was when the testing system was overloaded, so I I going to be tested one way or another)

I'd had similar advice though from a doctor during swine flu when my daughter got a nasty flu. He said there was no point dragging her in to be tested, as his advice was exactly the same one way or another.

Van.Bosch

sekond wrote: »

In my case an A&E doc who was, at that stage, dealing exclusively with covid cases, said I was a classic presentation of it - between timelines and symptoms, and to act as if I had it, even though I couldn't be tested because I didn't fit criteria. She also said that in some way testing was irrelevant for me - that it was more useful as a public health measure, and that for individuals knowing whether you had it or not didnt change the recommended treatment/advice. (Admittedlt, this was when the testing system was overloaded, so I I going to be tested one way or another)

I'd had similar advice though from a doctor during swine flu when my daughter got a nasty flu. He said there was no point dragging her in to be tested, as his advice was exactly the same one way or another.

I’d do an antibody yest if I was in your situation, I’ve no doubt the doc was right but I’d just like to see.

kippy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Interesting to see that, despite Boards being the busiest I've seen it in almost a decade, that there's just 17/18 replies to this thread so far

A couple of reasons:

Thanks to numerous restrictions a relatively small amount of the population have had this disease. Others didn't know they had it.
Boards, while busy, doesn't have a user base reflective of the population.
Not everyone wants to share.

Having read accounts on this site and others and knowing the percentages involved in asymptomatic cases etc. It's a disease I'd rather not get than get. It is difficult to know how it will effect an individual until the individual gets it.

Thanks to those who are sharing and may you all get back to normal soon if not already.

Fr_Dougal

Lillyfae wrote: »

For those of you who were never tested, how do you know for sure that you had it? There was an interview with a doctor from Cork yesterday apparently warning of the dangers of it (even though he was back to normal life very quickly) who was tested twice and both tests came back negative- am I missing something??

You can’t know for sure.

Peopl get bugs, cold etc and the symptoms are quite similar to mild cases. Without a test or an antibody test I’d take all self-diagnosis, or even those by a medical professional (without validation by a test) with a grain of salt.

kippy

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

You can’t know for sure.

Peopl get bugs, cold etc and the symptoms are quite similar to mild cases. Without a test or an antibody test I’d take all self-diagnosis, or even those by a medical professional (without validation by a test) with a grain of salt.

Agree with all of this. I know a number of people who were full sure they had it. Antibody tests said otherwise.

Lillyfae

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

You can’t know for sure.

Peopl get bugs, cold etc and the symptoms are quite similar to mild cases. Without a test or an antibody test I’d take all self-diagnosis, or even those by a medical professional (without validation by a test) with a grain of salt.

I agree. Know a few hypochondriacs who swear they've had it, who were refused testing by their respective doctors. I would imagine that their doctors are well aware of their hypochondria, wanted to save the capacity for actual cases where contact tracing would be important, and just told them something to get them to stop putting pressure on the system. I'm not saying that that's the situation in all cases, but I'd imagine that it features heavily. One particular person from that cohort went to another country for a test, still tested negative and still says that they had it :rolleyes:

Pablo Escobar

kippy wrote: »

Agree with all of this. I know a number of people who were full sure they had it. Antibody tests said otherwise.

A negative antibody test doesn’t mean they didn’t have it either. A significant portion won’t develop antibodies. Apparently, there’ll develop a level of T cell immunity but I’m unsure if there’s a test for that.

kippy

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

A negative antibody test doesn’t mean they didn’t have it either. A significant portion won’t develop antibodies. Apparently, there’ll develop a level of T cell immunity but I’m unsure if there’s a test for that.

We don't have figures around either number tbf but yes, it is off course possible these people had it and still got a negative in the antibody test - but all 4 of them?

CalamariFritti

Very small chance I had it. Had a very unusual ‘cold’ around Christmas. Scratchy cough that never loosened up but just went away after a week together with a bit under the weather. So yes a tiny ‘maybe’ but most likely no.

Thought later on I might get the antibody test done when they became available for around €80 just to see but didn’t when I heard how inaccurate they were.

dinnybyrne

Im 34 and I tested positive in March. I would have considered myself fit and healthy at the time. The first week I had a dry and persistent cough, I am a frontline worker and was on leave that week luckily enough. Only on the last day of leave I started getting headaches and rang the doctor, its a difficult decision as you dont want to be seen to be using the pandemic to get time off work. After the first week it got worse, difficulty breathing, head and ear aches, no taste or smell, extreme fatigue. My wife and son ended up getting it too- son was 2 and only had mild symptoms. We were/ still are fatigued but are 95 % of the way healed, the lingering fatigue is a big thing and my GP was useless!!

lolokeogh

Last wednesday had sniffle and a cold,feeling off been tired,also a slight sore throat,thursday the same nothing drastic changed,friday i looking like a bag of sh*t and was feeling worse,saturday i was rattled,in bed shivering,high temp,tripping out un de covers,i have improved since,execpt for one big thing,i have not got one ounce of a smell,nothing,i can not even smell after shave sprayed in front of me,the woman is the same,her breathing took a battering,but she just seems to have a slight cold now also,kids got tested waiting on results,id stick me gaf on them having corona,we defo do,results were positive..

Pablo Escobar

kippy wrote: »

We don't have figures around either number tbf but yes, it is off course possible these people had it and still got a negative in the antibody test - but all 4 of them?

It's very unclear on how many people will develop them. It's variable in current testing and we also don't know how many people have actually had the illness. It's highly likely that it's many multiple times what has been confirmed. The unconfirmed are most likely to have been to the milder end and as far as I'm aware milder cases tend to correlate with lack of antibodies.

Of course, it's also likely that none of them had it. I've had loads of people tell me "I was dying in December".....that doesn't tally with my suspected case. I felt absolutely fine (in general) but I couldn't breath properly. But as far as we know it hits different people with different symptoms with differing levels of severity. I'd be slow to dismiss somebody, but I'd be cautious at the same time.