Hope it is ok to have a thread for my ramblings. I'd just like to record how things go for me because I am a very at risk person for Covid. To start I am not up to date with vaccination. I would have been due early December for my next, so I don't think I am well protected and could do this Covid very rough. I began getting a very sore throat about 5 days ago I think and my sinuses were doing their draining thing. I get this with ME, so thought I had overdone and having an ME bout of it. Something seemed very different though and I was so exhausted and tired walking when out. So I tested yesterday twice and both positive for Covid. I felt terrible when I woke up this morining about 4am. I feel more weak, not wanting to eat, have the runs (could be all the new season apricots and the combination vit.c, zinc and vit. d tablet I took. I will ring my GP surgery today (Sunday) and talk to a doctor. I already have an appointment with my GP tomorrow but will have to change it to a phone consult. I don't know what to do regarding antivirals. Am I too late for taking them. I feel like I will need antibiotics for my lungs in the next couple of days. If anyone responds to this thread with their own experiences of Covid, you are very welcome, but I might not be able to do a back and forth conversation so I will acknowledge with a like. I will do a post of how I progress each day. It could be very likely that I end up in hospital but will see how things go.
I'm so sorry to hear you caught Covid @AliceLily I contracted Covid almost one full year after my last vaccine in 2022. We all experience symptoms differently. I didn't get a fever but I did get a sore throat, coughing, and loss of appetite for 5 days. The leg muscle exhaustion only started around the 6th day and lasted for 3 weeks. I had irregular heart beats when I moved too fast so I took it easy. I didn't take any medications. I haven't kept up to date on the medication protocol because it keeps changing. Let us know how it goes with your consult.
Thanks Mij, it's interesting to see your timescales. I just called the doctors surgery and I think I will just wait until my telephone consult with my GP tomorrow. I think I might too late for antivirals. I would like to have antibiotics on standby for if things deteriorate with a heavy chest infection. I know how I feel from past experience of colds when I am needing the help of antibiotics. I was thinking yesterday how for the last 30 odd years I have felt like I haven't got long to live. If I am still here at 70 years old I will be very amazed. I am now coming up 61 in December and amazed I got this far.
I think I am at the stage now where I could start having breathing problems. I can feel that my chest has some inflammation. I don't know whether to take ibuprofen for this or not. I am taking panadol. I have started to cough some stuff up. I have to decide when I should start the antibiotic's. I was up at 3am and had a shower and washed my hair at 4am in case I got too weak and sick to do it. So at least my hair feels clean for the time being. My suitcase is packed, ready in case I need to call an ambulance.
I'm in bed with one right now, for the second time in 3 years. No, I haven't got it tested; I'm away from my other home and don't have access to the free test kit. (There is no universal healthcare in the US, you are pretty much left on your own device away from home unless you are willing to shell out.) But I presume it is COVID because of the severity and loss of smell. If you have access to antivirals, I'd take it. It should shorten the duration even after a few days into the sickness. It's just less effective, that's all. That's an option I don't have here, unless I pay hundreds $.
How far along are you with the Covid @poetinsf ? I can't quite work out whether I am going to develop a chest infection or just have this inflamed asthma like feeling.
What is happening here in connection with ME and a virus where the ME draining of sinuses is from having really overdone and the draining of the sinuses when you have a cold virus. What is the difference, or how are they connected to cause the sinuses to drain for two different reasons.
It's now 5th day since my symptoms appeared. I sedated myself heavily last night with 2 sleeping pills and cough suppressant and now I seem to be on the recovery trajectory. Still can't smell food though. I do have asthma, and Bronkaid pills works best for me to reduce the cough frequency. Now I have to out and buy another box of Bronkaid... Get well soon!
Be careful guys! I thought I recovered after 3.5 weeks, waited a week to be sure before I did anything strenuous, went for a wonderful 50 minute power walk and felt great, but couldn't stand up on my legs or walk the next morning for the next 3 weeks.
I tested negative today for Covid. I'm still stuffy in the nose with a wee bit of drainage from the sinuses, but that feels like it is trying to get rid of the tail end of Covid. My lungs are still a bit inflamed but able to breathe ok. I have the Covid cough. I haven't had to take the antibiotics which has surprised me. I'm doing better than a nasty cold. I am hoping very much that I continue to recover well. How is your chest @poetinsf
Congrats for getting over the virus! I'm still coughing also, but it's fairly well controlled and productive. It seems I'm recovering my smell too: I can taste coffee a little bit, not just bitterness. My first encounter with COVID, which I actually got tested for, lasted 2 weeks. The acute phase lasted a week and then another week of struggle getting back on my feet with drained/exhausted feel. I attempted to climb the highest peak in New Mexico during that time and then gave up with 1 mile to go because my legs felt like Jello. I'll have to admit, a bit of fear that I might relapse with ME/CFS for the rest of my life had something to do with it as well. But the experience told me that exertion during COVID didn't have lasting effect on me, so this time I'm fearlessly doing whatever I need to do till I physically can't. If I did that with ME/CFS, I'd be in bed for weeks. That is the difference between cold/flu/COVID and ME/CFS for me: I can power through the sickness, but not ME/CFS.
The last couple of days I have noticed that my mental clarity is returning back to the ME brain. During Covid I was able to think more easily. Food preparation was good because I was able to gather my thoughts together well to look after myself properly. Now, the last couple of days I feel like I am drifting back into that ME brain space where it is harder to think. I did very well during Covid mentally. It has to be true that I did have better clarity during Covid because I am noticing a difference now that my Covid is nearly gone. Thanks @poetinsf for sharing a timeline of Covid with me. It helped, I didn't feel so alone.
Both times I had covid (2022 and 2024), once my very high fever passed, I felt great for about 3 weeks in terms of mental acuity and creativity and energy before it returned to my normal ME/CFS fogginess. Hope you have no lasting damage from your infection and recovery goes smoothly, @AliceLily.
I'd just to record some things that I did differently when I found out I had Covid. The first week of Covid I thought my sinuses were playing up, but when I began sneezing with a runny nose I tested. So at this point I made some changes. I will record them here for future reference in case I forget. 1. I stopped any unnecessary sugary food. (I am not diabetic, just wanted my body not to have to work so hard). 2. Prepared meals of lots of cooked vegetables and meat for lunch and tea, enough to last for 2 days at a time. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon I had a good number of fresh fruit; apricots, plums, strawberries and watermelon. 3. Made many cups of tea. (10-15 cups each day) 4. Opened the bottle of combination high strength Vit.C, Vit.D and Zinc supplement that I had bought especially for when I got Covid. 1x daily in the morning. 5. 2 Panadol in the morning. 6. Gargled salt water 1x daily. (after lunch) 7. Gargled aspro clear 1x daily (in the evening) 8. Sat upright with a good number of pillows in bed all day until bedtime. I did lie flat for sleep. This I did for the last week of Covid.
