The main covid symptoms???

borolad259

borolad259

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Staff member
We were all told to look out for a persistent dry cough, fever and shortness of breath. These were the key identifiers, we were told.

Gradually a few more symptoms were identified as possible markers: anosmia, gastric distress, conjunctivitis etc.

Now, I look at the symptom percentages and a productive phlegmy/thick sputum cough is present in a third of confirmed cases. Now I doubted that I'd had Covid 19 because I didn't have much fever (a temp of 37.7 for one morning) and a productive cough which was later accompanied by tight chest and, something I'd never felt before, lung pain. I had one morning of gastric issues (which could have been anything). A bit of itchy eye ... which can be hay fever at this time of the year. The lung pain and productive cough has been waxing and waning for 12 weeks now. I'd be fine for 2 days then it would come back. I also noticed earlier that when I was running on the hills, my lung capacity/function was drastically reduced. Climbs that I could normally sail up were really hard work ... and I'd have to stop for a breather.

12 weeks on and I still have to clear claggy sputum in the mornings, but the lung pain has gone completely and I can run the hills without gasping again.

My sysmptoms came after spending time in close company with people who had fever, but not the dry cough, in February.

I am now completely confused as to whether or not I have had a very mild Covid 19 or some other weird respiratory tract infection. Anyone else have similar odd, ongoing, returning symptoms?
 
I can't answer your question, but everyone in my household got ill. Myself and my youngest got fairly poorly for a about a week, and my partner and eldest just got a bad cough. I would be convinced I'd had it because it was like nothing I've had before, apart from like you we got ill in February. What would the chances of catching it in Redcar in February be?
 
borolad259 said:
We were all told to look out for a persistent dry cough, fever and shortness of breath. These were the key identifiers, we were told.

Gradually a few more symptoms were identified as possible markers: anosmia, gastric distress, conjunctivitis etc.

Now, I look at the symptom percentages and a productive phlegmy/thick sputum cough is present in a third of confirmed cases. Now I doubted that I'd had Covid 19 because I didn't have much fever (a temp of 37.7 for one morning) and a productive cough which was later accompanied by tight chest and, something I'd never felt before, lung pain. I had one morning of gastric issues (which could have been anything). A bit of itchy eye ... which can be hay fever at this time of the year. The lung pain and productive cough has been waxing and waning for 12 weeks now. I'd be fine for 2 days then it would come back. I also noticed earlier that when I was running on the hills, my lung capacity/function was drastically reduced. Climbs that I could normally sail up were really hard work ... and I'd have to stop for a breather.

12 weeks on and I still have to clear claggy sputum in the mornings, but the lung pain has gone completely and I can run the hills without gasping again.

My sysmptoms came after spending time in close company with people who had fever, but not the dry cough, in February.

I am now completely confused as to whether or not I have had a very mild Covid 19 or some other weird respiratory tract infection. Anyone else have similar odd, ongoing, returning symptoms?
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It was said that just one of cough or fever, and more recently lost of taste or smell, were symptoms. There are others, but they would always be present with at least one of the three. There have been accounts of continuing symptoms; one doctor had had them for 54 days when interviewed.

Hope you get over this soon.
 
I work in a small team based down south, and in mid February, several members of the team, and some of their family members were bed ridden with ‘flu’. Some other guys in our extended work group were bed ridden with ‘flu’ and lost smell and taste for weeks.

I think I know of maybe one or two people every couple of years who have proper flu. (Not simply a cold that people mistakenly call flu). Then all of a sudden I know of 4 people in a few weeks. Of course, it’s plausible that one person had the proper flu and spread it round the team, but the weird thing was that at the same time another colleague was complaining that she couldn’t taste or smell anything for a good week. This was all way before it really kicked off.
Anyway, this article is interesting reading and it really seems m like it’s been around a good month or two before was thought -

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-uk-coronavirus-cases-from-2019-come-to-light

The sooner antibody testing is ramped up, and cases of pneumonia from December and January are examined and further investigated, the better.
 
borolad259 said:
We were all told to look out for a persistent dry cough, fever and shortness of breath. These were the key identifiers, we were told.

Gradually a few more symptoms were identified as possible markers: anosmia, gastric distress, conjunctivitis etc.

Now, I look at the symptom percentages and a productive phlegmy/thick sputum cough is present in a third of confirmed cases. Now I doubted that I'd had Covid 19 because I didn't have much fever (a temp of 37.7 for one morning) and a productive cough which was later accompanied by tight chest and, something I'd never felt before, lung pain. I had one morning of gastric issues (which could have been anything). A bit of itchy eye ... which can be hay fever at this time of the year. The lung pain and productive cough has been waxing and waning for 12 weeks now. I'd be fine for 2 days then it would come back. I also noticed earlier that when I was running on the hills, my lung capacity/function was drastically reduced. Climbs that I could normally sail up were really hard work ... and I'd have to stop for a breather.

12 weeks on and I still have to clear claggy sputum in the mornings, but the lung pain has gone completely and I can run the hills without gasping again.

My sysmptoms came after spending time in close company with people who had fever, but not the dry cough, in February.

I am now completely confused as to whether or not I have had a very mild Covid 19 or some other weird respiratory tract infection. Anyone else have similar odd, ongoing, returning symptoms?
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That sounds very rough Borolad, I hope you're back to 100% fighting fitness soon.
 
It’s all very confusing isn’t it and people quite rightly want to know if they have had it or got it.
I think the research recently showed that of those tested (so, thought they had it for a variety of reasons) 80% tested negative so the assumption is they didn’t have it.
You could roll that up, I suppose, and say 80% of those who think they have had/got it - actually haven’t.
Then you have to factor in the error rate in testing

It isn’t easy
 
1finny said:
It’s all very confusing isn’t it and people quite rightly want to know if they have had it or got it.
I think the research recently showed that of those tested (so, thought they had it for a variety of reasons) 80% tested negative so the assumption is they didn’t have it.
You could roll that up, I suppose, and say 80% of those who think they have had/got it - actually haven’t.
Then you have to factor in the error rate in testing

It isn’t easy
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Isn’t there also the issue that some who have had it simply wont have antibodies at the time of testing because they take a while to develop.
They may not develop at all if it’s a mild dose and the body’s innate T-cell immune response deals with the virus quickly? (I’m sure I read that somewhere, but I may be wrong)
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Isn’t there also the issue that some who have had it simply wont have antibodies at the time of testing because they take a while to develop.
They may not develop at all if it’s a mild dose and the body’s innate T-cell immune response deals with the virus quickly? (I’m sure I read that somewhere, but I may be wrong)
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Yes - there are all sorts of variables.
My mate had it, was on a ventilator - his wife and kids totally symptom free but never tested.
I know a local pharmacy where the manager tested positive. All 5 other staff members went for tests and were positive. No symptoms at all.

Go figure eh?
 
My partner got tested and we believe they managed to lose it so it came back 'unclear' after over a week.

Lethargy, tight chest, breathing difficulty for a week particularly in bed.

I had a tight chest and the runs (grim) for a couple of days.

Cannot confirm or deny we've had it.
 
I had something strange around the end of February. I had the flu jab early November and that kept me clear of everything until I went to the Lakes for a weekend late Feb. It was very cold with snow on the hills and we did the Cat Bells and another moderate hill near Keswick, I got a bit cold and wet on the Saturday, not too bad on the Sunday but breathed in a lot of very cold air.
Within a day or two I had a throat which felt like somebody was scraping a needle down it and also got a dry cough. Although it wasn’t a chest cough my lungs were very sensitive particularly at night, my chest ached and I struggled to get to sleep. I was also short of energy and had a bad head, everything was hard work and an effort to do. This went on for two to three weeks and I was gradually improving and then the lockdown came along and I was pleased to be able to stay at home and get myself better. After another week or two I felt better but the lungs thing and throat kept coming and going. Then after another couple of weeks I suddenly lost energy altogether and struggled to get out of bed and do anything much for about a week and then it went as soon as it came and I was better again.
I feel better now than I have for weeks and weeks. One thing which makes me think I haven’t had Covid 19 is that I’ve not had high temperatures or fever, but if I had the antibody test and was found to be positive it would not surprise me.
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Isn’t there also the issue that some who have had it simply wont have antibodies at the time of testing because they take a while to develop.
They may not develop at all if it’s a mild dose and the body’s innate T-cell immune response deals with the virus quickly? (I’m sure I read that somewhere, but I may be wrong)
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This thinking seems to be more prevalent amongst virologists and immunologists now. It has certainly been confirmed in Sweden that people known to have had Covid 19 don't always test positive for antibodies.

That Guardian article is very interesting. Andy Gill's illness/death in particular. I have a friend who came back from the far east in December, going down with pneumonia shortly after. Spent 6 days in intensive care ... yet never tested. My parents came back from Egypt early Feb and my father went down with the classic Covid symptoms. My mam had a bit of a cough.

Perhaps we should worry less now about whether or not we have had it and look more to the future to see if the pandemic runs out of steam (as predicted by many epidemiologists).

For my part, the cough and lung pain were just mildy unpleasant. I mean, I was still able to run.... though I wouldn't actually have run at all if I thought that what I had was Covid 19 at the time.
 
Fluffycarpet said:
I can't answer your question, but everyone in my household got ill. Myself and my youngest got fairly poorly for a about a week, and my partner and eldest just got a bad cough. I would be convinced I'd had it because it was like nothing I've had before, apart from like you we got ill in February. What would the chances of catching it in Redcar in February be?
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Well I was really at the end of February in Redcar too

I was cold like but accompanied by a loss of appetite, and then I had gastric discomfort and had to take a day off work. Lasted about 12 hours. Didn’t take my temperature but just felt like crap. No flem or snot.

I had the flu in December too.
 
My wife had a bacterial lung infection in January, which was followed by a viral lung infection the month after. She wasn't tested for Covid19. Her symptoms were chest pain and difficulty breathing, this was particularly bad. It lasted for around a month during which time I picked it up. I had no pain or severe breathlessness but I had a terrible cough which produced a lot of discharge. It lasted for over a month, closer to two. I felt very lethargic during the first month or so.

During my wife's two infections she made a number of visits to the GP without being offered a test. I didn't visit the GP but did phone 111, for what use that was.

We'd both like to have the antibody test to confirm whether or not we've had the virus and hope we're able to within the next year or two.

I know that this won't prevent us from getting it again, not impact upon our social distancing practices for the future.
 
Fluffycarpet said:
I can't answer your question, but everyone in my household got ill. Myself and my youngest got fairly poorly for a about a week, and my partner and eldest just got a bad cough. I would be convinced I'd had it because it was like nothing I've had before, apart from like you we got ill in February. What would the chances of catching it in Redcar in February be?
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Nobody can say for certain but some would have you believe it wasn't possible because people didn't start dying until March.

I'm the same as you, I am certain I had it in January. Infact if I felt as poorly now as I did then with the same symptoms I would be isolating and getting a test done. It was far worse than any man flu, I literally crawled downstairs fromy bed before crawling back up to bed. No energy, tight chest, shallow breathing. Family members from other households were alsopoorly, my mother for 2 weeks solid worse than I was and antibiotics didn't even help her.
 
GazC_MFC said:
Well I was really at the end of February in Redcar too

I was cold like but accompanied by a loss of appetite, and then I had gastric discomfort and had to take a day off work. Lasted about 12 hours. Didn’t take my temperature but just felt like crap. No flem or snot.

I had the flu in December too.
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I accept it may be a tad late but why can't testing be made available for all? From brief searching it's very affordable in some countries Egypt for example.
 
I had one day of feeling really ill towards the end of January. Came out of nowhere, I felt sick and was totally lethargic and jaded, had a cough, didn't check temperature but didn't think about a fever as Coronavirus was only just starting to be in the news in China. Was like nothing I've ever had before. Felt fine the next day. I guess the only way to find out is pay a fortune for an anti-body test.
 
I had a constant cough and a lot of flem for around a week or so the first week of March, but most notably, a rash... there were a couple reports late April about this being a rare symptom. I never get rashes and this was very irritable on my bank/shoulders.
 
TheYorkshireTerrier said:
I had a constant cough and a lot of flem for around a week or so the first week of March, but most notably, a rash... there were a couple reports late April about this being a rare symptom. I never get rashes and this was very irritable on my bank/shoulders.
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Yeah my 5yr old got a rash. She has had a million colds and illnesses and she takes it in her stride. But this was the first time she has let illness effect her and slept on the sofa for days.
 
Don't forget that it makes you so blind that only a 1.5-hour drive can determine if you can actually see or not. Also, if you have previously had to wear contact lenses because you are 'blind as a bat', you might have to pull out a pair of spectacles to back your egg-in-a-bun mate up.
 
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