Covid for 4 weeks & still bed ridden. Anyone else had prolonged severe illness without hospitalization
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Hi,
I've had Covid19 for 4 weeks and if I had the energy I'd be tearing my hair out.
I've had 2 sets of prohylactic antibiotics to safeguard against bacterial infections, my temperature has been up and down but never higher than 38 the entire illness.
I've had severe neuropathy during the illness and some kind of night seizures accompanying the other more well publicised symptoms that mean my sleep is terrible also.
I went to hospital Day 14 after a week of seriously thinking I'm on death's door and my blood oxygen was good enough to be sent home for follow up at the Covid Hubs where they basically just take temperature, pulse and oxygen levels.
I was prescribed a 2nd course of antibiotics there as my temperature was still up and they are checking in on me every few days.
Meanwhile I am having one better day, then another terrible day, then a better day then a worse day..But 'better' is still bed ridden, just means I can breath well enough and not too dizzy to make myself my own cup of tea, have a shower and engage in some small talk with my family.
Everytime I have a good few hours I think, that must be me getting well now, but no, 4 weeks later and the last 24 hrs my breathlessness has been worse than it was for the previous 5 days..Am about ready to shoot myself.
Is there anyone else that's experienced being so ill with this virus outside of an ICU setting where it's carried on this long?
Even ICU patients are recovering in 3-6weeks .
Cannot understand why I'm not getting well yet.
I have no underlying health issues and I'm in my 30s.
I don't know if I still have Covid or if this is post viral inflammation and fatigue..There is no way of knowing as they are not testing community cases. Every doctor just says it's definitely Covid but I have no idea if I've passed the peak of the illness or if i should still be worried it could get worse.
Just feel it's going on forever.
Be great to know if there's any non hospital stories of people being sick, as in still unable to do a thing this length of time.
Thanks!
19 likes, 5383 replies
dawn84999 Res35
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So it seems my 9 hour sleep the other night was a fluke .
Back to around 5 hours of broken sleep again.
Spent most of the day in bed yesterday feeling very lethargic with a headache.The last few days my upper body has ached making lifting a kettle ,opening the fridge and reaching for a drink feel like I've done a session with weights and pulling myself up out of the bath warrants a few groans with the effort.
Chest still feels a bit sore but no phlegm and a few little coughs here and there.Still getting a little breathless after climbing stairs ect .
I've recieved my last test results and they came back negative, taken on day 37.So definitely in recovery stage now.
I emailed my local MP this morning highlighting our situation and also told him of the email sent by LuLu .I just think the louder we shout the better.
Hope you all have a good day x
Res35 dawn84999
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Good for you Dawn.
It's brilliant you've felt up to this.
I had a good sleep last night which was much needed after 3 nights of really poor sleep.
It really is restorative and of course so linked to inflammation.
I was same as you yesterday..Lethargic all day and mainly in bed with a headache and tight chest after an otherwise quite good week.
Today a little better though at least. I'm on amitriptyline though for the nerve pain which is def a sleep aid. Before they out me on it I wasn't sleeping well for pretty much the first whole month of this virus.
dawn84999 Res35
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Hi
Glad you're feeling better for a good sleep and hopefully your good day continues.
I actually didn't feel that great when I got my fluke 9 hours sleep but it might have just been a down day.
Not feeling too bad today ,well much better than yesterday but I realised how breathless I can get when I had to bring in my bags from my food delivery into the hall,I had to take a breather before attempting the putting away.
Have a nice evening and hopefully another goodnights sleep x
Aliq Res35
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Hi Res,
Hope its ok to keep asking questions? ive never actually used a forum until this one but please let me know if I am breaking any rules or forum etiquett.
Early on when I first had symptoms of the virus i experienced a burning pain across my shoulders, back and down my arms and following this an almost constant buzzing/reverberating/ tingling sensation mainly in my arms and thigh muscles. The other thing is, I get, ' flair ups ' where these areas burn , tighten up and I feel very shaky with a rapid pulse, this can last hours, anxiety kicks in to 'top it off' and I feel frightend. I wondered if this could be neurological and if anyone else has experienced it, or someone who had.
Just coming to the end of week 5 for me.Hope everyone is having a good day.
austin12345 Res35
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Hi guys,
I have come across your post and I'm in a similar situation, I wanted to ask if there is anybody that has had pain in their chest that feels like ache/bruised that is constantly there and makes it difficult to lay down on your back?. Also if you have random sharp pains at the front of your chest? and a tight sensation in the center of your chest bone that you want to sort of make it "pop"?
By the way I have been sick since the 4th of April.
Thanks for taking the time to read and have day.
MRMR austin12345
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Hi Austin
Welcome to the group. I think a lot of us have had weird chest aches and pains that come and go. Some associated with coughs and some with breathlessnes, while some have no obvious cause. Most of us have been told it's because of post- viral inflammation. What has your GP said to you? Are you from the States?
Mary😊
susan48029 austin12345
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Hi Austin we've all had the same as you and still getting pains etc and breathing probs and tight chests. I'm on 9 weeks and I'm just started to feel abit better apart from being puffy when out walking or doing housework, but by 6ish I'm knackered, hang in there.
austin12345 MRMR
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Hi Mary hope your days going well i'm actually from London. the thing with my situation i have been to the hospital 3 times and the first time i was i had an infection and was likely covid because of my symptoms and in my low white cell count on my blood test. i was then given doxy cilin to treat any other bacterial infection i might have. this was on the 4th of april then after about 6 days i started to feel this pain.
i have now the ache bruised feeling inside my upper back ,the pain went down a bit after a week and a bit then suddenly i started to get sharp pains in my chest at random times quite frequently.
i then went to the hospital again and they done more blood tests and xray and still nothing they sent me home and told me to take paracetamol. the sharp pains was then accompanied by dull pain in my liver area it felt like i could actually physically feel my liver.( it was weird).
then this went on for about a week;then, after i just had the tight chest, weakness and fatigue.
3 weeks after not having the constant pain in my chest and back it has now returned (it returned this monday gone) and it was really bad this time the ache was worse the sharp pains were really sharp and the tightness was worse and a slight cough, the pain got so bad i phoned 111 which is an advice medical line and when i spoke to the woman she straight away said i needed an ambulance. This was the 3rd time I had to go hospital. More blood tests than on my previous visits were made to check for blood clots, infections, signs of inflammation... they also checked my heart on the ecg and found nothing.
Its driving me nuts tbh! the hospital prescribed me codeine pills but they only work to an extent( the pain goes down a bit but I can still feel the pain as soon as it wears off) feels more like codeine just masks the pain rather than actually work to minimise it completely.
The doctor that saw me at the emergency services sent an email to my gp to book further tests on me. I am going to ask for a ct scan because I heard they are a bit more accurate.
Thanks for your prompt response, really appreciate it during these times.
Lulu2020 austin12345
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Hi Austin
I'm in London too. Have had all of the above over the last 8 weeks - come and go but the chest tightness has been there pretty constantly since week 3 it is improving slowly now but still get random pains in chest - had a pain all day yesterday which has now gone. Think you may be a week or two behind me and sounds like you have been well checked out so things should slowly improve. Think it has dawned on all of us that this does not just get better overnight - it is two steps forward and one back.
Wishing you better soon.
Lx
Gazza10 Lulu2020
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Morning guys and girls as you know I try to stay away from the media actually managed to watch a film yesterday still like everyone else I want to know why we are having to wait a long time to get back to some sort of normality well we are not the only ones an article from the new York Times saying that the Italian's are having the same problem basically all different tales as well so the news is finally getting out there some having the same problems going back to work too early obviously means must hopefully they got some good bosses Gary
jim90098 Gazza10
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Gary,
Was there any mention of time frames for recovery and was there news regarding a full recovery?
Jim.
Gazza10 jim90098
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Morning Jim I sent you a message so you can read it its basically the Italians are having the same issues as we are just different stories surviving covid 19 and the new York Times issue Gary
jim90098 Gazza10
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Hi Gary,
I've just read the article a couple of times and the associated posts to confirm the details.
On reading I did not read a complete recovery story to previous level of health from either Italy or America with cases dating back to February.
It looks as though the virus reoccurs on a regular basis, which looked to be confirmed by the guy who tested positive a couple of months after contraction and having tested negative previously at the start of his symptoms.
Jim.
maciej12002 jim90098
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But smear tests do not differentiate if the virus is active or there are some remaining bits of it's RNA, that's why it doesn't mean anything than just body clearing itself. I read somewhere it can take three months to completely remove all of the remaining of the virus, but it doesn't mean that it is still dangerous.
Gazza10 jim90098
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I'm sure a lot of them have recovered since though Jim also we had Michael who recovered probably may need a bit of time before all symptoms go but I'm sure we'll all get better in the future Jim let's try to get to the better side first and take it from there Jim try and enjoy your day Gary
dawn84999 Gazza10
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Morning,
Yes I read this article too,I actually posted it up onto to my Facebook page and a few people have shared it .
Hopefully more people will become aware.
Gazza10 dawn84999
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Morning dawn yes I feel like more people are coming to terms with the length of time now and hopefully even more so over here now Gary
jim90098 Gazza10
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Gary,
Your right I need to be a lot more positive about this.
I am sorry for the post but once I had read the article my mood dropped. I really don't know what is wrong with me regarding my sensitivity to news.
Fingers crossed we all make a full recovery.
Jim.
mkqq jim90098
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Let's not let articles like these bring down our positivity.
It is scary to read something like this and I'm also scared too but at the same time we know that there are many people who have suffered prolonged symptoms and have since recovered.
The overall trend is up. So trust that it will continue!
dawn84999 jim90098
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Morning Jim,
Try and stay positive,we'll all come out the other side I'm sure of it.I get how easy it is to become deflated though.
We just have a different pace that's all.
Taking two steps forward and one back seems to be the general but we're all unique and our journey varied.
We'll get there eventually x
jim90098 mkqq
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mkqq and Dawn,
Totally agree with your sentiments and I let my head drop.
Positivity is needed with this, as it'll aid recovery.
I just need reminding regularly.
Once again apologies for negativity.
Onward and upwards.
Jim.
Gazza10 jim90098
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Yes I know what you feel about the news Jim and glad to see that you are back in a positive mood we are going to have downturns now and again we wouldn't be humans if we didn't I look back and know you're getting somewhere doing things if not for long but doing them that I wouldn't have done a few weeks back and you probably are as well Jim saying that I'm having a lazy day today Gary
Lulu2020 jim90098
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Hi guys
I think we have to remember this is a virus - same as any cold/flu virus - it's just that it is a new virus that no-one knows anything about. If you get a bad dose of flu or pneumonia and still feel rough 7/8 weeks later you wouldn't panic you'd probably moan about it and feel fed up but not overly focus on it and then you'd gradually get better over time without even realising it. With this we are on total high alert (quite rightly) analysing every symptom and also everything going on in body which might not be related! This being respiratory related and new has made it even more scary for everyone.
About 6 years ago I was on a ski trip and literally had the worst cough ever (had never been prone to coughs before) was coughing till blue in face and think it might have actually been bronchitis or pneumonia - this was beginning of February and was still coughing at the end of March. I found it super annoying but wasn't particularly worried as it was slowly improving I didn't even go to doctor (maybe I should have!)
I don't know if I am speaking for everyone but think we have all improved?? or we are having more better days? that will continue and we will slowly recover but this time I think we will notice the recovery time as we are constantly monitoring ourselves.
I am going to try hard to stop using the Oximeter every day, taking my blood pressure, squeezing oranges/lemons until I have repetitive strain in hand(!), stop thinking if I eat something unhealthy occasionally it will hinder my recovery. I am SICK of being sick!!
I am going to try to be "normal" - I am going to meet friends this week albeit one at a time socially distanced for an hour at a time, I am going to have a small glass of wine with my dinner, am going to try not be thinking constantly about Covid 19 but also be aware of my body so as not to over do it.
That's my plan! Am off to the garden with a small glass of Prosecco to sit in sun.
(Yet another long ramble - I definitely talk too much been told that ALL my life!)
Stay positive, we will get there.
Lx
Lulu2020
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Whoops that was a give away, small glass of Prosecco in garden and small glass of wine with dinner but they are definitely small glasses!
Gazza10 Lulu2020
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Get a load of you go girl go enjoy your drink whichever and the rest of your day lulu dont be too naughty gary
jim90098 Lulu2020
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Lulu,
I echo your thoughts on little sugar and trying to return to normality.
As soon as I have more energy I'm going to attempt more.
One last thing, I like your posts!!!
Take care,
Jim.
Lulu2020 jim90098
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Ah thanks Jim, I have been really worried about you, and about all of us on here, funny how despite knowing little about one another - other than the colour of our phlegm (!!) and how many times we go to the loo (!) we have all connected and supported each other through probably one of the worst times of our lives. This has restored my faith, it really has. Have felt quite emotional since being ill, in fact have not cried as much for years (am normally a bit of a tough nut and don't show my emotions) I am taking this shift as a positive - I think I was too busy and wrapped up in my "perfect" life before this and didn't have time to be emotional. I think this has been a life changer for me in so many ways (hope that doesn't sound too dramatic?!) I will never, ever forget the long scary nights and how alone I felt even though I was lucky and had my partner with me. Ilness is a real leveller isn't it? - it doesn't discriminate.
Take care,
Lx
joanne82424 Lulu2020
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totally agree with you, Lulu, I feel so lucky to have survived the worst experience ever, it makes you appreciate everything so much more. So grateful for this forum 😃
susan48029 Lulu2020
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And me been for a walk managing hill better, had lunch in garden and chilled and been up later in evenings last couple nights, I'm not thinking of it I'm having time out from covid 19 ❤️
susan48029 joanne82424
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Nothing else is irrelevant if you don't have your health 😘