HB7

Currently day 8 and my test today has a very faint line, however the last 24 hours have arguably been the worst. I’ve had headaches, cold sweats, dizziness, severe nausea, throat pain, tingling all over my body and extremely high levels of tiredness/lethargy and some (small) chest pains.

I have been waiting for an ambulance since 9 am and honestly I can’t remember having sustained pain and discomfort for this long.

DaveS

Sorry to hear you are having such a rough time of it. FWIW that is what my rapid test looked like early on day 8 when I had it in December. I had no symptoms by that point though. Maybe you have something else in addition to COVID?

corporate-wage-slave

Oh dear, hopefully A&E have been giving you some tests to find out the cause. Those symptoms are certainly within COVID's scope, but they can be other things too (e.g. food poisoning), so if you feel this bad then ringing 111 is the first step and I guess it's their advice to get an ambulance. That line would suggest to me you are within 48 hours of getting over COVID but sometimes this virus doesn't go to plan. And in particular if you do get something else while low with COVID then other things can creep in and can make a minor problem quite serious. But try not to worry too much, it's rare for people your age to have significant problems, and recovery is usually fairly quick. They may give you anti-virals now, steroids possibly, perhaps a drip to keep dehydration out of the mix, or perhaps antibiotics.

And don't take any guilt on for this, which many people do. It's a highly infectious virus which is very difficult to avoid and even ICU staff who spend their entire shifts in advanced PPE sometimes succomb. It's not your fault.

HB7

Ambulance came and paramedics did some checks and said I just need rest, plenty of fluids and paracetamol every 4 hrs. I do feel a little better now, however, I’m just worried about the next few days.

HB7

Thanks DaveS, it seems like it’s just Covid according to the paramedics and I’ve just had a rougher go of it.

corporate-wage-slave

At least the advice is consistent! What is plenty of fluids? When your urine has very little colour.

The paramedics will have seen hundreds of cases of this, so from experience they will know who needs to go to hospital. You are certainly better off out of hospital if you can avoid it. So I would take some comfort that you weren't taken out of your home. You will be naturally worried and concerned about the next few days, that's quite normal, you would be less than human to be otherwise. But though you know at first hand what a wretched illness this is, nevertheless you will get better quite soon. So music on, Trip Reports and fantasy travel plans lined up, your favourite soft drinks, a few paracetamols and you will be over it soon. If you like fizzy drinks like cola but you can't face them at the moment, try them after leaving the fizz to work off for a bit. And by all means ring 111, tomorrow morning perhaps, just to bounce off them any changes to symptoms.

HB7

Thanks for the advice CWS! I can report that today I’m feeling significantly better and have no plans to go anywhere today or tomorrow. Trip reports, Seinfeld and a couple of Bond movies have basically been on the agenda.

CWS - you mentioned soft drinks, should I try and drink these or is it better to stick to water and orange juice? Also, I’m terms of food to deliver, is pizza a bad idea?

corporate-wage-slave

Water and juice are great, so if they work for you, stick to that. It's just that some people get bored of them, and juice can be quite high in real sugars, albeit natural, so they end up not keeping hydrated by accident. So some people would normally drink more liquids if the range was wider, and it's actually more important to drink more. Even the slightly diuretic effect of tea and coffee is way secondary to the 300 ml of water and milk that goes into a mug. Anything non alcoholic. Flat coke is often used in many places to keep people going.

For food, I guess I'm suppose to recommend lentils and wholegrains, but frankly it's not the time to be on a diet, so whatever cheers you up will be fine for a brief period. But I'm supposed to say "5 fruit and veg a day, oily fish once or twice a week, lots of variety and colour in everything else, avoid repeating food choices from day to day". So focus on staying happy and positive, and I'm glad to see you have perked up a bit. It's often a bit of tail at this stage, slow improvements daily rather than big leaps.

HB7

Ah I see, that makes complete sense. Also, I could use some variety in terms of drinks. When it comes to food, my appetite in general is really down on what it is. I’m eating fruits and I’m trying to eat chicken but it’s coming in very small doses.

paulaf

I hope you feel better soon.

HB7

Thanks very much

13901

Ouch HB7, you really had the bad end of the stick. Get well soon!

corporate-wage-slave

That's common with COVID, the usual area of course is that when things don't smell and taste the same then the attraction of cooking them or getting them in will go away. It's also common to be so lethargic that even the act of getting food in is a trial. Basically you need to get 2,000 to 2,500 calories into you ideally, not the end of the world if it's a bit short. Smoothies may be part of the answer, plain food like baked potatoes, breakfast cereal, porridge, grilled chicken and peppers on cous-cous. The pizza can perhaps go over a day or two if needed.

HB7

Thanks 13901 its been rough!

HB7

is it normal to get nauseated when eating almost anything? I got a turkey sub from subway and my problem is I just feel almost disgusted by eating at all. That would be great when I need to lose weight, just not the time for it now!