Positive pcr yesterday and it has gone straight to my lungs! My peakflow is at 60% of best and I'm taking regular salbutamol, but the breathlessness is the worst I've ever had! Spoke to G.P who has told me to continue what I'm doing but I feel absoloutly rubbish, this has hit me harder than expected! I have all of the covid symptoms and feeling proper sorry for myself 🤣
Has anyone got any tips or advice that helped them through?
Watch Patrick McGowan on YouTube, focus on slow long deep breathing, it will pass within a few days. Salbutamol does not help covid
I have been practicing breathing exercises but unfortunately it's not just covid that's effecting me but my asthma. My peak flow has dropped considerably and regular salbutamol is helping.
I haven't long been out of hospital with an asthma attack so my lungs were not fully recovered.
Do you mean Patrick McKeown who does the buteyko clinic? Asthma UK have information about Buteyko. They have arranged for a physiotherapist to call me about my breathing as I am having trouble after a non covid virus. I hope that you feel better Melanie
I don't have much useful advice, sorry - managed to avoid the plague so far (touch wood). Crap timing though if you've just come out of hosp (but maybe you caught it there? A lot of reported hospitalisations for COVID seem to be people catching it there while in for something else).
Other than that I guess keep doing the breathing exercises as they can help with COVID from what I've heard from others who had it with severe asthma. On the asthma side I guess do your usual, though I realise this may be limited given what I know of your general asthma situation!
Are you eligible for COVID antivirals due to pred use? I think sometimes they contact you but may be good to be proactive (difficult when you feel crap) and see if you can ask anyone as you obviously need to get it done asap. Otherwise there is the PANORAMIC trial but you may end up in the control group - link in case it's useful: panoramictrial.org/
Hope you feel better soon and one side lets up at least!
Thanks Lysistrata! Yeah I was contacted about antivirals but didn't make the cut.. Trials are all full... I've been on pred for The last 3 weeks but they said that wasn't enough and it's mainly for cancer patients and people being treated for bowel disease... tbf she was nice and said she thought I deserved the trial but the evidence wasn't there to back it up...
I have been referred to the virtual covid ward though so they ring everyday. It's just the weirdest thing as one minute I feel I'm getting better then for the next 3 hours struggling to breathe!
I am grateful that salbutamol has been super effective just not lasting as long as I would like.. Its hard to differentiate between covid and asthma but as the inhaler is so effective I'm guessing mostly asthma..
I'm on placement at the hospital, so either way it's definitely originated there! I'm just upset as I thought I was immune 🤣
I wasn't worried about catching it as even severe asthmatics were saying it was mild, so I was quite blasè... it however has hit me full force and I'm so thankful I'm vaccinated.
I hope you continue to stay covid free!
Ah that's annoying re antivirals! And terrible timing as asthma can make you feel crap enough as can being just out of hosp!! Definitely good you're vaccinated to save it being any worse. Just hope it doesn't last too long. I have also been a bit blasé so I know what you mean.
You are having the same reaction as me- salbutamol did an amazing job to the point where within seconds it felt like my lungs were perfectly fine. GP even listened to my lungs about An hour after taking and couldn’t hear any wheeze. I found asthma calmed down at about day 5 and it moved towards more Covid short of breath. Biggest recommendation I can make is start doing nasal rinses ASAP. I wish I’d had the brain power to figure that out I’m the first week. My nose wasn’t bad the first few days but the sinus pain was horrendous. After a few days though the amount of junk was horrendous and now 6weeks down the line I’m finally only getting control over it the last few days.
The salbutamol has been an actual life saver! As you describe it is the most effective it's ever been. Sorry to hear you were rubbish with it to, but it's nice to speak to someone who has had a similar experience! Everyone else say mild cold symptoms...
Thanks for the tip about the sinus rinse, I can feel the tell-tale sinus pain starting already..
Hope you continue to recover!
HelloI had covid last July and it was dreadful and really frightening. I couldn’t breathe properly either for over a week. The thing that got me through was breathing exercises. You can find them on the internet. Hope you get well soon.
Hi I had Covid back in February the dry cough really upset my chest and I felt very breathless. My peak flow was in the low 300s. I found my ventolin made little difference but my doctor upped my symbicort to 3 puffs 4 times a day and it really helped. I was quite anxious but found a breathing exercise where you breath in slowly for a count of 4 hold for a slow count of four, breath out for a count of seven. It's tiring but really helped both the breathlessness and the anxiety. I turned around after about 10 days, cough lingered for another few days. I'm now on two puffs of symbicort at night and one in the morning. Feeling great again. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.
That's so good to hear that your now on the mend. Good luck.
Hi Melanie. My asthma has been uncontrolled due to poor care from my GP and asthma nurse. Then I got covid and I've felt so horrid and was in tears to doctor last week. My best support has been from the Asthma and Lung UK asthma nurses. A great lifeline. X
Am I right in thinking that if your reliever inhaler helps with the breathlessness, the breathlessness is due to asthma rather than Covid? I tested positive this morning and I've had to use my blue twice today - it definitely makes a difference - my peak flow went from around 330 to 500 in minutes both times. It's just a bit worrying as I don't want to assume it's asthma breathlessness if it's Covid instead.
I found it difficult to tell, but my reliever and steroids helped, so am assuming it was probably a bit of both!
I think the fact that your reliever helps and improves peakflow, shows that there is an asthma element. If you are using your reliever more than every 3-4 hours or you get worse, I would get advice from your g.p or phone 111 just to make sure as you may need steroids.
Thank you! I think I'm just a bit twitchy because I knew someone who got a positive Covid test and was dead 48 hours later from it, so although I know there is only a tiny percentage of a chance I will go the same way, a small part of my brain is asking me 'what if you are in that percentage?'
How awful! Having that experience will understandably make you nervous! As you know statistically chances are you will be absoloutly fine, though I know how scary the symptoms can be. There were points I felt so unwell, I felt I was going to be in the minority 🤣
I think the key is to seek help early if you feel things are getting worse, then you can get on top of things quickly. Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks. I've called my GP surgery and am waiting for a GP to call me back - it's so tricky balancing up not wanting to cause them extra work with not wanting to ignore symptoms and potentially ending up causing more hassle by getting much worse later on!
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