many of us had a dreadful illness at the end of December which was really contageous and lasted about six weeks. Could it have been Covid19?
We all had a constant cough for a day, high temperature and flu like symptoms. I want to know if I have antibodies for covid, where can I get a test.
Think we could have had. I had a chest infection late Oct lasting weeks followed by Flu like symptoms late Feb the odd cough & sneeze to this day. Bisoprolol sniff.
However criteria for current test unless you are over 65 with symptoms which in itself strange you'd be allowed out since you'd be self isolating.
Allowing for front liners to get in first and then us somewhere sometime. 🤔
Ps AFib diagnosed Nov?
Thanks
You need the antibody test and not the one for CovID itself. This is still awaiting official sign off before it becomes generally available. Both tests are also available privately by post.
A French doctor has shown that one of his patients had covid just after Christmas
UK Context The first case of COVID-19 was reported on December 31 and the source of the outbreak has been linked to a wet market in Wuhan (Hubei province, China). Human-to-human and patient-to-medical staff transmission of the virus have been confirmed.
Who knows?
Does anyone know who I could apply to for the antibody test please?
wow £279 for the test.
Just out of curiosity why would you want the test ??
My understanding at the moment is that should you have the anti body the Science doesn't know yet if you are immune or for how long !!
Stay Alert Stay Well
There have been reports that the December outbreak was a coronavirus but it was not COVID-19.
The Hale Clinic in London is selling ‘Abbott’ antibody tests for £99, please note these are not the UK approved ‘Roche’ tests.
There are reports that a military 'Sporting Games' event took place in china in the late Autumn and there is speculation that it spread from there. My son and his partner were afflicted by something over Xmas that caused him to visit the local hospital. He received a '90 day flu' diagnosis.
I had a horrible deep lung infection in December / January after a short flu, then had a heart attack end Jan. I am 51 w no previous heart issues. Relatively minor MI so luckily just an angiogram, no stent or operation. Suspect the cough & HA are related.
I caught something in February, had an unbelievable chest, wheezing like old bellows, woke up one night unable to breathe, took weeks and week to go and caused an A Fib event. Ended up in a&e because I didn’t know what to do to address it and no advice available at 3am, 111 🤷🏽♀️ I’m now wondering if that was a mild dose.
Some Doctors in the North are apparently looking at cases of pneumonia that they treated in December that were not considered to have the usual range of symptoms
I got ill on 6 Dec, started off with flu like symptoms, aching limbs, temperature, dry cough then turned into chest infection with wheezing and breathlessness and mucos on chest till mid January. I was diagnosed with persistent AF on 15 Jan. Cardiologist thinks both illnesses linked
I guess it will all come out in the wash - eventually.....
I had some kind of virus in mid-October which mainly manifested in a deep chesty cough that lingered for weeks, chills and general fatigue, and I know of at least 3 other people that had something similar between October and December, but coronavirus is a very common generic virus; Covid-19 is just a new variant on it. Would having a more 'traditional' version of it recently offer any immunity? Dunno, and I guess we won't find out until antibody testing becomes available to the general public, but agreed, frontline workers should receive priority for that.
Public Health England have just approved a test for antibodies to detect if someone has had coronavirsus.
My wife and I were in Luxembourg for Christmas and went into Germany and France. I’m pretty certain we came back with some sort of Coronavirus. It’s easy to pick up on aeroplanes and I’m sure the virus was in the wild in Europe before Christmas.
I had a heart attack and was diagnosed diabetes T2 in mid February.
Hi, I think yes very likely. I had an illness in January which I detailed in a previous post. There is an epidemiologist that is doing a survey of symptoms which are far more far ranging than the fever, cough that the gov. are highlighting. There is a LONG TAIL VERSION OF THE ILLNESS- THE VIRUS THAT JUST KEEPS GIVING IS THE WAY I DESCRIBE IT. There was an article in the guardian and there is a survey being compiled to try and increase knowledge of what this illness is doing I urge anyone who thinks they may have had it to take the survey. And yes I WANT A TEST TOO.
I believe it was here then. I kow several people who had really bad "flu"; one friend who is now 79 and a full time carer had three courses of antibiotics and one of steroids and was still coughing in March. On my records it says I first visited my GP Jan 31st after about 5 weeks of severe breathing difficulties which are ongoing even now. I've had heart, spine and stomach checked but not even a chest x ray or sats. I would love to know if it was Covid and I could have ongoing damage from it. I'm really struggling to do even simple normal things like washing up or walking to the bathroom. My son had Covid (supposedly) about 4 weeks ago; now fully recovered but what he described is how I was. How can we even know that's what he had when all he got was a phone call telling him to stay home. I'm certain he did but it would help to have proof. I'd love him to get an antibody test but he isn't in any of the groups specified. I also have Canadian friends who visited London right after Christmas and within a week of going home had raging temperatures, hallucinations desperate trouble breathing , dry cough and n o sense of taste or smell.
Paul Garner, professor of infectious diseases at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, discusses his experience of having covid-19
In mid March I developed covid-19. For almost seven weeks I have been through a roller coaster of ill health, extreme emotions, and utter exhaustion. Although not hospitalised, it has been frightening and long. The illness ebbs and flows, but never goes away. Health professionals, employers, partners, and people with the disease need to know that this illness can last for weeks, and the long tail is not some “post-viral fatigue syndrome”—it is the disease. People who have a more protracted illness need help to understand and cope with the constantly shifting, bizarre symptoms, and their unpredictable course.
Early March seems so far away. I watched Boris introduce social distancing and then shake hands on national television; I talked with epidemiological colleagues about the established effects of austerity increasing mortality in the poor, and how lockdown would worsen this; I advised my 97 year old father to isolate. I said to myself that years of running and military fitness would protect me from harm. I discounted a runny nose, carefully checked my temperature every day, and examined the CDC/WHO comparison table and decided I did not have covid-19. Then one afternoon I started feeling strange: I happened to be on a zoom meeting with David Nabarro who said anyone who felt unwell should isolate instantly, on the spot. I went home early, and then the journey began.
In the first days at home I wasn’t sure I had covid-19. Then I damaged my hands with bleach. It had no smell, I assumed it was old and inactive—but it was just I could not smell the chlorine. The heaviness and malaise became worse, I had a tightness in the chest, and realised it could be nothing else. I was mortified that I might have infected the staff I had worked with for over 20 years. I imagined their vulnerable relatives dying and never forgiving myself. My mind was a mess. My condition deteriorated. One afternoon I suddenly developed a tachycardia, tightness in the chest, and felt so unwell I thought I was dying. My mind became foggy. I tried to google fulminating myocarditis, but couldn’t navigate the screen properly. There was nothing to do. I thought, if this is it so be it.
A few hours later I woke up, alive, and the tightness replaced by extreme fatigue. Every day, day after day. Sometimes I felt better and became optimistic; after all, the paralytic state had not recurred; but then the next day I felt as though someone had hit me around the head with a cricket bat. Staff at work criticised me for not being clear “make up your mind! Are you getting better or not?” I guess they were frightened too, but I really could not understand what was happening.
The illness went on and on. The symptoms changed, it was like an advent calendar, every day there was a surprise, something new. A muggy head; acutely painful calf; upset stomach; tinnitus; pins and needles; aching all over; breathlessness; dizziness; arthritis in my hands; weird sensation in the skin with synthetic materials. Gentle exercise or walking made me worse—I would feel absolutely dreadful the next day. I started talking to others. I found a marathon runner who had tried 8 km in her second week, which caused her to collapse with rigors and sleep for 24 hours. I spoke to others experiencing weird symptoms, which were often discounted by those around them as anxiety, making them doubt themselves.
The internet described recovery times of about two weeks for people that had not been hospitalised. I had not had severe disease, yet here I was after four weeks still unwell. My doctor neighbour and GP were concerned. I consulted with friends who were consultants in infectious diseases by email and they wondered if I had more lung involvement than I had estimated. My tenant had friends who were still ill at four weeks and this helped a lot.
The least helpful comments were from people who explained to me that I had post viral fatigue. I knew this was wrong. There was a pattern in that period from two weeks to six weeks: feeling absolutely dreadful during the day; sleep heavily, waking with the bed drenched in sweat; getting up with a blinding headache, receding during the day, turning me into a battered ragdoll in the evening.
I joined a Facebook page (Covid-19 Support Group (have it/had it)) full of people with these stories, some from the UK, some from the US. People suffering from the disease, but not believing their symptoms were real; their families thinking the symptoms were anxiety; employers telling people they had to return to work, as the two weeks for the illness was up. And the posts reflect this “I thought I was going crazy for not getting better in their time frame”; “the doctor said there is zero reason to believe it lasts this long”. And too, people report that their families do not believe their ever changing symptoms, that it is psychological, it is the stress.
Over the weeks, I have been touched by the people that have quietly stepped in to help me cope, appropriate, unobtrusive, timely. Family, friends, colleagues, and neighbours. Our local yoga studio’s motto is “a community building strength in mind, body and heart.” This love and support of gives us a direction for our future. And today the disease has lifted. For the first time, I do not feel awful.
The aim of this piece is to get this message out: for some people the illness goes on for a few weeks. Symptoms come and go, are strange and frightening. The exhaustion is severe, real, and part of the illness. And we all need support and love from the community around us.
HI, I think corona virus was around in December, at least this is what happened in Italy, even though they thought it was a "strange" pneumonia. As far as I know there are two antibodies texts available privately that are reliable. Abbott (American company) and Roche (Swiss/German company) and they both have been approved. I had a look around on the website and I only found Abbott for around 90 pounds..... UK Government is contracting Roche... I think I will wait and see if they become available for those with "underlying conditions". I hope so... since I have been worried ever since the pandemic started.
Hi l feel that l may have had it in Dec . Nothing like normal flu or cold but felt really ill could hardly walk have flu vac.every year have had flu before over the years nothing like those symptoms had some of the symptoms that others have mentioned and left with a cough that comes and goes just suddenly seems to hit me . Hubby thinks l am daft when l say that l think had Covid 19 , so when available l would like to take the test
High all I had terrible cough through a cruise I went on in late October, left from Southampton to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Caen and back to Southampton. Came home to Scotland and couldn't shift it. Got admitted to the local Hospital on the 24th November after attending the GP with Afib and hot and cold shivers.
I got put in my own room with infectious signs up on the door and all Hospital staff and visitors had to wear face masks, polythene overalls and rubber gloves etc to come in and see me.
My temperature was high, I had low sodium, dehydration, my blood pressure had plummeted and I had a bad chest infection. Blood samples and X-rays were done. Got home after 5 days in hospital. It was put down as a Lower respiratory tract infection. They said they thought it may have been an infection that had lingered since last May when I had Hospital Acquired Pneumonia after Heart Surgery in April.
Now I never really gave it any thought until about 4 weeks ago when I had a phone consultation with my Cardiologist and I mentioned being back in Hospital in November. At which point he was looking at my notes and said it was very strange as they had never actually found a cause for the infection. He said vials taken hadn't revealed flu or bacterial infection. He said it was highly unlikely an infection had lingered since May without showing anything before.
When I mentioned Coronavirus as we had talked my condition re that already in the call, he didn't exactly say it wasn't. But wouldn't commit to anything. It was an odd conversation.
Yes it's highly suspicious. I asked my mp and got no clear answer. I will wait for the antibody now
Yep.
A genetics testing company from Iceland has confirmed that Covid 19 was in the UK very early on and within 3 weeks of the initial outbreak in China.
google.co.uk/amp/s/news.sky...
My whole family were ill with a dreadful flu like chesty dry cough with temperature etc around November and right into December - as were a lot of other local people.
I didn’t get it as I take up to 10 grams of Vitamin C when everyone else or myself starts to get symptoms. Works every single time and I have not had a cold or anything like that for the last 8 years or so. Just very mild sore throat or sniffles which go away within 12 hours.
BC10 - Im sure Ive had it then. Thank you.
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