covid

[Daffodil1958]

Hi all you lovely people

Ten days in and I’m still testing positive for the dreaded covid. I was refused anti virals in the beginning just feel now I’ve hit the point that it’s not going to go without intervention. Also have bad cold sores. Any suggestions or pointers as to what I can do or try.

[AgedCrone]

Who have you spoken to ? Maybe a call to 119 could give you some advice?

It really seems we all need different advice depending on how our underlying condition is behaving.

Good Luck- hope you soon feel better.

[Daffodil1958 in reply to AgedCrone]

Many thanks for the reply fingers crossed I will be fighting fit soon!!

[Jackie1947]

Its not unusual that length of time and antivirals are taken within 5 days of positive result. If the positive red line is fainter possibly the dregs of the infection and you're not contagious.However if you feel poorly ring surgery for advice. Mine showed I was mildly positive on day 10. Day 11 gone

[Daffodil1958 in reply to Jackie1947]

Hi Jackie1947

Thanks for your reply appreciated just picked up a fit note for the rest of the week fingers crossed my line disappears!!

[KittyJ]

hang in there, it was 11 days before my dark line started to diminish but it went to negative quickly after that. No tips just rest and take care of yourself. Sorry I can’t be more help.

[Gillybob19]

I've been testing positive since March so I can't help lol. The GP said "why are you still testing?", helpful. It was originally so I knew when to restart methotrexate and benepali, now I test every couple of weeks but still positive...

[GinnyE in reply to Gillybob19]

My sister in law is a nurse and she told me recently that people can test positive for ages. Since March is a long time! Guess you've got to ignore it now.

[Downtime]

I had antivirals and it still took 14 days before the tests started to fade. I felt better after 5 days .

[Chockyuk]

I tested positive for 2 weeks, although I had a slightly snuffly nose for the first few days, I didn’t have any other symptoms and felt completely normal 🤷‍♀️ I was offered the antivirals, but didn’t take them because I didn’t feel sick. I’m surprised you were refused, I thought everyone taking immune suppressants were eligible?

I hope you start feeling better soon.

[Hidden in reply to Chockyuk]

With the caveat that I’m not medically qualified. It depends on what medication you’re on. As I understand it, people only taking conventional DMARDs are not automatically eligible unless they’re also taking a high enough steroid dose, or there are other medical factors that make them high risk. However, those on biologics should be offered antivirals if symptomatic, including those using anti-tnf therapies like imraldi and benepali as monotherapy.

[Green230461]

Sorry to hear you are unwell. I was still positive on day 19 I’m afraid! Doc just said stay warm drink pleads take paracetamols and try to eat! Basic flu remedy! Take care💐🤒😷🤧

[Hidden]

As others have said, antivirals have to be given/started within 5 days of the positive result, and whether you get them primarily depends on the meds you take. You don’t say what you’re on, but my understanding is those on conventional DMARDs are only automatically eligible if they’re also on a high enough steroid dose, but those on biologics should be offered them. There was some debate on the boards here about whether that applied to anti-tnf, but I was told by the CMDU (the clinical arm responsible for antivirals) that it does, and meds like Benepali and imraldi are still listed as making people eligible when being taken as monotherapy. The antivirals themselves don’t actually get rid of the illness or cure you, they’re just intended to prevent hospitalisation and mortality: unless you’re getting worse rather than better, it really is just a case of waiting it out, and as per your other replies, you can be testing positive for quite a long time.

In my own case, I felt really ill from day 1 of symptoms starting, didn’t test positive until day 3, got antivirals on day 4 - by which point my sats were 93% - but didn’t see my sats start to come back up until day 6. Heart rate and sats were consistently back to normal at day 8, temps stopped on day 9, but was testing positive until day 13, and still fully symptomatic with cough and very heavy cold symptoms for a further week after that, before being left with major fatigue. In all honesty, I’ve only really felt properly out the other side of it this last week or so, and my first day of illness was September 5th.