I have PMR and may have had Covid 19 recently.

[Paperroses]

I want to share this as it may alleviate some fears. Im not 100% sure but either I had the worse cold ever or Covid. I have been in isolation for the past 9 weeks, my husband is an essential worker and is out facing the public every day . I too was concerned that he would get it and pass it to me. Turns out the scenario is totally different.

On March 15, I started getting all the symtoms of a head cold, first one in 3 years. I live in the USA and the virus had barely been here then . All I knew was that it started with fever and sore throat. I had neither. I did have a stuffy nose for 2 days, upset stomach, spent one night on the potty accompanied by dry heaves, slight headache, loss of smell and taste and when taste returned everything tasted off. I was cold all the time and had night sweats for about 5 days. I had a cough that lingered for 8 weeks. The worst was the extreme fatigue that lasted about 4 weeks. My legs felt heavy when I tried to walk outdoors on uneven surfaces. I just felt sick all over. I thought it was a cold with PMR.

Well like a puzzle coming together I only found out the end of March my daughter whom I had lunch with and two other daughters on March 8th possibly had Covid. The end results for her was Pluresy around her lungs. She was treated with prednisone, antibiotics and pain meds. Another daughter had headache and sore throat . The third daughter had a strange rash for 2 weeks. Now they are finding that some people have other symtoms.

I think that all the vitamin D and prednisone and calcium and magnesium may have been the thing that kept the virus from getting worse.

My daughter called yesterday to verify that the covid virus came directly from a Chinese business man that had met and had lunch with her nephew in November and the virus continued on its way through her inlaws to her. So I'm not sure but there is a good chance I had it.

.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Pleased you have got through it - but it probably does confirm the suspicions that CV was already in the USA early last December as it appears to be the case from tracing being done now.

[jinasc in reply to PMRpro]

It just takes one person who gets any new virus and bingo it has a field day.

At least this time the 'rats' are not getting the blame for spreading it around, it is us this time.

The Spanish flu was not started in Spain either.

If I have to listen one more time to the UK govt rabbiting on I think I will get rid of all the news channels on the TV. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I am pleased you got through it, just like my Nephew who ended up in hospital, but not in intensive care.

[Hidden in reply to jinasc]

Has he fully recovered yet? It seems ages ago now, but I bet he is still feeling some effects.

[jinasc in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for asking.

They did warn him it would be 6 to 8 weeks and it is coming up to 6th week and he is so much better but it has been slow.

His sense of taste and smell came back first. His daily walk started out at 15 mins each way, now he can do over an hour each way (seat at the end of the out walk) .

Last week he painted, half a wall done am and the other half pm. His partner was going mad - but he was getting bored with just sitting.

This week is doing some more gardening, she had hidden the spade and the fork, and they grow a lot of their own veg. He was itching to start, so last Sunday she is letting him have the spade and the fork for an hour a day.

He had never been in hospital and just had the normal kids illnesses. He did get Type 2 diabetes, but within a year it was gone.............his partner changed his diet drastically

It has taken some time to get it through to him that he is not superman, what helped was that his body just stopped him in his tracks. He has still not put back all of the weight (lost nearly 2 stone in 2 weeks) he is gaining it back slowly.

Oh dear this is off-🤔piste again.

[Hidden in reply to jinasc]

Not really. It helps to know that an otherwise healthy person has to pace themselves back to normality after covid. It is hard to get over normal flu so this is a feel bad bonanza and it takes time to build yourself back up. Even a mild dose for us might feel heavy weight getting back to reasonable health.

I am glad his taste and smell returned. 🌻

[Paperroses in reply to Hidden]

daughter has recovered

[Paperroses in reply to Paperroses]

im doing gardening a little each day so Im recovered now too

[Hidden in reply to Paperroses]

Good. It must be a bit scary when people start with symptoms. All you can do is just build yourself up....with a double eye on things ...pmr and post covid fatigue etc.

[KellyInTexas in reply to PMRpro]

I think it’s possible this is what my sister died of in late November.

She was visiting Her grown up daughter and her family on Whidby island- Washington state.

Her son in law had a ,” virus” then she got it.

She got much worse on day five- was taken to a small clinic- tested negative for flu strains. Just a “ random viral infection.”

She was a registered nurse. She told her daughter she felt like she was having small TIA’s... And chest pains.

She was not in a fib and heart checked out ok.

Two nights later she died in her sleep . Coroner said it appeared to be clotting - no autopsy.

It was a complete shock.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to KellyInTexas]

Certainly the clotting fits doesn't it?

[Hidden in reply to KellyInTexas]

I do remember your shock at the time. The case in France I mention, the man survived similar symptoms and also tested negative for the usual flu viruses in November. It was from his retained bloods etc that they found covid19. Sadly you'll never know but chest pains are reported symptoms arent they. 🌻

[Whitner in reply to KellyInTexas]

So sorry Kelly! It does sound like Covid and Washington State was an early hotspot. Did they figure out where son-in-law picked it up?

[Hidden]

Let's hope it was related and you got through ok- if of course the antibodies protect you. It certainly got passed through your family!

I know France had a case(s) traced back to November when they went back and checked samples from a man who presented at the emergency room there. I never saw what contract trace they ran. But the researcher was checking any samples he could get from hospital where covid type symptoms were present. I suspect it may go back even further on all continents. 🌻

[GOOD_GRIEF]

Do you have antibody tests available in your area? If yes, you and the gang need to be tested, and you need to provide the contact chain to your state department of health.

I'm wondering if the severe dry cough I had for weeks in September-October last fall was a strain of the virus. I actually didn't feel sick, but the coughing was miserable.It finally let go after about 6 weeks, which is a very long time for me to have such symptoms. Of course, living in New York, if I got an antibody test now, there'd be no way to tell if I had some strain of it then, or was later exposed and asymptomatic.

If you do get an antibody test, make sure it's one of the reliable ones, and get a repeat test in case you got a false result the first time around, preferably from a different reliable manufacturer. The rush to upgrade testing protocols in the US to get people back to work has produced a lot of unreliable results.

My older brother had COVID back in February - a mild case. He's in the hospital this week having a filter implanted in a vein in his leg, where a blood clot lodged. Related? Unrelated? We'll never know. He was not admitted to a hospital for COVID treatment, and the clot was only discovered last week - almost 3 months after COVID diagnosis. Being the head of security for a major office complex, he's in contact with thousands of people every day. Who knows how he was infected, or how many others he infected before he got sick enough to stay home.

You still need to be careful and take social distancing precautions. No one knows for sure if immunity is conferred by having the virus, or if having one strain protects you from others, and there have been some reports of testing positive for active virus even weeks and weeks after "recovery" which means you are still contagious to others.

I'm glad you came through this relatively well. Be aware of possible post-illness complications, and don't be too confident about whatever protection your case may or may not have conferred on you and yours.

[Paperroses in reply to GOOD_GRIEF]

thanks, I will be cautious

[KellyInTexas]

May I ask which state ? Are you in the same state as daughters? And by any chance is it on the west coast? ( Washington state by any chance at all?)

[Paperroses in reply to KellyInTexas]

Pittsburgh,pa

[maria40]

At about the same time as you I had a what I thought was a very bad flu like cold which announced itself with a dry cough rather than the usual sore throat. It persisted for four weeks with the cough refusing to recede. I had my lungs checked by GP - at just about the time when everyone was getting nervous about sitting in doctors' waiting rooms -and was told that though I was wheezy it hadn't touched my lungs.

My daughter and grandson also had it , my grandson (11) recovered within a few days but my daughter had a cough which persisted until a couple of weeks ago.

I've since heard of quite a few people who had something similar.

We have wondered since whether we had an early strain of Covid and whether we now perhaps have immunity. Can't know that until a viable antibody test is available but I do hope so. But I'm still taking all the precautions and maintaining isolation.

[Whitner]

Thanks for sharing this Paperroses and glad to hear you’re feeling better today.

[LIVEORDIEHEREIAM]

Had similar symptoms in mid-February. Not tested but convinced that it was Covid-19. I had what was probably a blood clot in a lung that resulted in pleuracy two weeks after the worst of it had passed. Took me until May to really feel back to "normal" and have the energy to do much more than required.

Whole family had it at the same time. Everyone had their own version of the worst parts. Our nearly fifty year old daughter cracked a rib or two by coughing so hard.

Assuming nothing with regard to immunity. Sheltering at home. All of us just glad to still be here!

We live in Michigan, US.