Coincidence or....?

I had the symptoms at Christmas too. I had booked a holiday and felt ill before I went. I saw a nurse practitioner who was very unhelpful, but I suppose there was nothing she could do. A few days into my holiday I got much worse, and went to a local Spanish medical centre and was seen by a doctor who immediately gave me a steroid injection and put me on oxygen. I was sent back to my holiday accommodation with an inhaler and antibiotics. I gradually got better though th e breathlessness lasted for some time.
Because of this I attended a local private go practice and had an antibody test 3 weeks ago. It was negative. There were obviously other unpleasant viral infections about at the time !

My daughter and her husband were extremely unwell in February too. He was hospitalised for a week, requiring oxygen. It took at least a couple of months before they recovered properly. They had pretty much all the symptoms for Covid, and both said they had never felt so ill.

This sort of thing happened to my daughter too. She started feeling unwell and very tired. She then developed a sore throat and like OP was told viral infection. Two days later she had to go back to GP as she couldn't swallow saliva and was running a temperature. They gave her antibiotics for tonsillitis even though she has no tonsils. Three days later no change plus she had troule with her breathing, given different antibiotics as now she has a chest infection. She had a rash on her tummy and arms and conjuctivitus. She was so poorly and i was so worried about her as she lives alone and wouldn't let me go to see her. When she finally relented i only stayed as short time as she said 'i'm sorry mum i just need to sleep'. So i left after doing a couple of bits for her. I now believe she had Covid 19 and luckily i didn't catch it from her if it was. But i did go down with shingles the following week!!! This was just before the lock down started in March.I would be interested if she was tested to see if she has antibodies.

Yes, ive mentioned mine before on here, i was very ill at xmas, was in urgent care dept(attached to a&e) both early hours xmas day and boxing day, id been at drs on 23rd- he gave me pills id never heard of, said take if you get worse- i was so bad by midnight xmas eve, i took one, and promptly threw up everywhere, i was so ill by then it felt like i was dying, i was boiling my boys (21&then 16) rang 111 they were so worried, who sent paramedics around 3am, they stayed awhile, but got another call so told my son to take me to hosp, as my temp was almost 40degrees, a young doc there looked stumped, gave me ibuprofen& paracetamol & said it 'could be flu'-it was nothing like any flu ive ever had& id had flu jab already, i told him i couldn't breathe- back home straight to bed (i never go bed if I'm under the weather, normally i soldier on) i was coughing all the time, couldn't eat, couldn't breathe, got worse, boys rang 111 back they were really worried about me by then, 2 lady paramedics came in early hours of boxing day, temp over 41,they took blood, blood pressure, decided i should have antibios took me to hosp.again.older doc there gave me new drug- antibios mixed with antivirals, enough for 7 days.told me to stop ibuprofen.Went home where i stayed in bed over a week,& then was still so bad i was just getting up only a couple of hours around evening.I was exhausted! my sons had made 'xmas dinner' best they could bless them by ringing older siblings for advice (but i hardly touched it & hadn't heart to tell them i couldn't taste it!) They had to cope surviving rest of week on micro meals, sarnies& pot noodles, (thank goodness my youngest makes me buy them!) as i was too ill to cook and they've both got a slight disability. I don't know how we coped..then as i was getting on my feet my sons both got it, one worse as he has asthma too,so he was given antibios& antivirals,older one not as bad was like flu symptoms, BUT we had all been in venice end of oct/early nov and took my grandson, 14, (they normally live 72 miles away from me) He was ill also, and he usually never is, he then passed it all round his house, ALL of them,his parents as well).Our drs surgery nurse said she genuinely believes we all had covid 19- I read a guy in france was ill at around xmas, who had been ill 3 weeks already, had given it to his children also, and they took his blood& saved sample.Later they tested it for covid19 & it was positive, so probably he was the first case there! I think it was around a lot earlier than we think..my daughter paid for me an antibody test but they can't send it yet as the gov't have taken all their stock! So they will send it when they can.she got her test ok but she never caught what i had as id only dropped off presents, not mingled at her house.so she was negative..its from harley St. Clinic.

Both DH and myself had 'something' in mild form early February, with 3 days of headache, sore throat, huge fatigue. Caught it at a research meeting where at least a third of people were suffering a cold, cough etc. and it has left me with a cough, still ongoing. Then daughter's family caught it and got through it. No loss of sense of smell or taste.

Interestingly, we all take high levels of vitamin D and mineral supplements. (Tests show my levels are very high.)

A relative in Spain had it early March. Although now recovered in theory, and was at home during the illness, med review shows all is well physically, yet she still has heart palpitations and is very fatigued. No way back to normal yet.

@Susan56 - you are able to ask for all test results. They may be on the system at your GP surgery.

The more I think about it, the surer I am that I have so far, had a very lucky escape. On 17th February I caught a train from Birmingham Grand Central to my home stop. It was very crowded and a chap sat next to me. He was of Eastern European appearance and immediately began to cough. We set off and the cough was to say the least, persistent. Then ... out came the tissues and he was continually wiping his forehead and face - still coughing. There were early warnings about the virus then and alarm bells rang, especially as I have Diabetes and am 81.. He was clearly quite unwell and not wishing to appear rude I sat and worried for two stations then decided I really had to move and went to an adjoining carriage. As time went on and more information became public the more I am sure he had the virus.

I remember sitting in front of the open bedroom window middle of winter gasping for breath and using a Spanish fan to help. I felt as though I was being strangled. Never in my 79 years had I felt so ill.

I was too ill to notice if my sense of smell/taste had gone because I couldn't walk properly either. Also had trouble trying to swallow a paracetamol as my throat was like glass so had to empty the powder out of the little torpedo-shape tablets and get it down that way.

After 6 months my legs are feeling as though they belong to me. Waste of time telling the GP. I told the INR nurse but it went in one ear and out of the other, being too preoccupied with what was going on with safety issues of the virus . Multi-tasking has gone clean out of the window with everything else that's going on.

Chest and lungs are okay and back to my usual calm quiet breathing and no breathlessness.

This episode now makes me fearful of venturing where there are crowds of people---shopping, buses, trains. Which is why I'm staying put until next year. No Christmas shopping for me it's not worth it.

I know a lady who works at Heathrow who was hospitalized just after Christmas with pneumonia and something that the hospital weren't sure about. The put her in isolation. I'm convinced she had Covid.
Really scary, isn't it?

Yes, i had steroid tablets as well, before i was so bad at xmas, id been just coughing for weeks, but not as badly. was given them then. And again had them when i was badly at xmas. Now im on them again as cough hasnt quite moved on.

I had a nasty virus from early March until mid April. It only affected my chest, which was the worst it has been since childhood asthma. I was wheezing and breathless for quite a few weeks and then every day I thought I was over it, the next day I would feel that horribly aching exhaustion. It didn’t occur to me that it might be Covid, I remember hoping I wouldn’t cough while I was shopping because people might think I had it! I didn’t lose my sense of smell but I did have a raised temperature in the first few days. Still think it was more likely to have been something else, but you never know.

I still feel breathless sometimes too, and very tired.I'm still not 100%. Id love to know if I've definitely had it as i think the same too- that the '19' is from '2019'- Not in march this year! None of scientists on BBC updates have said what the '19' is for.

Lizbethann55

Children suffering from Corona get the rash as described by u.
The hospital diagnosis was wrong.
I know of a 16 year old who was taken to the hospital with this awful rash. He was sent home with some medicine and told he would be refered to a dermatologist. As a matter of urgency the parents refered him privately via zoom to a dermatologist, who got him admitted to a private Hospital.His rash was related to cronavirus.He spent 4 days in the hospital

I'm convinced that my brother died of Covid-19 in Mid January. He had been ill over Christmas and New Year and had COPD. We went to see him in hospital when he looked poorly, but he died 5 hours after we left. No-one thought it was going to be so quick, in fact, we had discussed arrangements for him coming home.

Yes I'd been giving youngest son lots of vitamins the Wellteen plus, daily.(an all- rounder vitamin plus omega 3 with it) and vits C & D sometimes (when could persuade him) from being at school and as he was at college, and his immune system isn't too good - he gets something chest related each winter, has flu jab, gets it anyway..every time he gets ill he's worse each time.So i think that the vitamins probably helped him.

A LOT of people seem to have been ill around christmas with same symptoms, but put it down to usual seasonal ailments-theres been a lot of pneumonia too, which is what the docs say can be a 'complication' of covid- im beginning to think christmas was the first 'wave' of covid19 for us Brits, and march/april the second nastier wave.Brace yourselves for the next

My daughter caught coved well, sore throat, fever, cough and a six week tiredness but although she was on the front line, a test could not be done until much later and it turned out negative She is gutted to find out this week that her anti body test is also negative.

I too think we had a dose of it Nannan2. I'm staying put now as a " next " bout will definitely see me off. I don't care if I never see another shop, there's always online and D doing my shopping so there's no need to go anywhere. I value my life.

GrandmaKT, No in the uk we cant get antibody test, unless we pay for it (expensively) and theyre only just beginning to test NHS workers here.Even the private tests have now been taken by gov't for use.

I think the pneumonia vaccine should offered on NHS free to those whom normally are offered the free flu vaccine as its very expensive to get at such as Boots or such like, and it seems to be getting more wide spread. I think i will ask at gps surgery if theyre offering this coming A/W? If not ill pay for me& my 2 sons to have it...my youngest DD's boyfriend had it about 18mths back,he was very poorly & in hosp a long time. (he was only about 28 then& reasonably fit. -and i now realise he had been abroad just before that.hmm He's been shielding all during lockdown.He& my DD don't live together.But they both work in retail.he's had to be off work, i presume 'furloughed'.

Our neighbours went to a 'Turkey & Tinsel' event in S W England just before Xmas (we are in Wales). Many people on their coach had just returned from Spain. When they came home, the lady had what she described as 'flu as she'd never known before'. The whole family were unwell - so - we're talking December!

The 19 does indeed stand for 2019.
CO stands for corona, VI for virus and D for disease. Originally was referred to as 2019 novel coronavirus
or 2019-nCoV.
Courtesy of WHO

I think many people have had symptoms that appear to be the same as the virus but I doubt we will ever really know.

One of you posted about medicines/treatments you took when you had a 'bad virus' some months ago. It was a very detailed post. Any chance of posting it again, as we could stock up on some of those meds, in case we catch it. One of the items was 'Fisherman's Friend' lozenges.
MeryllStreep, just wondering about those Wuhan hospital photos you mentioned. The version I saw was 'the car park in August' compared with the 'car park in the Autumn'. A hospital is always busier in the Autumn.

Unless we all are tested and prove to have antibodies then I doubt we will know, Daisyboots.

We dont know if antibodies would protect us sufficiently either.

In the second week of January DS, DIL and two eldest children went down with what fhey thought was flu, as did some of their friends. Their youngest child had a rash which they were told was Thrush. DIL and the children recovered quite quickly but DS was very poorly for weeks, said he had never felt so ill, and still had a cough for weeks afterwards. They stayed away from us so as not to pass it on, and it was then we decided to avoid crowded shops and town centres, assuming that it was the usual Winter flu. So we began our 'shielding' back in early February. Perhaps it wasn't just Flu, we shall never know. Maybe sometime in the future everybody will be tested for Covid antibodies as a matter of routine, or to help develop a vaccine. I think Covid will be with us in varying degrees for an indefinite time. Just another illness to be avoided.