After seeing the numbers of people that end up at hospital, and sadly the people that are dying, I’m just really thankful that what I’ve experienced as Coronavirus symptoms in the last few weeks have been pretty mild. That said, the duration of the illness has been the one thing that has been challenging for me, and so I thought I’d just put a post together summarising what I faced.
It’s been roughly four weeks since I started with what was pretty much mild Coronavirus symptoms – a temperature, headache, cough and breathlessness. I thought that it would be something I would just get over quickly based on the fact I was pretty healthy and had mild symptoms.
After a week (i.e. the so-called 7 day period when people are supposedly well again) I felt OK enough to return to work. My temperature had gone, headaches were being controlled with regular paracetamol, and there was no cough. The paracetamol really was essential admittedly, and I always knew when I was coming to the end of a 4 hour period when I could take it again.
Breathing was still an issue though, and worried me a bit, so I spoke to my GP again and they said to keep up with a lot more reliever and preventer inhaler use than I normally have to keep things under control. On a day to day basis, I just take the preventer twice and not much more.
Luckily I am able to work from home, and so didn’t need to go out and travel to an office – I expected to just get on with things, and my health would return to normal in a couple of days. What I didn’t account for was the fact that Coronavirus doesn’t leave you alone.
In fact, in my case, it’s been a tough few weeks primarily with fatigue which has really wiped me out. I’ve never felt so tired, and combined with the breathlessness which would come and go, I wondered when I would reach a point of feeling well again.
About ten days ago a new cough started – it was pretty unpleasant, and I found if I spoke rarely it was only thing that didn’t irritate it. It lasted a few days, but even now I can still feel it tickling the back of my throat.
Seven days ago (three weeks into this) I also lost my sense of smell and taste which I understand can also be a sign of the virus. Admittedly, some of these symptoms seem to be in the wrong order based on what I’ve read but either way, I’m ticking them off the list!
I decided though to write this today because, after 4 weeks I woke up and actually felt OK. The feeling of tiredness seems to have gone which is really great. My breathing is also improved and I feel less reliant on my inhalers. Finally, I had a hint that my sense of taste was returning at breakfast, so things are definitely turning around.
For anyone thinking that you’ll just brush off even mild symptoms, based on my experience you don’t. After four weeks, I’m still panting when I reach the top of the stairs, but its definitely not as tough.
There’s people of every age catching this and dying, so I now think of myself as really lucky, and thankful that I didn’t have serious symptoms. So this Easter, stay in and give you and your families the chance to avoid catching this horrible disease – it will be worth it in the long run.
