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Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 1:24pm
by Vorpal
Update:
I did my longest post-covid ride of 20 km on Friday. I've lost quite a lot of fitness, and walked up a couple of hills that I would normally be able to pedal up (for being uncomfortably out of breath), but it otherwise went well, and my legs didn't feel very tired at the end, which I took as a good sign. I also did a normal amount of walking at the weekend without too much difficulty
I still need a bit more sleep than pre-covid. I still have tinnitus & more catarrh than usual. The catarrh has actually been worse the last week or so. But I have scheduled a GP appointment.
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 2:50pm
by Bonefishblues
Am seeing an ENT Consultant tomorrow to see what, if anything, can be done about my disappearing senses of taste & smell post Covid
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 5:35pm
by Psamathe
Bonefishblues wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 2:50pm
Am seeing an ENT Consultant tomorrow to see what, if anything, can be done about my disappearing senses of taste & smell post Covid
Good luck. I saw an NHS ENT expert on loss of smell (set-up NHS clinic addressing it, "Professor", etc.). I was never convinced I lost my sense of smell anyway, just all I could smell was weird resin'y smell likley from all the dried crud (chronic sinusitis from pre-Covid). I did the standard scratch & sniff test and got "zero" (except you can't get zero on a multi-choice where you have to answer randomly if you can't smell anything). He declared I'd lost my sense of smell (phantosmia) to which I commented "If my neighbour is burning old car tyres just the other side of my fence am I surprised when I can't smell my daffodils?". I then said that sense of smell was not my biggest concern - not being able to walk across the room was higher on my list of priorities needing to be addressed.
He did an MRI scan (which showed nothing) and lost interest when no easy answers. Don't know why the NHS pay some of these consultants.
Ian
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 7:54pm
by Bonefishblues
Psamathe wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 5:35pm
Bonefishblues wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 2:50pm
Am seeing an ENT Consultant tomorrow to see what, if anything, can be done about my disappearing senses of taste & smell post Covid
Good luck. I saw an NHS ENT expert on loss of smell (set-up NHS clinic addressing it, "Professor", etc.). I was never convinced I lost my sense of smell anyway, just all I could smell was weird resin'y smell likley from all the dried crud (chronic sinusitis from pre-Covid). I did the standard scratch & sniff test and got "zero" (except you can't get zero on a multi-choice where you have to answer randomly if you can't smell anything). He declared I'd lost my sense of smell (phantosmia) to which I commented "If my neighbour is burning old car tyres just the other side of my fence am I surprised when I can't smell my daffodils?". I then said that sense of smell was not my biggest concern - not being able to walk across the room was higher on my list of priorities needing to be addressed.
He did an MRI scan (which showed nothing) and lost interest when no easy answers. Don't know why the NHS pay some of these consultants.
Ian
Thanks. This is a private consultation, so let's see how it goes. I know it could have been much much worse, and I'm thankful it wasn't, but it's still awful for someone who takes huge pleasure in food and drink with family and friends - Christmas was especially difficult
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 8:00pm
by MrsHJ
Vorpal wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 1:24pm
Update:
I did my longest post-covid ride of 20 km on Friday. I've lost quite a lot of fitness, and walked up a couple of hills that I would normally be able to pedal up (for being uncomfortably out of breath), but it otherwise went well, and my legs didn't feel very tired at the end, which I took as a good sign. I also did a normal amount of walking at the weekend without too much difficulty
I still need a bit more sleep than pre-covid. I still have tinnitus & more catarrh than usual. The catarrh has actually been worse the last week or so. But I have scheduled a GP appointment.
Hope it improves soon. I had similar effects from late developing asthma. Lots of ear infections and vertigo and tinnitus (and sometimes difficulty swallowing due to thick mucus in my throat). A daily asthma inhaler has massively helped. The docs tend to say they can’t help tinnitus but it certainly seems to help me if my inner ears aren’t full of mucus from an overproductive sinus/respiratory system.
Interesting and somewhat worrying reading about everyone’s experiences, not come down with it yet but it feels inevitable.
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 8:02pm
by Psamathe
Bonefishblues wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 7:54pm
Psamathe wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 5:35pm
Bonefishblues wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 2:50pm
Am seeing an ENT Consultant tomorrow to see what, if anything, can be done about my disappearing senses of taste & smell post Covid
Good luck. I saw an NHS ENT expert on loss of smell (set-up NHS clinic addressing it, "Professor", etc.). I was never convinced I lost my sense of smell anyway, just all I could smell was weird resin'y smell likley from all the dried crud (chronic sinusitis from pre-Covid). I did the standard scratch & sniff test and got "zero" (except you can't get zero on a multi-choice where you have to answer randomly if you can't smell anything). He declared I'd lost my sense of smell (phantosmia) to which I commented "If my neighbour is burning old car tyres just the other side of my fence am I surprised when I can't smell my daffodils?". I then said that sense of smell was not my biggest concern - not being able to walk across the room was higher on my list of priorities needing to be addressed.
He did an MRI scan (which showed nothing) and lost interest when no easy answers. Don't know why the NHS pay some of these consultants.
Ian
Thanks. This is a private consultation, so let's see how it goes. I know it could have been much much worse, and I'm thankful it wasn't, but it's still awful for someone who takes huge pleasure in food and drink with family and friends - Christmas was especially difficult :?
If it's private, expect them to want you to do a "scratch and sniff test". A small booklet with a load of scratch and sniff tests (40 odd). Each scratch thing has a number of options (4 or 5 from memory) for you to say what you smell They then score your answers (if you don't small anything you have to chose a random answer, there is no "I don't small anything" answer. If private don't be surprised if this adds £75 to the bill.
Ian
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 4 Jul 2022, 8:22pm
by Jdsk
Bonefishblues wrote: ↑4 Jul 2022, 2:50pm
Am seeing an ENT Consultant tomorrow to see what, if anything, can be done about my disappearing senses of taste & smell post Covid
Usual advice:
Write down your questions so that you don't forget any.
Ask if there's a trial that you can join.
Jonathan
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 5 Jul 2022, 9:54pm
by Bonefishblues
Smell retraining's as good as it gets, I'm informed - and that's a relatively new development since the days of 'when it's gone, it's gone' which prevailed until really quite recently.
Offer of a frontal lobe MRI Scan, just in case coincidental tumour, which I may as well take up, just because nagging doubt.
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 5 Jul 2022, 10:06pm
by Jdsk
Thanks for the update. Off to read about retraining.
Jonathan
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 5 Jul 2022, 11:15pm
by Bonefishblues
Jdsk wrote: ↑5 Jul 2022, 10:06pm
Thanks for the update. Off to read about retraining.
Jonathan
This is the Consultant's recommended site:
https://www.fifthsense.org.uk/smell-training/
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 5 Jul 2022, 11:17pm
by Jdsk
Thanks
Jonathan
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 6 Jul 2022, 9:15pm
by Jules59
Quite a lot of new cases at the moment.
Im 63 and have had all my vaccines.
I caught Covid from my sister last week.
It felt like a bad cold; nothing too bad in retrospect. Initially had sore throat for 2 days, then aching eyes and mild myalgia, mild headache, mild pyrexia. By day 4 those had all gone apart from a persistent dry cough and wheeze on exercise. Had 3 sleepless night due to coughing with resultant sore intercostals and tiredness. Was still positive on day 5. Now day 7 and feel 95% back to normal apart from an occasional runny nose, sneeze and cough. I will retest tomorrow. Aiming to be on the bike again at the weekend.
Several friends, inc my sister have recently had very similar Covid symptoms and duration.
Very different from what many people have experienced.
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 12 Jul 2022, 4:10pm
by millimole
Jules59 wrote:Quite a lot of new cases at the moment.
Im 63 and have had all my vaccines.
I caught Covid from my sister last week.
It felt like a bad cold; nothing too bad in retrospect.
(snip)
Several friends, inc my sister have recently had very similar Covid symptoms and duration.
Very different from what many people have experienced.
Very similar to my experience. I had a mild 'cold-like' infection. My cough wasn't as bad as yours, rather I had a 'tickly cough', a sore throat and extreme fatigue for about 3 weeks afterwards . All of those were seemingly sorted by spending almost 24 hours asleep one day last week - it's almost as though the fatigue was the 'cause' of other things, which seems all wrong.
As you say, people are experiencing this very differently. There is no single experience.
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 13 Jul 2022, 8:40am
by gbnz
millimole wrote: ↑12 Jul 2022, 4:10pm
There is no single experience.
And it's so disappointing that it's no longer possible to get a test as such, to find out if one's got/had covid. Reading through a number of posts, I may have had it in the past few weeks. But impossible to know
Re: COVID recovery time
Posted: 13 Jul 2022, 9:48am
by Vorpal
gbnz wrote: ↑13 Jul 2022, 8:40am
millimole wrote: ↑12 Jul 2022, 4:10pm
There is no single experience.
And it's so disappointing that it's no longer possible to get a test as such, to find out if one's got/had covid. Reading through a number of posts, I may have had it in the past few weeks. But impossible to know
Some folks test positive for weeks after, so you could try a home test. Of course, a negative result wouldn't necessarily be meaningful.
There is an antibody test that should be able to tell you if you've had it. I guess the NHS might be reluctant to offer it if you haven't has significant illness.