Man Details What It Really Feels Like To Have A ‘Mild’ Case Of Covid-19
Even with the number of COVID-19 cases rising dramatically, there are many young people out there thinking they are “immune” to the virus. While it’s true that many people experience very slight symptoms or no symptoms at all, not everyone is so lucky. Those who do experience symptoms of the disease say it’s not worth gambling with your health and ignoring the risk posed by the virus. Recently, a man took to Imgur to share what it really feels like to have COVID-19 in hopes to encourage people to take better care of themselves and others.
More info: imgur.com
Christopher, who wrote the account under the username of Ispentwaytoolongthinkingaboutthis, is a 43-year-old living in the Toronto, Ontario area. The man told Bored Panda that he started having symptoms at the end of March and knew he had COVID-19 after reading what symptoms people who tested positive had. While he initially described his case as “minor,” Christopher later realized that his case was much more severe than he thought. “I called it a ‘minor’ case because that’s what I thought it was, but after reading many comments on my post, I know now it was a moderate to extreme case. I didn’t go to the emergency room earlier because I was scared and that was foolish. My experience was just short of extreme, I feel stupid not getting emergency help sooner, and the ER doctors I did see said a ventilator would most likely have been used if I had come in at my worst, as at that time my oxygen was only at 88% and should be 95% or better. I purchased an O2 monitor on Amazon in mid-March,” he said.
Christopher is self-employed at a company called Living Wall Concepts that builds and maintains indoor vertical gardens (living walls). “It’s been hard keeping staff employed during this time, which adds to the stress of the illness. With being sick, we are focused on just staying in business and being a serviced-based industry, it’s hard in these times.”
Christopher told us that the worst symptom for him was a burning sensation in his chest and difficulty breathing.
“The burning would come in waves over 7-10 days and the fatigue was nothing I’ve experienced before. I would say the burning feeling was an 8/10 on the pain scale. The fatigue was worst for me in the evening between 7-10 pm. The brain fog was bad as well. It was like my IQ was dwindling by the day. A horrible experience to live with for weeks on end.”
The man recommends immediately seeking medical attention no matter how “minor” one thinks their symptoms are. He urges people not to take recovery lightly, too.
“This is a virus that is two steps forward, one step back for recovery. Just when you think you’re on the mend, it comes back and flattens you for a few more days with a vengeance.”
After 6 long weeks of battling the disease, Christopher says he’s doing much better; however, he’s still not fully recovered. “I would say I am at 75% currently and at my worst I’d say I was at 20%. After 6 weeks, I still have breathing issues and still have the slight ‘burning’ and heaviness in the top of my chest. It comes and goes, but at night, it’s far worse. I can feel I’m on the mend but also can feel it will be a long road to full recovery. My only main concern now is any long-term damage I may suffer, but time will tell.”
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Share on FacebookThis is not a "Minor Case Of Covid-19". Calling it like this creates unneccesary panic. This is a case of healthcare failure with a medium case of Covid-19. A large majority of people has no symptoms at all, or really only minor symptoms. What the person here described would be a bad case of influenca, and it could have killed someone with a weak immune system! In any case, ancectodal stories like this help not at all...some take it as "every one is likely to die" and panic, other take it of accounts of those who seek attention and find confidence in not keeping distance. What we truly need is scientific progress, better data, and support for healthcare professionals.
I would agree this wasn't mild because it required hospitalization. Still, my friend is going on 3 weeks with a fever and her case is mild.
Load More Replies...Consistent with my experience. But, I was too ill to call an ambulance (extremely high fever and unable to move for about 2 days). And, if I'm honest, I was scared of going to hospital. I imagined it being like a warzone. I was sent back to work after two weeks (I work in the Courts), but after 3 days up and about I had a relapse and had to call out paramedics who confirmed I was still recovering from Covid 19 - cue another 2 week's quarantine. Still have slight breathing issues 6 weeks after first symptoms, but much, much recovered. *** For those in the UK: Do not believe the NHS instructions that say you can go back to work even if you have a cough, provided you don't have a fever *** That's what I was told by 111 and my GP, so I walked around outside for 3 days, still infectious (the paramedics confirmed that if you are coughing, you could still be infectious and you should stay home).
I'm so sorry you've been so ill but thank you for sharing that last bit of information - makes more sense to me. Hope you are fully recovered soon.
Load More Replies...What scares me about COVID-19 is that there's not only lung damage, but kidney and liver damage (including hepatitis), heart damage and heart attacks, and blood clots and strokes occurring after people are supposedly well, even in the younger folks. Also, just because you've had it, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're immune from reinfection. There's so much that we don't know about this virus, and I'm grateful to the brave doctors, nurses, and hospital staffs battling this on the front lines, and to the researchers who I know are doing their best to assess what is going on and to develop a vaccine ASAP.
Went to LAX airport Feb 26, woke Mar 3 body aches, chills, low fever and yuck. Developed dry hard cough. Fever never above 100.8. Nyquil was my alcohol of choice for 6 weeks. Had to go to an ultrasound on my kidneys, they said go to main VA hospital, I was still coughing hard. They said whatever I had was now "bronchitis" even tho my O2 levels were below 90% then. Gave me good cough pills which helped a little. No ultrasound tho. Called my Medicare dr because I kept falling down exhausted, had to crawl to bed from bathroom. He gave me antibiotics and something else... steroid? I used sports oxygen cans a lot, it helped. After 7 weeks, I still had coughing, low fever, low oxygen. Now 8 weeks, I get blue lips, oxygen still under 95%, sleeping a lot. Had a test 10 days ago that came back negative, can't get antibody testing. I have asthma from methane overexposure and my lungs are bad. Husband has done all hunting/gathering, housework, etc, thankfully. Scared TO DEATH of getting the C..
the fact that they did not test him immediately, and later on didnt test his wife shows what they are doing wrong over there. Here we test everyone with the MILDEST symptoms, we test their contacts even if they hαve no symptoms and we did wide tests on random population in cities where they had a large number of cases, with or without symptoms. We managed to drop to single number cases daily in a month
I had the exact same experience except it was back in mid-February of 2019 in Beijing. The only difference is that in my case I started feeling like c**p during the day, then woke up at 2 am with a fever so bad I was shaking under blankets in a room set to 76 degrees! I had to take 2 aspirin just to be able to get up to go to the ER. I was taken to Beijing Tian Tan hospital ER and immediately sent to the infectious care unit. They took my temp. It was (39 C or 104 F) and that was after I had taken two aspirin. Took a blood sample and throat culture. Came back negative for Flu and was told URI or upper respiratory infection. The gave me 4 days of two different meds. This knocked out the fever, but it was a struggle to breathe properly. Lots of coughing and bringing up crud, lungs burned and felt crackly. It took a good 3 weeks before I felt I was back to 80%. It was another 2 months at least to feel 100%. I'm thinking I had this a full 8 or 9 months before the outbreak in Wuhan.
Any corona virus could cause this, even flu.
Load More Replies...I am so sorry you suffered ! I off and on have mild symptoms as well ~ however, some days they too are worse ~ These jerks that won't listen as we do really rip me up ! We are doing the right thing yet , you had to beg to be treated! I am sorry for your struggle and so happy you are on your way to recovery ! God bless you and yours !!!
Wow. I am so glad you are recovering! Thank you, for putting your experience right out there! I live in Georgia, USA, and our testing system is so overwhelmed! Results taking too long to get! This is why more testing needs to be done! But our governor decided to reopen the state at midnight last night! Didn't even meet reopening guidelines! Your experiences definitely need to go viral. So I am putting it on Facebook. The under 50 group need to understand what it's really like, and if an older person gets it, well, it's even harder! May your recovery continue, and your lungs improve! Bless you!
This person should've been seen much earlier. But I know how difficult it is to get someone seen when they don't want to. He was very, very lucky- he probably would've been intubated if he had gone to ER. At the very least, he warranted very close watching at home. I'm a nurse and I would've insisted on him being seen/admitted earlier. would not have felt safe 'watching' him at home.
Don't lay on your back. Try to sleep sitting up/propped up, like in a recliner chair. Take cough suppressant/chest congestion type cold medicine (available at dollar stores) which makes the hard lumps (difficult to cough up) soft so they come up with one cough. Keep activity low because that chest pain will grow, so walk slowly (e.g., to the mailbox). Also, the sugar free Werther's original hard caramels soothe my throat a lot, keep me from coughing.
I actually went to my doctor because I had that odd feeling in the top of my chest a pressure that wouldn't go away, no fever, fatigue, and a headache. I have been self isolating anyways because I am immunodepressant, but only went out to go to the doctor. I got a lot of antibiotics and steroids thinking it could be pneumonia or sinus infection. Never got tested for covid because in my area there were no tests at the time and I didn't qualify because I had no fever =\ doing better now, but who knows what it really was
The OP needs to find a new doctor. We've been told by everyone under the sun that Advil (aka Ibuprofen) is the last thing you want to take if you have Covid19. That it can actually make the symptoms worse. We were told to stick with Tylenol (acetaminophen) only for pain.
The official latest is that there is no connection between ibuprofen and symptoms of coronavirus and that any links were coincidental.
Load More Replies...It isn't a form of flu. Why be ignorant and a racist?
Load More Replies...This is not a "Minor Case Of Covid-19". Calling it like this creates unneccesary panic. This is a case of healthcare failure with a medium case of Covid-19. A large majority of people has no symptoms at all, or really only minor symptoms. What the person here described would be a bad case of influenca, and it could have killed someone with a weak immune system! In any case, ancectodal stories like this help not at all...some take it as "every one is likely to die" and panic, other take it of accounts of those who seek attention and find confidence in not keeping distance. What we truly need is scientific progress, better data, and support for healthcare professionals.
I would agree this wasn't mild because it required hospitalization. Still, my friend is going on 3 weeks with a fever and her case is mild.
Load More Replies...Consistent with my experience. But, I was too ill to call an ambulance (extremely high fever and unable to move for about 2 days). And, if I'm honest, I was scared of going to hospital. I imagined it being like a warzone. I was sent back to work after two weeks (I work in the Courts), but after 3 days up and about I had a relapse and had to call out paramedics who confirmed I was still recovering from Covid 19 - cue another 2 week's quarantine. Still have slight breathing issues 6 weeks after first symptoms, but much, much recovered. *** For those in the UK: Do not believe the NHS instructions that say you can go back to work even if you have a cough, provided you don't have a fever *** That's what I was told by 111 and my GP, so I walked around outside for 3 days, still infectious (the paramedics confirmed that if you are coughing, you could still be infectious and you should stay home).
I'm so sorry you've been so ill but thank you for sharing that last bit of information - makes more sense to me. Hope you are fully recovered soon.
Load More Replies...What scares me about COVID-19 is that there's not only lung damage, but kidney and liver damage (including hepatitis), heart damage and heart attacks, and blood clots and strokes occurring after people are supposedly well, even in the younger folks. Also, just because you've had it, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're immune from reinfection. There's so much that we don't know about this virus, and I'm grateful to the brave doctors, nurses, and hospital staffs battling this on the front lines, and to the researchers who I know are doing their best to assess what is going on and to develop a vaccine ASAP.
Went to LAX airport Feb 26, woke Mar 3 body aches, chills, low fever and yuck. Developed dry hard cough. Fever never above 100.8. Nyquil was my alcohol of choice for 6 weeks. Had to go to an ultrasound on my kidneys, they said go to main VA hospital, I was still coughing hard. They said whatever I had was now "bronchitis" even tho my O2 levels were below 90% then. Gave me good cough pills which helped a little. No ultrasound tho. Called my Medicare dr because I kept falling down exhausted, had to crawl to bed from bathroom. He gave me antibiotics and something else... steroid? I used sports oxygen cans a lot, it helped. After 7 weeks, I still had coughing, low fever, low oxygen. Now 8 weeks, I get blue lips, oxygen still under 95%, sleeping a lot. Had a test 10 days ago that came back negative, can't get antibody testing. I have asthma from methane overexposure and my lungs are bad. Husband has done all hunting/gathering, housework, etc, thankfully. Scared TO DEATH of getting the C..
the fact that they did not test him immediately, and later on didnt test his wife shows what they are doing wrong over there. Here we test everyone with the MILDEST symptoms, we test their contacts even if they hαve no symptoms and we did wide tests on random population in cities where they had a large number of cases, with or without symptoms. We managed to drop to single number cases daily in a month
I had the exact same experience except it was back in mid-February of 2019 in Beijing. The only difference is that in my case I started feeling like c**p during the day, then woke up at 2 am with a fever so bad I was shaking under blankets in a room set to 76 degrees! I had to take 2 aspirin just to be able to get up to go to the ER. I was taken to Beijing Tian Tan hospital ER and immediately sent to the infectious care unit. They took my temp. It was (39 C or 104 F) and that was after I had taken two aspirin. Took a blood sample and throat culture. Came back negative for Flu and was told URI or upper respiratory infection. The gave me 4 days of two different meds. This knocked out the fever, but it was a struggle to breathe properly. Lots of coughing and bringing up crud, lungs burned and felt crackly. It took a good 3 weeks before I felt I was back to 80%. It was another 2 months at least to feel 100%. I'm thinking I had this a full 8 or 9 months before the outbreak in Wuhan.
Any corona virus could cause this, even flu.
Load More Replies...I am so sorry you suffered ! I off and on have mild symptoms as well ~ however, some days they too are worse ~ These jerks that won't listen as we do really rip me up ! We are doing the right thing yet , you had to beg to be treated! I am sorry for your struggle and so happy you are on your way to recovery ! God bless you and yours !!!
Wow. I am so glad you are recovering! Thank you, for putting your experience right out there! I live in Georgia, USA, and our testing system is so overwhelmed! Results taking too long to get! This is why more testing needs to be done! But our governor decided to reopen the state at midnight last night! Didn't even meet reopening guidelines! Your experiences definitely need to go viral. So I am putting it on Facebook. The under 50 group need to understand what it's really like, and if an older person gets it, well, it's even harder! May your recovery continue, and your lungs improve! Bless you!
This person should've been seen much earlier. But I know how difficult it is to get someone seen when they don't want to. He was very, very lucky- he probably would've been intubated if he had gone to ER. At the very least, he warranted very close watching at home. I'm a nurse and I would've insisted on him being seen/admitted earlier. would not have felt safe 'watching' him at home.
Don't lay on your back. Try to sleep sitting up/propped up, like in a recliner chair. Take cough suppressant/chest congestion type cold medicine (available at dollar stores) which makes the hard lumps (difficult to cough up) soft so they come up with one cough. Keep activity low because that chest pain will grow, so walk slowly (e.g., to the mailbox). Also, the sugar free Werther's original hard caramels soothe my throat a lot, keep me from coughing.
I actually went to my doctor because I had that odd feeling in the top of my chest a pressure that wouldn't go away, no fever, fatigue, and a headache. I have been self isolating anyways because I am immunodepressant, but only went out to go to the doctor. I got a lot of antibiotics and steroids thinking it could be pneumonia or sinus infection. Never got tested for covid because in my area there were no tests at the time and I didn't qualify because I had no fever =\ doing better now, but who knows what it really was
The OP needs to find a new doctor. We've been told by everyone under the sun that Advil (aka Ibuprofen) is the last thing you want to take if you have Covid19. That it can actually make the symptoms worse. We were told to stick with Tylenol (acetaminophen) only for pain.
The official latest is that there is no connection between ibuprofen and symptoms of coronavirus and that any links were coincidental.
Load More Replies...It isn't a form of flu. Why be ignorant and a racist?
Load More Replies...
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