I finally caught Covid ( Cross post from " Covid " forum )

[Devjon]

I finally caught Covid

I'd started to believe that I must have a natural immunity to Covid, having taken all the recommended precautions since the virus became prevalent and having received a total of five doses of vaccine. When we were visiting our daughter in Edinburgh in March of this year my wife became unwell with what turned out to be Covid, we'd been sharing a bed and even when our daughters partner succumbed, I still remained uninfected.

On Thursday a couple of weeks ago we attended the funeral of a very dear friend, the venue was quite crowded as he was a very popular character, and we were reunited with people that we'd not seen for many years. The following day saw us attending Weymouth Beer Festival, always a popular event with some exceptional beers. On Saturday morning Ros started to feel unwell so we both took tests which came back negative. We suspected that it might be the after effects of the beer festival where my wife had taken a liking to a Coconut chocolate Porter, this smelt like a bounty bar tastes and was truly delicious, it was also 6.5% ! ( my favourite beer of the Festival was called " One for Zelensky " with profits from sales going to the people of Ukraine. That weighed in at 9.5% )

My wife was feeling progressively worse throughout the Saturday, we both took tests again on Sunday morning, both were negative. On Sunday evening I started to feel a bit below par, it had been a long and busy week so I turned in early. I awoke on Monday still feeling under the weather so I took a test which came back positive, my wife also took a test which this time was positive.
I reported my positive result using the NHS web portal, I'd set up a shortcut on my web browser which logs me in automatically and many of the check boxes remember my previous selections Once I'd submitted my report our wonderful NHS swung into action. I received a message asking me to confirm that I had indeed tested positive which I confirmed. At lunchtime a Doctor at Poole Hospital phoned me for a chat about my symptoms and any allergies before recommending that I take a course of the new anti-viral drug Paxlovid. Later in the afternoon I received another phone call, this one was from the Hospital Pharmacist who talked about dosage and possible side effects. He then said he would sent the drugs by Taxi which arrived within 30 minutes, and I was able to take my first dose that evening.

As the day had progressed I'd been feeling more unwell, headache, a cough and sore throat. That night saw me shivering in bed wearing pyjamas, thick woollen hiking socks, my dressing gown and with my feet on a hot water bottle.I was sipping water to ease my throat. Through trial and error I discovered that with a combination of having a pillow under my neck with my head tilted back to open the airway, and breathing exercises I could prevent the coughing and I finally drifted off to sleep. In order to reduce the variables while taking the course of Paxlovid I'd decided not to take any other medications including Paracetamol, nor any of my routine supplemnts.

I'd drawn up a chart divided into five days to cover the course of medication. I listed when and what I was eating as well as the exact time I took the medication and any side effects that I experienced. After the course of treatment ended I filled in the " Yellow Card " reporting pages online to give feedback about my experiences with Paxlovid.
By day three I felt as though I was on the mend, by day four I decided I felt well enough to venture out for a walk, and then fell fast asleep on the sofa as I was putting on my walking shoes! My wife and I are both early risers but since having Covid I am sleeping longer into the day, often sleeping through the 7:00 am alarm.

A week after the first onset of symptoms my wife and I felt well enough to walk the long way over the heathlands and along the river Stour into Wimborne to do some shopping. I'm being sensible for once and decided to stick to walking for a further week before starting running again.

We are indeed fortunate to have such a wonderful NHS, as well as a course of five doses of vaccine, they swung into action to ensure I got the latest medication and delivered it by taxi to my door.

[chris]

Hi Kevin

So sorry to hear that you finally succumbed to Covid and also that your wife has had a 2nd bout!

I think that with most “normal” people possibly last having been vaccinated last Autumn, there will be a lot of people whose vaccine-led immunity has waned, leading to an upsurge in cases. The great news is that the NHS priority treatment system worked well for you and seems to have helped you get through relatively unscathed!! Yes, you really should listen to your body and not push yourself too hard!!

Keep well and rest as much as you need to

Best wishes

Chris