Covid Finally caught me, How is everyone?

CrownandCanvas

Covid finally caught me after successfully dodging it all this time, I Tested positive Tuesday last week and the first few days we’re pretty rough. Now its just like an annoying cold but I’m still confined to the house for now while the tests are still positive so It’s given me a good chance to catch up on my neglect of Forums and general admin!

How is everyone and what have you all been up to?

ooglewoogle

CrownandCanvas

Hey man….sorry to hear you caught the dreaded lurgy…here’s to a swift and full recovery!

How are things with the roastery? I hear other roasters talking of feeling the pinch…especially with fuel prices and the £ being weak vs the $?

tompoland

Caught it 3 weeks ago. Like you, a few rough days. Still low energy. Take it easy sir. Recent studies indicate that one common characteristic of long-term covid sufferers was an early return to work. No idea if it’s true but it certainly motivated me to take it slow.

CrownandCanvas

tompoland I feel like the low energy element is the most common after effect for people now. I know someone same age as me (29) who caught about 6 months ago, and is fine now but still gets out of breath going up the stairs. It is worrying the long term effects!

Appreciate the advice! - I’m definitely eager to get back to work but I know rest is key to getting over this last dregs of Covid Im feeling, I’m catching up on some emails and accounts but nothing too wild, running out of things to watch on Netflix too!

thusband

Here’s a question about the commercial over the counter test. There’s the ‘C’ and ‘T’ line. Both lines need to be there for a positive reading. What if the ‘T’ line is faint? Does that mean you’re less infected? Yesterday both my lines were very distinct but today the ‘T’ line is faint.

CrownandCanvas

thusband I do wonder this too, my parents had it the same time and one of them had the faint line the day before testing clear, so I assume it must have some effect!

wilburpan

thusband CrownandCanvas

I have a medical background, and I hope you recover fully and quickly. I had COVID myself earlier this summer.

The COVID test you took and those type of tests in general are not designed to be quantitative. If the “T” line appears, then you have COVID, but the appearance of the line doesn’t tell you anything about how much COVID you have.

COVID has two factors that determine how you might be affected by a COVID infection. The first is the viral load. The more virus you have, the worse your symptoms might be.

The second is what COVID does to your immune system. This part is still not well understood, but to me it’s pretty clear that the reaction one’s immune system has to COVID also determines how you might be affected by a COVID infection. How your immune system is triggered by COVID can be somewhat independent of how much COVID virus you initially had. Think of how a single bee sting can make you allergic for life.

There are other infectious diseases where it’s more the immune response that’s the problem, and not the bug that infected you. Lyme disease is an example of an infection that can have long lasting effects that go beyond whether the Lyme bacteria is still in you. Meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis is a form of meningitis that is often lethal, and is another example of where it’s the immune system, not the bug, that’s the issue. It’s actually really easy to kill the bug with antibiotics. It’s how the immune system then responds that tries to kill you.

Finally, for COVID I’ve found that ibuprofen and naproxen are your friends.

CrownandCanvas

wilburpan Ahh that’s all interesting!

It’s fascinating how it effects everyone so differently, but you’ve completely reaffirmed my faith that people far more intelligent than me are to thank for making this illness much more tollerable. I’ve been vaccinated 3 times and it still put me on my ass for 3 days so who know’s what could happen without them!

thusband

wilburpan

Thanks for the clarification. I’ve had all the COVID jabs and boosters and still caught it twice although it really hasn’t been too bad. It certainly hasn’t stopped me from having my Americano in the morning.

wilburpan

CrownandCanvas Very happy that you got vaccinated, and you’re absolutely right in your thinking — it’s not great that you got vaccinated and still got COVID, but it’s still way better than getting COVID without being vaccinated.

The other thing to remember is that folks sometimes complain about the side effects from the COVID (and flu) vaccines. Whatever the side effects are, it’s still going to be better than getting the actual infection!

dutchy101

Does anyone know what it means if when you do a test you get four strong lines and a U and an N appear between the C and the T?

CrownandCanvas

dutchy101

dutchy101 Funny you mention that as all the tests Ive done have had that result on for me regardless of covid! 😂

CoyoteOldMan

dutchy101 It means you are Boris Johnson, and I claim my £5!

CrownandCanvas

thusband Todays the first day since last tuesday Ive brewed and enjoyed some coffee, Ive slept mostly but woke up this morning feeling alot more positive and took the time to get my brew on at home!

wilburpan

thusband Besides ibuprofen and naproxen, I’m convinced that espresso and Americanos by extension help as well. 😉

Elcarajillo

It must be doing the rounds again, just starting to get over it after two weeks, couple of days in bed and several days over steam and menthol. Left with a cough and almost permanently running nose and a change in taste )(coffee tastes bitter)

Two thick lines a couple of days before my booster + flu jab boohoo.

I am on the ONS survey for testing including blood test, my results show I have a high level of antibodies, thank heavens for the Covid injections and NHS. It is easy to see why it was so devastating initially.

CoyoteOldMan

Elcarajillo Daily cases (weekly average) are already 3x what they were in the summer. It seems the latest strain is not as bad as previous ones, which doesn’t mean it’s nice…

CrownandCanvas

wilburpan I definitely perked up after 4 cups of Filter coffee this morning! ;)

Del_UK

I never tested positive (didn’t have enough tests at the time) but my wife did after we got back from Boston in April. I almost certainly got it as my running heart rate was all over the place and it’s usually pretty consistent, especially on short easier runs, post Boston Marathon I wasn’t doing anything other than easy runs!

It took her about 3 days to fight off any feeling of sickness/illness and I felt ‘off’ for a couple of days. My average resting heartrate was up by about 5-7 for 2 weeks after getting back, up to 45ish-bpm.

She had a bit of a funny taste for about a week, but it returned to normal very quickly.

Apart from those few days, we both carried on as normal and have felt fine since. Both double jabbed at the time.

Hopefully it’ll pass quickly for you!

DavecUK

Del_UK She had a bit of a funny taste for about a week, but it returned to normal very quickly.

Was this when grilled, or fried?

drdre89

Unvaxxed here. Never caught covid. Never got sick except for a runny nose. But my vaxxed mates are dropping like flies and are having all these “long covid” type symptoms from a depleted immune system. Keep up the Vitamin D. Godspeed 🙏🏻

Rob1

drdre89 But my vaxxed mates are dropping like flies and are having all these “long covid” type symptoms from a depleted immune system.

This is a nonsensical myth. The vaccine has no negative effect on the immune system, just like all other vaccines. People with a vaccine may or may not have a stronger immune response than those without, there are many factors involved. Hospitalisation rates in those unvaccinated are significantly higher. You’d have to be completely brain dead to look at the statistics and say something along the lines of “most of the people in hospital are vaccinated so you’re better off without it” when most of the population is vaccinated but that doesn’t stop the tinfoil hat brigade from making the link which is where the myth came from. That and non medical anecdotal observations like yours.

Long covid isn’t fully understood, it’s more common in those unvaccinated and more common in those who don’t get adequate rest while infected regardless of vaccination status, and isn’t related to the severity of symptoms as far as I’m aware.