This was posted in a series of tweets on twitter.
I've been debating about whether to 'go public' on having coronavirus -
which I kind of did inadvertently this morning. So, now I may as well
share my experience(s) with you in order to help those who are worried
about it or who are thinking they might have it. Here goes...
I was taking this thing pretty seriously from an early stage because of advice from my good friend @amhitchens, who rightly identified the coming crisis. So I put my house in lockdown, I closed @ICSR_Centre early, and I started taking precautions
But you need to be constantly vigilant with coronavirus. All it takes is
one careless moment, one unthinking touch of your face, accidentally
touching a contaminated surface once and suddenly, boom, you've got it.
I'm 38 and have no underlying health conditions. I figured if I got it,
I'd shake it. Here's how things have played out. Firstly, it's not the
flu. Whoever originally said that, did everyone a great disservice. This
thing is not the flu. It's a nasty, horrible, illness.
I started having symptoms about two weeks ago. The fever was mild and
went very quickly. Is it Covid-19? Who knows, but I've shaken it
quickly. Great. Then my lungs started packing up and my chest got very
tight. This happened around 15-16 March.
The cough was dry and unlike anything I've ever had before. It was much
more extreme and pronounced than a dry cough you might have during a
bout of the flu. It feels like there's something deeply lodged within
your lungs, that they're (violently) trying to eject.
Of course, there's nothing to actually eject. The resulting cough is
dusty, dry and painful. Much more scary is that you're unsure of when
you'll stop coughing. You have no control over it. There were times I
was worried I'd start vomiting because the coughing was so severe
When you finally stop, it's a relief - but now you're in a new phase
altogether. You're fighting to draw air into your lungs but your chest
is tight and, frankly, your lungs are in distress. They're not
functioning the way they should.
Your head is also pounding because of the violent coughing. I suffered
terrible headaches after these coughing fits. The evening of Wednesday
18th was the worst day for me. I fought for breath for about 3-4 hours.
It was horrific.
I recorded my symptoms and sent it to doctors (my friends). "Classic
Covid" came the reply. I kept monitoring it and, frankly, staying awake
was a struggle. I went to bed. My breathing remained severely impaired
for another 2 days, but I was managing it all from home.
By Friday, I thought I'd got through the worst of it and things were
looking good. Coronavirus is particularly cruel. Recovery is not linear.
On Saturday night I started to feel distinctly unwell again. I decided
to take my blood pressure because I have a home monitor...
Anything over 180/120 is classified as 'hypertensive crisis' (basically,
heart attack/stroke territory). Without revealing what mine was, lets
just say I was well, well in excess of this (again, I don't have an
underlying issue). This was easily the most terrifying moment.
I called my doctor friends and told them. "Time to call 999" they said -
so I did. It took more than 15 minutes to speak with a representative;
that's how overwhelmed the emergency services are. I told them my BP and
that I have coronavirus.
Ultimately they decided they couldn't respond to my call. I am not
criticising the London ambulance service. They are doing superb work
under incredible, unprecedented circumstances. I'm telling you this part
of the story to underscore two things...
The first is that you should only call them in an absolute emergency.
It's not a diagnostic service. The more unnecessary calls, the longer
the delay in them answering becomes. Secondly, be prepared to take
decisive action for yourself because they might not be able to help
So I called my doctor friends again and started to take actions to lower
my blood pressure naturally, at home. I spent the next 48 hours in bed
and, only after this time, did my blood pressure return to anything
vaguely resembling 'normal' (it was still high, but acceptable).
Now we're into the start of this week. Symptoms have slowly evolved into
a less severe cough and my chest being less tight (although these get
worse in the evenings). But I have lots of new symptoms: crazy abdominal
pains and headaches. The lethargy has persisted throughout.
Today we're approaching the end of 2+ weeks since I first developed
symptoms and about 11-12 days since they became particularly acute. For
the first time, I feel like I'm starting to beat it but I'm nowhere near
feeling 100%.
Coronavirus appears to have a completely different trajectory in
different people. I can't spot a pattern. Although I'm only speaking
publicly about it now, I've been whatsapping with lots of
friends/colleagues who've also had it.
Some are shaking it off relatively easily. Others are suffering very
badly. The most difficult part of this is the extent to which it takes
hold within your lungs. There's just no way to tell what will happen at
the start. You need to watch this symptom if it develops.
So that's my coronavirus story. It's a completely mad, crazy illness. It
had made me feel more intensely ill than I've ever been in my life. On
the Wednesday & Saturday of last week, I was genuinely fearful of
what could happen if those symptoms continued to escalate.
I didn't want to tweet about my experience until I was more comfortable
in my own assessment that I'm through the worst of it. And I'm sharing
this with you now so that you can really think about the way this thing
is hitting people.
Do you really need to go out right now? Is social distancing really that
hard? Is it too much of an effort to wash your hands repeatedly, and to
wash them properly, with soap?
I've lost several days of my life to this illness. Many, many other
people will lose their lives to it. This virus continues to spread
everywhere and you - literally, you - can help stop it with the most
basic of efforts. Wash your hands. Stay at home. Do it now.
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