My suspected COVID-19 symptoms in London

I wanted to share my suspected Covid-19 symptoms here in London.

Great part of the world has been swept up by an invisible killer which has touched everyone’s walk of life. I unfortunately had to go through a suspected case of COVID-19 in London.

The COVID-19 virus has currently infected more than 1 million people all over the globe and sadly claimed the lives of many.

My most sincere condolences to all the families who have lost a loved one.

In London, the current prime minister Boris Johnson announced on the 12th of March 2020 that COVID-19 was more dangerous than the common flu and that many more families were going to loose their loved ones before their time.

I was shocked at the announcement no official lockdown was put in place and people had started to even panic buy in the supermarkets.

From then on, closure of schools and uneccessary businesses were closed by the 23rd of March 2020.

So keep in mind that the official lockdown, which unfortunately in London I can describe as relaxed one started on the Monday 23rd. People are still gathering in my area and conducting unnecessary work too!

I knew what was coming was bad as the numbers in Italy and Spain were shocking.

My symptoms with suspected COVID-19

This was my experience with developing COVID-19 related symptoms and what support there was in London.

I have no way of knowing whether I have contracted the coronavirus but I made sure that as soon as I saw I had the symptoms I stayed away from people and made sure not to SPREAD THE VIRUS!

Bear in mind that the UK does not test you at this point, unless you are brought in as serious or crital case in the hospital.

Suspect Covid-19 symptoms timeline

This is the timeline of my suspected Covid-19 symptoms:

So on Monday the 16th of March 2020, I was feeling unusually tired and went to bed so early. I had quite the headache.

On Tuesday 17th of March I had a GP appointment which was face to face with a doctor at my GP surgery.

That Tuesday evening, I told my mom that my right ear had a stabbing pain/ringing, I also had a headache and I was extremely tired.

My mom suggested I went to bed so that I’d feel better the next day. I took 2 paracetamol and slept.

On the Wednesday, 18th of March, I could barely get up, I had chills, a headache and oh god I had indeed developed a DRY cough.

Since I developed a cough I decided to take the self isolations measures from 111, I had to self-isolate for 7 days and my household had to isolate for 14. (however bear in mind that it’s been 16 days since I developed symptoms now and I still have this damn cough and I am out of breath, so doing some research online I am still not going out of my house just in case)

111 advised I called only if symptoms got worse and I couldn’t manage to breathe! 

To be honest I was scared at this point because I have read that with the novel coronavirus COVID-19 you can deteriorate quite quickly! I was struggling to get a full breath in, I can’t quite describe it because it’s a first for me.

During the day, I felt so much worse, I had chills, I couldn’t even walk as I was so out of breath and my chest really hurt like I had glass and pressure inside.

I couldn’t hold food down, nor drinks I was extremely nauseous.

I self medicated with paracetamol and went to bed in the hope that I’d feel better.

On the Thursday, 19th of March, I felt even worse, I couldn’t do anything I felt so faint, I had a cough, chills and extreme nausea. I couldn’t eat again. 

The painful chest was horrible, I can only describe it as glass bits in my chest!

I tried to drink water, keep warm as I was freezing and the cold air would make me cough even more .

Again I couldn’t eat anything because of the nausea.

I could barely walk to the bathroom and back without feeling breathless.

This started to really worry me because I felt like I was going to faint every time I walked.

Friday the 20th, again I had pretty much the same symptoms as Thursday. 

The pain in my chest was really concerning me at this point , but according to national guidelines as I could still breathe luckily, there would be no one I could call.

I tried to keep warm as I was extremely cold. I was out of breath and the cough was one taking literally my breath away.

Saturday and Sunday, the 21st and 22nd of March was pretty much like the days before, I was feeling really ill and extremely weak.

By Monday 23rd, finally the nausea had gone what a relief. However, my cough, chest pain were persistent. Everytime I tried to walk around I would almost faint! So I tried to keep laying down.

By Tuesday 24th I developed also a sore throat! The chest pain was there, together with chills and this darn dry cough!

Luckily my symptoms have been getting better, my cough is still there and less frequent but I am still quite weak. Nonetheless, better! 

Yesterday I got that stabbing ear pain again.

Today the 4th of April 2020, I still have my dry cough, but I have more energy and I am less out of breath.

I’ve lost in 3 weeks a bit more than 5kg!

These are my suspected Covid-19 symptoms I’ve been experiencing summarised. 

My line of actions with suspected Covid-19 symptoms

During all this time, the two things which scared me the most were the breathless moments with the chest pain, feeling like passing out and the worry of having given it to any of my family members within my household.

I made sure I used a separate bathroom during this time, washed my hands so much they are raw and asked my family to keep away from me constantly.

I followed the government and 111 guidelines and most importantly as soon as I developed COVID-19 related symptoms I made sure I isolated and MOST IMPORTANTLY STAYED HOME!

The scary part of all this is that you are left at your own devices without any clinical support in London! So scary! 

London is highly populated and the cases are high! The hospitals are filled and there are a high number of critical dying! It’s really so sad! 

It’s a very scary time with this pandemic and even worse if you experience symptoms as you don’t know if you are positive for the virus and unless you are literally dying, the ambulance and hospitals are not able to help.

It is OUR duty for the world to STAY HOME and follow the UK GOVERNMENT guidelines, this helps reduce the spread of COVID-19!

A current update on my suspected Covid-19 case

My dry cough kept coming and going for more than 3 months in total and it took a further 3 weeks to get my energy levels back up.

I have not yet been able to find out wether or not I contracted the virus.

When I get a chance to find out and get an antigen test. I will be sure to update this post.

If you are so stressed about Covid why not unwind reading on how to combat stress.