Anyone Else Been Ill, Ill and more Ill recently?

[Kimbers]

It seems like our lockdown and other things may have contributed to me being crook for ever!

Before Xmas I had A cold, then COVID and over Christmas some Chest Infection Bug thing. January I had Man Flu and was ill in bed for 3 days, February another stinking cold and now I have a Chest Infection and can't breathe!

Speaking my daughter she says the effects of COVID are more than we know and that it really decimates you immune system.

So, is it just me who seems to be perpetually ill?

[Sparky]

Same here.  Nothing dire; just an immune system that seems to be less efficient since COVID.  Also falling asleep every evening!  As an asthmatic, a good measure of fitness for me is peak flow.  It took a severe beating from COVID and I fought to get it back over the next several months.  But every time I make it back, something else comes along.  This is the price our immune systems pay for lengthy lockdowns.  Just keeping active and working through it...

[tomcattom]

I was ill in one form or another solidly from October through until end of January. Had a case of Covid, was knocked out with flu for nearly two weeks and had numerous colds; certainly the worst winter I've ever had for bugs. But I'm not sure how much of that was relatable to this, or just our baby daughter's first winter at nursery and her bringing every bug known to man home with her.

[cweeden]

It does seem that colds and like linger for a fair bit longer these days...

[Sparky]

To be fair though, @Kimbers is a flake.

[jerzybondov]

As someone who has literally written a book on the subject (published by Penguin) I’ve done a fair amount of research on this. 

It’s not so much the immunity debt from lockdowns (a concept that has been pretty comprehensively debunked), as the after effects of what Covid does to your immune system, even if you don’t suffer from Long Covid. It can wreak all kinds of havoc even if your initial infection felt mild. It’s very, very common for people to be ill more frequently / for longer after they’ve had Covid.

A few papers if you’re interested in these kind of things:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41385-021-00482-8

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-02228-6

https://biosignaling.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12964-022-00856-w

 

[Kimbers]

Thanks Mate, yeah its what my daughter said. 

Any idea for how long it takes for your Immunity to get half decent or is it permanent? I must admit to really struggling with our Annual fitness test as I struggle to breathe.

[jerzybondov]

3 minutes ago, Kimbers said:

Thanks Mate, yeah its what my daughter said. 

Any idea for how long it takes for your Immunity to get half decent or is it permanent? I must admit to really struggling with our Annual fitness test as I struggle to breathe.

The honest answer at the moment is we just don’t know - it does seem to be different for everyone though. Some people are a mess for 6 months and then bounce back, others still have issues grinding on after 3 years. 
 

The one rule that does seem to have consensus is that if you feel worse the day after exertion, then you need to back off. Pushing through or doubling down has the opposite effect. 
 

(Shortness of breath on exertion also v common after Covid, even years after initial infection, although see your doc - could be an exacerbation of asthma or something else treatable). 

[Kimbers]

Had it 3 times now mate and we can't work without passing it so really have to pass through the breathless barrier and expire!

[pete]

@Kimbers. @Sparky can only get worse, you seem to forget you are getting OLD 🤑

[andydclements]

They're getting old in the same sense as somebody standing in the middle of London UK is travelling from USA to UK...

[Spinney]

You’re not alone with this. We had Covid first time in Jan ‘22 and main symptoms for me were a really thumping headache, acute tiredness which took around 3 months to get over and, possibly worst of all, severe tinnitus ever since. 
 
Then in October last year I had another cold which wasn’t too bad in itself but really buggered my breathing, to the point where the only thing that cleared the chest infection was a 7 day steroid course. 

Then 2 weeks ago, we got what we thought was another cold but after a friend we’d been with a couple of days earlier emailed to say she was testing Covid positive, we tested and, sure enough, it’s bloody Covid again!

So, move on to this week and again I’ve got a chest infection and my breathing is proper buggered again. Yesterday I was prescribed more antibiotics, together with a course of steroids, so hoping to start feeling human again in a couple of days. 

Before the first Covid, I was rarely ill, apart from a long term asthma which is generally very mild and doesn’t bother me. Now, however, I’m feeling even older than I really am (and I am old!) and just can’t do anything that requires a bit of exertion. Even climbing the house stairs without a short stop half way is becoming impossible for me at the moment. 

It’s crazy, I’ve gone from being a fit healthy bloke to having the stamina of a severely asthmatic hamster in little over a year. I’ve got a rowing machine in my home gym which normally I love using, but I’ve not been able to get on it with any serious intent since before the first Covid. Previously I could easily do 30 minutes of strenuous rowing but best I can do in one sitting since Covid 1, is about 4 minutes tops. 

I’ve had enough of this now!😡

[jerzybondov]

Really sorry to hear this Spinney

Asthma is correlated with the probability of not recovering fully after an acute Covid infection (whether you call that Long Covid or something else). 

Currently 2 million people in the UK experiencing protracted symptoms (according to ONS figures) - it’s a really big problem that isn’t getting enough coverage. 

[Rambo]

That's interesting. As an ex chemist working in the field of occupational medicine and manufacture of pharmaceuticals, I can already see a correlation in our very small TLF cohort.

Two of you above @Sparky and @Spinney both have a pre-existing condition ie asthma and both appear to have been hammered by Covid re-infection and its long term effects. What I'm inferring to here is that perhaps Covid, or maybe even the vaccinations, has caused the people with pre-existing lung infections, asthma etc.. to worsen???

 

 

[910Esprit]

And for balance - no.   Had mild Covid a couple of years ago.  Not been ill with anything I can recall since.   Haven't had a Covid booster or a flu jab (even though I'm target demographic.    Quite regularly travel with the hoi polloi on the train and go drinking in Manchester etc, so I guess its the luck of the draw, but maybe Rambo is onto something as I had no pre-existing conditions either 

[Escape]

19 hours ago, Sparky said:

This is the price our immune systems pay for lengthy lockdowns.  Just keeping active and working through it...

This.

I've not suffered much myself but do notice it around me. My girlfriend has been suffering from colds, flue etc for months and an unusually high number of colleagues is on sick leave. I just carry on but don't always feel as lively as I'd want. But maybe I'm just getting old...

[ramjet]

Liz and I both got Covid after a trip out to a small town near Geelong. Neither of us had any symptoms after the first day when we both just sort of felt lousy. Neither of us has been sick since. Liz has had four jabs and I have had three. My daughter, Alicia,  has had 2 and both of them have caused her to be hospitalised for some odd reason. She won't get a third.

Alicia's son has had Covid 3 times I think and just says "I've got Covid again."

[Sparky]

16 hours ago, pete said:

@Kimbers. @Sparky can only get worse, you seem to forget you are getting OLD 🤑

[Chillidoggy]

I suspect this kind of thing doesn't help - 

 https://goo.gl/maps/4FxAF2yvbreV4NJ78

[Spinney]

18 minutes ago, Chillidoggy said:

I suspect this kind of thing doesn't help - 

 https://goo.gl/maps/4FxAF2yvbreV4NJ78

That’s an affliction of a totally different kind and I’m not sure there’s any cure for it! 🤔😃

[Sparky]

Been trying to shake it off for years.  Checked myself in for a few days at a special clinic in Denmark from tomorrow; perhaps that'll help.

[Chillidoggy]

13 minutes ago, Spinney said:

That’s an affliction of a totally different kind and I’m not sure there’s any cure for it! 🤔😃

Any normal person would sleep in a bed, but not him.

[ramjet]

So who got run over by the silver one? Poor driving at that that low a speed in a driveway.  

[Kimbers]

4 hours ago, Rambo said:

That's interesting. As an ex chemist working in the field of occupational medicine and manufacture of pharmaceuticals, I can already see a correlation in our very small TLF cohort.

Two of you above @Sparky and @Spinney both have a pre-existing condition ie asthma and both appear to have been hammered by Covid re-infection and its long term effects. What I'm inferring to here is that perhaps Covid, or maybe even the vaccinations, has caused the people with pre-existing lung infections, asthma etc.. to worsen???

 

 

Make that 3. Had Asthma since I was 3. I was diagnosed with Long Covid after having the Alpha variant in May 2020. I had it 2021 and again in December 2022. First one nearly hospitalised me, second was like a cold and third again kicked my arse and not been the same since.

Trouble is, if I can't run and do the Bleep test I can't do my second job, period. And right now I can't get even a minute in!

I am not sure if some like Sparky, Spinney and myself are naturally disposed to it or something but I've had enough now. 2 years of not feeling right and 3 months now of breathlessness and another bloody chest infection is enough!

[Sparky]

@Kimbers I reckon we should qualify for a substantial disability allowance.