I only want to share this because i can't be the only one, i'm not looking for advice or sympathy... it's clearly something i need to fight on my own if i want answers.

That said, if it helps anyone who might be in the same position then it's been worthwhile.

Back in February, weeks before anyone in the UK acknowleged Covid-19 had affected Scotland or the UK i caught a cold, i remarked to many people at the time that this was the strangest cold i'd ever had.

My symptoms were a sore throat, the next day it became a cough, headache and fever... i assumed i had a common cold and carried on.

What was odd was that i never once had a runny nose or coughed any phlem. Three days later the "cold" ended and i didn't think about it again.

Fast forward 2-3 four weeks, i was at work taking a 4-500 yard walk and i had to stop walking every 50-60 yards to catch my breath, it felt like i'd run a marathon, too catch my breath took lesss than a minute until i felt normal again... my thought at that time was 'there is no way i can be this unfit'... i'd put on a couple of stone since i stopped smoking in 2017 so if i had suddenly become so unfit i wasn't surprised.

Due to the thought i'd become so unfit i went on a diet, nothing too extreme, bowl of cerial for breakfast, soup and bread for lunch, meat and two veg for dinner.

I was losing 3-4lbs a week and was happy with that.

Then all of a sudden i suffered from a skin problem like i'd never experinced before.... my skin was incredibly dry and itchy and when i scratched it i broke out in horrendous raised red lines that would disappear after 30 mins or so... i phoned my GP who diagnosed Hives and prescribed a couple of creams (i won't bore you with the details, if you've had hives you probably know as much as i do), the odd thing was he blamed my new diet... that never sat well with me becasue, well, it didn't make sense.

In January i started to suffer from pain in one of my knees that was in all probability correctly diagnosed as early onset arthritis, but in early March right out the blue both my knees became incredibly painful walking up and down stairs and on slight slopes, at the same time my back pain (sciatica) resurfaced.
[Since i was about 20 i've suffered from sciatica on and off so there was nothing new with that but i'd been back pain free for about 4 years, a picture was beginning to form.]

On March 23rd the UK went into full lockdown and as luck would have it (you couldn't make this up!), i started two weeks of annual leave.

When i returned to work in April i was exhausted, i couldn't understand why but with no prospect of being furloughed due to the nature of my job i had to suck it up and return to work.

I worked like that until 22nd July when i started another 2 weeks annual leave... that was the longest, yet quickest two weeks of annual leave i've ever had because i slept most of it.
Because i work nights normally the first week is about adjusting to daytime and the second is waking up at the crack of dawn... this didn't happen this time.

After working last night and feeling sicker than i can remember, this morning i phoned my GP surgery, but the callback never came.

Since February much has changed about our understanding of Covid-19.

Most notably in my case, skin conditions such as Hives can be a symptom and so can joint pains.... add into the mix breathlessness etc.

What do i want?

I would love to have an antibody test even if it might not be conclusive after the above time period, but if it came back positive then at least i and my GP would know what we are up against (if i could get to talk to one)... i'm angry that unless a clinician says i can have one the UK Government says i can't... even private anibody testing (which i'd happily pay for) is banned and reserved for NHS and care home staff.... i get that, but i'm pulling my hair out trying to understand what's going on with my body because if it isn't Covid related then something else is serioulsy wrong and until i get that test nothing will make me feel at ease.

Oh, the times we live in

Of course I can't give any relative advice except to keep pestering your doctor. Everything you state seems to match symptoms I've read on COVID.

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Oh my! I agree with Jay -- keep pestering the GP's office. Keep us posted and feel better!

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Wow, Doddie, you have suffered through a lot. I agree with Jay & Steve......keep pestering your GP, as you are certainly deserving of some immediate attention. However, I guess I would go one step further.....if at all possible, change GP's and find one who considers your symptoms and life important. It is my understanding that Scotland has a form of socialized medicine, but are you not allowed to seek the services of the GP of your choice?

One other question. I sounds like the nature of your work qualifies you as an essential worker, since you must always go back to work. Can essential workers like yourself not get antibody tests?

Regardless, I wish you well Doddie........

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Doddie, healing vibes and thoughts flowing in your direction. You take care of yourself.
Bill

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Like the others have said I don't think it's a coincidence and you definitely need to get back onto the GP, is there any chance your boss can pull any strings getting you the test?

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Thank you all for your messages of support, it means a lot

I was going to end with this but it seems this post has become a bit longer than i intended so i'd better say it at the top of the post (Barry, i can see your eyes-rolling! LOL):...

Hopefully a step in the right direction, my wife took a phone call this morning from the surgery receptionist.
After the receptionist told a GP what i'd told her yesterday the GP had heard enough and wants me to come into the surgery, i've got an appointment for Tues the 11th.

I'm not sure what to make of the wait of almost 7 days but i'm heartened that i might be being taken seriously at last, heartened because a 7 day wait indicates the GP probably doesn't think there's any imminent danger.

Only time will tell what comes of that appointment but the fact that getting an appointment at a GP surgery without first speaking to a GP in Scotland is almost unheard of in the current climate suggests that this GP is interested... sadly the receptionist didn't give the name of the GP, and my wife didn't think to ask, so i have no idea which GP i'm scheduled to meet.

@ Joan and Barry,

During UK lockdown my Employer could 'pull strings' to fast track me for a Covid test if i developed Covid like symptoms, but not an antibody test.

To date no-one outside of the NHS or a Care Homes can access antibody testing unless it's specifically requested by a clinician, at least not in Scotland:

Source: https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19/test-and-protect/coronavirus-covid-19-testing

@ Barry, i'm seperating this because you asked a specific question about GP choice.

Yes i can request a specific GP, but only a GP from the specific GP surgery where i am registered.

This does somewhat annoy me because for the first 45 years of my life i had what used to be known as a family doctor.
(Not strictly true because my very first GP was a Dr McKinnon until i was about 6 years old, he was so old he wore the full top to tails black 3 piece suit with top hat and pressed collar, even though he's sadly now long departed he's a presence that will remain with me forever!)

My second 'family' GP was a Dr Cooper who'd only recently graduated, i'll never forget the first day i met him, i was privately educated and my mother took me to see him for a reason i don't recall, i was in full school uniform with my hands in my pockets... he looked up from his desk and the first words out his mouth were "Don't stand there with your hands in your pockets boy!"... my mother was furious that he spoke to me like that and immediately told me to leave the room, i have no idea what she said to him but after 5 minutes she told me to come back into the room, a long standing doctor/patient relationship was formed from that day.

Shortly after that he took a year out to go and practice in Kenya, he came back a changed man, he was still arrogant but his 'bedside manner' was much improved and whenever i went to see him after that he nailed everthing first time.

Shortly before he retired about 11 years ago he was regressing back into his ultra arrogance and the whole local area would avoid booking appointments with him if they could.
I didn't feel that way about him, after all he was the man who had the audacity to lecture me about my hands in my pockets in front of my mother, how much worse could he get? LOL

Anyway, i really miss having a dedicated full-time (family) GP.

Sadly being a GP as a vocation seems to be a dying art.

My local surgery has a list of 12 GP's i can choose between but 10 are part-time, only 2 are full-time.

12 years ago the same surgery had only 5 full-time GP's.

Doddie, glad to hear that you have an appointment scheduled for 11 Aug. And your conclusion sounds logical regarding a 7 day wait indicating that the GP probably doesn't think there's any imminent danger. So best of luck to you going forward. Please keep us posted.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Take this as it is meant, not verified fact.

From what I've read the danger as to death from COVID 19 is when it initially invades the human body. If one makes it through the initial virus attack with the fever, coughing and such the person will normally survive but there can, and often is, side affects. This beast does not just infect and then go away. It often leaves followup issues that can be hard to definitely associate with the initial infection. Here are some of the things it leaves behind.
1) Shortness of breath with minor exertion caused by COVID 19 causing lung damage resulting in COPD.
2) Mild to sever joint pain especially evident when exertion is more than normal.

Of course I'm not qualified to say but my opinion is that you were infected with COVID 19 and survived but it let some of the followup issues as stated above. There are also other followup issues as it can seem to also cause heart issues probably related to the above COPD issues.

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Glad to hear that you have an appointment Doddie, like you we used to have a family doctors type practice but over the years they have retired or one of them left through stress. The practice now is just run by a Health Board with locums and District Nurses.

Before Covid-19 it was difficult to get an appointment to see a doctor and even if you went in and sat waiting it would be a long time before you could be seen, they also had a Home visit service.

Of course now the only way you can get into the surgery is if you have an appointment and the doctors and nurses have stopped home visits.

It's bad enough for the locals who live here but because this is a tourist area the numbers swell enormously over the season putting extra strain on the system.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

@Barry
Thanks again for you words of encouragement.

@Jay
I fully appreciate and understand your caution and disclaimers about you not being qualified etc, i would expect no less from you.

That said, COPD & Joint Pain has definitely been happening to me since February, as have Hives (urticaria) and Extreme Fatigue.

Prior to February, apart from Sciatica (that i hadn't suffered from for a long time previously) and very slight pain in one one of my knees i never suffered from any of the above.

Some more to ponder:

CNN article published yesterday, 5th August:
Covid-19 patients may develop skin rashes and discoloration, studies find
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/05/health/covid-skin-symptoms-wellness/index.html

Kings College London on 15th July
Skin rash should be considered fourth key symptom of COVID
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/skin-rash-should-be-considered-fourth-key-symptom-of-covid

Interstingly, the CNN article above raises another possible Covid related sympton that i hadn't considered related until today... mouth lesions!


Background history:

I stopped smoking in Oct 2017 much to the delight of my dentist but about 6 months later my gums started to bleed when i brushed my teeth, i went back to my dentist to find out why and she explained this was common with long term smokers who had recently stopped smoking, i smoked for 40 years and it was simply the blood vessels in my gums opening up again, when they had fully expanded again the skin on my gums would adjust, harden and stop bleeding, but it would take time.

By late 2019/early 2020 the bleeding had all but stopped and everything she said was making sense.

But since then the bleeding when i brush my teeth the bleeding has got steadily worse... to the point that right or wrong i dread brushing my teeth because sometimes the amount of blood i'm spitting out seems like the only thing i'm spitting out is blood.

There was nothing i could do about that during lockdown because dental practices in Scotland were forbidden to carry out any form of aerosol procedures so most remained closed... i believe they have very recently been allowed to re-open for some procedures but exactly what is so mind boggling to keep on top of that part of me thinks maybe i should let those who've been in chronic pain for months get their appointments first.

While quickly using a search engine does give me some insight into what 'enanthem' and 'etiology' means.. i'll be raising that with the GP i see on Tuesday because even though dental practices have been allowed greater flexibility' mine remains closed... i've never understood why a GP today can't look inside my mouth to diagnose a skin complaint, they used to when i was young... if they saw something that needed a dentist i would be referred to one.

Whether or not my mouth issue is related to Covid or not remains to be seen, but it's another thing to add to a long list of concerns since February that i can raise with the GP on Tuesday... i might need a bigger notepad the way thing are going!

I knew this would be a long summer but i always thought it would be financial to see myself and my wife through times if we lost income, in ways it has, my sister lost her partner for non covid related reasons that i needed to pay his funeral costs until the estate was settled, she also needed help to pay her mortgage due to reduced work hours and his passing... my in-laws also needed financial help for other reasons that i won't go into here.

I never expected to be fighting for the answers i'm seeking, the only saving grace is my wife who thought i was looking for answers to a problem that didn't exist back in February... even she is now accepting that i have to push for answers because they need to be answered.

To put that into persepective, she never saw me during daytime until she had to work from home so she never saw my behaviour until she was forced to work from home in March... she sees the difference now, and is extremely alarmed!

@Joan
Edinburgh City Council announced earlier this week that licenced premises licence extensions that are normally extended from 1am to 3am for pubs, and from 3am to 5am for clubs, will not be extended this year because the the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe have been cancelled.

The late opening pub and club owners are up in arms claiming the city centre is full of tourists and the only way they'll survive is with the licence extensions... what they fail to understand is the only reason they previously survived is because only the brain dead went to them at that time in the morning.

I'd also love to know where these international tourists are coming from when there are next to no flights coming in or out of Edinburgh Airport?

As a resident of Edinburgh all my life, i would be happy to see these centres of crime and drunkeness go out of business.

Doddie, best of luck to you on your upcoming GP appointment.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Update:

I went for my appointment yesterday, sadly i didn't get to see a doctor, instead i was appointed a nurse!

I'm not sure how or what changed for that to happen but because she came across as very experienced and seemed to be asking all the right questions i've decided to see how this plays out before i get annoyed about not being seen by a doctor.

Like i said she came across as very experienced and had a fantastic patient/carer manner, she was mid to late 40's (i know that sounds ageist, but if your 20'ish you generally haven't been round the block enough to have gained experience imo) and never once went to her PC terminal 'for advice' that far too many GP's seem to do these days.

So what happened?... I explained everything that's happened to me since February and she agreed that they may be Covid related but first she wanted to run blood tests to see what they returned.

She ran off a list of tests that would be carried out but to be honest by the time she got to number 10, and kept on going, i stopped listening! lol

At that point she turned into a vampire nurse, filling more blood vials than i doubt even Dracula could cope with!

I should get the results of the blood tests back on Monday, until then it's more waiting.

As an aside... getting into the surgery was an experience akin to getting into Fort Knox!!... queue outside until your appointment time when a nurse will come and collect you and take you to your appointment.
My appointment time came and went, a nurse who was collecting someone else asked if i had an appointment and if it was for a doctor or a nurse, i said a doctor.
She said a nurse would collect me soon... 10 minutes later a different nurse collected me and led me to a room... i thought she was taking me to see a doctor but the nurse who collected was the nurse who dealt with me.
With hindsight, i should have realised she was a nurse because she was wearing scrubs, GP's in the UK normallly never wear scrubs in a GP surgery... this was my first visit to a GP surgery during the pandemic so i presumed 'everyone' was now wearing scrubs as a precaution, everything about her demeanour said GP!
It wasn't until i was leaving the treatment room and said thank you doctor that she said, oh, i'm not a doctor, i'm a nurse... that i realised what had just happened.

Not sure what to make of all the above i apologised for my mistake and thanked her again, sometimes having a good nurse as an ally is better than only having a bad GP, maybe it'll work out for the better in the long run?

What interesting times we live in!

Glad that you were seen and that your blood will be tested. I currently see a Nurse Practitioner instead of a Doctor for my routine semi-annual visits. I am quite comfortable with her knowledge and experience, seeing no need to switch to a Doctor. I made the choice to start seeing her when my Doctor for many years in that office retired.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I also see a very-well qualified Nurse Practitioner for my quarterly visits. If/when a specialist doctor is required, she refers me to one. The doctor I had been seeing for many years moved his practice to a town about 50 miles away. This became just a little too far for me to drive, so I started going to the APRN that he recommended.

Before I switched, my doctor gave me his private cell phone number just in case. But I've only used it once, and that was three months ago when I called to check on him. I was worried about him and I just wanted to see how his practice was going in the middle of the Covid 19 crisis. To my relief, he was doing fine but was having to remain isolated from his wife and kids.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

My Primary Care Provider at the V.A. is also a Nurse Practitioner. That seems to be the trend these days.

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Hope the bloods come back with some answers for you Doddie.

It's the same here, it's not often you get to see a doctor hubby had his last visit yesterday so he came home with no dressings and they don't want to see him again.

He now has to wait for his heart checkup appointment to be set again, it's been cancelled a few times because of the lockdown, they have to sort out his pacemaker the top wire became unattached at the beginning of the year and he was supposed to see a consultant 3 months after the check but as the bottom wire is working OK at the moment he's still waiting. The insulin doses just keep getting increased at the moment and the diabetic nurse told him he can still be type 2 and need insulin.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

This was the first time i'd ever been told an appointment had been made with a GP, yet when i turned up for the appointment i didn't get to see a GP... with no explanation as to why not.

It is what it is i guess and there may be a valid reason why my clinician was changed on the day, but that should have been communicated to me.

I'll let it lie this time, but if it happens again i'll be expecting answers from the medical practice manager.

Fwiw, i have absolutely no objection to being cared for by a nurse after treatment has been prescribed by a Doctor, but first i want a diagnosis from a Doctor... that's the way it's supposed to work.

I can understand your feelings about that and rightly so.

At least with hubby after initially going to the walk in clinic a few days after he was scratched they did send him to the hospital as they thought he needed stronger antibiotics than they could give him.

Of course he saw doctors there who had him hooked up to intravenous antibiotics and he was there a couple of days then sent home with antibiotics and told to go to the nurses at the local surgery to have it dressed, that started at 3 times a week then down to 2 then the last couple of weeks just once and at least while there if the nurses needed to they'd get one of the doctors on duty to come in and look at it which happened a few times, he had another 3 courses of antibiotics during the weeks he was going.

In some way the last prescription lot was funny, the doctor did a swob and put him on a course of tablets, the following week he went back and was told they'd given him the correct tablets for the infection, he'd actually finished them the day previously.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Joan, glad to hear that your hubby is making a full recovery

I got a letter from my medical practice today that said it contained the results of my blood tests, to say that it contained the results would be stretching anyone's imagination.

All it said was that my cholesterol level had reduced to 5 (i have no idea what it was before!) and gave me an estimated risk of heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years of 12%, followed by advice about how to reduce my cholestorel level even further should i choose to do so.
It goes on to say that under current guidelines because my risk is above 10% i have the option to be prescribed a statin to reduce my risk further but in practice often they are only prescirbed when the risk is above 20%.

To reduce my level of risk by only 2% until i was in a 'safe level' i won't be taking the option of a statin, and their side effects.
Right or wrong, i've always been proud of the fact i've never taken drugs of any sort unless i've really absolutely needed to, e.g. i don't even take paracetmol or asprin for colds, headaches etc. I prefer to rely on listening to my body when it needs rest instead of masking the condition with drugs.

No mention of what the results of any of the other tests were or what i should do next, no mention of why i have the symptoms i have and what to do next.

The letter was signed at the bottom, allegedly by a doctor but the hand written (in ink) signature bears absolutely no resemblance to the doctor's name typed in the letter, it also isn't pp'd so i have no idea if a doctor has even reviewed my results before it was typed and signed.

I'd have phoned them today for answers but i came off a night shift this morning and figured i should probably be awake and alert before i had that conversation.

I'll phone the practice to try and get a more meaningful insight tomorrow.

Is it possible that another result could be following? I, obviously, have no experience as to how medical works in your area but here, with the V.A., I will usually get an initial report as to normal stuff but, if there is a special test being done, it will tend to take longer for those results as they have to send to an external lab where the normal stuff is done 'in house'.

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Jay, apparently not, it turns out the letter i got should have included all the results but for reasons no-one could explain... it didn't.

I phoned the practice today and asked for my blood test results, i was transferred to a nurse who explained that i should've had them in the post... i explained i received a letter but it only contained a cholesterol result, she apologised and transferred me to a doctor who would go through them with me.

The doctor started by saying that everything was within range except for one which was bordeline but nothing to be concerned about... she went on to say that they had run every possible blood test and it was all good then started to read through the list and explain what they are (all except the one that was borderline), i intended to ask what that was (a count of some sort) but forgot due to jargon input overload!

She asked if i was happy with that, i said yes but what happens now, i still have breathlessness and severe fatigue?

At this point i was beginning to like this GP (sadly a locum so not permanent at the practice), she asked me to briefly go over my sypmtoms etc again then began a series of questions.... one of which was did the nurse take a chest sounding last week?

The nurse hadn't so the doctor asked me if i could be at the surgery within 20 minutes, if so she had time to fit me in so she could do one herself.

What happened next could probably fill two forum pages so i'll try and give a short version, i was in her surgery for almost 40 minutes!...

She agreed with me that when the timeline and evidence is laid out then then it's almost certain i had covid in February.

She listened to my chest and could hear something in the lower left lung, she explained this could be an infection, covid scarring, or something else but has referred me for a chest x-ray to investigate, as a precaution against a chest infection she has prescribed a one week course of antibiotics.

She also admitted (which i really admired her for admitting, honesty has to work both ways for a doctor/patient relationship to work) that she hadn't come across a case of possible post-covid complications before so she went for a second opinion from another GP.

The second GP concurred that all the evidence is i have post covid symptoms.

Up to that point we never really discussed my excessive fatigue and the length of time i was sleeping, her jaw literally nearly hit the floor when i told her i was sleeping in excess of 12 hours every night i'm at home and not working night shifts since April/May, often as much as 16 hours.

She looked startled saying "12 to 16 hours?", i said yes and it's getting worse, explaining that normally i come home from a night shift and chill out with a coffee and put the news channel on for an hour or so before i get some sleep, but in the last week to 10 days i can't even do that, my mornings have become... i came home and don't even have the energy to get out of my work uniform, i take off my boots and collapse on the couch and pass out.

She looked genuinely shocked.

She asked if i wanted to be signed off work for a week, i explained i have another 2 weeks annual leave booked in 3 weeks.

Without blinking she came right back with "George, i really think you should take the next 7 days off!".

What an odd world and times i/we live in, from no-one believing/listening to me to two GP's on the same day agreeing!

As an aside i asked about having an antibody test today, figuring that if two GP's agree that i'm highly likely post covid then if i'm going to get one, now would be the best time to ask.... no was the blunt answer, the government simply isn't allowing the wider public access to them.

The GP and myself both agreed that is madness.

So sorry to read that an antibody test isn't in the cards, but the fact that you have two GPs who concur with the diagnosis that you arrived at is hopeful. I do hope that they are able to treat you and that you are able to fully recover sooner rather than later. An acquaintance of mine had COVID and she has periods of fatigue as well, a few months later. It sounds like your fatigue is much worse, though, as she hasn't reported the need to sleep as long as you are sleeping.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Thanks Steve, i'm not sure what's going to happen moving forward but i can't emphasis enough how much of a relief i feel that i have not one but two GP's who agree with me, that in all probability i had covid in February.

As things stand there is no 'cure' for what i and presumably others like me are experiencing but the fact that the medical profession is at long last beginning to recognise there are long term effects of this disease is hugely reassuring.

Officially in Scotland and the UK there are/were NO cases of covid that fit my timeline, to have this on my medical record is a vindication of what i've long suspected, the official facts are wrong.

My hope is that this will stand me well in the long run when and if treatment does become available.

I sincerely hope your 'acquaintance' doesn't find her fatigue creeping up on her like i did, my fatigue has slowly been creeping up on me since March/April to the point i now spend more time sleeping than i do awake.

It's not something i'd wish on anyone but at least the medics in my area are now starting to believe, if sharing my experience here can help spread the potential effects of this virus to others in a similar position then this thread is worth it.

Fwiw, i didn't intend this thread to become some sort of gospel for what's happening to me, i certainly didn't expect it to play out the way it did, but if it helps even one person in the same position as me not feel alone, like i have, then it's been worth it.

Stay Safe and Be Smart.

No worries Doddie. Stuff like this thread is a lot of why I created the COVID forum.

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