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Old 13th May 2020, 17:29   #31
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

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Originally Posted by GameOfCars View Post
Sharing my experience of the COVID19 pandemic.
Thank you for penning this down. It definitely assuage some fears regarding the effects of this virus. This in no means convey that I'm going to take it lightly though. Medical staff and health workers around the world are doing a tremendous job. Not enough words to thank them with.
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Old 13th May 2020, 17:29   #32
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

@GameOfCars - first of all, just so great to know that you are all fine & have recovered. Just so nice to see you in high spirits after surviving one of the biggest scares of our times.

I must say I was a bit taken aback to see this thread. Just a couple of days ago late in the night before going to bed, I was thinking if any of my BHPian colleagues have been hit by the pandemic. And here is your thread.

Doctors like you are putting your lives in the line of fire to shield the rest of us. And God bless you for that. Once again - so happy to see your story of a full recovery. Its still rare to get a detailed insight into a recovered person's story here in India due to restrictions on privacy, data sharing (rightly so for Indian conditions) etc . Thanks & wish you the best of health ahead.
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Old 13th May 2020, 17:48   #33
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Re: The Coronavirus Thread

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Originally Posted by GameOfCars View Post
In India, I believe, a huge stigma associated with covid19 which has been created, rightly or wrongly I'm not too sure. We are all sailing in uncharted waters and there is a huge fear of the unknown everywhere. All i can tell is, the virus is very contagious, no two ways about it.
Rightly said. I think a lot of casualties economically, financially & health wise could have been controlled if there was a proper guidelines, plan of action and a proper communication with the people. Probably we could have deterred all this panic in the people, migrations happening around.

But the other side of the story is none of the government or machineries ever thought they would face anything like this so there was no mechanism or standard operating practices in place.

Really appreciate this sharing of your experiences and would certainly help lots of people clear their doubts.

Last edited by Gannu_1 : 14th May 2020 at 00:14. Reason: Fixing quoted post, corrected typos.
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Old 13th May 2020, 18:28   #34
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

UPDATE

Day 10 - May 13th - Woke up at 8AM. Soreness in the throat is not there anymore. No symptoms as such to report now. Energy levels are picking up everyday but I still won't say I'm back to my usual self. It takes a bit more time to do the usual routine stuff, but again i'm doing things at my own pace. Noticed yesterday while I was reading a novel, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, it started to become quite difficult to concentrate after reading just 12-14 pages which is really unlike me. My brain felt exhausted and worked up and I had to just take a step back and took a power nap instead. Luckily, I've been able to concentrate much better today. Did some productive work for a couple of hours this morning on a case report I'm trying to get published in one of the British Medical Journals. Overall, heading in the right space and eager to step out of the house soon.

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Originally Posted by RahuKetu View Post
Thanks a lot for sharing the first hand account. Gives good idea about the symptoms and precautions to be observed when infected by this virus. I feel that making immune system strong is the key here. I have seen some persons suffering from same symptoms at my workplace. Some showed mild symptoms while other had little more. Some recovered in 2-3 days while some took more than a week. Depends on how badly it had struck you, how early you have figured out that you have been struck and how you handle it. Remaining positive at such time is most important.
Yes, rightly said, boosting your immune system is the key. It's difficult to say who has had it, and who has not without getting tested for it. But yeah, in all likelihood they might have had a mild one and didn't realize much about it.

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Originally Posted by Mortis View Post
Thanks for sharing your story and all the best for your recovery !

Are you by any chance interning at Queen's Medical Center ? I had gotten my Master's degree from Uni Nottingham way back in 2007 and we had some lectures and modules at Queen's
Thanks for the wishes. Great to know you've been around here. I am actually based at City Hospital, Nottingham. I do have some of my on-call shifts at times at QMC, but that's not very frequent.


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Originally Posted by AtheK View Post
Reading about it in news and hearing it from a fellow team bhp member, are two different things altogether. Wish you a speedy recovery buddy, and glad to see how you managed it all.

Sometimes i feel everyone will eventually get impacted, question is more like will it be before any specific medicine, or before it, and be treated for symptoms. Feels like living in a movie that we always thought happens only in theatre. Hopefully the happy end comes soon!
Thanks for the wishes. It's unlikely that it will affect everyone. But yes, everyone is more or less at risk of contracting it. The lesser you step outdoors and come in contact with the outside world , the lesser chance you'll get it. Yes, waiting for that happy ending quite eagerly now.

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Originally Posted by RajeevSharma View Post
Congratulations on your fast recovery and thank you for sharing your ordeal and positive experiences with us.

I am also under self quarantine along with my family as we were stuck in Himachal during first two phases of lockdown and returned with special permission. During our return, I learned that no matter how many precautions that we take, if we get out of our houses, the risk rises with it.

We have to stay healthy as we can not afford to live a stranded life for long.
Thanks a lot for the wishes. Hope you and your family are doing well. Keeping your immunity and fitness levels high will be of great importance. Even if one does get the virus, your fitness and immunity levels will dictate how severe symptoms one gets. Funnily enough, my mom has been pushing me to do some home made remedies here. And since she believes in it, didn't really feel a need to fight it and I've been doing them for last 4 weeks now. Not saying, they have done anything to boost my immunity levels, but it does give a general feeling of well being and better mental strength. Placebo effect as I would like to call it.

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Originally Posted by JojyKerala View Post
Thank you penning this. A worthwhile and highly useful read of a first-hand perspective.

Hope she is coping well now. Do you come across 80+ aged positive patients often?

I understand that the UK is currently under lockdown. Is the lockdown as strict as it is in India? I'm asking because the number of positive cases and casualties are quite puzzling.

Once again, thank you for this post!
That patient is fairly stable from what I heard last about 4-5 days back. Yes, we've had most of our in-patients in the age group of 75+. Most of them have been either care home residents or have been in hospital prior to this pandemic starting. Mortality rate is also higher in that group given they already have many co-morbidities and the addition of COVID19 infection just tips them off the fence.

Lockdown here was never as strict as it was in India. Supermarkets were open, takeaways have been open. 2 people from the same household are allowed to go outside for run/exercise. Sadly, the moment this pandemic started, summer had just started and people have been stepping out to soak in some sun, even after repeated warnings. Traffic on the roads is still about 30-40% of usual specially during office hours. Lockdown has been eased off a fair bit since this Monday in England. However, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continue to extend it for another 3 weeks.

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Originally Posted by bimal_67 View Post
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience in between your tough schedule. Congratulations on your recovery too.

It's reassuring to read through your first hand experience, when most of us are being pulled apart by the contradicting requirements of isolation and social needs. One cannot hide forever as lives have to move on. That's where such first hand reports of recoveries help all of us. Thanks a lot once again and Congratulations. Bravo!
Thanks for your lovely wishes and kind words.

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Originally Posted by speedmiester View Post
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and for doing a great job at fighting Covid19.
We will be living with this virus for the near future. Stories like yours will help people to live a normal life with precautions rather than with fear and stigma.
I have elderly parents and Father-in-law at home. So it becomes more important for us to be very careful when we step outside. Luckily both my wife and I have an option to WFH permanently which reduces our risk a lot.

Have you taken a second test to confirm a negative test result?
Unfortunately, here in UK, they are not repeating a swab once you've tested positive. Ideology behind being that once you've had the virus, you will continue to test positive upto 6 weeks as there will be elements of dead virus still traceable on PCR testing, however a person cannot infect or spread the disease after day 5-7 of having first symptom. Antibody testing is being ramped up now and I'm hoping to get tested for that by the end of this month. I will be going back to work from Monday without getting a repeat swab, provided I remain symptom free.

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Originally Posted by HKP View Post
Thank you so much for writing your experience and congratulation on beating COVID19.

I really liked the way you used this time to ponder over life and at your young age, that learning and awareness are surely going to guide you to do much better in life.

Stay healthy, everything else will take care of itself.

\\hkp
Thank you so much for your wishes. I never thought I would be posting something like this here on Team-bhp. But again, who would have thought that 2020 will be anywhere close to what it has turned out to be. Sadly, this year has taught us far more than we would have liked or imagined.

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Originally Posted by ash22 View Post
Thank you so much for sharing this. This will help people like us to understand the Covid-19 pattern and can take precautionary actions.

@members, Need your reviews, suggestion on the ARS-ALB-30..

Recently our society got ARS-ALB-30 a Homeopathy medicine from a Doctor as a Corona preventive. Is it advisable to take it?
I'm afraid I've no knowledge in this regard. I guess fellow members have shed some more light on this.

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Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar View Post
I don't think you realise how brave you are to do what you did and how awesome you are to write what you wrote. Hats off man!

Take care, stay safe and I pray to god that you recover as soon as possible. People like you and your colleagues are the ones who give this world some much-needed hope.
Thanks for your kind words and well wishes. I've just been trying to do my job to the best of my knowledge. I'm sure there are thousands more stories out there like mine. But yes, all this love and appreciation does give a boost to keep going.

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Originally Posted by Aqua View Post
Congrats and thanks for your first hand account. Lets hope that the vaccine is found asap and the world does not have to live in fear.

Thanks to all the people who are on the front line. A Big Salute!
Thank you so much. Fingers crossed.

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Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 View Post
First of all let me take some time to Salute your dedication towards your profession. Reading this post has sent chills down my spine. Honestly speaking, if I was in your situation, I would have resigned and self-isolated myself or even left UK. I say this because I have experienced the NHS in UK during my stay there in 2007-2011.

As I read through the remaining post, it was quite a relief knowing that you were recovering well. Best of luck.

You are a true inspiration. Great job and hope for your fast recovery. When will they confirm if you are -ve? Do they test daily or you just have to test once the symptoms are gone?
Thank you so much for your kind words and wishes. I'm recovering well, on-course to return to work on 18th May. I will not be re-tested here and if I remain symptom free for more than 48 hours, I will be allowed back into work. As mentioned earlier, I will try getting myself tested for antibodies against COVID19 when it becomes available here, likely-hood being end of this month.

Attaching the report I received to give a snapshot of how things are working here and how I will be phased back into work. It will be Day15 for me when i return back to work on Monday.

My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!-image0.jpeg
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Old 13th May 2020, 18:54   #35
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

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Originally Posted by GameOfCars View Post
. ...
Unfortunately, here in UK, they are not repeating a swab once you've tested positive. Ideology behind being that once you've had the virus, you will continue to test positive upto 6 weeks as there will be elements of dead virus still traceable on PCR testing, however a person cannot infect or spread the disease after day 5-7 of having first symptom. Antibody testing is being ramped up now and I'm hoping to get tested for that by the end of this month. I will be going back to work from Monday without getting a repeat swab, provided I remain symptom free.

Doc, great to read about your first hand experience and very happy about your successful recovery.

One question - once someone has recovered, can he/she get infected again? Specifically asking as you plan to resume your duty soon.

PS - keep up the good work. God bless you and your kind.
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Old 13th May 2020, 19:13   #36
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

thanks for sharing your story. Quite amazing, take care, stay healthy!

Jeroen
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Old 13th May 2020, 19:20   #37
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

Hey Gaurav, congratulations on the recovery and thank you for sharing your experience. Take care.

Do share your updates with us, especially on the 4 potential lines of treatments being conducted at your hospital.

Ashish
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Old 13th May 2020, 20:47   #38
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

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Originally Posted by GameOfCars View Post
Yes fortunately, the only medication I've taken is paracetamol.
First of all, thanks for sharing your experience in good detail on this forum. It is quite informative and educative. Good wishes of all of us from Team-BHP are with you for your complete recovery.

I have two specific questions :

1) Fever is nature's defence mechanism to fight infections by raising the body temperature. Does taking paracetamol not interfere with this natural process? I have been under the impression that paracetamol should be taken only when body temperature exceeds 101-102 deg F.

2) When you resume your NHS work with Covid-19 patients, would you still need PPE (or any kind of protection) in spite of your natural immunity?
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Old 13th May 2020, 20:57   #39
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

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Originally Posted by GameOfCars View Post
Sharing my experience of the COVID19 pandemic.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I have been going to a PSU to help with the production of ventilators and the number of people involved in this operation has scared me TBH, especially since I live with my elderly parents. Your post is confidence inspiring . Get well soon and thank you for your service!
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Old 13th May 2020, 21:38   #40
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

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Originally Posted by amitjha086 View Post
Thanking for sharing your experience. As an ENT surgeon myself working in Nepal, I am at high risk of getting infected.
Yours is a very informative article. A first hand experience unlike others that we read on internet. Is it okay for you if I share your experiences (anonymously) on a Facebook closed group that includes most of the doctors in Nepal? It'll be a great learning experience for all here.
Glad, I could be of some use. Please do share if you feel appropriate. Happy to help in anyway I can. Stay safe.

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Originally Posted by Reinhard View Post
@GameOfCars - first of all, just so great to know that you are all fine & have recovered. Just so nice to see you in high spirits after surviving one of the biggest scares of our times.

I must say I was a bit taken aback to see this thread. Just a couple of days ago late in the night before going to bed, I was thinking if any of my BHPian colleagues have been hit by the pandemic. And here is your thread.

Doctors like you are putting your lives in the line of fire to shield the rest of us. And God bless you for that. Once again - so happy to see your story of a full recovery. Its still rare to get a detailed insight into a recovered person's story here in India due to restrictions on privacy, data sharing (rightly so for Indian conditions) etc . Thanks & wish you the best of health ahead.
Thank you so much for your kind words and good wishes. It's surely a morale booster.

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Originally Posted by SDP View Post
Doc, great to read about your first hand experience and very happy about your successful recovery.

One question - once someone has recovered, can he/she get infected again? Specifically asking as you plan to resume your duty soon.

PS - keep up the good work. God bless you and your kind.

From what I gather, there is a possibility of re-infection, if one's body is unable to form antibodies against the virus. However, it seems to be extremely low. Few cases of re-infection have been reported in South Korea and China, again a very small number. An article from Germany had come out a few days back, which had studied 1000 patients who were tested positive for COVID19 and recovered. Only 14% among those who had recovered showed they had antibodies developed against the virus in their blood samples. Again, its just 1 study and I'm sure there are many more going around in the world. We surely will get a better picture on all this in the coming days.

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Originally Posted by aashishnb View Post
Hey Gaurav, congratulations on the recovery and thank you for sharing your experience. Take care.

Do share your updates with us, especially on the 4 potential lines of treatments being conducted at your hospital.

Ashish
Thank you. I will surely update on the treatment findings once they're available.

Quote:
Originally Posted by debuda View Post
First of all, thanks for sharing your experience in good detail on this forum. It is quite informative and educative. Good wishes of all of us from Team-BHP are with you for your complete recovery.

I have two specific questions :

1) Fever is nature's defence mechanism to fight infections by raising the body temperature. Does taking paracetamol not interfere with this natural process? I have been under the impression that paracetamol should be taken only when body temperature exceeds 101-102 deg F.

2) When you resume your NHS work with Covid-19 patients, would you still need PPE (or any kind of protection) in spite of your natural immunity?
Fever is body's defense mechanism to fight infections. In doing so, what the increased body temperature does is, increase production of cytokines and T-lymphocyte which basically assist in the immune response. However, in case of COVID19 infection, sometimes the body's response to infection is going into overdrive. When say this virus enters the lungs, it triggers an immune response, attracting immune cells to attack the virus. But in some cases, excessive levels of cytokines are being released which then activate more number of cells, resulting in hyperinflammation which has been fatal at times and the primary reason of people experiencing breathlessness. To basically avoid this, I have made sure my temperature never went beyond 38.6 celcius throughout. This is possibly one of the reasons why children have been relatively less affected by COVID19 as their immune systems are less developed. I might be wrong on this, but that's what my understanding stands currently.

I will be doing exactly the same thing as I've been doing in the past 5-6 weeks. Using the same PPE guidelines, taking all the same precautions at home and work. Only when I've been tested for antibodies and they show I've developed them, I'll have some reassurances to relax. Till then, its going to be the same old routine from sanitizing the car steering wheel, gearbox, dashboard, door handles(everywhere your hand has touched basically), mobile phone, keys to undressing and putting clothes in the washing machine the moment you enter the house and rush to take a shower before you touch any surface at home. What times!!
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Old 13th May 2020, 21:42   #41
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

Glad you are okay doc! Wish you a complete recovery and hope you are back to 100% asap. Thank you for sharing your experience. The world needs more success stories like yours esp when all that the media will show is doom and gloom. Yes, the virus is dangerous but let's not kill people with fear and depression.
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Old 13th May 2020, 22:49   #42
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

Good to hear that you have recovered well. I did my Orthopaedic fellowship at Nottingham in 2011 and looks like you are in that part of the country.

I did almost all my postgraduate training in the UK and worked as a consultant there before relocating back to India. I am a Brit national myself and a part of my heart remains there. It was heart breaking to hear from my friends and old colleagues in the UK, on how NHS was being overwhelmed with this pandemic and more due to the lack of a proper masterplan from the administration to handle this. In fact, one of my ex colleagues, from the north-west of the UK, an Orthopod, who was in his early 50s, sadly succumbed to CoVid.

The bit about the virus that worries a lot of us is the varied ways it affects different persons. The publics reaction is also very varied , from total nonchalance to paranoia. It was good to hear your first hand experience and relieved to know that you came out of it relatively unscathed. Thank you for sharing your experience in great detail and good luck with your oncology training.

Cheerio!
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Old 14th May 2020, 00:06   #43
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

Hi doctor,

Going through your thread was a totally different experience for me. It got back haunting memories. My father was a general practitioner in the Sultanate of Oman. He was 76 years old and he too probably contracted Covid from one of his patients. He developed the same symptoms like you- severe lethargy, lack of appetite and fever, though it was a low grade one. However, he passed away fighting the virus on the 17th of last month. He was on ventilator support for 2 weeks before he finally succumbed. And being in different parts of the world and the country, in the middle of the lockdown, we could not be together during this horrible time, neither could we see him one last time.

I am really really happy you have recovered from the infection, and I am also happy most of your colleagues are also better now. Being a doctor myself, I know how badly this is turning out for healthcare workers- not only in UK but here in India too. Lack of PPE, overloading of existing resources, decisions from higher ups who have no clue what to do etc. I pray you guys stay safe and the whole world comes out of this phase at the earliest. Though it is a sure thing, the world will never ever go back to pre Covid days.
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Old 14th May 2020, 00:52   #44
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

Thank you for penning this down and a salute to you for your bravery! You inspire people. Definitely!
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Old 14th May 2020, 01:37   #45
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Re: My experience with Covid-19: Got infected, and recovered!

One word: Amazing!!!

Firstly, I would congratulate you on your recovery. Also, thank you for sharing your experience, at times like these it's important that people have some faith that problems like these can be resolved if you remain calm, keep your distance and remain hopeful. Your story is inspiring and very reassuring. More power to you!

P.S: Looking forward to your Beemer's review.
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