If you have it, have had it, are pretty sure you have it, tell us about it?

[Orang Utan]

Anyone else get a postcard from UCL inviting you to take part in a COVID study? Free testing for the virus but also, if you’ve had it, antibodies testing as well

 

[2hats]

A friend of mine and her family are part of an antibody research project as her son was hospitalised with Covid. Her husband was sick but she and her daughter were not. I'm not sure what antibodies they were testing for, one assumes a broad range in the context of national research, but only her 2 children had antibodies.

This is, not surprisingly, an area of much active research, where ideas and understanding are evolving rapidly.

Different research teams are testing for different combinations of antibodies. Absence of one particular antibody response is not evidence of absence of immune response. Outcomes of current research testing should not be taken as evidence of exposure to the virus (or not). It is exactly that - for research purposes. The pathogenesis of this virus and the body's response to it is still being characterised.

For example, there is some evidence that in some cases, there is only a T cell adaptive response and where this has been sufficient to fight the disease no further immune response is apparent in the subject (this could be one source of false negatives).

 

[Marty1]

The NHS want to know if my son has Covid, according to this letter just received today he’s been randomly picked for the test. He says he’s happy to help so we’ve signed him up.

Anyone else had this letter?

 

[ricbake]

Had an anti body test through work - nothing detected and just a recommendation that I keep trying not to catch it....

 

[elbows]

The NHS want to know if my son has Covid, according to this letter just received today he’s been randomly picked for the test. He says he’s happy to help so we’ve signed him up.

Anyone else had this letter?

I've had a letter for the very same study, except mine has slightly different wording because they are inviting me to participate rather than a child.

They dont really want to know if your child has Covid-19, they want to figure out whether the saliva-based test is reliable.

 

[Riklet]

I am continuing to improve. It is a HARD journey. Every day is a fucking challenge. It´s heartening to hear that just cos I dont have IGG antibodies doesnt mean I have no protection and I might be more protected against getting covid again than I initially thought.

I am not getting many strong symptoms unless I do an activity for too long or wear myself out. In practice, I still cant do much. But my stamina has increased.. can do electronic tasks for longer and when I do feel shitty or weird symptoms come back they dont last for long.

I have been to 2 cranial osteo apointments and they have helped a lot, although it´s very subtle and not immediate... only like 4-5 days later I notice the difference. Second appt he said he felt much less chaos in my body in terms of my my body´s internal responses and my "internal battery" - that´s how it feels to me, like maybe I have avoided major physical damage but like my whole body is in shock and not communicating properly. THings are a bit scrambled. I´ve been ravenous for 2 months eating 5 meals a day and using huge amounts of energy just doing the basics... this is starting to level out a bit.

I hope anyone else in a similar situation can stay positive, time is a great healer!! I dont think I would be recovering this well if I wasnt lucky enough to be able to take a break from pretty much everything though and just rest and take it easy for months. At this stage though, I really hope that as I get stronger the rest of the postviral nastiness will continue to fade and I will feel more normal again. Another GP however told me to lower my expectations and assume at least 6 months to recover, based on data from China.

Thanks for your support urbs. I will def be keen to do studies in the future to help them work out why covid seems to have affected me for so long as an otherwise healthy 30 year old.

 

[2hats]

For example, there is some evidence that in some cases, there is only a T cell adaptive response and where this has been sufficient to fight the disease no further immune response is apparent in the subject (this could be one source of false negatives).

Returning to this theme again, as before. There is a growing body of research that T-cells play an important role in the immune response to this virus, particularly in the degree of severity of outcome.

Depletion of certain T-cells (CD3+) may be key in severe cases. T cell senescence is a feature of ageing.

A race to determine what drives COVID-19 severity

Clinical evidence reveals how host factors affect coronavirus infection.

www.nature.com

Whereas a robust T cell response (here, CD4+ and CD8+) appears to be a feature of mild and asymptomatic cases.

Robust T cell immunity in convalescent individuals with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells will likely prove critical for long-term immune protection against COVID-19. We systematically mapped the functional and phenotypic landscape of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses in a large cohort of unexposed individuals as well as exposed family members...

www.biorxiv.org

Which would go a long way to explaining the apparent (false) negative test results in cohorts who have experienced COVID-19 symptoms.

just cos I dont have IGG antibodies doesnt mean I have no protection and I might be more protected against getting covid again than I initially thought.

Emphasis on the might. At this stage of research it would be wise to assume no immune protection and act accordingly.

 

[zahir]

I thought this was quite an interesting discussion of post-Covid effects. I’m finding that I’m having problems concentrating and I suspect there may be cognitive issues that aren’t going to go away.

What is post-Covid syndrome? Sufferers report feeling crushing fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog after recovering from coronavirus

Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid speak to Covid-19 sufferers who are still struggling with the after effects of the virus.

www.itv.com

 

[Brainaddict]

My fatigue is still dragging on. I'm hoping its better than before but its hard to tell because it goes up and down, and is mostly related to exercise - so depends how much exercise I do, and it can be difficult to compare exactly between activities.

I've felt quite pissed off that the public discourse about either death or recovery hasn't moved on, but there's been a spate of articles recently about it, so perhaps it finally is.

In one of the guardian pieces there was a reference to the long term health effects of SARS, which it turns out there are multiple papers about. People debilitated quite long term, particular with regard to their ability to exercise. I am puzzled, and a bit pissed off, that the rhetoric at the beginning was all about mild cases being like colds or flus, when in fact the closest thing to SARS-Cov-2 is in fact...SARS. And somehow the research about that was ignored. Seems to me they should have been able to guess that a bunch of people would get longer term health consequences, or at least that would have been a better guess than assuming everyone would recover totally after a few weeks like they do from a bad cold.

 

[ruffneck23]

So, woke up with a bit of a temp , wee cough and runny nose , called my boss to let him know , was told to go and get a test immediately as I popped into the office on Monday , got it booked for 11.30am...

sure its nothing but safety first eh ? if i have it they got to close the office down...

 

[zahir]

It’s part of the new normal. Any sign of a cold coming on and it makes sense to get tested right away. Unfortunately the guidelines for symptoms on the NHS site still don’t reflect this and are acting to discourage people from getting tested.

 

[ruffneck23]

It’s part of the new normal. Any sign of a cold coming on and it makes sense to get tested right away. Unfortunately the guidelines for symptoms on the NHS site still don’t reflect this and are acting to discourage people from getting tested.

This is the thing, I was checking symptoms, re runny nose and found loads of contradictions online , some say yes, some no , thought it was probably best to speak to the boss about it.

 

[zahir]

Symptoms and testing...

the study showed 69% of those who did test positive reported no symptoms on the day of their test or the previous week, though they may have developed symptoms later.

Those who did report symptoms complained of nausea, diarrhoea, a blocked nose, loss of smell or taste, headache, chills or fatigue.

Coronavirus: R number 'lower than thought' before lockdown eased in England

Compare this to the symptoms listed on the NHS site when you go to book a test

You can get a test: for yourself, if you have coronavirus symptoms now

(a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste)

Get a free NHS test today to check if you have coronavirus (COVID-19) now

You can also get a test without having symptoms

if you live in Leicester, where there is a coronavirus outbreak

So it seems clear that the listing of symptoms is intended as a form of gatekeeping to ration access to testing. In practice there’s nothing to stop you from going ahead and booking a test anyway, but people are being put off from getting tested.

 

[8ball]

Symptoms and testing...


Coronavirus: R number 'lower than thought' before lockdown eased in England

I read that they're having trouble getting the vaccine trial done because not enough people are getting it to assess effectiveness.

 

[ruffneck23]

I've not got it , text came through this morning with the results

 

[8ball]

I've not got it , text came through this morning with the results

They lost my test.

 

[Hollis]

I've had some symptoms last 24 hours - cough, temperature, tired... Could just be cold/flu.. I checked the test thing online- and I'm somehow meant to walk 6 miles to my nearest 'walk-in' test centre..

ETA - okay - I've now discovered the home testing option - so I'm going for that..

 

[oryx]

I've had some symptoms last 24 hours - cough, temperature, tired... Could just be cold/flu.. I checked the test thing online- and I'm somehow meant to walk 6 miles to my nearest 'walk-in' test centre..

ETA - okay - I've now discovered the home testing option - so I'm going for that..

hope it's just a bog standard cold!

 

[Hollis]

Well I'm feeling somewhat better today, so I guess I get to have a retro-weekend pretending it's April. Apparently the positive test rate in July has been 1.1% so, I'm not getting too excited about this..

The test kit has arrived, but there's no post till Monday.. so no test till Monday... zzzzz

 

[zora]

Well I'm feeling somewhat better today, so I guess I get to have a retro-weekend pretending it's April. Apparently the positive test rate in July has been 1.1% so, I'm not getting too excited about this..

The test kit has arrived, but there's no post till Monday.. so no test till Monday... zzzzz

Ah, pity you are having to do quarantine week(end) again, but extremely glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better.

 

[Hollis]

Sigh - I did the test tonight, and think I messed it up, so I've ordered another one.. I can see why loads of them are never sent back. Sticking a swab down your throat and finding your tonsils doesn't come easy..

 

[weltweit]

Sigh - I did the test tonight, and think I messed it up, so I've ordered another one.. I can see why loads of them are never sent back. Sticking a swab down your throat and finding your tonsils doesn't come easy..

Impossible for me, I had my tonsils and adenoids removed as a child.

 

[Hollis]

You're meant to stick it in the area the tonsils were if you're missing them....

 

[Epona]

This is why the saliva test trials are important, far far easier to get a decent sample for testing.

Contrary to what folks may have heard I have a really strong gag reflex and cannot stick anything far down my throat

 

[Hollis]

This is why the saliva test trials are important, far far easier to get a decent sample for testing.

Contrary to what folks may have heard I have a really strong gag reflex and cannot stick anything far down my throat

I agree - it makes me wonder how seriously they are about testing - basically if you haven't got a car or happen to live near a walk-in place then you have to self-test.. I live in Zone 3 and the only other option is to walk 6 miles to a test centre.. You'd think in London if they were serious they'd have at least 1 walk-in test place in every borough given that alot of people don't have cars.

 

[Hollis]

So NHS collected the test at 8.15 this morning... seems to be a very good system - with one problem at the heart of it - the muppet who does the test. I will happily eat my words if I get a negative or positive test result back..

 

[rubbershoes]

I woke up feeling shit yesterday. Booked a test. Went and had it yesterday morning.

The result came through negative at 4 this morning. That's speedy service

 

[Hollis]

The worst bit of this is I'm having to stay in and do useful things like clean/fix the house rather than loafing around coffee shops..

 

[thismoment]

The worst bit of this is I'm having to stay in and do useful things like clean/fix the house rather than loafing around coffee shops..

Be sure to treat yourself to a chocolate biscuit or three. Got to keep your spirits up

 

[Voley]

Looks like my brother's had it. He works in the NHS and signed up for their data-collection testing programme. Had a positive antibody test.

According to the testers it could be something else SARS-related but COVID seems most likely. He was totally asymptomatic and unaware.

Doesn't need to isolate as is over it - working back from the test it looks likely he had it a few weeks ago.