11.
“33-year-old male powerlifter type guy with no medical history other than gout and mild hypertension. When I get sick I get over it fast. Not this time…
Day 1: mild tickle in throat, rare dry cough
Day 2: mild tickle in throat, dry coughing approx. 4 times per hour, watery nose
Day 3: dry coughing every 5 minutes, diaphragm spasms making speaking difficult with progressively increasing body aches, runny nose
Day 4: constant dry coughing, chest tightness, difficulty breathing with moderate normal daily activity, severe body aches, progressively increasing fever to 103-104, unbearable chills only a scalding shower would erase but only temporarily, runny nose
Day 5: constant dry coughing leading to gagging and vomiting, severe chest tightness and a severe burning sensation when breathing beyond 25% max inhalation, immediate difficulty breathing with any normal daily activity like brushing teeth or speaking, fever 103-104, unbearable chills, runny nose. I thought I might die in my sleep this night.
Day 6: same as day except dry cough is now productive and expelling unbelievable amounts of white/clear fluid, thought I might die in sleep this night as well.
Day 7: identical to day 6 with slight reduction in fevers, I thought I could die this night as well
Day 8: constant productive cough with copious sputum, unable to complete simple tasks or speak well due to respirations, fever reduced to low grade, mild chills, mild body aches, runny nose, development of severe diarrhea. This is the first night I was sure I would not die in my sleep
Day 9: all symptoms noticeably better, but can only complete short low energy tasks without needing to catch a breath, still unbelievably copious amounts of sputum on coughing, low-grade fevers, chills gone, diarrhea still severe
Day 10 (today): noticeable improvements all around. I was able to complete most household tasks without needing a break to catch my breath. Productive cough 4 times per hour, all other symptoms seem resolved. I live in WV and they weren’t testing anyone when I went to the ER unless you’ve been to China in the last 4 weeks and/or got admitted.
I went to the ER after the worst was over for me at the direction of the VA and it was a waste of time. They couldn’t officially diagnose me with it because I didn’t meet the insane criteria that kept WV off the map so long, but they said that they are certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that I have it. I worked in an emergency room setting for 3 years until last year and I have never seen someone with my demographics and medical history be as dangerously sick as I’ve been from something caused by a respiratory illness in my time there. This is not a joke. Not in the slightest.
I am very afraid for what is to come for our world. I don’t know how to be blunter than that. I cannot stress enough how even potentially randomly dangerous this is to anyone. I’m glad if you’re lucky and are asymptomatic or only mildly ill, but this is not something you want to chance for yourself or anyone that you don’t want to potentially die. I’m not kidding at all. Please do what you should be doing and listen to the instructions that we are being given. Please.”— ouchthathoyts
12.
“M30 (no medical history). I’m currently on Day 7 of having this thing and let me tell you, it’s a cold cruel son of a bitch. Started with a bad fever for two days. Spent those two days in bed and was almost too fatigued to even get to the couch from bed. After the fever subsided, I began getting a tickle in my chest and that’s when the cough started. It was a pretty nasty dry cough which I’m slowly getting rid of. For the past four days, I’ve had HORRIBLY stuffed sinuses and I feel like my body is trying to drown my lungs in its own mucus. I wake up in the morning coughing up all the mucus that got into my lungs while I was asleep.” — dirtycellydangles
13.
“25 female, overweight with previous mild lung scarring due to black mold and secondhand smoke exposure as a kid, but otherwise healthy. I have tested positive. My case has been odd. A little over two weeks ago I began to get what I thought was a nasty sinus infection- stuffy nose, headache, facial pain, sore throat, sinus drainage. After about three days of this, I started running a fever and I start having muscle aches and fatigue so I went to Urgent Care, tested negative for Flu and Strep. They gave me a shot with some antibiotics and sent me home.
At home the fever spiked to 102.4 and stayed up for another two days before going away. All my other symptoms were still present but only after the fever did I start to develop a cough. I waited a day or two, no improvement. At this point, I contacted the teledoc and got put on more antibiotics. Two days later, I start getting chest tightness and shortness of breath.
Two more days and I have a coughing fit at work, throwing up, and get sent home. Tuesday I had the test done, yesterday it showed positive. Right now I’m on prednisone, with instructions to go to the hospital if my breathing gets worse. The running theory is that I had a sinus infection while the virus was incubating, then the virus hit, so my symptoms overlapped and put me at a disadvantage to fight it.”—succubusbanana
14.
“Still going through it. 27 M. Haven’t gotten access to a test as I needed to be in positive contact before I could get tested. My symptoms started in a quantifiable manner two days ago when I felt beginnings of hot flashes. I woke up with a mild fever and a cough. The fever subsided yesterday. I have a headache and a scratchy throat still. Apart from that, I feel pretty much normal. If the general experience is true for most then it will get worse in the coming week before it gets better. I am of the opinion that I might experience severe flu symptoms and mild pneumonia symptoms yet, so I am prepping my body to hold up those potential symptoms.
Keeping myself hydrated with hot tea and coffee with little or no sugar, drinking lukewarm water to keep my pee clear. I am also reasonably stocked up on flu medicines which I am taking regularly. Mucinex which has acetaminophen, an expectorant and a cough suppressant. My idea is to help my body keep my mucus as thin as possible while keeping the cough to moderate levels. Also, acetaminophen to keep the temperature from skyrocketing. I am also eating mild to moderately spicy food. I’ve found that it helps me feel better.”—Greymires
15.
“My partner and I got it. Straight off the bat, high fever and an intensive cough. It was not a cough you could stop with your elbow, both of us were doubling over when it struck. We were also mighty lethargic, I was stuck in bed all day 2-3 Fever lasted about four days for me, and seven for my partner, that also got very nauseous at the end, three days of feeling like he’d throw up I think was the worst symptom either of us had. My symptoms started last Thursday. The cough is still lingering, but we’re both people that tend to cough for long after we’ve been sick, and now I can suppress it if I want.”—Halloweeni
16.
“My mom got it and she spent like 2 weeks really sick, both her and my dad told me to stay away from her, because if I got it I could be in serious danger since I’m immunocompromised. so I crashed at my friend’s house for like 2 weeks and a half and she is fine now, she had a terrible fever, a bad cough, having that and her period was hell for her. and my dad told me there was throwing up, I’m fine as well, i was gonna grab a couple of masks for my mom at the pharmacy but they were out because of some overreacting pansies taking all of them because they think they are in a fucking zombie movie.”—AutistChan
17.
“I am a 25-year-old slightly overweight Male, non-smoker but I have lung scar tissue from a car accident when I was young. I got it relatively early on, tested positive a few weeks ago and I was one of the first people tested positive in my state. It started like any other flu, headaches and fever the first few days. Felt achy and lethargic, I thought it was just the flu so I stayed home and slept. I developed a terrible cough that agitated my scarred lungs and I started coughing up phlegm with blood on day 5. I went to ER because no cough has done that to me before and I was terrified.
That would have been around March 7th. It gets a little hazy from there, days kinda mix together and from what I understand I was on a ventilator for a little while. I had crazy fever sweats, they said that there were a few times where I was lucid and conscious and unsuccessfully trying to talk but for the most part I was just out of it trying to survive (breathe). I am symptom-free right now, I slowly got better and today marks day two of me showing no signs. I’m still quarantined but physically I feel much better. I have lingering soreness in my chest from my lungs.
Apparently I am lucky to have survived. If there’s something I’ve learned from this it is to go get medical help when things get serious. I considered it on day 3 of symptoms docs said if I had come in I likely would have been stabilized earlier. I’m happy to be back out into the world of not the ICU, even if it’s going to shit right now. Thought for a little bit there that I’d be joining the family spook squad.” — Rendili
18.
” I had/have it. It started with fatigue that got worse and included a bad headache the next day. Day 3: mild fever (100-101), hard racking cough, sore throat. Day 4: high fever (102-103.5), migraine-like headache, sinuses stuffed, ears full of cotton, exhausted, body hurts really bad. Day 5: mild fever, productive cough, headache, the body is sore. day 6: fever broke. Extremely tired, and still very sore. I’m on day 11 now.”—Physicsmagnum
19.
“London – husband had it. It hit hard and fast and the first 48h were the most difficult ones. His fever was really high and at some point, he started crying because “brain is not working”. The cough and wheezing were bad as well since sometimes during a cough fit you can’t quite catch your breath back. The night sweats are tough, in one night I had to change his clothes, pillowcases and bed cover three times. We’re now on day 8 and he has no fever but the cough and wheezing are still happening. Night sweats have receded and he’s sleeping better. He has no fever now but cough fits have not stopped.”—TheExcitableTyp