How Paul coped with Covid-19 symptoms | Travel comp round-up | Support our NHS Email not looking quite right? View online here |
|  |  | | In this issue | | Paul's Covid-19 story • Travel competition round-up • Support our NHS | | | 
Paul's Covid-19 story | It's been a tough week for everyone. Here at Travelscoop we've faced the total collapse of the travel industry as well as two of our team members fighting a Covid-19 infection. I had mild symptoms, but Paul was hit harder.
We thought it might be useful to document how Paul's symptoms played out, so we posted his story on our Facebook page yesterday. We've had such a wonderful response, we thought we'd share his story in this email. It might give you a heads-up on what a relatively fit person with no medical conditions might expect. Of course, this isn't medical advice and everyone will react differently to this virus. Always refer to the NHS Coronavirus 111 Online service if you start displaying symptoms. | |  | | Day 1: Saturday
I've been feeling under the weather for a few days, with sniffles and headaches. It feels like a cold coming on. I saw most of my family yesterday and kept my distance, but nothing I'm feeling feels unusual and it doesn't seem to fit the listed symptoms coming from the NHS.
Day 2: Sunday
I woke to a burning throat. It quickly subsided with paracetamol but a niggling dry cough started building through the day. It's actually more difficult than it sounds to decide when an intermittent cough becomes persistent! By the end of the day however, the cough is uncontrollable and breathing is becoming laboured and wheezy, so I make the easy decision to self-isolate. It was early to bed feeling very poorly.
Day 3: Monday
In bed for much of the day. Feeling of flu with extreme fatigue and temperature fluctuations, although I have no idea of my actual temperature as I don't have any way to measure it (note: get a thermometer!) I'm having coughing fits every few minutes and have terrible shortness of breath. It feels like my lungs have something in them and I just want to tip myself upside down to empty them. Later in the day, a whooshing sound in my ears has developed. I'm currently taking the maximum possible dose of Cold & Fly medication.
Day 4: Tuesday
Flu-like symptoms have lessened. Cough and shortness of breath remain. I have a strange heavy feeling in my lungs. It feels like I've inhaled a load of brick dust and it's solidified. I've also had headaches today, possibly down to dehydration. I'm not sure I'm going to have the energy to keep coughing for another day.
Day 5: Wednesday
During the night I experienced a new low. My breathing became so difficult at points I considered calling for help. Perhaps wrongly, I decided to ride it out until a more reasonable hour. I stayed in bed for most of the morning, but around midday, I started to feel better. The heavy lungs and short breath remain, but I'm feeling much brighter and my energy levels are returning.
Day 6 & 7: Thursday & Friday (Today)
Feeling much better. The cough and tight chest are there, but significantly reduced. I'm aware that some people experience a second wave of symptoms, but I'm cautiously optimistic that the worst has passed.
And that's where we're up to. At no point did my usage of toilet roll increase. There was no sickness or diarrhoea for me. The predominant symptom I experienced was the cough and shortness of breath. I should mention that I haven't been tested because the current Government position is that nobody is tested while self-isolating. I found this infuriating and is the main reason I was so reluctant to call for help, despite the fact that I can trace my infection to other positive cases and my symptoms are 'typical' Covid-19.
The low point was the night between days 4 and 5, where I started to panic that I might become a news item. Not being able to breathe is a horrendous feeling, and the resulting feeling of panic exacerbates the situation. If you experience the same, try to stay calm and remember that many people are experiencing similar symptoms and fully recovering. But don't hesitate to call for help if you feel you need it. Don't be too British about it!
Stay safe 🙏🏼♥️ | | | |
Travel competitions |  | Our motto travel more, spend less equally applies to travel competitions, so we're bringing you our pick of the best contests launched this week. Chosen by Stuart → View online |
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Support our NHS | Andy, another member of the Travelscoop team, has a brother who's a consultant orthopaedic surgeon for the NHS. He's cancelled all non-essential operations and is re-training to be able to support the intensive care teams in his local hospitals. Many doctors, nurses and medical staff are doing this, putting themselves on the front line even when their specific jobs aren't directly relevant to the NHS response to this virus. What these people are doing is really quite special, while all we have to do is distance ourselves from each other.
I wanted to share their message for anyone that still doesn't fully appreciate the importance of isolation. Our choices can help save lives. | |  | | While only one small hospital in Kent, his has converted their ventilated patient capacity from 22 last week to 96 by next Monday and hundreds of hospitals around the country are doing the same thing. They've stopped all elective surgery, clearing beds in readiness; his have cleared 150 beds so far this week.
The NHS is gearing up to tackle this virus, but make no mistake, tough decisions will need to be made and our choices can help. When 10 patients require 1 ventilator, someone has to choose. If we can limit the number of people needing those ventilators, we can help save lives! | |
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Stuart Lewis
Travel Editor
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