Articles about uncommonly known symptoms of Covid-19

[Annikki]

Coronavirus infection affects more than the respiratory tract. There are a host of other symptoms from the virus, which include diarrhea and intestinal problems, pink eye, and neurological problems.

Contrary to what the CDC was saying a week ago, a runny nose is also a symptom of it. If anyone is going to track the rapid spread of this virus, or hopefully rein in its rapid spread, everyone needs to be aware of the various symptoms this virus causes.

Covid-19 infects the intestinal tract:
"Almost Half of Coronavirus Patients Have Digestive Symptoms"
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200319/about-half-of-covid-cases-show-digestive-signs

"COVID-19 Symptoms: Experiencing Stomach Ache Could Be A Sign Of Coronavirus Infection"
https://www.ibtimes.com/covid-19-sy...e-could-be-sign-coronavirus-infection-2950709

"Study finds digestive issues are a common Covid-19 symptom and can point to worse prognosis"
https://www.theladders.com/career-a...-symptom-and-often-point-to-a-worse-prognosis

Other Covid-19 symptoms:
From The Mighty:
"I Thought I Had a Sinus Infection, Turns Out It Was COVID-19"
https://themighty.com/2020/03/suspe...etter_mighty_brief_2020-03-30&$deep_link=true

"'Pink Eye' Often a Symptom of COVID-19, and Infection Via Tears Possible"
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200401/pink-eye-often-a-symptom-of-covid-19#1

Coronavirus Causes Neurological Problems:
"The neuroinvasive potential of SARS‐CoV2 may play a role in the respiratory failure of COVID‐19 patients"
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25728

I'm sharing information I acquired as the result of an interesting week with a fever, a cold and intestinal pain and diarrhea. I'm not at all sure if it was Covid-19. I just had two antibiotic shots and wasn't taking probiotics.

In the beginning of March I had antibiotic diarrhea. Then 2 weeks ago I had a runny nose, a fever and terrible gas pain that didn't subside. It's very likely I had an overgrowth of c. diff bacteria in my gut from the antibiotics. I was relieved to discover that c. diff infection can cause fever. Yet, I only learned that two days ago.

It was amazing all the hell I've had to go through to get answers. I couldn't go to the doctor for fear of infecting myself with Covid-19- or exposing her to the mystery virus. The lack of lung problems sort of reassured me until I became very feverish. When calling the doctor, I kept getting the nurse who insisted Covid-19 didn't cause cold symptoms, didn't cause a low grade fever with chills (she said only a fever of over 100.4- I had 99.9). I didn't even bother to mention the digestive symptoms.

Okay. Fine. I believed her but had doubts about the specifications she gave about the fever. She said a cold was going around. I wasn't sure what I thought about the odds of a cold going around at the same time as Covid-19 in an area near large outbreaks.

So I called the health department. They validated that a cold had been going around about 4 weeks prior to the Covid outbreak. I was going around in circles trying to get solid answers, namely because it seemed no one had them.

I had enough antibiotics to trigger a c. diff infection, so I'm less inclined to think I had Covid-19.

I had no lung problems. What addled me most was testing for Covid-19 wasn't at all easy to get. That is more than just my problem. It's clear they don't have what they need to properly monitor the outbreak.

Worse, even the CDC guidelines for suspecting Covid-19, which is what the health department goes by made no mention of these other Covid-19 symptoms. At least I became very educated about Covid-19 in the process.

I don't know what my illness was. After all the difficulty I had getting other diseases diagnosed, I've learned to just roll with the situation. The mystery illness began rapidly. I woke up, and vomited twice. I would keep periodically vomiting, I did that once this week, too. I felt fatigued and listless to the extreme.
I just didn't move and didn't care. If my neighbor had a heart attack, I just would have screamed for someone else to call 9/11.

Thankfully, that passed. What it felt like was more like ME on steroids. I was a little flakey too. I just left some stupid program I'd never watch on TV, because it took more out of me to change the channel. I watched the stupid show, slack jawed, and happy about having the luxury of sitting perfectly still. I normally don't get hazy like that. I actually enjoyed the show.

Today I learned the new neighbor who moved in last month, who wears scrubs, works in a local hospital. I was thinking was definitively c. diff until I learned that. Worse, her neighbor who also shares that part of the building with her, had a cold with chest congestion. He got well. He was also concerned and self isolated.

I'm not freaking out about it potentially being Covid-19. I'm just glad to feel normal. The only thing I care about is having a definitive answer so I know if the worst is yet around the corner. I actually hope it was Covid-19, because if it wasn't, I'm still waiting to get a royal beating from that virus. Worse, my immune system is tanked from the mystery illness. Going to the doctor to get tested for c. diff is off the table from coronavirus chaos.

I guess this is the world now, we have this virus, and in the US it's nothing less than a 3 ring circus as far as the response to it. No tests, no answers. People are dying, en masse, and I think if our healthcare system wasn't a wreck we could have contained this virus better here in the US.

LOL, it's almost as fun as having ME. The CDC gave ME patients the shaft for years. I guess ME patients don't get flustered when the healthcare system runs amok- we are already used to it.

So, the best advice I can give to the world is this:

Just handle Covid-19 like an ME patient handles ME. The government is clueless about it? Fine, do your own research about it. Upset? Find support. Don't overdo things, and don't expose yourself to things that make you sick. Hope for a cure, but don't count on anything soon. Can't go outside anymore? Deal with it.

If we can do it, the world can.

This was a weird infection. The chills I had were the worst ever. I'd cycle through fever and chills rapidly. I felt like crap. Activity triggered intestinal pain and gas more than food did. I still have a cold and sore throat. I can breathe fine, so whatever it is, I'm not dying. That's a good thing.

I did self isolate and stay in. I'm still doing it. It isn't a big deal because I stay in anyway.Nothing has changed. I'm sort of amused at all the people who can't handle this quarantine stuff. I'm also angry at some of those people- the ones who refused to stay in and needlessly placed many, many people at risk.

 

[Wolfcub]

I hope that you recover from all this onslaught as best as you can (considering the whole ME thing)

I have developed classic coronavirus symptoms which started suddenly on Thursday afternoon with the most dreadful chest tightness and persistent dry cough (which now produces some sputum). Terrible almost-hypothermic chills for hours, followed by a rise in temperature to a low grade fever, plus terrible body aches, weakness, shortness of breath and the worst "malaise" ever.
I went on NHS 111 website (in UK) and filled in their questionnaire. The website questionnaire is meant to take the load off the overwhelmed 111 phone service.

The result of the questionnaire was that I did very likely have coronavirus from the description of symptoms.
I have been advised to do it at home, strict isolation/quarantine for a minimum of 7 days, and monitor symptoms carefully, and get back to them if I suddenly worsen.

But here's the thing. My gut NEVER bothers me, and from March 7th it has been doing. It has been aching, I have had very loose stools (though not flat-out diarrhea) bad loss of appetite, cramps in colon, and too much gassy stuff going on.
This was awful for one week, then went away for one week, then came back, right up to the time when the classic virus symptoms started. It seems my gut is better now!! Well that's something. I hope at least, that lasts.

So I now wonder if I had coronavirus from back on March 7th?? But with only gut/digestive symptoms.

I hadn't been on antibiotics prior to that, or had any bother with my gut generally (except for the first few days when I developed ME/CFS back in early Spring 2018. But that passed back then.)

 

[percyval577]

@Annikki Thank you for this interesting article!

Coronavirus Causes Neurological Problems:
"The neuroinvasive potential of SARS‐CoV2 may play a role in the respiratory failure of COVID‐19 patients"
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25728

 

[Annikki]

@Annikki Thank you for this interesting article!

Coronavirus Causes Neurological Problems:
"The neuroinvasive potential of SARS‐CoV2 may play a role in the respiratory failure of COVID‐19 patients"
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmv.25728

You are welcome. I found I was less afraid of coronavirus until I read that. I worry more about neurological symptoms because I don't want to get sicker.

It's sort of like how I freaked out when I brought a tick into my apartment because of my fear of Chronic Lyme Disease. I cut the thing in half just to make sure it wasn't gorged with my blood. Thankfully, the nasty creature didn't have blood in it, so it likely never bit me. I'd rather get sick from something "normal" than sick with something doctors refuse to treat and don't understand.

The question I have about coronavirus and neurological disease from it, is, "Does it cross the blood-brain barrier?" Viruses which cross this barrier infect the brain, nerves and spinal fluid. Most pathogens can't cross this barrier. ME could be caused by a virus that crosses the blood-brain barrier. The lesions in the brain some of us develop show something dramatic is happening in the brains of ME patients. Brain disease can be caused by pathogens. Meningitis is one such disease.

When I thought Covid-19 was merely respiratory I felt more relaxed about it.

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

I have heard of stroke like cases caused by COVID-19 as well. So don't forget about this study: https://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/blog/breakingnews/pages/post.aspx?PostID=926

 

[pattismith]

@Annikki

It's too early to get scared from covid-19 brain infection. The scientist is asking the question of it's occurrence, not answering to it.
He has some reason to do so, but nothing is clear for now, apart for the lung extensive lesions that can occur with covid-19...

"The infection of SARS‐CoV has been reported in the brains from both patients and experimental animals, where the brainstem was heavily infected. Furthermore, some coronaviruses have been demonstrated able to spread via a synapse‐connected route to the medullary cardiorespiratory center from the mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors in the lung and lower respiratory airways. Considering the high similarity between SARS‐CoV and SARS‐CoV2, it remains to make clear whether the potential invasion of SARS‐CoV2 is partially responsible for the acute respiratory failure of patients with COVID‐19. "

 

[Wolfcub]

What I don't get....personally, is this: if I did have coronavirus since March 7th (was showing the GI symptoms on and off since then up until 2nd April)....then at that time, and a couple of weeks after those symptoms began, I was in quite close contact with a couple of people. Even went for coffee twice with a neighbour (before our lockdown)
Yet she didn't catch anything off me, and didn't even mention any digestive upset. I asked her (by phone!) the last few days, when the classic coronavirus symptoms really began. She is fit and well, and has been for the past month.
I even gave her a few hugs early March to comfort her because her dog had died.

I'd like to add that at the time I didn't believe what I had was infectious/contagious, or I would never have done that. I thought they were "crash" symptoms (mild IBS.)

This virus is incredibly contagious, so from what I've learned personally of it, the chances of her being uninfected by me, if I'd had it then, would have been so slight.
That doesn't quite figure......

 

[pattismith]

What I don't get....personally, is this: if I did have coronavirus since March 7th (was showing the GI symptoms on and off since then up until 2nd April)....then at that time, and a couple of weeks after those symptoms began, I was in quite close contact with a couple of people. Even went for coffee twice with a neighbour (before our lockdown)
Yet she didn't catch anything off me, and didn't even mention any digestive upset. I asked her (by phone!) the last few days, when the classic coronavirus symptoms really began. She is fit and well, and has been for the past month.
I even gave her a few hugs early March to comfort her because her dog had died.

I'd like to add that at the time I didn't believe what I had was infectious/contagious, or I would never have done that. I thought they were "crash" symptoms (mild IBS.)

This virus is incredibly contagious, so from what I've learned personally of it, the chances of her being uninfected by me, if I'd had it then, would have been so slight.
That doesn't quite figure......

Yes it's very contagious, but asymptomatic people are also very common. If someone had gotten ill at your contact, it would confirm the covid infection, but it didn't happened.....So you will still have some doubt until you will be tested for covid antibodies. And until this time, better to stay at home and protect yourself with a mask, because we just don't know if we caught it or not (I am in a similar case). It's easy now with quarantine, but what when they will lift it?

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

Still more on the subject of COVID-19 encephalitis:
https://www.the-sun.com/news/626635/coronavirus-brain-scans-inflammation-bleeds-cell-death/

 

[Annikki]

Yes it's very contagious, but asymptomatic people are also very common. If someone had gotten ill at your contact, it would confirm the covid infection, but it didn't happened.....So you will still have some doubt until you will be tested for covid antibodies. And until this time, better to stay at home and protect yourself with a mask, because we just don't know if we caught it or not (I am in a similar case). It's easy now with quarantine, but what when they will lift it?

Good advice for her. Better safe than sorry, so people who are unsure should stay home.

 

[Annikki]

Terrible almost-hypothermic chills for hours, followed by a rise in temperature to a low grade fever, plus terrible body aches, weakness... and the worst "malaise" ever.

But here's the thing. My gut NEVER bothers me, and from March 7th it has been doing. It has been aching, I have had very loose stools (though not flat-out diarrhea) bad loss of appetite, cramps in colon, and too much gassy stuff going on.

This was awful for one week, then went away for one week, then came back, right up to the time when the classic virus symptoms started. It seems my gut is better now!! Well that's something. I hope at least, that lasts.

So I now wonder if I had coronavirus from back on March 7th?? But with only gut/digestive symptoms.

.

WOW! This is 98% identical to the symptoms I've had. Thanks for sharing your story. This really helps. It sounds like we were both sick with the same thing. The only difference is my lungs didn't hurt. I wrote it off as c. diff, but now I'm thinking it's not. I gave a short-hand description of my illness. Now I will give the full account:

I had UTI back in February. It took forever to get it fixed. I was given Macrobid. It didn't help my infection. I went to the ER, on the weekend because it was getting worse. The ER doctor didn't find a UTI, probably because I was just off the Macrobid and that skews the result.

So, I go to the local clinic again, asked they retest and culture my urine this time. They cultured it and found I was sick with Macrobid resistant bacteria. The doctor gives me two antibiotic shots and Keflex. FYI, I'm going to all these medical places where I could get exposed to Covid-19. These appointments were during the beginning of March.

I took Keflex also for a week. I had just normal, runny, painless antibiotic diarrhea after 3 days. Otherwise I felt fine. On a weekend during the middle of March, I wake up with stomach problems, severe gas pain and a need to vomit. I vomited until there was nothing left in me. The rest of the day I had unbelievable gas pain. Presuming it might be the result of antibiotics, I stopped the antibiotics immediately.

Monday, I came down with a strange fever. Just like you I had scary, debilitating chills. I would run a fever of 99.9 or lower, and this would be followed by very severe chills. I turned the heat up to 80 degrees Farenheit in my apartment fight these chills. I would continuously cycle in and out of fever and chills. The fever was relatively low grade.

The fever would be brief, but the chills persisted for long periods of time. I was also feeling fatigued to the extreme. The fatigue didn't occur until 2 days into the infection. Initially, I was immobilized from gas pain, but further in I was immobilized also from fatigue and malaise.

I had terrible gas, constantly. This was the worst, most persistent symptom. It stopped me from eating and I didn't care, I didn't miss the food. I became dehydrated from all the vomiting and diarrhea.

The fatigue really wasn't like ME. Instead, the malaise felt more like a fugue state, with an added touch of feeling flakey. It wasn't like brain fog, it was different, unique. I felt completely and utterly tapped out, to the point any movement was unthinkable. Killer malaise could be one way of describing it.

Once I began to feel achy on top of all this, I really began to wonder about coronavirus. I had muscle aches where my hips join my thigh and down into my thigh.

The muscle aches in particular, made me concerned it was Covid-19. I was concerned and scared, but I kept getting nowhere with my healthcare provider in seeking answers.

I had my doctor's nurse tell me there was just some cold going around. I had serious doubts, because the timing of this cold was weird. It's spring, for one thing. Plus, we also have the lovely coronavirus making rounds.

I wanted to think the best. I mean, my lungs weren't sore or gunky. My breath was fine, though maybe shallow one time when the fever was bad. I didn't have a bronchial infection with this. I had a runny nose and sore throat.

Eventually, it became clear the gas pain was unusual. If I got up to do anything, the gas pains would recur. The fever would also return. The fever was gone after 3 days. but like with you, it came back.

After one day of feeling well, I was woke up at 6 am because of my neighbor's dog barking.
Being woke up early seemed to set off the fever, chills, gas and diarrhea all over again.

I was back to square one. It was about just as bad as before. The gas pain appeared to be triggered more by over-exertion than diet. Still, what I consumed caused problems. During the worst of it, I couldn't even consume water without it triggering gas and intestinal cramping.

I didn't eat hardly anything during this illness. The main reason I didn't eat was to keep my intestine cleared out so I could pass gas. The nurse said my doctor suggested I take laxatives to help with the gas pain. This sort of worked, but I only tried it minimally since it would make my diarrhea go out of control.

It was a bizarre illness. It felt viral. After a few days, I figured out I had to take care of myself, stay warm and stop all activity to get well. I didn't move or do anything. I didn't want to. I felt better from sitting perfectly still with the heat up high and wrapped in comfy blankets. This was interrupted by diarrhea. Most of the exertion I was doing during the illness pertained to diarrhea. I figured something could be seriously wrong, so I went into self-quarantine mode.

During the entire time I've been sick, my neighbor has reported having sinus trouble and chest congestion. I saw him today and he told me he still has chest congestion. He stopped self quarantining, but he has decided "he's not afraid of the virus" based on his politics. Still, something was wrong, he's likely not over it and not handling it right.

He even asked me where he could find a doctor who would call him in antibiotics. The he said he had this chest congestion since mid-march. He shares his hallway with a hospital employee. Coincidences like these sort of alarm me. I don't think he's all that sure it's coronavirus. I think everyone is in the dark about how the minor cases of the disease manifest in the population.

The gas comes and goes. I've been only free of it for 5 days, at most. The illness likely caused the diarrhea. I have been off the antibiotics since the second week of March.

I called my doctor initially reporting the severe chills, fever, sore throat, gas and sinus trouble. Instead of her, I get her nurse. She asked how high my fever was. I told her it was 99.9. She wasn't concerned, saying I had no chance of Covid-19, since I had a fever below 100.4.

She also tells me that Covid-19 doesn't give anyone chills. I wasn't allotted sufficient time on the phone to convey the magnitude of the misery the illness was causing. The nurse obviously didn't want to waste time on the phone.

I called the local health department after a week or so. I report my symptoms to them. I had somebody nice answer my call. I had plenty of time to communicate with her.

She said a cold had been going around in February in the area. I asked if she knew about digestive symptoms and Covid-19. She didn't. I told her about the studies linking gastric trouble to coronavirus. She dismissed that information and told me she only can go by what the CDC says about Covid-19. At this point the CDC hadn't listed intestinal problems as official Covid-19 symptoms. I do think there is a lag time between when the studies are published and when the government finally gets data out to the public.

I hit another dead end with the health department, but their rep was kind, though ignorant about the newer Covid data. I wasn't a candidate to get tested, so she told me to quarantine.

I really wish the CDC and other organizations would publish all relevant data and studies about various atypical manifestations of coronavirus infection. It's a significant fact that it infects the intestines. Glossing over these atypical signs of Covid-19 is asking for trouble, IMHO.

Authorities in the US have been focusing most exclusively on severe Covid cases, instead of less severe cases. I think this has been a huge contributor to the viruses' wildfire-like spread. If it's proven by multiple studies, to infect intestinal tissue, then the CDC needs to be telling the public about it. People with atypical Covid-19 symptoms are likely the most active transmitters of Covid-19 infection.

If you have what the study says- 50 percent of Covid-19 cases starting with intestinal problems- then why aren't you telling everyone with intestinal illnesses to self quarantine? I'm really not happy with the government's slow response to this. People are dying, it has to stop.

I'm doing okay now. I've had no fever for over a week and a half. My nose still runs and I sneeze often. I vomited 6 days, ago, still, so this has been very slow to clear up. I just stay home to protect others. Getting tested would be helpful, but it will be hard to find anyone who'd do it. If the fever comes raging back, maybe I will attempt to convince an authority to run a test. I think it's pointless to try unless the fever comes back.

I know my body, I know my other diseases well enough. This felt different. Maybe it's a relief. If I had Covid-19 it didn't cause an ME or even IC flare. I sort of hope it really was Covid-19, because I should be in the clear now.

Whatever this was, it was an abnormal virus. It didn't feel like the flu. The cold is vaguely annoying and persistent. I've sneeze often and I keep hearing other people in my area complaining of sneezing.

I followed my doctors advice, by taking probiotics. I've taken enough pro-biotics to heal any overgrowth of bad gut bacteria like c. diff . The pro-biotics did nothing to improve the gastric trouble, like I hoped. Time and rest healed the gastric trouble. If it was c. diff, probiotics ought to have helped.

What's more likely is that the antibiotics killed off good bacteria in my gut, leaving me vulnerable to intestinal pathogens. Either c. diff or Covid-19 caused the strange illness I had. I can't know which without getting tested.

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

Cytokine storms in the news:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ash-the-bodys-immune-system-might-be-to-blame