To test or not to test?

Coronavirus
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DH and I have both had a vague headache for a few days (since late last week maybe?), but both not sleeping well. I’m exhausted (but put it down to stress tbh). My temp is very high end of normal (37.4c).

Today my little one has complained of feeling not great, slight cough and head hurting and he has a temp at 37.9c. There is a boy in his class who had a bit of a temp over the weekend and saw the doctor and she wasn’t worried and said it was just a normal bug.

DS2 was so tired this morning he slept through his alarm (meaning a rush to Perigueux for me as he’d missed his bus!) and I didnt’ let him go to rugby this afternoon.

I think this is all pretty normal and following a pattern that repeats EVERY rentrée! DH is convinced we have covid! I’m pretty bad though (typical nurse / mw and mother) and only think I’m sick when I’m in bed unable to move, if not I just get on with it!

What do you think?
Do you think we have covid?
Would you get tested if you were in our position?
Should we (all of us) be panicking at every sniffle and cough and slight temp?

DISCUSS: I think these questions are going to go through all of our minds in the coming months, I’m really curious to what you all think.

PS This is a true story, I haven’t just made it up for a nice discussion topic :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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If you’re concerned then get tested, very easy here.

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Definitely test
Okay people get things this time of year,every year but imagine how you would feel if you didn’t have tests and then there was an outbreak,you could have contributed too

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If I was you I’d go see my Dr, Dr will probably send you off for tests, better to know and protect others.

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La COVID-19 affecte les individus de différentes manières. La plupart des personnes infectées développent une forme légère à modérée de la maladie et guérissent sans hospitalisation.
Symptômes les plus fréquents:
fièvre
toux sèche
fatigue
Symptômes moins fréquents:
courbatures
maux de gorge
diarrhée
conjonctivite
maux de tête
perte de l’odorat ou du goût
éruption cutanée, ou décoloration des doigts ou des orteils
But any of these symptoms can be some other ailment (Btw I’m not a Dr)

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Thanks everyone, i think you are right. I heard from a friend who is a carer that our village nurses are getting trained up to test so I might call them tomorrow and see if they are able to do it. My silly dr (no she is awesome!) only works Mon-Wed but I can still call her.

I’ve read different things about how to do it - do you just go to the lab’?

Yes quite right, and I’m very involved in the community so I do see a lot of people.

Thanks for the symptom reminder @Wozza - we definitely tick some of those.

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Oh and my temp now up to 37.7c

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For safety of the grandparents of the kids in his class got get a test please!

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Daughter works in a pharmacie and they do tests there, your MT will be able to organise one as well.

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I understand your desire not to assume every sniffle is C19, but we are living through a time when every sniffle might be C19 and that means the balance of responsible behaviour (in my view) shifts to getting a test - because the risks are significantly higher.

Edit: I see you’ve made the decision :slight_smile:

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I am getting a test on Monday prior to travelling, it was very easy to book the test online at our nearby test centre.

As you are concerned just get a test ASAP.

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I would not have the test where the the bud is pushed up into the back of the nose,in any event those tests results are rather hit and miss and if not performed with care, dangerous. My French doctor wrote a prescription for me to have a blood test when I went for other tests which is better. I’ve also been told another more reliable test is by a finger prick drawing a little blood and the result takes minutes.

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That’s the type of test that pharmacies do.

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If I understand correctly, the pharmacy test is no more than an antibody test and not all are equally reliable. If the pharmacy test shows you have antibodies you still need to get tested to confirm whether you are currently carrying COVID and are a silent spreader or have just had it in the past.

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Can you please quote me the evidence that the nose swabs are dangerous. Uncomfortable yes but please prove they are dangerous

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Hi hi, I wanted to say that I had it and the symptoms are exactly like the ones you describe but the way it was for me was a bit different. I had 3 days of incubation from the moment I believe I caught it.
Other people I have met had it, hence it matches within that time frame.
I think that if you did the test and you had positive results you might panic. I did.
The thing is, your immune system is stronger if you do not stress.
This was our number 1 rule, so try not to stress for your kids, responsibilities, or anything and keep your energy, you’ll need it.
If you do not have it, then, it’s fantastic/

In my case it started with an headache, which is the recognizable symptom followed by fever, it was 37 and something, next day it was 38 in my case, not too high. then down to 37 again. I thought, wow it is gone, I do not have covid!

Did the test anyhow, I thought they were quick and they will not have good results. They did come back with results. I was positive and I though I overdid it by taking the test, they do a great job with those and indeed we had it. (my partner and myself) My partner did not do the test, but we know.

In the next days I was still functional, it is like “a bug” at the beginning, but after a week you are down, can’ t eat, can’t move, can’ t cook. Just can’ t do anything anymore. At that point it is hell, cos no one can come to you and you can’ t go nowhere. In my case sense of smell was gone as well.

So if you have it, just be calm and drink a lot of tea, and rest. If you have aches, before taking a painkiller tablet take paracetamol instead, it is not as bad as. You need to sleep and if you are in pain it is worse. Sleep a lot.

A lot of people had it, there are many groups online on social media, you can talk to people to have advice.
We are really together in this. I have to be honest, at least this part is amazing/

If you are not commenting on this topic, might be because you are in bed and you can’ t move any longer. This is normal. Just relax and it will go away. Many of the complications seem to have happened in the period around February and March. For a lot of us is not lethal, and we did not go to hospital, especially the ones who have caught it recently. Also we had no cough or very heavy respiratory issues.

Hope nothing happened, and I wish you well, bon courage!

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Thank you everyone. I think I’ll go to the pharmacy in the village in the morning then and try that test first and go from there if it is positive. Do all pharmacies do it? how long are the results to come back?

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thanks for sharing your story, sounds very familiar. It is only 10.30 and I’m off to bed, sooo unlike me!

I’ll update tomorrow.

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The pharmacies that do it, you wait 15 minutes and get the results there and then. Not sure all pharmacies are doing it - certainly our local one isn’t advertising that they do it (if they do).

I’m getting this second hand from our vet whose whole family went to the pharmacy. Her pharmacist uses the Biosynex test kit which he claims is the most reliable.

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Our pharmacy has a separate entrance for people with possible covid…