Surviving Covid_19 Part 2

I haven't posted in a long time. My test for Covid_19 came back negative. I felt relatively ok for a while after the test but then, when I got the result, how I was feeling slowly deteriorated. I was fatigued and light-headed a lot. I felt depressed and this stopped me from doing things even more than the fatigue. I was going to call the doctor but I decided to wait until after my diabetic nurse appointment.
The diabetic nurse is active in the wards for two weeks so I was told that her colleague would phone me instead. It's disappointing that I couldn't attend the outpatients for my appointment but obviously it's not possible in the current situation. If I attended I could have found out my HbA1c and got bloods done for various bodily functions. I meant to ask about this since I was feeling unwell but my head was so busy making sure I wouldn't forget another issue that I forgot about the situation with blood tests. He basically discussed with me how I was doing with controlling blood sugars and when I told him I was trending a bit high because of not being out and about and snacking a bit more he said a lot of diabetic patients are the same way. The function for logging my insulin doses in my glucometer stopped towards the end of last month and I wanted to ask the nurse about the code for turning that function back on with my laptop. That's the thing I was making sure I remembered that made me forget to ask about getting blood tests. I could switch insulin settings on in my laptop but it asks to key in a code before you can access this function. The guy offered to send me out a replacement glucometer but I told him I had a spare and neither has the insulin logging function enabled. They only have codes for Freestyle Libre but my glucometer is a Freestyle Optium Neo. He said he'll get on to freestyle about it and get back to me.
I adjusted how I dose for mealtimes and also discussed this with him and he was ok with it. The diabetic nurse gave me a ballpark figure of 1 unit of insulin dropping my blood sugar by 3mmol/l in one of my first appointments. So, along with my regular mealtime doses, if I was 9mmol/l or above I'd take one extra unit, 12 or above two extra units etc. I tried an adjustment of the mmol per unit figure to see what it felt like. I adjusted down to 1 unit of insulin dropping 2.5 instead of 3 mmol/l. So now I take one extra unit for 8.5 or above and two extra units for 11 or above etc. At the moment this seems to be working. I had a low from being late having supper a few days ago but I think this was due to overcompensating my dinner dose to allow for a sweet treat as a dessert afterwards. Other days, so far, I don't get too high after a normal meal since making the 2.5mmol/l adjustment.
I phoned the doctor and told him my symptoms yesterday. He said they were consistent with someone recovering from Covid_19. He also said that there were quite a few people coming back with false negatives. So I probably had it but tested negative. He asked me if I got any exercise and I told him I did a bit of yoga and was able to go for walks out as far as the bridge at Blennerville and back even though I wouldn't do it at a brisk pace. He told me that was a very good sign. He told me to keep an eye on the moments of light-headedness and if they continue I'll need to get my blood pressure checked, even suggesting that it might be too low. He asked me about the diabetes as well and I told him about the call from the diabetic nurse's colleague the previous day. My doctor seems concerned if I mention lows. I have noticed a few more lows than normal recently though. He told me to talk to my diabetic nurse if I go low more often than normal in the coming weeks. I told him I always carry glucose tablets with me when I'm out & about and he seemed reassured by that. I thought of asking him about something else but decided against it, for now at least, in case it was just the stress of the situation we're in now triggering inflammation. I'll wait until/if the virus isn't a factor.
That's all I have for now. I'll try and get back into weekly posts again. Hopefully I'll recover to be well enough to do that. It won't all be doom & gloom. I'll do a few recipes and more upbeat posts in future too.

Surviving Covid_19

I was unwell last week. I didn't feel up to doing a post. In the days leading up to last Wednesday I had intended to post but I just didn't feel like doing much last week when the day came. The Saturday before I coughed up a bit of phlegm. There was a bit of blood in it and that was unusual. I started to have a scratchy, dryish throat and the occasional loss of equilibrium. I also suffered from pain around the secroilliac area of my lower back. There were also moments where I had to breathe deeply to ensure I was breathing right. I phoned the doctor on Monday morning. One of the doctors called me back as they were not seeing patients in person due to the corona virus situation. She asked me a few questions and sent a referral for a test for the virus. She also prescribed antibiotics for what she assumed was a chest infection because I didn't have a fever. I didn't take the antibiotics. I don't like medicating symptoms without knowing what is causing them. Tuesday and Wednesday I had a feeling of a heavy chest cold and would get very short of breath especially around nine o'clock at night from Monday to Wednesday. On Tuesday or Wednesday I got a text that my corona virus test was cancelled because of new testing guidelines that came into place. My symptoms weren't severe enough when I called the doctor. Wednesday night I coughed blood again but this time there was a bit more. I phoned the doctor's number again and the same doctor rang me back a while later. I told her I was concerned that I coughed blood twice in less than a week and that my symptoms had gotten stronger since I rang on the Monday. She referred me for a test again and I got one for Saturday.
I was starting to feel better on Tursday and Friday and by the time the test came around I was thinking it's possible to test negative even if I had it because I had the energy for the 30 minute walk to the test centre.
I was told to blow my nose and given a surgical mask to wear. Then I was taken to the tester. I had to wait ouside the little marquee while someone in a van was tested. I was the only one that didn't come in a vehicle. She took a swab from my throat and nose. I coughed from the nose swab because it was uncomfortable and caused a little bit of irritation but it was all over in seconds. Since then I've felt way better. I feel a bit low in energy at times still but I don't feel sick.
Someone sent me a message today that some people have got false negatives even though they're living in the same house as someone tested positive and with the same symptoms. So their doctor told them to assume everyone in a household with the same symptoms as someone confirmed with the virus has got it.
I live alone so that's probably why I wasn't as badly affected. I'm assuming I had it even if my test comes back negative. I don't know when or even if I'll get a result because there is a shortage of testing kits now. Anytime I coughed or sneezed in the last couple of days I'd think "I hope it's not coming back". I've heard of someone tested feeling like they're on the mend and then the symptoms popping up again. So I hope that doesn't happen to me. I feel like I'm well on the mend and I don't want a setback.
There is something else going on in my body that I won't talk about here. I wanted to talk to the doctor about it last week but I got distracted by corona virus questions. Hopefully the next time I see a doctor in person. It's something I noticed happened in the months leading up to when I started having coeliac symptoms and then again a few months before I was diagnosed with diabetes. I don't want it to mean my body is developing another autoimmune disease. I have enough of them to last me a lifetime.