@solterra. I read so much anxiety in your words. I hope your virtual visit with your physician can alleviate that for you. You have enough going on physically that you don’t need mental anxiety heaped on top of everything else. Reducing stress is so vital to achieving and maintaining good health and reducing susceptibility to illness. I had a much different path with my physician than you. I had mono (caused by EBV) many years ago in college. I am now suffering from a “suspected Covid-19” infection. Starting April 11th i had 3 afternoons of diarrhea. Weird, but I wasn’t too concerned. That cleared on the 14th to be replaced by fever and I couldn’t get a deep breath. I had awful headache and sinus pain and pressure in nasal area. I have asthma that is well controlled by an inhaled corticosteroid. I always have a rescue inhaler nearby but rarely use it. By the 17th my breathing had worsened substantially. I was completely dependent on the rescue inhaler....Anxiety rising rapidly, I called my doctor’s office, made a virtual appointment for Monday the 20th, was connected to a triage nurse who thought I had sinus infection with asthma flare, was told where I should get tested for the virus, did that at urgent care, and was sent to hospital for chest X-ray. I had the virtual visit with my doctor who said “you are clinical for Covid-19.” We talked about 15-20 minutes. She told me that Diarrhea is a very typical first presenting symptom, that days 5-9 appear to be the worst, that I was on day 9, and she all but guaranteed that my test would come back negative. They are finding out that the viral load is highest at symptom onset. I was tested on day 7. She said by then the virus would have already moved down into the lungs for me (for young patients into the GI tract). I was first tested via nasalpharygeal swab then again on the 29th at a respiratory clinic with the throat swab. Both were negative. I had to climb a flight of stairs for that appointment, and I have never been so winded. I ran 20 marathons in my 30s and 40s. They were nothing compared to that effort. The fatigue is debilitating. The fatigue with mono is very similar, that and the fever. My mono experience was very different otherwise. My neck glands were so swollen that they pressed on my ear drums and vocal cords. I had horrible ear aches and my voice was super high pitched. I also had a swollen spleen that I had to take care not to have a fall for months for fear of rupture. Prednisone was like a miracle for me with mono that Spring, but the fatigue lasted well into the summer. With Covid-19, I am in my 4th week and still have daily waves of fever and shortness of breath. The nasal/head symptoms are gradually abating consistent with the virus’s movement south. Your pericarditis and “lung burn” sound very unpleasant for you. How are they treating that? I hope to hear of some near term improvement in your symptoms and send healing thoughts to you.

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