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Unexpected benefit from having Covid

Discussion in 'Epidemics (including Covid-19, not Long Covid)' started by Arnie Pye, Apr 28, 2022.

  1. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,048
    Location:
    UK
    I have hypothyroidism which has caused my body temperature to be low for most of my life. I first discovered the temperature issue in my 20s.

    Throughout most of my adult life my temperature range was about 95°F - 96.4°F.

    Up until I had Covid last November, if I got ill from a cold or anything else "ordinary" my temperature would rise for about two days then very rapidly drop back to "normal for me".

    I had Covid last November and I was really quite ill. My temperature got up to about 102°F, stayed there for 2 - 3 days, and then very, very slowly dropped to about 98°F, which is when I stopped monitoring it. I was severely ill for about two weeks, and then took several weeks to recover although I have never quite got back to my pre-Covid level of health (which wasn't good anyway).

    Pre-Covid I had had major problems for many years with mouth ulcers which were hugely painful. I think my record was having 13 at the same time. It was very rare for me to have none.

    I couldn't cope with any of the OTC mouth ulcer treatments - they always felt as though they were setting my ulcers on fire. There was one that worked for a few months which contained Liodocaine, but then the active ingredient was changed to Benzocaine and I could never tolerate that. I tried salt water but could only tolerate very tiny amounts of salt which was not helpful at all.

    I was prescribed betamethazone by a hospital consultant. That worked very well, but getting a prescription for it from my GP was very difficult and it couldn't be prescribed on repeat. On the rare occasions I managed to get a prescription only one local pharmacy had it in stock (but just once) and most wouldn't order it. (Just one agreed to and he wasn't happy about it. It came in boxes of 100 and I was prescribed 70, so he had no use for the other 30.)

    Then Covid arrived and one of my symptoms was "Covid tongue" which looked awful. After I had mostly recovered I realised that I could tolerate salt water and more mouthwashes than before. I still get mouth ulcers but they really don't hurt anything like as much as they used to, and usually there are far fewer of them. Previously I'd score the pain as 8 out of 10, but now it is no worse than 2 out of 10.

    I have found that salt water is actually the most effective treatment for me now, and I use a small amount of a commercial mouth wash to get rid of the taste of the salt.

    I can only assume that I had a life-long bacterial or viral problem causing the pain before Covid that needed to be "baked at high temperature" to kill it off.

    So, I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who benefited from having Covid. I do have other issues post-covid that are common to lots of people, so it isn't all good news, but the reprieve from having excruciating mouth ulcers is very welcome.

    Edit : I forgot to mention that my body temperature hasn't dropped back to "normal for me". It is still 98°F, which I can't come up with an explanation for.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2022
    Amw66, oldtimer, merylg and 15 others like this.
  2. JemPD

    JemPD Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,915
    How amazing Arnie Pie! Thank you for sharing.

    I hope the more negative after effects will dissipate in time so it will be a wholly positive thing for at least someone :)
     
    merylg, Sarah94, MeSci and 6 others like this.
  3. Creekside

    Creekside Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    933
    I get cold sores (HSV-1) on skin that gets colder than normal (lips, below nostrils when nose runs), and find that they clear up quickly if I apply heat to them. So yes, I agree that some infections might be quite temperature sensitive. It could also be that the cytokines released to attack covid also turned the constant battle against some other chronic infection.
     
  4. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,048
    Location:
    UK
    I just wanted to boast.

    I have had almost no mouth ulcers for months. The ones I have had have been isolated rather than coming in packs, they have caused almost zero pain, been very small, and have vanished within 24 hours. So the Covid benefit is continuing for me.

    I also took my temperature today for the first time in months. And it is still 98F. Yay!
     
    Amw66, NelliePledge, shak8 and 3 others like this.

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