Did Covid cause asthma and eczema flare?

Well, it finally got me! After managing not to catch Covid-19 through the whole pandemic, my body finally succumbed.

Many people have begun to forget about Covid now; it’s a bad dream, a distant memory, not a concern any more. Certainly since government advice is that we don’t even need to test or isolate any more, it seems like Covid might be on the way out.

Worried about Covid and Asthma?

Ever since I first heard about covid and got the call to be careful and shield at home, asthma as a complication of Covid has been a real worry for me. If you’ve ever felt the lack of oxygen getting to your lungs, been gasping to draw in enough air to breathe, you’ll know why. It’s frightening and you quickly panic as the brain alerts you that urgent action is required.

So you can imagine the fear when I tested positive on Bank Holiday Monday last week. Even though we hear that the risk is much reduced, symptoms are less severe now, there had always been a worry at the back of my mind.

What was Covid like for allergic, asthmatic, eczema skin woman?

Well, it wasn’t much fun but here goes, things I noticed about having Covid:

Headaches
Feeling of brain swelling inside skull
Achy limbs over whole body
Nerve pain – this may be more linked to my tendency to experience herpes outbreaks when run down and I did get some eczema herpeticum on my face during this virus
Dizzyness
Confusion
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Fatigue, slept for days and nights
Mild productive cough
Cold like sypmtoms, sinus inflamed and sneezing and nose running and blowing
Nightmares and fever

Safe to say this really knocked me for six, with about three days feeling very poorly. Paracetamol and a hot water bottle on aches really helped, and just sleeping and resting. As a freelancer I did have do some work every day of this illness and this was possible in small blocks with rest and sleeping in between The challenge of working for yourself! So I wasn’t too ill to get some work done, but I definitely struggled.

No asthma or shortness of breath with Covid

What I found most interesting was the total lack of any asthma symptoms, none at all. This had always been my biggest worry as someone who has lived with asthma most of my life.

Everyone is different, but it doesn’t seem to be one of the symptoms; this virus doesn’t seem to exacerbate asthma and certainly my experience was a very productive cough, no dryness and so easy breathing.

In fact, people with asthma are less likely to die from Covid

Research into Covid deaths showed that those who have asthma are 70% less likely to die from the virus! One reason for this could be the protective effect of some asthma medications. Watch this video about asthma and Covid and long covid.

I have no idea why asthma seems so protective but it’s great news for people with asthma for once.

Skin flare from Covid

Whether my current skin situation is in any way related to Covid is anyone’s guess. When you have eczema and indeed topical steroid withdrawal, skin flares can happen any time and be totally unrelated to anything else. However, as mentioned above in symptoms of Covid, this virus did trigger the herpes virus to activate. This may have happened anyway, but I now have a small patch of well controlled and swiftly healing herpes simplex on my chin.

Am I the only person to have only just caught Covid? Do you think we should all forget about it now?