MUST READ: Covid-19-positive medical doctor’s diary

A medical doctor from the Eastern Cape has shared her experience on being a Covid-19 survivor to raise awareness about the illness and break the stigma associated with it.

Aarthi Muthayan, who works at the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital, has extensively detailed her journey in a series of Facebook posts.

She noticed symptoms two weeks ago which started out small but rapidly progressed: what started out as a furball feeling the throat quickly worsened to loss of taste and smell and shortness of breath.

“My symptoms started 14 days ago and strangely enough started out like a feeling of having a furball in my throat. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling no matter how much water I drank. The cough was dry, no phlegm at all. Also extreme fatigue.

“This virus was probably the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s not like normal flu at all. The symptoms come and accelerate very quickly, one minute you are okayish and next minute you are fighting for your breath!” she said.

“I lost my taste and smell pretty early on but with no congestion or anything which I found bizarre.

“You get short of breath while lying down and even worse when you move around or talk.

Despite having a high threshold for pain, Muthayan said: “I had the most severe body aches I’ve ever experienced. specifically in my lower back, but I also experience pain all over my body that was unbearable.”

The doctor kept a diary to record her symptoms from day one until six, which is when she was at her sickest.

She advised on treatments that helped her deal with the virus which included painkillers, topical creams for body aches, cough syrup and asthma pumps.

She also believes taking vitamins and supplements daily helped her a lot, and encouraged people to do the same.

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