I'm worried about getting coronavirus

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For the last month or two I've been living a healthy lifestyle; dieting, exercising and eating healthy foods that contain the right vitamins.
But I've just read that active, strong immune systems can also put you at greater risk of dying from coronavirus as those with compromised immune systems. And I am in the former.

I'm not sure how strong my immune system is but lately I've been having severe itching in my eyes, nose, and throat, leading to infection if I itch too much - although I mistreat my ears but I don't seem to get infections in my ears. Also I have hay fever practically all year round, which is probably an immunity response. My legs keep itching but there's no rash, just a bit of rough, peeling skin behind my knees.

I don't know what all this means but it is worrying me. Does it mean I have an overactive immune system and does that mean my immune system will attack my lungs if I was to get coronavirus? Because I think that is how all these healthy, young people have died from it.

Last edited by envirozentinel on 05 Apr 2020, 4:04 am, edited 1 time in total.: title was reported as being misleading

I am thinking. Have you tried slightly reducing the amount of milk you drink?

Don't worry about the virus. Worrying does not help. All is ok. Ok?

Yes I hardly drink milk since I started my diet.

I think worrying does help a bit, because it means I will be more cautious. But I know I'm going to die of this. It says that a million people have died from it worldwide but only a few thousand have survived it. Is that correct? I hope I'm wrong.

I don't want to die of it.

The itching on your legs could be your soap/shower gel, I get that if I use a too abrasive cleanser (imperial leather is particularly nasty and antibacterial gives me nasty eczema).

Itching eyes could be similar.

Have you always had hay fever?
And,
Do you get headaches in any specific places when your nose/throat is itchy?

Hayfever is a strong overreaction to various dust size particles in the air, usually pollen, but also certain perfumes, dust itself, smoke: not the immune system being strong in a general sense.

subject switch

I also think remember that people can appear to be fit and strong, but have underlying, undiagnosed conditions: like that Spanish football star who had undiagnosed leukaemia (yes, extreme example: but it shows how subtle the early signs of serious illnesses can be).

We know that a small proportion of apparently healthy young people have died: we don’t have full autopsy reports published, so we don’t know whether they were healthy or not.
.....................

Global C19 Stats as of 9:24m 4th of April.
Cases:
1,192,677
Deaths:
64,231
Recovered:
246,099

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Thank you for the reassurance. I sometimes get headaches but not all the time, and not lately even though my stress levels are at the highest they've ever been in my life, and I've always had anxiety since I was born.

I don't often suffer with itchy legs, but I do suffer with hay fever. I don't generally suffer with coughs though, it's usually my sinuses that get inflamed. Whenever I have had a cough, it didn't cause me much bother and I got over it rather quickly. Same with flu. Last March I caught a flu and was literally ill with it, but it only lasted 5 days at the most and I recovered rather quickly, just being left with a cough that wasn't too bothersome.

My boyfriend reckons he might have had the coronavirus, but I don't think so. He is a heavy smoker and has a permanent cough anyway. He was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties and was dismissed with a viral infection in his lungs, but I cannot remember if it was before Christmas or after Christmas. If it was before Christmas then it probably wouldn't be the coronavirus because it wasn't in the UK then. But if it was after Christmas, there's a small chance it could have been, but I won't get my hopes up as it was most likely just his poor lungs begging him to quit smoking.

Last edited by Joe90 on 04 Apr 2020, 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Joe, just based on maths, the probability of you dying of Coronavirus is practically nil.

Your anxiety is just getting the better of you.

Ahhh... no.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Something like 80% of people who contract the novel coronavirus have mild symptoms which resolve in about 2 weeks. (That percentage may not be current - I'm going on memory from everything I have read over the last four or so weeks.)

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04 ... ronavirus/

This is not to say that you should NOT be concerned and to take that concern seriously, but it makes no sense to panic.

If you're itching you should use some lotion on your areas of dry skin or try some Benadryl. But not likely that the itching is linked in any way to COVID-19.

I know, but what if the young, healthy people who did die of coronavirus were told this? They still died. So why shouldn't I die? What makes me so immortal? I might wind up just as unlucky as them.
Yes I know my anxiety is getting the better of me, but I'm getting frustrated because I'm trying to read into information on the internet but I don't know what's true and what isn't.



I know that. I was just worrying in case it's something to do with an overactive immune response, which I've read can also contribute to death from coronavirus.

You’re not going to die of Coronavirus.

Most people get a flu-like thing with it, and recover. Even most old people.

Out of 1,800 people who died of COVID-19 in NYC, only 28 had no underlying condition. And very few were under 40.

You're pretty young.I don't think it's very likely you will die or even have serious conditions from Covid 19.Most people who die or even get serious conditions from the coronavirus Pandemic are ether those who are elderly,those with compromised/low immune system or those with other health issues.Hopefully things are going along fine for you.

I think the best thing that those of us who struggle with anxiety can do is to keep an eye on the official advice, and then try to avoid as much of the other talk about the virus as possible. There's little point trawling the internet for the "truth", as every "armchair expert" and their dog has an opinion about it; and sadly, the more extreme opinions are the quickest to spread, even though they're often the least factual. The people who start the most frightening rumours don't seem to have much compassion for folks like us who are prone to anxiety, and I think they should be shunned every bit as much as people who hoard bog-roll, as they're helping no-one with their speculation.

Since none of the rumours are ever confirmed, and so many of them contradict each other, I usually come away from reading them even more confused than I started - then my imagination goes to town on the worst possible catastrophes that I've read about. I've realised now that it's just not worth it - my anxiety gets worse the more I read; so I've started limiting my on-line time to avoid the temptation to keep reading more (hence not much posting here much lately).

I know it's not easy to avoid the subject at the moment; but I really would try to block it out as much as you can, focus only on the official and practical advice for keeping yourself safe, and find some calming distractions to occupy your time. So long as you follow the sensible precaustions, the chances of you becoming a victim of Coronavirus really are very small in the grand scheme of things - and looking after your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

Best wishes.

I reckon if I answered that particular question you would just come up with more. It's just a behavioural pattern that you are probably aware of and one that doesn't really help bring down your anxiety. Put your focus elsewhere, this is just a wave of anxiety that will start to subside as soon as you distract yourself.

you wou;d need to be the one unlucky person in 10,000 IF you were exposed to the virus. Basically, most of your peers put themselves in more danger very regularly with their lifestyle choices. Don't worry.

Last edited by Sahn on 04 Apr 2020, 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The balance of probability is that the things that you are concerning you are down to general physiological sensitivity to allergens in your immediate environment in my opinion.]

As regards younger people passing away with no known underlying health issues, then the key word here is 'known'. As mentioned in previous posts they probably had some health problem that hadn't been picked up.

If you maintain a dialogue on here when you feel anxious it will help you triangulate things.

It's hard to avoid such terrifying news when you're on Facebook, and by going on Facebook I am keeping in touch with the social world and reading funny memes, etc. So I can't quit social media. But people do share such disturbing news articles that triggers my anxiety and panic attacks. Somebody has just shared a post of yet another healthy, strong 30-something-year-old man who's died after being tested positive. Seeing these sorts of things posted just reminds me of the healthy people that are dying from it. But I can't avoid seeing posts like this when I spend a lot of time connecting to people online. Yes, even some of us Aspies need our social fix just like NTs.
I think if I lost a loved one due to coronavirus the last thing I'd want to do is share it on social media and make it go viral. I know people just want everyone to be aware of the dangers of coronavirus but I'll rather NOT know the details of the last person to have died from it.

A lot of young people don't think they need to see the doctor so they don't. Which means that they can have easily diagnosed health issues go undetected.

Are people in their 60s at more risk? I’m not sure of the age,I’m 49, going to be 50 this summer.