COVID-19 patient, 22, describes how her symptoms changed over 12 days

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By VT

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A 22-year-old woman who was recently diagnosed with the coronavirus has opened up about the different symptoms she experienced over the course of 12 days.

Twenty-two-year-old Amy Shircel took to Twitter this week to talk about how she initially experienced all the usual symptoms of COVID-19, such as a fever, a cough, chills, a headache, before her nausea and vomiting got so bad that she was taken into hospital to be rehydrated and medicated.

Related - Take a look at this video of a 21-year-old vlogger who was recently diagnosed with the coronavirus:
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In a lengthy Twitter thread, she wrote: "I’m 22 and I tested positive for COVID-19. Take it from me - you do NOT want to catch this. Hopefully hearing about my experience will help the rest of you to stay home (for real) [sic]."

She continued: "The first couple of days of symptoms were manageable. I had a fever, a mild cough, chills, headache, runny nose. Since I had been to Europe, they allowed me to get tested my second day of symptoms."

"By the third day, I couldn’t keep anything down. I was vomiting constantly. I couldn’t sleep, I obviously couldn’t eat. At this point, I still didn’t have my test results back.

"4th day: test back positive. I developed shortness of breath. It’s scary, it feels like your lungs are shallow and you can’t take a proper breath. I was weak, had a 102-degree fever and rising. [sic]"

Continuing her tweets, Shircel recalled that by the sixth day, she had become so weak that she was unable to walk, and had to "crawl" to the bathroom in order to throw up. On this day, she was also forced to call 911 and was eventually transferred to the emergency room. She wrote:

"By the 6th day of symptoms, I was so weak I couldn’t even walk. I crawled to the bathroom to vomit. I became so dehydrated I called 911, and they took me in an ambulance to the emergency room. I stayed there for a day where they rehydrated me and got me some anti-nausea meds."

For the next four days, Shircel detailed how she suffered with "fatigued by fever", and spent the day either "violently [shivering] in bed all day" or waking up in a "puddle of [her] own sweat". Unable to eat for a total of nine days, she was left "completely miserable".

In her final tweet, she said that she wouldn't wish the novel coronavirus on her worst enemies, urging younger people who think they are "invincible" to stay inside:

"A coronavirus diagnosis is dehumanizing and lonely, and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. You aren’t invincible just because you’re in your 20s. Take it from me, and quarantine like your life depends on it (it might) [sic]."

Per the John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, at the time of writing, there have been 887,067 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in a death toll of 44,264.

Please heed Amy's advice and stay at home.

We are urging all of our readers to adhere to the advice from their respective governments and medical bodies, and practice social distancing and self-isolation where required. Together, we will beat this...