A 22-year-old has warned others in their 20s that they're not 'invincible' after coronavirus left her 'so weak I couldn't even walk'.
Amy Shircel, from Wisconsin, hoped talking about her own experience would encourage more people to stay at home and not to take the virus likely.
Having recently returned from Europe, she was tested for COVID-19 after two days of 'manageable' symptoms, which included a fever, mild cough, chills, a headache and a runny nose.
A fever and cough are listed as common symptoms on the World Health Organisation website, where it also states 'very few people will report diarrhoea, nausea or a runny nose'.
But for Amy, the less common symptom of nausea was so bad it left her fearing for her own life as she was twice taken into hospital for treatment.
By day three, before she had received her test results, she says she couldn't 'keep anything down' and was 'vomiting constantly', meaning she was unable to eat or sleep.
The following day it was confirmed she had coronavirus, and her symptoms became 'scary' as the shortness of breath she developed made her feel like she couldn't breathe properly, while still experiencing a fever.
She wrote on Twitter : "5th day. Things got worse and worse. I had never been this ill in my entire life. I was genuinely afraid I would die, because that is what it felt like.
"By the 6th day of symptoms, I was so weak I couldn’t even walk. I crawled to the bathroom to vomit."
After becoming very dehydrated as a result, an ambulance was called to take her to hospital, where she stayed for a day while medical staff rehydrated her and gave her anti-nausea medication.
Between the seventh and 11th days of symptoms, she had to return to hospital, explaining: "I had never been that weak or fatigued by fever in my life. I either violently shivered in bed all day, or would wake up in a literal puddle of my own sweat.
"I couldn’t eat for 9 days. I was completely miserable.
"Right now I am on my 12th day of symptoms, and I have my appetite back, but the end is nowhere in sight. I still have all the major symptoms.
"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)."
