Like Covid not Covid

[deedledeedledum]

I've been under the weather now for 10 days. It was terrible then got better but just before I felt completely well it's come back. Just like when I had Covid. The headache paracetamol doesn't touch the cough. The throat pain. The temperature. The skin ache. The extraordinary fatigue. What is this ? I've never had this level of fatigue, this sort of persistent headache or this weird boomerang illness other than Covid.

I had this too, three LFTs were negative, didn't bother with any more. It started with a vicious sore throat and progressed into total blockage of sinuses and constant head pain. I was given strong antibiotics for the throat and took Migraleve for the headache, progressing to Sinutab which worked like a miracle. The fatigue and whole-body aching lasted more than ten days before I made a slow recovery. Hope you feel better soon. 💐

That’ll be good old fashioned flu or just a bad cold.

It’s most likely Covid, I know of a few with it at the moment so the numbers must be going up again. My throat currently feels like razor blades, I’m hoping it’s not now my turn for 2022….

Do a test?

It's a cold, of course, so completely normal. I had one that lasted 8 weeks last autumn & was pretty unpleasant, but you just push through it and carry on as usual.

My son went away with his girlfriends family last week. They are now all sick like this. They all tested positive and he has always come back negative. He obviously has it. So I don’t think it always comes back on the tests.

Only I'm in my 50s so have had a fair few colds and never one with a headache that paracetamol couldn't touch nor this waxing and waning. Another poster suggested flu. When I've had flu before I was pretty much hallucinating and burning up with a raging fever. Not this mild temperature. Is there such a thing as a mild flu? Do they wax and wane?

Random virus. Due to lockdown we a) not used to them b) they are spreading better at the moment.

Why do you say it's not Covid OP?

LFTs are useless, some do not pick up viral loads above CT 20ish (cycle threshold) or depending on where you swab. I don't live in the UK and PCR tests are free here with viral load testing. For reference, anything between CT 16-26 is highly contagious and you are only allowed out of quaratine/other restrictions above CT 30.

Had your identical symptoms the past two weeks, particularly the sudden returning sore throat and headache after I felt almost better which I've never experienced before. My LFT was negative on the same day a PCR test was blazing positive with a viral load of CT 23 (extremely contagious).

So you can either go for a PCR test or just mask up and avoid people for a few days. Though if you've been ill for a week or so, the PCR test might be negative too. I still had symptoms after the viral load was confirmed low enough to be non-contagious.

Oh love, you have my sympathy. I'm day 7 of the same thing, worse than any cold I've ever know, but not flu. Feel like absolute shot and can barely manage basic activities of daily life before crawling back in to bed at 7pm. Let's hope it passes soon.

There certainly is. Despite the oft quoted refrain about fifty pound notes on MN, flu can be mild or even asymptomatic. That's not to say whatever you have now is the flu virus, but the level of severity doesn't preclude it.

Numbers of Covid are rising again, if you listen to Tim Spector on YouTube you get regular updates. The numbers are rising amongst young people (school/university restarting) and this is what happened with the last wave.

There is also a new variant spreading which has now been found in the UK. It's being reported around the world, eg www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern
theconversation.com/another-new-covid-variant-is-spreading-heres-what-we-know-about-omicron-ba-4-6-189939

There are loads.of virus that aren't covid. Doesn't have to be cold or flu, just a virus! Ride it out, get some codeine from the pharmacy for the headache and drink plenty fluids.

This sounds exactly like how I am today: day 10 of what I thought was a strange cold (very different to the Covid I had last December). I have had a couple of negative LFT's... and today a positive. Both my children have it too, but only one is testing positive. LFT's are not that accurate:

www.evidentlycochrane.net/rapid-point-of-care-tests-for-diagnosing-covid-19-infection/

Because between my DH and I we have taken around 15 LFTs over the last week. They can't all be showing false negs.

Thanks for your link. Is says LFTs correctly identified infection in an average of 73% of people with symptoms (test sensitivity). Sensitivity was higher when tests were used in the first week after symptoms first developed (detecting an average of 81% of cases) so it would seem unlikely that all 15ish tests would be false negatives surely