What fucking fresh hell is this?

[Palmsun]

I came down with a headcold 4 weeks ago. By March the 29th it was much more than a headcold but not a flu either. It felt more like a sinus infection and I went to my GP. She said it was a chest infection. Gave me 5 days of antibiotics. I felt reasonably ok-ish with them but still sore and not well.

4 weeks from the onset of all of this and I am still not better. My cough has cleared but my throat is sore again and my ears are sore and I am still nearly deaf. And I am not getting any better.

This is not a normal headcold. Not any more.

It just won't go away.

4 weeks and counting. Does anyone else have the same thing?

Get flash light in your throat see if any white spots on your tonsils

Another one here! Been going on for 3 weeks now…seemed to be getting better then got worse.

awful fatigue, sore throat and horrendous cough…

for the first time ever, I’m going through whole packets of Lemsip.. usually only need a couple before it clears up - have never had to buy more of that stuff mid cold.

When I feel like this, menthol is the only thing that makes me feel like I can breathe. Fisherman's Friends are my saviour. I sometimes pour boiling water on them and drink them that way.

Menthol rubs on the chest, or menthol in the shower, also really helps.

Good luck, OP.

Just to let people know, when I saw my doctor about this a few weeks ago, she said it was a very nasty virus and would go. But if you have yellow mucus or are not getting any better then go to the doctors again and ask for something. And also don't rule out hayfever, I was ill with that about April last year and until I took Allevia or something like that I assumed it was a cold virus.

I think I might be turning a corner now, I hope. Today is the first day without any over the counter pain relief and the sore throat has eased as has the ear pains and dental pains - pains were bouncing around my head.

I won't hold my breath on it given the nature of this so far - it comes and goes. Hopefully this is it though.

My head is so sore through and I am sneezing out loads of green mucus and I am not well but the pains is easing.

I have another order for meds gone in. I hope to stop the current lot of over the counter stuff and move to solpadeline for about 2/3 days in the hope that helps it go away.

Strangely I don't have a blocked nose feeling. I usually do get that but not this time. I have a different feeling of being drowned in mucus.

Exactly how I feel

I had something from mid Jan right through until a week or so ago. Every symptom under the sun - if you'd told me it was Covid I'd have believed you as it was the worst I'd felt since the last time I had that back in January 2021!

The one thing that I found helped the sinus blockage/pain was some yoga breathing that my teacher showed me (after I'd wheezed my way through a class!).

Put you hand in front of your face, palm facing you. Place your index finger between your eyebrows then use your thumb or middle finger (doesn't matter which side you start) to close off one nostril by pressing on the side of your nose. Breathe in through the open nostril then close that side off with your thumb/middle finger, release the nostril your closed first and breath out through that one. Then you keep that side open and breathe in through it, close it off, and breathe out through the other side.

You are trying to visualise breathing the air in through one side, sending it up through your sinuses and pushing it back down the other side in a kind of triangle shape, IYSWIM.

The pains reduced today but oh my god - the fatigue. I had to go for a nap after breakfast and I am in work now but I am struggling.

I've had similar since Dec 22nd, it flared up again at the weekend and am now on my 3rd antibiotic since January.
You prob need klacid or something similar, 7 days, nasal spray or drops, nasal wash and a decongestant daily. My GP suggested I do everything bar the antibiotics for 6 weeks to be sure it's gone.

I knew someone who ate an orange a day and swore it stopped them getting any colds or flus for a while year... Might be worth trying? Lots of good vitamins in there

By any chance, do you have any mould in your home? Mould is not always obvious and can be hidden behind wardrobes, other furniture, etc.

Continually breathing in tiny particles of mould can result in continual chest, throat and ear infections, etc.

I’ve started taking vitamin d. It’s been so wet and grey for weeks that we must be lacking a bit and it’s one of the things we need for immunity.

I was told everyone in the UK should take a Vit D supplement between September and March, even more so if you live in the north of England/Scotland.

It's also hugely beneficial for sleep quality.

I have this - cough, post-nasal drip, fatigue, chills, aches - since before Christmas. Currently on week 12 now. I’ve had two rounds of antibiotics, a steroid nasal spray and oral steroids. Nothing is helping.

I’m normally pretty healthy and don’t get sick all that often. I’ve no idea why this has taken such a hold but I hope it’s a once-off!

I'm so sorry to read about people experiencing this does for months.

Thank you for the heads up that this might go on for many more weeks.

I was taking vitamin D religiously for a long time. I had a supplement regime of a b complex and vitamin C in the morning. Vitamin D after breakfast. Magnesium before bed.

I fell out of my supplement regime. I think I am depressed. It's highly likely but I didn't talk to my GP yet about it.

I am going through some troubles unfortunately and I am utterly depressed.

It's also presenting with me not really brushing my teeth before bed. This is not intentional. I am so depressed I don't care and I fall into bed although for the past few weeks it's the couch.

I buy fruits and vegetables and sometimes I cook and sometimes food just lays there and goes to waste because I don't have the energy to cook any more.

Should I go back to my GP and talk to them about the possible depression?

What I don't get is that I was in close contact with a girl in work who came into work with a heavy headcold and I was around her family too casually.

They are all better now. It was all very different durations. Two of them maybe about 2-3 weeks of an illness, two of them didn't get this dose, and 1 of them cleared it within a week.

This is likely my exposure to this. How come 4 weeks down the line I am not better.

Dp and I have had this, for nearly 4 weeks. He works in a hospital and told me it is a strain of covid which is not showing on any tests. They call it covid A.

It should be renamed to C Covid. C for cunt. Cunt COVID. It's brutal.

I had this for 5 weeks over Dec/Jan. First couple of weeks could barely get out of bed, then a few weeks where I'd feel ok-ish for a couple of hours, overdo it then feel awful again. Several negative covid tests.

At one stage I got sent to hospital as the GP said my heart rate was high/ oxygen low: the consultant and nurses said they'd seen lots of people with whatever virus it was, taking weeks/ months to get better.

Is the hospital testing for this strain and sequencing it? From their labs?

I knew a few weeks ago that this is likely COVID hit it wasn't appearing on any tests.

A lot of what I was going through had the hallmarks of what the original virus was - just the up and down nature of the illness - better one minute, bad the next. On day 10/11/12 of the onset of symptoms drowning in my own fluids and waking up choking on my own fluids. Exhaustion and insomnia.

@Palmsun I was floored with fatigue even after the flu like symptoms had passed, I got liquid iron from Holland and Barrett, maybe coincidental but seemed to help

Thank you so much for sharing to you and to everyone else too. It's good to know that I am not going mad.

I have a tonic ordered with some more meds. Hopefully that will help.

At this stage I might be tempted to get a buckfast tonic wine to see if that helps too.

Week 10 here. I’ve told my DH that he'll just have to get used to me sounding like a 60 a day smoker as this is my voice now.