Horrible feeling I have Covid

[Runbunny]

I had a hangover yesterday, or thought I did, although I'd drink much less than would normally cause that.

I've had a terrible night and this morning my whole body aches, I feel slightly sick, sneezy and sore throat, probably a temperature. When I had Covid before, I described it as a 2 week hangover. I'm not well enough to have my normal day today, so shall have to cry off sick.

I have some tests left, probably out of date, but I could try one. However, I have a social thing at the weekend that I'd really prefer not to miss, if I'm well enough. "Rules" atm are to carry on if you're well enough, but I know that I and my friends will be wary if it's know I have/have had Covid. Hopefully, I'll feel much better by then.

So, do I test?

No, but I'd try and stay away from people if you can until you're feeling better! This is the rule I follow with any illness, if I feel like absolute crap then I do my best to be mindful of others, and I always try and have decent hygiene- Covid or not! It sounds like whatever you have others aren't likely to want it- hope you're feeling better soon.

Ps by the weekend I'm sure you'll be fine!

I am still recovering from covid 2 weeks after catching it. I have stayed away from everyone in the contagious period as I think it's selfish to knowingly go out and possibly infect people with an illness that effects people in very different ways. What is a mild cold could be life threatening for someone else, and I wouldn't want that on my conscience.

You say you and your friends would be weary if you knew someone had covid so I would stay away from people. You may lose a lot of friends if you give them all covod at the weekend.

Yes, I'll stay away while I'm ill and even at the height, we only had to isolate for 5 days (I think?), so should be "safe" by the weekend.

Presently I can just say I'm not well. If I test, I'll feel obliged to tell the people I was with yesterday, and some may still be uncomfortable by the weekend?

Whatever you decide, please don't pass on what it is you've got to other people, Especially if you're likely to still be infectious at this "social" thing.

My whole family has been down with something awful (flu type illness, awful chests) for two weeks now, and so have most of our friends, including lot of elderly grandparents, one who is now on a ventilator which will have to be switched off because one of our friends showed up at a birthday lunch (at a house) with their toddler twins who were coughing everywhere, feverish, snotty noses etc.

His wife was "stuck at home, sick as a dog but we've all been going stir crazy and I feel fine, the kids needed to get out for a bit so I've just dosed them up with calpol". He came down with it the next day and by 4 days later every single one of us from the lunch had started to get knocked down by it. Whatever it is, it's awful and has quite distinctive symptoms that are hard to shake.

It's meant the self employed people lost income.
A year 6 kid missed the last week of primary school.
Someone couldn't attend a job interview.
Someone else's op had to be cancelled.
A baby has been very poorly, needing a hospital stay.
And ultimately, a grandmother (in her late 60s) wasn't able to fight it off and she will pass away as soon as she's taken off the ventilator.

It was all avoidable, had he and the kids just stayed home.

The "rules" are not that you have to go about life as normal when you are sick. The guidance is that you can, but if you are a decent person you'll avoid spreading illness around as much as possible. Your friends would be right to be wary and you should at least give them the option of cancelling themselves. I know we all would have preferred to have known in advance and not gone rather than get this awful virus.

Whatever it is, hope you are soon on the mend. Stay home if you can and rest up as much as possible.

I would test if I had some lying around. I’ve got a couple of friends with long COVID and it’s no joke, so I wouldn’t want to unknowingly expose people to it.

It's definitely doing the rounds again. My dd1 started two days ago... shivering, cough, high temp and feeling generally rough, so tested. She's a GP and caught it off a patient who kindly came into the surgery saying she thought she had Covid!

(So she's working from home today doing follow up calls from her bed..no rest for the wicked!)

I felt the same recently and tested (was negative and was a UTI) as I had some tests around. When I last had Covid I felt dreadful so I wouldn't want to pass that o.

So sorry to hear this. Absolutely demonstrates why we shouldn’t be going out knowingly spreading this.

To be clear I have absolutely no intention of "knowingly" spreading this, whatever it is, but assuming it follows a fairly normal viral pattern, I'll feel much better by the weekend. If it's a "cold" you'd go out as normal again once you feel better. If it's Covid, people may still feel wary around me.

If it's Covid, and you haven't tested, you could still be positive or infectious at the weekend. So no, you might not "knowingly" be spreading it, but you could still be spreading it.

Last time I didn't test positive until day 7 of symptoms, and I was actually feeling better at that point. I didn't want to run the risk of passing it on to friends and elderly relatives that weekend so I took one "final" test just to be sure it hadn't been Covid and sure enough, it was positive and was for another 4 days. Maybe test the night before, and if you are testing positive, even faintly, don't go. It's when the test is positive that you are apparently most likely to transmit it.

Of course you should test. My husband became very unwell last Monday night. He took a covid test on Tuesday, which was positive, and is still testing positive this morning, a week after he became ill. If he hadn't done the decent thing and isolated for the last week, goodness knows how many people he might have infected, some of whom could be really vulnerable. My husband is fully vaccinated, and this is the first time he's knowingly had covid. We've been together for almost 50 years and this is the first time that he has ever been so unwell that he hasn't been able to get out of bed for several days. The latest variant seems to be a really nasty one. It was terrible timing as I had back surgery on Monday morning, so I've been reliant on my daughter helping me out 😆