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Original poster

Covid isn't always "just a bad cold"

55 replies

MamaorBruh · 05/03/2025 19:24

I know it's an emotive subject for some, but last week I caught Covid - I tested as I was seeing my best friend who is pregnant and I felt shocking plus lost taste so I wanted to check before seeing her.
Some people have practically mocked me for testing "didn't realise covid was still a thing/why have you even got tests/it's just a cold you're being dramatic"
Now, I've had a many a cold in the past but Covid (to me, anyway) is SO much more than that - i felt like I've been hit by a bus! My head felt like it was in a vice and I felt 100 times worse than whenever I've had "a cold"
I'm still poorly now, whereas with the colds in the past, I've recovered within a few days.
I suppose it just frustrates me that people assume everyone just suffers like it's "a cold" whereas, it can be much more than that.

OP posts:
Popfull · 05/03/2025 19:25

Bloody hell
I had to check this thread wasn’t 4 years old

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 19:26

You're correct OP.

But the first reply was very predictable - people are inherently selfish and statements like that belittle others who care so they can just carry on

tillyandmilly · 05/03/2025 19:27

Not just a cold - my sister has anosmia after contracting it in 2020

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Covid-19
Completelyjo · 05/03/2025 19:28

I tested as I was seeing my best friend who is pregnant

So if you didn’t have Covid you still would have seen her even if you felt rubbish?

Popfull · 05/03/2025 19:29

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 19:26

You're correct OP.

But the first reply was very predictable - people are inherently selfish and statements like that belittle others who care so they can just carry on

Oh don’t be silly

GarlicStyle · 05/03/2025 19:30

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 19:26

You're correct OP.

But the first reply was very predictable - people are inherently selfish and statements like that belittle others who care so they can just carry on

Agree. "We say Covid's trivial, so the people suffering from it don't exist. Fuck 'em all. We say it doesn't matter, so they don't."

This has really changed my opinion of people in general, not for the better.

OddBoots · 05/03/2025 19:30

A bout in 2022 has left me with Raynard's - I like the winter but not it is horrible for my extremities - worst is my nose as it is hard to wrap that up warm.

I am sorry you feel so rotten, I hope you fully recover soon.

Strangeonthenet · 05/03/2025 19:31

I wouldn't even think of testing for COVID now. Of just accept I was ill with something and stay away from people till I felt better.
But you're not wrong it's not just a cold to many. A family member, a child, had COVID 4 times in 2020-2022 and has ended up with ME as a result.

Popfull · 05/03/2025 19:32

GarlicStyle · 05/03/2025 19:30

Agree. "We say Covid's trivial, so the people suffering from it don't exist. Fuck 'em all. We say it doesn't matter, so they don't."

This has really changed my opinion of people in general, not for the better.

Show quote history

I didn’t say that at all!!

some people do think it’s just a cold but loads don’t

this was endlessly debated four years ago, hence my response

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 19:37

@Popfull and your second front just confirms it.

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 19:37

*reply

NameChanges123 · 05/03/2025 19:43

tillyandmilly · 05/03/2025 19:27

Not just a cold - my sister has anosmia after contracting it in 2020

Yep, and one of my relatives has ongoing, sometimes debilitating, health issues after getting Covid multiple times.

There's a lot of people who don't give a toss about passing their illnesses on to other people.

528htz · 05/03/2025 19:44

Me and dh had it in November and it absolutely wiped us out. Took ages to recover and every time we get it we feel weaker and weaker afterwards. It's horrible and we can't afford the vaccination. I'm sick of it.

RaininSummer · 05/03/2025 19:44

Popfull · 05/03/2025 19:25

Bloody hell
I had to check this thread wasn’t 4 years old

Stupid thing to say. Covid can be very nasty. Sometimes it's like a cold but other times it is truly terrible.

babasaclover · 05/03/2025 19:45

Good for you for behaving like a proper human.

My stepdad has cancer and is immunocompromised and I wish more people were like you. The selfishness of people who mock you astounds me. Wankers the lot of them.

Keep it up.

taxguru · 05/03/2025 19:51

babasaclover · 05/03/2025 19:45

Good for you for behaving like a proper human.

My stepdad has cancer and is immunocompromised and I wish more people were like you. The selfishness of people who mock you astounds me. Wankers the lot of them.

Keep it up.

I agree. My OH has cancer, is on chemotherapy and is severely immunocompromised. His mother was admitted to hospital over New Year with pneumonia and he simply couldn't go in the ambulance with her nor visit her in A&E nor on the ward as he didn't want to risk being in such a high risk environment for infections etc. She died a few days later having not been able to see her. His brother/SIL and their children (MIL's grandchildren) all stepped up to be with her whilst in A&E and then spend a lot of time on the ward with her. They all came down with covid, and brother ended up hospitalised himself with it, SIL was badly affected, and their kids were both off work for most of January! OH was racked with guilt at first for not visiting, but having seen the covid effects on his brother's family, he knows he did the right thing. Covid would probably have killed him too! Those people who ignore or belittle covid really are the worst kind of selfish wankers!

StrongSweetCoffee · 05/03/2025 19:57

I think the problem is it has been swept under the carpet and the country treats it like it doesn’t exist.
I was at a hospital appointment at the start of the year and the hospital had reintroduced masks because of covid/flu/norovirus, a mother came in with her child and made a huge scene with comments like “we’re back to this FFS. It’s pathetic. Covid is over, didn’t you get the memo”. I don’t know whether it’s like a form of denial, or fear, or ignorance or selfishness or all 4, but people seem to genuinely believe it either no longer exists or that the vaccines have eradicated it, when neither things are true.

Aligirlbear · 05/03/2025 20:02

MamaorBruh · 05/03/2025 19:24

I know it's an emotive subject for some, but last week I caught Covid - I tested as I was seeing my best friend who is pregnant and I felt shocking plus lost taste so I wanted to check before seeing her.
Some people have practically mocked me for testing "didn't realise covid was still a thing/why have you even got tests/it's just a cold you're being dramatic"
Now, I've had a many a cold in the past but Covid (to me, anyway) is SO much more than that - i felt like I've been hit by a bus! My head felt like it was in a vice and I felt 100 times worse than whenever I've had "a cold"
I'm still poorly now, whereas with the colds in the past, I've recovered within a few days.
I suppose it just frustrates me that people assume everyone just suffers like it's "a cold" whereas, it can be much more than that.

Why did it being Covid make a difference ? Surely if you felt ill regardless if it was a bad cold / flu / sickness bug and you were displaying symptoms you would have stayed away from your friend as a matter of respect and courtesy?

528htz · 05/03/2025 20:06

They made such a fuss about it when it first emerged and now it's as though it doesn't exist. It's so weird. Different people have different reactions to it. Vaccinations should be available to those of us it does affect. I think some vulnerable groups receive the vaccination each year, but we're not classed as vulnerable. I could barely get out of bed to feed the cats or do their litter trays though. It was every bit as bad as a proper flu and most people don't get flu every year. I also thought coronaviruses are supposed to get weaker as time goes on then they settle down. This was the worst one ever.

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 20:16

StrongSweetCoffee · 05/03/2025 19:57

I think the problem is it has been swept under the carpet and the country treats it like it doesn’t exist.
I was at a hospital appointment at the start of the year and the hospital had reintroduced masks because of covid/flu/norovirus, a mother came in with her child and made a huge scene with comments like “we’re back to this FFS. It’s pathetic. Covid is over, didn’t you get the memo”. I don’t know whether it’s like a form of denial, or fear, or ignorance or selfishness or all 4, but people seem to genuinely believe it either no longer exists or that the vaccines have eradicated it, when neither things are true.

Yep agree.

It's like people sticking their fingers in their ears and going "La la la...can't hear you"

DazzyRascale · 05/03/2025 20:18

@Aligirlbear because unlike a cold, Covid has serious long term effects in many, many people...however too many people refuse to acknowledge that because any restrictions infringes on their human rights. Innit.

taxguru · 05/03/2025 20:19

@528htz

I also thought coronaviruses are supposed to get weaker as time goes on then they settle down. This was the worst one ever.

That's what they say, but it's not how it's working. My son first got covid at Uni in 2020 - he just shrugged it off as a minor cold. He got it again a few times during 2021 and 2022 (whilst at Uni) - still barely more than a sore throat for a day or two and a bit of a cough. He had it twice in 2024 from his new workplace - again, he barely noticed he had it. Just caught it again last week and it's absolutely floored him - he's been in bed for six days now, coughing his guts up, feeling achy all over, bad headaches, he can barely make a drink or cook beans on toast as he says it's so painful to move, even just around his flat. He's only 23, fit and healthy normally, and no underlying conditions/not in any vulnerable group. It's really worrying us how bad it's hit him - on Facetime, he looks like death and at times is struggling to put a sentence together and is starting to be incoherent. I'm driving over tomorrow to see him and start caring for him as we're so worried. I think the current strains are really serious.

Tortielady · 05/03/2025 20:20

When people say something's "just a cold" they forget that for those who are immunocompromised, a cold can be very serious. For them, the difference between a bad cold and Covid or flu might be academic.

I was ill in January with something that could have been a cold (I'm prone to absolute stinkers that wipe me out and hang on for weeks.) As I wasn't going anywhere or seeing anyone clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) I didn't bother with a test, I just stayed out of crowded areas for a while. But it might have been Covid for all I know. . .the only thing I'm sure of is that respiratory infections weren't new in 2019 and they aren't going anywhere now Covid's in the mix.

Original poster
MamaorBruh · 05/03/2025 20:21

To those saying wouldn't I have stayed away from her anyway?
Well yes I would have done, however when I said to her I was feeling rubbish so we should postpone as didn't want her to catch my cold (obviously thinking it was just that, the first day) she said don't be daft it's fine and she had a bit of one herself.
However when I told her it was covid then she changed her mind. I'd still probably pop to Sainsbury's etc with "a cold" but knowing it was covid and the difference it makes to others in comparison to it being a cold, then I did an online shop to avoid going out.
My thread was really more about the fact that Covid is categorised by some as just a sniffle yet my experience is so different to that.

OP posts:
justletmegetmyglasses · 05/03/2025 20:35

Like any virus it can be horrendous, fairly mild, something in between or even asymptomatic. Ignore the idiots 😁

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