To assume my cough is because I have a cold

[Redsquirrel34]

So since Thursday I've been absolutely full of cold. Streaming nose, felt a bit rough. No temp and no cough until today. I've woken and feel alot better in myself but can feel the phlegm at the back of my throat and it's making me cough! Not horrendously, just a short cough. I've been awake an hour and coughed 3 times. The cold was caught from my nieces, who passed it onto my daughter, then to me. And now my husband and son are all extremely snotty too.
Isn't this the reason why there's no tests? Because technically I have a cough I should get tested but common sense says it's a cold. I just feel it's stupid to attempt to test in these circumstances. If I had a cough out of nowhere or a temp it would be different. Aibu to put the cough down to a cold?

yesterday I couldn’t smell at all

So book a test! This is clear. There’s no ambiguity about whether you’ve lost your sense of smell.

Book a bloody test.

@Mol1628
My children aren’t missing anymore education because they’ve got their usual September cold and a bit of a cough. I agree, you need to educate them at home with the work provided while self isolating.
Do you really think 10-14 in school is of equal value to the potential serious illness/death of a stranger?

@PurpleDaisies

No tests available yesterday when I checked and my smell is back today... with covid it goes for at least a week not just a day.

With DD2, coughing twice every 20 minutes, I was asked 2 questions:

1. Had she choked in the last 24 hours?
2. Had she swallowed anything very hot or sharp in the last 20 hours?

As I said no to both questions, they said that even though she was only going "cough-cough" every 20 minutes or so, and she had typical cold symptoms, we must isolate and get her tested.

So they do define '3 episodes' very widely.

No tests available yesterday when I checked and my smell is back today... with covid it goes for at least a week not just a day.

That is not part of the testing criteria.

I hope you and your household are self isolating until you get a test.

I just can't imagine why cases are rising so sharply and we're heading for another national lockdown??

What is going on?

Covid clearly has such distinctive symptoms that it's easy for an ordinary person to diagnose without a test

Any yet since schools went back it's been spreading like wildfire.

You'd almost think it is really difficult to diagnose and you need testing, as if most cases are asymptomatic and the symptoms are very similar to a cold...

But yet almost everyone can tell the difference between a normal cough and a covid cough despite never having had covid

YABU if it meets the government criteria for testing. They do not say ‘unless it is a productive cough’.

No tests available yesterday when I checked and my smell is back today... with covid it goes for at least a week not just a day.

So why do the government guidelines on testing not say ‘unless it comes back after a day, then don’t bother’?

A continuous cough is meant to mean almost everyone who has a cough. The phrasing is just trying to exclude people who have coughed because of something environmental e.g. dust and then not coughed again. People with established cough for other medical reason like asthma are excluded too.

In which case they should have said 'if you have a new illness which is making you cough, ornyoundevelop a new continuous cough without other symptoms...'

ornyoundevelop a new continuous cough without other symptoms...'
@CrunchyNutNC Er the guidance does say a new continuous cough with or without other symptoms!

Crunchy I agree that would have been clearer.

I think the handling of Covid has been pretty terrible tbh. I can understand why people think that the government is secretly pursuing a herd immunity policy.

I wouldn't describe my cough as a coughing episode. I can feel the mucus permanently and it makes my throat tickly so I clear my throat more than usual. I've probably gone cough, cough (iyswim) about every hour. My nose has just about cleared now and I feel alot better in myself. For me I would say if I was coughing continuously and much more frequently I should get a test but because it is about once an hour and literally a short cough to clear mucus it is the back end of a heavy cold. Which now my husband and son have too.

Do you think if it was easy to get a test (drive through), we might have the results back on time?
I'm supposed to be going for a scan on my heart tomorrow which I've waited for for over 6 months. My dd got tested yesterday so if they are not back (or positive of course) I won't be able to go. I don't know whether to cancel my appointment or not.

Redsquirrel you need a test if you are coughing once an hour.

'For me I would say if I was coughing continuously and much more frequently I should get a test but because it is about once an hour and literally a short cough to clear mucus it is the back end of a heavy cold. Which now my husband and son have too.'

Once an hour is a continuous cough. You all need to isolate and get tested.

Would you really describe a literal cough cough as an episode rather than occasional? I genuinely wouldn't interpret it that way. My understanding would be if I was constantly coughing several times but it isn't like that. God im confusing myself now!

I had exactly this last week. I haven't been into work because of it which I feel slightly guilty about (but have been able to keep things going at home). I'd never normally take time out of the office for a cold, but at the moment it's not socially acceptable to do anything else.
I felt incredibly guilt about not getting tested though (not that there were any tests available in my area). I felt very judged about my pronouncement it was "just a cold".

[quote Rhayader]@PurpleDaisies

No tests available yesterday when I checked and my smell is back today... with covid it goes for at least a week not just a day.[/quote]
That's simply not true about the sense of smell

Daughters test came back negative thankfully.

@DeliasDinner

It is true: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0194599820922992

The loss of smell in covid is caused by nerve damage, not a physical blockage like with a cold. Meaning that it takes more than a day to come back.

But no one is suggesting you do get a test OP.

My dd has a runny nose and a cough, coughing every few minutes. I’m pretty sure it’s just a cold but of course I don’t know that for sure so I have had to take her to a drive-thru test centre this morning.

Yes - it is a pain, my husband is self employed and works in a school so will not be able to work and lose pay until we get the result back. My dd won’t be able to go school and dd2 will not go to the childminders while I work from home/self isolate. Yes, it’s a pain in the arse. But it’s the right thing to do.

I can’t believe how many people on here have said they are coughing but won’t get tested because they ‘are sure’ it’s not Covid. It’s no wonder infection rates are rising.

If you or your children are repeatedly coughing, get tested! I don’t get why people are taking chances with this? My sister who is young and healthy nearly died of flu and pneumonia and took months to recover - the doctor said she probably caught it off someone in the street who didn’t even know they had it.

If you have one of the symptoms, you need to get tested.

Sore throat with yellow lumps, swollen glands, phlegmy cough, sore chest, sore ears, very blocked nose, typical cold symptoms. Should I self isolate? Impossible to get a test!

What your cough like @Greypurse? Is it continuous?

Greypurse if you are coughing on 3 occasions or more in 24 hours then you should isolate or get a test.

Have a look at the NHS guidance if in doubt.