To think if your Covid test is negative, but you have ALL the symptoms

[HighFlierNowWaiting]

...then it is quite likely you aren't doing the test thoroughly enough?

To get an accurate result, you need to test BOTH the throat and nose, throat firmly enough so you gag, and nose enough so you sneeze. You have to do each spot for at least ten seconds - that's quite a long time!

I see on here, and hear from others that despite sore throats, coughs, sneezes, joint and muscle pain, bad headaches, fever, chills, and tiredness like they have NEVER experienced before, Covid tests return negative results.

It then transpires they are doing a quick nostril wipe round and that's it!

Now obviously there are bugs around. Maybe people are more susceptible to coughs and colds after a couple of years of reduced exposure, but Covid prevalence is increasing again. If you feel dreadful - please take a test and do it properly.

For those that say 'it doesn't matter, Covid's just like a cold now' - that may be true for some. But not everyone. You may be unlucky and get very ill, or have a mild dose but end up disabled with Long Covid. Or you may pass it to someone vulnerable who could end up in hospital.

For that reason, you should still take Covid very seriously, and DO THE TEST PROPERLY.

And I'm sorry if people don't like this message, want to believe it's all over, are bored, or think I am fear-mongering. I would love Covid to no longer be an issue, but believe me, it still is.

Thank you for your attention!

I would love Covid to no longer be an issue, but believe me, it still is.

For who? Not for 99.99% of the population, and no one I know, so yes, life is absolutely back to normal.

On two occasions I've had symptoms whilst family members have had covid / or immediately after they have had it and have tested positive.

I did test after test and was DESPARATE for it to come back positive simply because it would have made life easier for various reasons. So I made a point of being extra careful to do it for long enough etc etc. I was testing daily for a few weeks on both occasions. And yes swabbing nose and throat (including doing extra tests for ones where you aren't supposed to but did - just to make sure).

Nothing. Not a sausage. Negative all the time.

Frankly it did my head in. I felt like I was going mad. And it was difficult explaining to some people, that yes I had symptoms, no I'm not testing positive but no I'm going to stay home just to be on the safe side. Or vice versa, I'm still not testing positive so I'm out now having tried to be careful even though I have symptoms but I really need to get certain shit done.

My understanding, having read up on it, is that some people just don't test positive. Either they don't have it, or if they do the viral load they have is so small the tests can't pick it up. In which case, they really aren't very infectious at all and probably don't pose much of a risk anyway. Its a small percentage of the population - and they aren't testing badly.

Being told you aren't testing properly, is just an ignorant twatty thing to say. How do you KNOW they aren't testing properly? Can you prove they are covid positive when they can't?

We still have to go to work op.... you know that,yes??

Covid or no covid.

I won't test because it makes no difference. If I had a bacterial infection, yes I would need to know the name of it so I could be prescribed the right medicine to cure it. But given that neither a common cold nor covid requires medicine, it makes zero difference knowing what the name of my minor illness is. The path I take will be the same whether I know it or not, paracetamol if needed, an early night, and a dose of common sense.

Sorry I just had to check the date of this post to see if it was 2020. As it’s not then I don’t think we need instructions on how to test for covid. Covid didn’t invent these symptoms

Some people just couldn't care less about more vulnerable folk. Until their relative gets Covid & realises just HOW bad it can be. My sister is on her third dose of it, has Long Covid already, & can barely breathe. But sod it, eh? :-(

don't be ridiculous.

There's loads of coughs, colds, and flu going around... i HAD covid back in May, felt awful, cough that absolutely wracked me to breathlessness.

I've had a nasty bug the last 3 weeks, sore throat, to cold, to cough, out of interest i tested day 1, 3, 5 and 7, all negative. and i KNOW how to test as I've tested myself and my kids for the last 2 years... how fucking patronising can you be?

Maybe you need to chill out and get off your soap box.

You're being ridiculous. For those still testing, there are a hundred other bugs that can make you heavily symptomatic that just AREN'T covid.

I've never known an illness so wildly different in everyone anyway, so being 'heavily symptomatic' is pretty meaningless anyway.

Honestly, no, I don’t care about people I don’t know - I am way past this, as are most people. There have always been vulnerable people, there are covid objections now, and it’s milder (for most people) than it was. Life goes on, sad as that is.

Alternatively, it is entirely possible you have another bug that has similar symptoms to the very generic symptoms of covid.

It’s sad for the exceptionally few people that covid affects, but for 99% of the population it’s a nothing more than a mild illness.

Covid isn’t going anywhere. We cannot be expected to live a sheltered, fearful life simply for the extreme minority who may be affected.

If you are immunosuppressed and qualify for anti virals there is absolutely a need to know as soon as possible whether you have covid.

It depends on viral load.
I started with mild cold symptoms on Monday. First test was a faint positive after 15 minutes. Tested today and it was an instant deep red line.

This is an interesting thread on why early tests produce negatives now.
Essentially most people now have some immunity. The cold like symptoms are the result of the body mounting an immune response before the virus takes hold. To naive individuals or those who didn't respond to vaccine the illness is quite different.

I'm fascinated by this because a year ago I got covid and was seriously ill, breathing difficulties, confusion, and many other symptoms that landed me in hospital. This week I got it again. I have basically got a very bad cold, sneezy, headache, fever etc.

People need to protect themselves. If they are more vulnerable then they need to take precautions. We cannot expect the world to grind to a halt again.

i'm sorry your sister is sick. ftr, i have 2 relatives who're vulnerable with me/cfs who now also have long covid after they caught it going back to work for the first time in 2years.

You know what i did the last 3 weeks while i've had a non-covid virus? Exactly what i did before covid existed, stayed away from them, because even a normal 'flu' can absolutely floor the pair of them for weeks.

People not caring now, were probably the same fuckers who were happily spreading non-covid germs/virus about before covid was even a thing.

Covid symptoms now are basically cold/ flu symptoms. I seriously doubt everyone is testing wrong.

I see on here, and hear from others that despite sore throats, coughs, sneezes, joint and muscle pain, bad headaches, fever, chills, and tiredness like they have NEVER experienced before, Covid tests return negative results.

Right? And you’re saying this was unheard of prior to 2019?
YABU

What country do you live in? I think this might be relevant to your post as it seems very outdated and maybe would have helped at the beginning of the pandemic but not too sure if too many people test in the UK anymore?

I don’t know anyone who tests now. You need to get used to the fact that covid is here forever and stop obsessing. Just weird.

OP are you going to pay for these tests for me to do?

FWIW I've just got over a cold and I did test as I was feeling rubbish. I followed the instructions carefully and it was negative. Unlike the time I was really poorly and tested and did have covid.

That said, when those last few tests that I have are gone I'm not paying for mores

I often wonder do people not realise that post viral syndrome , which is what long covid is, has always been a thing? Any virus has the potential to trigger the immune system into attacking the body. Infections can do it do , strep throat for instance is a very common trigger for psoriasis. I spent 12 months on inhalers after pneumonia. If your vunerable protect yourself. Let the rest of us get on with it.

People are still banging on about this and tearing?!

I tested properly for 4 days every day before it turned positive.

When I had covid earlier in the year, I tested every day for 12 days, and each test lit up like a Christmas tree with a feeble nostril swipe.

If someone has symptoms but a negative test, they probably have a cold or the flu instead of covid. Apparently Australia has had an earlier flu season this year, and the prevalent strain was the same as the one that caused the particularly bad flu season that we had in the UK in the winter of 2017/18.

"I see on here, and hear from others that despite sore throats, coughs, sneezes, joint and muscle pain, bad headaches, fever, chills, and tiredness like they have NEVER experienced before, Covid tests return negative results."

Sounds like flu.

Oh god, lots of illnesses exist that have the same or similar symptoms to the most prevalent covid strains. Not everything is Covid.