To ask if you have this “bug” that’s going around?

[ConfusedmumUC]

It seems to be rife! Basically, bad cold / flu like symptoms, chesty cough (not Covid) BUT, it hits you like a freight train for about a week, then you feel better for a few days BUT IT COMES BACK WORSE?

I can’t recall ever feeling this rough, and it’s not just me there are 13 children off school in my child’s class with the same thing, and the parents in the group chat saying similar although some lucky ducks have dodged it.

Wondering if this is happening everywhere or just in our wee village?

We have all had a bad cold before but the fact it goes and comes back is weird, it’s really dragging on now I’m into the third week of it.

Yabu - no such thing happening near us
Yanbu - it’s everywhere and I’m sick of it now

I got this on Halloween and have JUST recovered. I hope you feel better soon OP.

Yes to the burning smell! And I’m glad I’m not the only persistent sore throat sufferer (misery loves company) ☺️

yanbu we are also in week 4 and have to go to hospital twice with our DS. It’s awful, we have all been really poorly and it does just keep coming back. We are all getting better slowly and hoping this is the last of it.

Yes, I had nausea too, no appetite, was eating plain digestives to give me some energy as that's all I could stomach.

Yes we all have it, I’ve had DD to the doctors twice as was concerned about her chest and then her ears, she was up crying all night with ear pain but no infection according to the doctors. I rarely get headaches but last few days I’ve had awful ones.

Yes the entire family has had it. It’s a really nasty virus. Started with a cough, fever, sore throat, nausea/vomiting. Also had body aches and bizarrely someone mentioned sensitive teeth - my DD complained of that whilst she was poorly with it but I thought it was unrelated! It’s strange; it’s not covid (tested), flu or gastroenteritis but a weird combo. 1 week in I’m so wiped out and heavy eyed. My lungs hurt if I go out in cold & feel breathless.
I think these viruses were suppressed during lockdown and have now evolved and spiked. Hope everyone feels better soon! I don’t feel at all organised for Christmas 😩

Well guys, looks like whatever this is had really taken a hold doesn’t it?

The endless head pressure, almost like a sinus headache and wooziness is driving me utterly demented. I just can’t get things done like I need to! I’m hopefully starting a new job soon too, I reeeeally hope it’s gone by then because I’ll be dragging myself there no matter what state I’m in as this job has been a long time in the planning 😩

Anyone have any tips of easing symptoms or the likes? Like I said up thread lemsip takes the edge off but barely. Would very much welcome your wise ideas x

I'm on day 8, possibly longer but I just thought I was tired and emotional, then it hit me. Sore throat, hacking cough, loss of appetite, coughing until sick, tired.

I've had conjunctivitis too. Had to take this week off work, walked to the pharmacy just down the road and slept for a couple of hours when I got home!

It's spread like Wildfire in my dd:s school. 27 kids out of 30 were off with it from one class last week

Jeez, that’s shocking. It must be infectious for me to get it as I’m never sick, but my friends all have/have had it too….

have given up on sleep tonight, can’t stop coughing, chest, stomach, head, face and throat are all so painful that I’ve had to get up for painkillers to take the edge off.

this really is fucking grim, and I’ve had both flu and covid! Flu was deeply unpleasant but covid is a walk in the park compared to this

Whatever it was, it absolutely floored me for nearly 2 weeks. And my kids. Like I genuinely haven't felt that unwell since I had swine flu in 2019. Couldn't shake my temperature it was 38.8-39.4 most days, pounding head, chest that felt as though I was drowning (I'm still suffering with my chest now), every part of me ached, tummy ache, nausea. It was awful. Sending strength to you all plenty of water and lucozade xx

Slight sore throat for 3 days then bad cold for a week, started to brighten then felt much worse and terrible sinusitis for about six days, I’m on around day 16 and feel marginally better. But I have done absolutely nothing at all. I think pushing through when you have small children obviously prolongs illness. I was actually hungrier than usual, terrible bouts of insomnia.

Yep, feels like we are all just passing it to each other now. We all havent felt well all together for about 6 weeks, youngest had to go to A&E last week because her cough was so bad (prem child with chronic lung disease) hoping it subsides over Christmas and we can all have a conversation without sneezing or coughing!

We have it here in Malaysia - kids have had it for two weeks and we still very snotty. I'm not as bad just headachy and run down.

Yes it's sweeping the school I work in. Attendance is dire. it's mostly been through us staff now we had a couple of weeks super short staffed and it's the first time I've ever had a sick day in the 3 years working there apart from covid. I seem to have a second (thankfully a bit milder) version now. The cough is the strangest bit as I don't actually remember ever having one before in my adult life, didn't even have a hint of one with covid but now I'm coughing up all sorts of unpleasantries

For me it was the chesty cough that just would not shift....had it about 4 weeks ago and still got the cough!!!

My 8 yr old had just recovered from it. Very ill the first week with high temp and sore throat and lost his voice. Once temp down it moved to his chest. Bad chesty cough and on day 9 ended up on antibiotics. Thankfully I didn’t get it but my DH did and is still ill two weeks later

Yes I have it, no longer feel ill aside from the never ending cough, but have pulled all my muscles from coughing and no signs of it disappearing any time soon ☹️

No one in our family has been ill in the past three years. Not a cold or flu, no sniffles, despite having kids in school full time. The secret? We follow the current NHS Covid guidelines which say we should all be wearing masks indoors and try to meet people outdoors as much as possible. Covid has an R0 of between 6 to 15 and is much more infectious than flu, so measures that prevent Covid stop almost all other respiratory viruses. Our kids wear FFP2 masks and haven't had a day off in 3 years.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/how-to-avoid-catching-and-spreading-coronavirus-covid-19/

The thing is unless you're prepared to live like this forever then you're going to get it all whenever you stop. I'd rather get it out the way tbh. It's like when dc first start a regular childcare/school setting or staff start a job like childcare for the first time they get all sorts but it gives the immune system a good work out. That's why all the older teachers are never off - because their immune systems are like steel.

I’ve had it for a couple of weeks, cancelled all my birthday and other stuff- rubbish

I went to the dr for antibiotics which helped the chest infection but now have some sinus issue- been taking sudofed, that helps

@liveforsummer the problem is you're not going to "get it out if the way". This mysterious bug is most likely COVID, tests just aren't picking it up early. COVID exhausts your immune system so you're just going to continue picking up bugs, including other COVID variants.@Sunshineguy is doing the right thing to protect his family from infection. Wearing a mask is not a big price to pay for good health. It's a no brainer.

I had it beginning of November. Lasted two weeks and was horrific.

Now I have an awful cough - stomach muscles have cramped, bringing up phlegm and mucus - and I don't feel ill anymore, just tired and achy, but the cough WILL NOT go away!

Please make sure to swab your throat and nostril when doing LFTs to get a more accurate result. No eating or drinking for at least 30 minutes before. Many people are only getting a positive result on day 5+ of symptoms.

@ConfusedmumUC no your immune system hasn't been weakened by the lockdown. Your immune system works perfectly fine without constant "workouts" from infection. See for example www.salon.com/2022/12/04/does-your-immune-system-need-a-workout-the-science-behind-immunity-debt-explained/

What science is increasingly showing is that COVID robs you of your immunity, making subsequent infections more likely and more severe (viral and bacterial). Just because a previous COVID infection might have come with "mild" symptoms doesn't mean you can't have it worse next time, there are so many variants about. Since almost everyone has had COVID at least once (and many 2+ times) due to a failure of public health, we're now seeing the consequences.