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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To tell you I had the "flu" that's going round, and it was actually covid

84 replies

DucklingDaisy · 20/12/2022 22:01

I suppose it doesn't make much difference now, but I kept nodding my head in agreements with threads on here describing a bug going round. Then I realised I'd totally lost my sense of smell so I dug out a lateral flow...

I know you're supposed to treat it like any other illness, but I cancelled (and still paid) a cleaner who was supposed to be coming today because I thought it would be very immoral not to. I'd probably have done that for flu tbf. We're supposed to be hosting my sister-in-law for Xmas. She's not got anywhere else to go but I don't know if she'll want to come to a plague house. Both the kids have developed temperatures today :(

Having no sense of smell isn't going to be brilliant for cooking, either.

OP posts:

AnnieSnap · 21/12/2022 00:55

DH and I started with Covid 4 weeks ago. The first 5 days we tested negative, then they showed positive. We’ve both been really ill with it. At one point I was worried we might need ambulances at the time when the Tories have run the NHS into the ground and people are often waiting days for an ambulance. Scary, but thankfully we got through it without needing medical care. 4 weeks on, we took our dogs for a short walk for the first time today and I was nearly on my knees when we got back 😫

notsorich · 21/12/2022 01:08

@DucklingDaisy How long were you ill before you tested with Covid?

I feel absolutely rotten, but am still testing negative for Covid.

I'm still unsure about seeing family for Christmas, as they're CEV and this bug isn't shifting. :(

Original poster

DucklingDaisy · 21/12/2022 07:33

notsorich · 21/12/2022 01:08

@DucklingDaisy How long were you ill before you tested with Covid?

I feel absolutely rotten, but am still testing negative for Covid.

I'm still unsure about seeing family for Christmas, as they're CEV and this bug isn't shifting. :(

I started getting really ill Thursday afternoon and tested positive yesterday, so I guess 5 days? I hadn't tried before then. I've had more mild cold symptoms for longer but I think that may be a separate cold. It's hard to know.

OP posts:

Original poster

DucklingDaisy · 21/12/2022 07:35

@AnnieSnap I'm glad you're recovering, that must have been really scary. What a horrible situation we're in not to be able to rely on emergency services.

OP posts:

Whiskers4 · 21/12/2022 07:40

Covid flu or a cold, I'd tell people and give them the choice.

user1496146479 · 21/12/2022 07:42

It doesn't matter! If you are unwell just stay at home & recover. This applies regardless of fly or covid!

user18596463 · 21/12/2022 07:44

The Covid I had 2 months ago was not as bad as the cold I have now, none of it is very pleasant and they should all be treated with care and lessen mixing with others if you can

Abraxan · 21/12/2022 07:51

I've had a series of nasty bugs, most current one diagnosed with a chest infection and given antibiotics.

Coughs, High temperature (38.5c), aches and pains, headaches, raised heart rate, etc.

As I'm classed as vulnerable I've tested throughout, as then eligible for antiviral treatment, but it's been negative.

There is just an awful lot of stuff out there this winter.

Unifolorn · 21/12/2022 07:52

There are tonnes of nasty things about, at a toddler group the other day and a parent was hacking away- she said don't worry its not covid it's bronchitis. Like ffs no one wants that either! Generally as far as I can if I'm feeling like arse I stay in as much as possible, had the cold thing for 2 weeks and was still tired for a few weeks after it was horrible. People wouldn't be out and about with flu.

Dulcetto · 21/12/2022 07:55

Does it matter if it was COVID any more? COVID is here to stay and is a coronavirus like common colds that have been circulating forever. I say that as someone in a vulnerable group who recently had another booster. You likely would have had other seasonal illnesses in prior years.

You did the right thing to not circulate and this is how people should be treating flu to not spread it rather than being brave going to work😷 My view is unless someone is seriously ill, lateral flows are just a way to identify what flavour of seasonal illness someone has.

UpToonGirl · 21/12/2022 08:00

I have this for the past few days, negative covid tests. The doctor prescribed me phenoxymethylpenicillin as I've had recurrent bacterial tonsillitis but I've just realised this morning my sense of smell has gone so I'm worried it actually is covid.

I'll test again later this morning but will taking the antibiotics if it's covid do more harm then good?

gettingolderandgrumpier · 21/12/2022 08:06

Tbh I don’t see what difference it makes I had the flu the other week didn’t leave the house for 4 days . It may have been covid or the flu I don’t know but I didn’t go anywhere I stayed home and rested until I felt better . My family were all ok and had no symptoms

Quveas · 21/12/2022 08:30

DucklingDaisy · 20/12/2022 22:06

@Overthebow of course, I was just convinced mine perfectly fitted the descriptions on here (kept showing my husband like "look, it's going round") and then the loss of smell kicked in.

I had all the symptoms, including the loss of sense of smell. It definitely wasn't Covid. I also tested more than once. Loss of the sense of smell doesn't only fit Covid. Anosmia is a symptom that sits alongside many conditions including flu and the common cold. Hospital admission due to flu have now overtaken those for covid - news.sky.com/story/hospital-admissions-for-flu-overtake-those-for-covid-19-for-first-time-since-pandemic-began-12769074

It has always been the best advice to rest and recover / don't pass on infections to others, but there seems to be some sort of martyr syndrome (combined with people not being able to afford it too) to soldiering on. Many very common infections, including colds, can be just as deadly to the clinically vulnerable / really unlucky, but nobody cared much about that in the past. And the continued fixation on covid demonstrates such a continuation - it actually doesn't matter whether someone has a bad cold, covid or bubonic plague, because people should be cautious about passing on any infection to others; but at the same time as long as we continue to treat things a "just" a cold etc and don't have proper provision for people to be able to take time off work etc, then infections will continue to rip through populations, especially in winter.

Quveas · 21/12/2022 08:32

UpToonGirl · 21/12/2022 08:00

I'll test again later this morning but will taking the antibiotics if it's covid do more harm then good?

No it won't. And tonsillitis is one of the many conditions where loss of the sense of smell is a symptom.

Venetiaparties · 21/12/2022 08:36

Given the huge strain on the NHS right now, I think taking LFT before seeing the very elderly is plain common sense.

I can't smell anything - I have a very sore throat, headache, feverish and feel like all energy has drained. Just like covid the second time around. Testing negative but I did last time until day 5 when I had enough viral load. We have just flown here and feeling pretty dreadful. Could blame it on the cocktails last night, but honestly so over all of this illness whatever it is labelled. The whole of Dec has been awash with strep A, virus and now this..

user18596463 · 21/12/2022 08:39

I tested for Covid when I had it a couple of months ago as I was due the vax and you have to leave at least 4 weeks before having it, so best to know. I wouldn't bother normally checking specifically for Covid each time I have cold or flu type illness though

WonderingWanda · 21/12/2022 08:49

Covid19 has a lot in common with colds because some colds are a type of coronavirus. If you are ill at the moment it could be either one. Lf tests are notoriously crap at picking up covid so my negative lf test could still be covid. It's irrelevant because I am treating it as I would any other cold. Whilst I am peak coughing, sneezing an spluttering I am assuming I am pretty contagious and keeping away from people and then when that dies down a bit I will see people again.

I think we all need to get our windows open to blow all the bugs away, it's being coupled up in that cold spell that's made everyone ill.

healthadvice123 · 21/12/2022 10:54

Someone i have been with last 2 days just tested positive for covid , so that looks like my xmas is going to be stuck at home ill with covid and off work from Friday for the week for xmas shutdown

RachelSq · 21/12/2022 10:58

I’m the opposite, thought I had Covid (general malaise, headache, sore throat) and acted accordingly by not having visitors/going out.

I’m almost certain now it’s actually Strep, because my throat is agony and has the typical white spots.

Either way, I feel rough and wouldn’t want to inflict this on anyone!

ThingsChristmasJumper · 21/12/2022 11:00

I’ve tested twice and got negatives. Feel worse than when I had covid and I’ve had a flu jab.

AllOfThemWitches · 21/12/2022 11:03

As you say, what difference does it make? If you're ill, you're ill. Flu can be very dangerous for some people btw.

HotSauceCommittee · 21/12/2022 11:23

I could have written your post, OP. It was only after I'd done a 63hr working week with quite a mild cold, here, there and everywhere, meeting lots of people that I had e time to wonder at my loss of taste and smell on my day off.
It was Covid. It seemed mild even for a cold and it was receding but I still got a faint line.
I too cancelled and paid my cleaner.

Cakeyface123 · 21/12/2022 11:26

My 7 year old is on day 5 of covid (def covid - caught it of MIL and FIL). Its floored him. Temp, vomit, cough, aches, non stop sleeping, bloodshot eyes, weak shaky legs. He’s still in pjs lay on settee and hasn’t eaten for 4 days. I’ve started with it today (tested positive - only tested to confirm it’s what DS son had) and so far I’ve just got mild cold symptoms. So weird how it gets everyone differently. They said kids normally get a ‘mild illness’ but both my DC have been so poorly with it.

my eldest DC is really nervous now as when he had it last year he was horribly poorly so he’s expecting to be the same if he gets it again. There’s just no knowing is there.

we’re hunkering down at home though for the foreseeable. Visitors can come at their peril

Wonnle · 21/12/2022 11:29

Every virus is constantly mutating into another version of itself , the first Covid 19 is long gone

Call it what you will but it's a virus

emmathedilemma · 21/12/2022 11:37

I started with a cough at the end of last week which is now classic snotty cold. Haven’t had a temperature (but then I didn’t when I had covid) and 2 lateral flow tests negative so far. I worked from home Monday and Tuesday and will test again before I go to elderly parents on Friday but I’m hoping it’s shifted by then.

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