Something strange is going on… winter bugs

[Hazless]

Is it just me or is something strange going on? Nearly everyone I know is sick. Levels are off the chart. My son had 10 in his class last Friday.

I’ve just had a really awful respiratory thing. It started with an awful sudden sore throat (not the usual place, lower down) then progressed to fevers for 3 days (I never get a fever, I’m an adult and can’t recall the last time), pain all over, chills, body tingles, the worst headache of my life that two types of painkiller didn’t touch.

Day 5, Now I’m left with a lingering cough and snotty nose and everything smells and tastes disgusting. Even air from outside stinks like the inside of my rotting nose! It’s gross. I’ve lost weight because everything tastes so disgusting. I look awful… grey skin and dark Circles. All my kids are poorly too but seem not as bad as me.

i also felt extremely delirious and depressed during this bug. I’ve never felt so down. It was like something switched in my brain. It was very sudden and hit me like a train. I’ve not had that before.

not covid as both tests I took negative.

im not one for conspiracy theories but is something going on? Is there a new strain of covid? I’ve never had a bug like this before. And I’ve never known so many people sick at one time. What on earth is going on? It can’t just be from lock downs many months ago.

I remember speaking to another parent at school who doesn’t believe in vaccinations earlier this year. She was on her 3rd bout of covid and we’d all just caught it for the first time, DH and I being triple vaccinated by that point. Our youngest isn’t vaccinated yet and missed his flu vaccine as we were away and he’s been the most ill of all of us this winter.

These are only our experiences, it would obviously take scientific trials to prove anything but just a couple of examples that go against your blanket statement.

Im sure I read somewhere that there are viruses becoming more prevalent again that were rarely seen, due to more people refusing vaccines, perhaps that’s contributing to the increase in illnesses this year? Just a thought, I’m certainly not an expert and I do believe people are entitled to their own choices when it comes to these things. I just don’t think your comments about vaccinations on all these people’s posts are very helpful.

I'm triple jabbed.

I haven't had Covid (yet) and this season I've managed to avoid Rhinovirus, RSV, Strep A and influenza A.

Pointless anecdata.

I agree, it's very unusual. I know loads of people who are ill.

You need to look at the grain of rice analogy where it's doubled every day. The starting point of any virus last spring would have been tiny. Spread isn't instantaneous, it takes a few days to pass to the next person. DS classes were still segregate from others at playtime etc. Summer would have put a brake on the spread of viruses. Autumn would have started them up again from a larger base than last spring. We now have the perfect storm. A lot of different viruses, a low immunity population, lowered immunity by viruses (I've had 3 colds in as many months plus a tummy bug) and total abandonment of social distancing and hand gels etc.

I've never had Covid to the best of my knowledge, but couldn't test for my latest cold. People I know with and without vaccinations have had Covid plus all the current colds we are experiencing.

Never felt this dreadful in my life! Worst cough ever, even COVID was better than this. Nose running and spiking a fever of 39.5. Head throbbing when I stand up but think that’s because of all the coughing. Tell me I’m not the only one feeling this way atm!

I think we've become hyper aware of viruses and trained to hone in on and analyse our symptoms more than we ever did pre covid.
Yes there's some nasty bugs, but there always was. I've had several bouts of illness in my lifetime that felt like 'nothing I've had before' But before covid we'd just think 'that was nasty' without giving much headspace to what virus it was, and 'what could it mean...?'

I’m on day 9 of this flu and assumed I’d start feeling a lot better from day 5 like DS did, but no. I’m coughing to the point of near vomiting several times a day, yesterday I had a splitting headache for hours, my nose is still producing more gross yellow mucus than I thought could ever fit in my body and I keep having random diarrhoea which disappears for a bit then comes back again with no warning - sometimes days pass, sometimes just a few hours. I never know when it’s coming back. Poor appetite, nausea whenever it feels like it, generally feeling just utterly awful. I’m gutted to have felt so unwell for the whole of Christmas and for the 9 days before when DS was on his school holidays. It’s knocked me off my feet completely.

@5128gap

No that’s just gaslighting. People aren’t being dramatic about colds just because of covid. I’ve been more ill this year than any year previously. The recent bout was horrific whereby I was feverish for days on end with a resting pulse rate of 150.

Smells aside your symptoms sound very much like mine, especially the cracking headache that nothing will shift. Thats the worst symptom I had last time I had covid and I tested positive for it again on Christmas Day despite being on my 4th covid jab. Haven’t lost taste or smell this time though (not yet anyway).

I think two years of isolation and precautions and everything is going around because everyones immune response is lowered and the problem is many have very similar symptoms. Had I not tested I’d swear I just had a bad cold.

Many of my friends who are vaxxed have been ill with coughs and colds they can’t shake off. It’s worrying. You don’t want to mess with your immune system

I've been vaccinated for many many things (international travel, HCP. . So yellow fever, hepatitis, multiple flu etc). Over the years I've had a couple of crappy Xmas bugs. Norovirus, flu and Covid. Same as my family and work colleagues, no more severely or frequently since Covid and Covid vaccines.

Don't be daft. Unless you think I'm part of some conspiracy to secretly release new viruses into the population, what on earth would I have to gain by deliberately trying to manipulate people's thoughts? I said there were some nasty bugs about, but there always have been. If people this year are the most ill they've ever been, perhaps they've been fortunate until now. Plus decreased immunity from less mixing, as pps have already explained.

@5128gap

You are the daft one. Presuming we’re all just sitting here hyper aware of our symptoms because of covid.

OK, if you're no more aware of viruses and their symptoms than you were in 2019, then good for you. Most people are I think, but there's always one.

"People eating less well, not heating homes enough, not exercising or taking supplements enough. Basically general population health is declining due to cost of living"

I'd put money on that tbh

@5128gap

I am aware of covid. I am also aware that not every single viral symptom is because of one infectious disease. What a stupid assumption.

The issue is that while we were all locked away form each other our immune systems that are normally bombarded with stuff every day weren’t & many illnesses that we would have picked up & fought off without even knowing we were ill didn’t need fighting off so our bodies got lazy.
Personally I NEVER get colds or coughs or anything like that yet I have had a chest infection & a nasty cold in the last 6weeks. Thankfully my immune system is robust & I have managed to fight both off without docs or antibiotics but it was touch & go for 2 days with the chest infection!
Had covid in October ‘20 & it was an easier illness to deal with than the two I have just battled.
My heart goes out to all those young kids with developing immune systems & babies born during lockdowns who’s immune systems have learnt nothing from the environment outside their homes as they have had so little contact with it over the last few years 😷

Actually it does sound like you may have had covid. If you don’t develop enough of the virus in your body because your body does it’s job & keeps it under control, despite you feeling like utter crapapaloosa, you may not test positive, you may not have enough active covid particles in your system to register a positive result.
Hope you are feeling better now ❤

I don’t see how people can blame lockdown at this point. It was years ago. Children have been back at school full time, with no restrictions, for 2 and a half years. Soft play has been open, baby and toddler classes, dance classes, all the things, for 2 and a half years.
Even back in 2020, we were still exposed to trillions of bacteria and viruses. The immune system didn’t get lazy:
“In each cubic meter of air, there are between 1.6 million and 40 million viruses.

**In each cubic meter of air, there are between 860,000 and 11 million bacteria.

Given that we breathe roughly .01 cubic meters of air each minute, a simple calculation based on these results suggests we breathe in a few hundred thousand viruses every minute.”

It’s T cell exhaustion from Covid that has everyone feeling run down and lousy as the immune system is struggling to fight off what would usually give someone a sniffle for a day.

@Ansumpasty

The movement of viruses worldwide was still heavily curtailed in 2021.

It takes a while for viruses to come back from a very low level..

For example- we’ve really not had much flu at all in the last few years. That means by consequence immunity in the population against flu has dropped.

Children have been back at school full time, with no restrictions, for 2 and a half years.

Really? Apart from when they closed from Dec - March '21?

ok, almost 2 years. That’s a long time. The last lockdown, over half the children in my kids’ school were attending, too.