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.

The smell and taste thing in the OP would indicate covid to me. I got covid in the summer time and I was having some medicine syrup and it tasted like petrol. The taste was completely off for me. That never ever happened to me before with other colds and bugs.

I reckon its covid but it hasn't been picked up on home tests.

See all of those things are factors in my life and I haven’t been sick once yet this year.

Covid hospitalisations are on the rise and are currently higher than flu hospitalisations (which are also very high). I think it’s fundamentally a twin-demic, possibly made worse by immune damage from previous bouts of covid.

Exactly.

Bugs have always done the rounds over winter - whether it's flu, a nasty cold, norovirus, tonsillitis - it always happens and always will.

Are the conspiracy theorists on this thread for real? Crikey.

I have the same symptoms as you OP. I don't think it's Covid. And I don't think it's flu. I've had both. They weren't like this.
I'm not sure about the 'oh it's the first winter' theory either. Mainly because everything was open last winter and hardly anyone was ill around Christmas.
It could be a completely new strain of Covid or perhaps a new strain of something else.
If it is Covid-related, it's proving that the 'let's ignore it and pretend it's gone away' strategy isn't as effective as last year's 'wear masks and take care'. But prepare to be inundated with Covid deniers and lockdown naysayers. It's as though they have an alert every time there's a Covid thread on here and they then bombard the thread until everyone else gives up and just continues reasoned Covid discussion elsewhere.

OP I don't think it's odd

I have had pneumonia three times, including recently. Now a lot of people in my flats have it.

all three times, I have been hit hard by depression, and brain changes, I say this as someone who has been in treatment for decades!

I wonder if more people have pneumonia than realise? With the low down cough? Doctors might not be looking for it. Mine realised immediately because of me having it before. Are they looking at covid tests and not listening to patient lungs, with so many phone appointments?

I'm amazed at all these people who managed to avoid bugs for two years. My DD has been sick enough with bugs to be in bed (for a few days to two weeks) every four weeks for the past 18 months or more. Some of these have been covid but we've also had plenty of non-covid bugs in the house including bouts of gastric bugs, raging sore throats, coughs, etc. We've just had two respiratory viruses one after another following on from a gastric bug and now my DH has covid. My DD has a mild immune deficiency and long covid so is more ill than the rest of the family but the other children and the adults are experiencing them to varying degrees of severity. Yes, there was a mild respite during the time that the country was in lockdown (for us, we were generally well between April and September 2020 and the winter of 2020 was less bad than it usually is) but for people with kids in junior school or below or general public facing roles, I just can't understand why "immune debt" would be causing this now.

I've had this and 9 days later still exhausted, but it hasn't surprised me that it's spread as hygiene in public places has gone to pre covid levels if not filthier. I wore a mask when I travelled for Christmas yesterday the whole time as even though its past contagious stage I still have a niggley cough. The amount of people hacking coughing into hands and touching surfaces on train and tube was unreal, and I only saw a few older people wearing masks. When my husband went to the supermarket last week to get me some paracetamol he said that aisle was full of diseased people sniffing and coughing without covering their mouths. I thought after covid people might be more careful about spreading germs when they know theyre ill but apparently not. Might just be London and suburbs but it seems to have swept the nation so clearly not! Get well soon everyone who had it, it was horrendous

Exactly this. The experts were telling us this is exactly what would happen right at the start of Covid. The NHS flagged it up too saying they would be hammered due to low natural immunity when lock down stopped. If you speak to nurses they could see unusual levels of respiratory diseases in young kids last year too. We’ve known for years that kids in nursery and primary school get exposed to lots of bugs and build immunity. No need to start looking for conspiracies. It’s common knowledge

Covid, flu, strep throat, and RSV all doing the rounds atm, plus all the usual cold viruses. Combined with the recent cold snap keeping people cooped up indoors together and a lot of lowered immune systems due to repeated Covid infections and it will feel like everyone is ill.

What baffles me is that people still don’t seem to have grasped the basics and aren’t covering their mouths when they cough or sneeze, or staying at home if they’re ill and don’t have to go out.

Agree
I was on public transport through lockdown as usual but I know people who barely went out for two years.

It hasn’t been proved yet but some scientists think there is a possibility that a covid infection - and even more so with multiple covid infections - could be weakening the immune system meaning people are less able to withstand other viruses. As said, science has yet to confirm it and it might prove to be a null hypothesis, but it is being considered as a possibility.

Then in addition there is the fact as others have said on here people were not mixing as much the last previous two winters so people are coming down with more viruses this winter as there is much more mixing - and perhaps people have forgotten people come down with many more viruses in the winter. I don’t think the mixing less holds for children though as they mixed just as much in school last winter. I have not read up in any detail but I have seen some immunologists challenge the immunity debt theory.

I would add that absence levels on schools do seem ridiculous. In 20 years in the job i can't remember a year ( pre covid) where so many staff and pupils have been off at the same time.

This is true and was also quite sad. The first year we could hold proper Xmas celebrations for pupils and we had over 50% absent.

The last time we had such nigh absence was Xmas 2019 when they reported a high level of RSV. I still wonder if that was actually covid beginning to circulate?

I spend a lot of time out thinking “has covid taught us nothing”
people not washing hands in public toilets, coughing and not covering mouths. Touching everything.
it’s no wonder everyone’s ill

I'm into week 4 of THE BUG. I've developed a sinus infection and I finally managed to get a GP appointment today and have some penicillin now so fingers crossed when the infection clears up I'll feel better. the chillls are the worst though, temp is 38+ but you're so cold, dressing gown, duvet, multiple blankets - still freezing! It's not like Covid and it's not like the flu, I think it's just a really bad cold? Anyway my sympathies to everyone who has it.

This was pretty much expected after 2 years of lockdown precautions, I've gone down with it, but even if it was a new variant I highly doubt the government would implement measures unless there was significant loss of life (which we don't appear to have, at least its not in the press and anyone can check the ONS reported deaths periodically).

Other thing is the vicious cold snap, followed by very mild temperatures - absolutely perfect for virus transmission, it's what we would typically see in Spring, PLUS the usual winter bugs.

Haven't seen much norovirus (yet), so keep washing your hands with soap and warm water before you eat to avoid that one best you can.

I'm optimistic it will all settle down for the summer, and I am going to soak up that sunshine!

🤣🤣🤣👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Ive had this for nearly a decade. Caused by a particularly nasty virus which went on for about 3 months

Lots of people lose sense of taste and smell when ill, its not unusual

This is the trouble with MN. Lots if people spouting drivel like they are experts, when they are clearly not.

This. Even an asymptomatic case kills your T cells including mature T cells and so pretty much everyone has severely impacted immune systems which just can’t fight off infection as effectively as before. It takes many months for mature T cells to recover.

That's really interesting.

About 8 years ago I felt dreadful but not "ill" iyswim? Unwell yes - but no real symptoms. GP did bloods for everything and then decided I was depressed. I knew I wasn't. Don't know how but I just knew it was my body rather than my mind.

3 days later I had what was like an asthma attack (I had childhood asthma).

Back to Gp. I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. 5 days of steroids later and that fog disappeared. I've always been convinced this was the issue for the whole 6 weeks.

I've been teaching for 25 years. There were high absence rates in all local schools in December. But, I can recall 2 other years with similar high rates.

I had COVID in Oct and then this horrible cold in late Nov. It still hasn't shifted fully after 3 weeks. It is just a cold though - sore throat, sore head, fatigue, cough, runny nose, etc. I think COVID has reduced my immune response.

I’ve literally had exactly the same as you- day 14 now and finally I’m picking up. Except the rotting smell- mine was more like every food I thought of didn’t appeal but I was starving.
The level of bunged up I was and shivering with a fever for days. Awful. And the depressive mood. Never had depression thank god but this was a little taster. Life felt worthless and I couldn’t see the joy or point in anything at all. Still feel a bit like that now but it’s going. Literally couldn’t be bothered to get up or do anything.

I’ve had the same thing as you describe over the last ten days.

But, I’ve been sick most christmases that I can remember, I ended up with pneumonia 4 years ago.

I’ve had one child in primary school for the last 16 years - they always bring me home a nice christmas bug.

I’m jealous you’ve lost weight though. I’ve gained half a stone. A lot of things taste like shit but I’ve got fuck all else to do but eat.