To be off work sick with a cold for a week?

[doi24]

I feel like I'm being dramatic but I still don't feel well and I'm meant to be due back at work. I've still got the cold, just obviously not as bad as it's been a few days, but I feel absolutely knackered and wiped out from it. The thought of doing a full days work right now just makes me feel worse. My head feels fuzzy and I feel exhausted.

I'm convinced it's possibly been covid I've had, as I've never been this ill from a cold before. Was actually debating whether or not to go to the doctors but obvs don't want to waste their time if it's just a cold.

AIBU? I feel like I just need to suck it up and get on with it.

It's not entirely irrelevant. People who are self employed don't have much choice but to push on regardless - there's nobody who's going to pay them not to work. OP has got a chest infection, which is horrible, and any sane person would not go to work with that if they could help it, so no criticism of her. But there are endless slackers who basically take the piss and have "sick days" because they will get paid anyway.

You've probably got covid. I've had a terrible virus for over a week, I still feel spaced out and fuzzy etc. Apparently the latest strain isn't always picked up on tests now either.

@Cowlover89 the COVID shot will confer passive immunity on your baby once he or she is born, like the DTAP does. Please do consider it. There is extensive evidence that shows it's safe for you and baby and will keep you both safer if you do get infected.

This Imperial immunologist who specializes in pregnancy has been updating a Google doc with all the latest research on pregnancy, fertility, and COVID vaccines. Don't know how to link a Google doc but you can access it from her pinned tweet: https://twitter.com/VikiLovesFACS/status/1367099701238116353

A bad cold can easily knock me off for a week.

I've had the first 2 covid jabs. I don't want anymore. And I'm not high risk or anything

Does not "have to be a doctor", there are other healthcare professionals who can do it now, see link in thread above.

@Cowlover89 if your first two shots were more than a year ago you're effectively not vaccinated. You may not have risk factors but your newborn, by virtue of being newborn, will.

New CDC paper on benefits of up to date COVID vaccination in pregnancy:

• maternal dose of vaccine is associated with reduced odds of COVID hospitalisation among babies under 6 months, especially those under 3 months.
• mothers of 84% of the critically ill infants were unvaccinated
• invasive mechanical ventilation was required amongst 8% of babies from unvaccinated mothers (25 of 295 cases) compared to one case from a vaccinated mother.

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7239a3.htm

A midwife still can't tho.

I still prefer not to have it.

@AussieManque - if it was the case that people who had their last vaccine over a year ago were effectively unvaccinated, I think there would be MUCH higher rates of hospitalisation based on how much covid is circulating right now. Clearly the vaccine doesn't stop you catching it, but it does make the illness much less severe for lots of people and hence lower the numbers needing treatment.
There must still be some level of protection from the vaccine, otherwise we'd be back in a late 2020/early 2021 situation when people had no protection at all.

@ReviewingTheSituation I agree to some extent however you won't be protected against the new variants, at least not to the same level (and continual infection offers some immunity to whatever variant you caught - though children are much less likely to acquire immunity from their infection - an estimated 37% only in one study). Also the effectiveness of the vaccine drops off after a few months.

So everyone should be offered the booster to be honest, not just vulnerable or elderly, and ideally it would be every 6 months not annually given COVID is not seasonal, though I can see this wouldn't be palatable for many.

My main point though is that to protect your newborn baby if you are pregnant, it seems you should be vaccinated/boosted during the pregnancy.

First time I had a full week off work with a cold was when I was pregnant. I was so tired I just lay on the sofa under a duvet for most of the day. So not unreasonable, even before knowing you have a chest infection.

(Second time I was having other health issues that combined with the cold and a very active toddler just wiped me out)

I was ill for two weeks with covid in August and then about a month later in September I got a backlash cold that made me feel ill for ages. I didn’t have so much time off for that but I have really struggled through. And my ears and sinuses are still playing up. Plus my taste is coming and going. Similar pattern with my parents. Seems to be a lot of bad colds going around. But I am wondering if they are related to covid.

Pregnancy dulls your immune system so not only do you feel more rough, but it takes longer to recover.

Not worth being ill for even longer. My doctor once advised me to be off with a respiratory virus because the stress of work affects your immune systems ability to fight it off. That was enough for me.

Take as long as you need.

We’ve all had it in our house. Youngest son had a week off school, not ideal, but he was barely able to move and had a high temp on and off.

Today was my first day back at work after a week off. Felt absolutely awful. Did covid tests but all came back negative. I’d actually go as far as to say I felt worse last week than I did the first time I had covid back in 2020. Still not 100% but can’t afford anymore time off.

Take the week off. Don’t feel guilty. Xx

Thanks all. Still feel absolutely awful! On the 7th day now in total and hardly any improvement in the way I'm feeling 😩

Maybe just maybe it was that old fashioned thing called the flu.

Sounds like Covid, a lot of it about now.

Could do a covid test? I know at work we've had a sudden and massive increase in patients coming in through a&e with covid over the last 3 weeks.

This

I’m not in the UK and we have just come out of winter. So many virus’s knocking adults for 6 this year. My kids school had a particularly nasty one that meant a lot of kids needed 2 weeks off and it would go through the whole house. All non covid. my Dr thinks that a lot of people are having increased reactions to common viruses due to the lack of illness over the last few years due to all the measures to prevent covid (no idea if that is factual)

When I was pregnant people told me to avoid colds if I could, they’d had them when pregnant and it floored them.your body is using all its energy for bubba so I guess it can’t fight things like it usually would or something

I hope you feel better soon. Chest infections can be awful, especially when you're growing a baby!
Don't feel guilty or pressured to go back to work if you don't feel ready. I always view it as if you go back poorly you won't be giving 100% anyway, so you might as well rest until you can go back and put your all in.
Once you do feel better, you could always request to work from home for a couple of days to ease you back in gently.
Good luck! 💚