To wonder what the hell is going on with viruses these days?

[FuckOffTom]

Before the pandemic, back in the good old days of getting ill, you usually knew what was wrong and roughly how long you would be ill for. You knew what a cold felt like and that you’d be over it within a week. You knew what gastrointestinal viruses felt like and, although unpleasant, you knew you’d have 24/48 hours of ‘evacuation’ and then you’d start to feel better.

Since last year, everytime I catch something I can’t really identify what it is - it’s both gastrointestinal and upper respiratory except you don’t throw up, or have the runs you just know it’s affecting your stomach and the worst of it is… they last for weeks now!! Every morning you wake up, for weeks on end, feeling lethargic, weak and listless with no end in site. EVERYTHING feels like flu and lasts way longer than it should. Anyone else get this?!

Agree with this.
Everyone wants to “move on” from Covid, which is totally understandable but the long term effects of it are being dismissed. I just had a letter from dc’s school referring to “respiratory infections” and that children should be in school even if they have Covid, the whole thing basically dismissing Covid as another respiratory infection just like the common cold. Except it really isn’t .

I didn't know this. Do you know where to find reliable info and advice about this. I had a really nasty bout of Covid this time around and I am scared of getting post viral fatigue as I had it for three years after a really bad flu about a decade ago and want to avoid getting it again.

No not at all. I've had covid twice. My immune system is not weakened. I'm getting ill at the exact same rate as I always did, hardly ever.

Totally agree with you OP.

I had covid in March 2020 then again in April 2023.

I keep getting a mystery virus that feels like I might be getting a cold, but it never arrives, but I barely have enough energy to make a cup of tea. I also ache. I've had this twice recently so am now a lot more vigilant in places where there are numbers of people.

@AussieManque absolutely agree with most of your posts. I was under the impression Covid was more of an inflammatory/clotting dysfunction illness than purely a respiratory one hence the high incidence of cardiac events post acute Covid (increased risk of MI and CVA up to 6 months post infection I think) and issues with vagal nerve/gastro and brain fog.
@Nannyfannybanny really feel for you. I caught Covid end 2020, recovered but then had huge relapse which turned into long Covid lasting almost 2.5 years. Lots of issues with heart rate and POTs like symptoms, brain fog, PEM. I’ve ended up with MVA as a result of the inflammation although all investigations were normal. It’s well controlled with meds and I’m virtually back to normal now but I was physically fit, healthy life style, normal BMI before all this. Hope you get the right help and keep pushing if they try to fob you off.

It sounds like his immune system is very low. Do you think he might have had mono in the last few years? It might be worth him withdrawing from school for a 6 month term to build himself up.

Here is an example of a study which found immune dysfunction for up to 8 months after Covid infection even for mild-to-moderate cases.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01113-x

There have been many other studies and mentions of this issue, including in mainstream media. Of course, not everyone will get this problem, but it is a real thing and an increasingly common thing.

Not to be apocalyptic about it, I'm sure most people would be fine eventually if they had time to recover properly, except in that 8 months-1 year period of immune dysfunction post-Covid they catch Covid again and/or many other viruses, so the problem continues. It is worth trying to reduce infections. The best way to mitigate is to improve ventilation wherever you are, e.g. open windows for fresh air even if it's cold, and to wear FFP2/FFP3 masks in high-risk situations.

@TempestTost @Spendonsend COVID can cause this, he needn't have caught mono (hopefully he hasn't, it's now linked to causing MS in later life), kids get long COVID too with fatigue etc. Shingles is on the up. The suggestion to try and reduce his exposure to give him time to properly recover is a sensible one, for example home schooling for a year, and implementing clean air measures at home (HEPA, ventilation) to minimise the risk of infection from household members. Obviously homeschool isn't an option for everyone though.

In any case, schools really need to take clean indoor air seriously with CO2 monitoring, HEPA and ventilation. Other countries like France have maximum allowable CO2 of 800ppm in classrooms, in the UK the limit was set at 1500ppm which in itself is suboptimal for learning, viruses aside. Clean air pays for itself in terms of reducing staff sick leave too.

And obviously sick kids should stay home, not go in to infect everyone.

@TotalOverhaul I hope you avoid it, the most common advice I've seen is to take things really easy for a long while after infection. There are also risk factors like having asthma or allergic rhinitis that increases the chances. Also if you had loss of smell or taste.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cea.14391

THIS. Covid reduces certain cells that form a signifucant part of our immune system so that our immune systems are weakened Nothing to do with lockdowns/staying home, but the impact of this virus. There's also significant evidence of damage to cardiovascular systems. Covid is so much more that a respiratory illness: loss of smell and taste means neurological impact for example. I'll try and post so research links.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00403-0#:~:text=Massive%20study%20shows%20a%20long,SARS%2DCoV%2D2%20infection.&text=Even%20a%20mild%20case%20of,a%20new%20study1%20shows.

For the past 3 weeks straight some combination of me, DH and Ds's (age 6 and 1) have had some sort of illness.
Started with me and DH having a hacking cough, temperature, streaming cold, watering eyes etc, then DC both caught mild hand foot and mouth, then as I recovered from the cough illness I caught hand foot and mouth (got it the most severe of everyone in the family) and now both DC have the hacking cough/cold that me and DH had two weeks ago.

We are typically a very healthy bunch and this is our first lot of illnesses in over a year but it seems to have all come at once and it's unrelenting. Hoping were coming out the other side now finally, both DC just have a nasty cough and runny noses left.
But yes OP it just feels different than everything pre-covid!

https://time.com/6265510/covid-19-weaken-immune-system/

@colouringindoors - blimey, that Time magazine report implies that even getting the vaccine reduces our ability to fight off secondary infections - or have I misread that? (No science background at all here, so I may have misunderstood.)

This isn't something I have noticed. I still get regular seasonal colds/sore throats etc but nothing particularly different.

I did work in public facing heathcare throughout the pandemic, including lockdown. I also have had flu and covid jabs the last few years. I also have had covid - with symptoms and a positive test. So it's possible my immune system carried on as normal, whereas those who fully locked down have been affected more.

@TotalOverhaul not quite, it's not the vaccine that reduces our ability, but the combination of vaccine+ infection. Best scenario is vaccinated and never infected, worst scenario is unvaccinated and infected. And now people are catching COVID multiple times, CD8 levels have even less time to recover.

"But the study also showed that people in this group still benefited from the vaccine—just not as much as those who hadn’t been infected before getting it. Levels of CD8 cells among those who had infections and then were vaccinated were still higher than levels among unvaccinated people."

Wearing a mask is more important for Covid than washing your hands (though hand washing still important and I appreciated the increase during Covid

We were never confined to our houses for 2 years. Also if it was just catching up we’d have done that the first year and it would b over, but something is continuing to weaken our immune systems and is getting worse not better with the passage of time

Apparently some strains of Covid leave behind fragments that mess with your immune system and so it is less able to deal with subsequent infections.

Dh, dd and I have all been ill for pretty much the last 3 months. Early 40s (well, not dd), non-smokers, moderate drinkers, healthy bmi, ill af. Its really starting to impact on quality of life.

Going to order some Sambucol and first defence and hope for the best.

I got covid in early 2022, virtually symptomless. I don't think I have had a cold or any other bug in more than 2 years. 🤷‍♀️

I can relate to everything in your OP!

I’ve found exactly the same. Tummy bugs used to be short and sharp. I find they now linger at low level for weeks. Colds similar. I’ve honestly felt in such poor health since covid. Just low level but shite all the time. Kids the same. Friends report the same !