Do symptoms come on quickly or build slowly?

[MarriedNotAtFirstSight]

I woke up yesterday with a slightly blocked nose and have been sneezing a few times yesterday and today (not a huge amount, but Im not normally a sneezer!). Feel a little tired. No temp or cough etc.

I've done a negative lateral flow - and will obviously do a PCR if I develop anything more.

l I know a lot of cases of the delta variant are more like a cold...just wondering if anyone who tested positive with cold symptoms, did they come on quickly or build over time? Ive assumed this is just one of the many colds going around at the moment as it's been a gradual build, bbt just interested to know how it has presented in other people? Thanks

I think for a lot of people it does build slowly and many don't get the 3 quoted symptoms at all or not until further into the illness.

My first week was a mild cold. The second week I was properly ill and lost my sense of smell. (Pre vaccinations being available).

Day 1 - very slight tickly throat and feeling a bit tired. Negative lft.
Day 2 - tickly sensation increased, little bit sneezy. Positive lft and pcr.
Day 3 - sore throat and cold symptoms. Felt pretty bleurgh.
Day 6-7 very sore throat and was the worst point in terms of feeling unwell.

DH has it too and was commenting this morning on how gradually the symptoms have built up.

My DS is in his 20s and it came on quickly. He had a negative lft on tues or wed. Woke up yesterday coughing, aching and generally unwell. Had been absolutely fine Friday night.

Dds and dh came on really quickly. Night before he tested positive dh had a bit of a runny nose and felt a little bit crappy. By the next morning he could barely move due to aching all over and felt really unwell

When we all had it last year it came on so suddenly it was a shock to the system. I was fine one minute, sitting on the sofa reading. Suddenly it felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of icy water over my head and it flowed all down my body - it sounds weird but that's the only way I can describe it, like it literally washed over me. Immediately afterwards my throat and legs began to hurt. Within an hour I was coughing and feverish. It was exactly the same with DH and DD, too. DH was cleaning the bathroom and it hit him so suddenly he had to sit on the floor.

This was last March so Delta might be different, but people I know who also had it early last year say the same about the very sudden onset.

I tested positive before I developed symptoms (went for a PCR as a close contact). 2nd day after positive result I started sneezing and nose became blocked and runny. 3rd day developed a temperature and started to lose my sense of smell and taste. 4th day smell and taste vanished completely but my temperature started going down. I was feeling back to normal by day 8, apart from loss of smell and taste which took about a month to return. So it was all pretty quick.

I tested positive today and felt like I was getting a cold yesterday. I have a banging head feel cold snd ache everywhere. Oh and lots of sneezing and coughing.

I never developed a cough at all but did get the other 2 main recognised symptoms.

Mine came on slowly (double vaccinated) felt the worst a week in. Negative lateral flows for first two days with symptoms

Mine came on really quickly; one evening I was fine, if a bit tired, and the following day I woke up barely able to move and all feverish.

The cough developed a little more slowly for me, although when it was bad I felt a lot better 'in myself' if you know what I mean. I was functioning, just coughing.

Day 1 - tiny throat tickle, nothing else
Day 2 - sore throat, a bit tearful nothing else
Day 3 - coughing a lot, then runny nose, sneezing, breathlessness

No fever at all. Still ill with it.

DH was:
Day 1 - Tiny tickle of throat
Day 2 - Sore throat, a few sneezes.
Day 3 - A bit croaky, a couple of coughs, looked obviously like he was congested and going down with something. Bad headache.

Both fully vaccinated. Delta.

It's also my second bout of covid, first was early 2020 and that was very sudden. I went from doing a long walk, to looking flushed that evening. The next day I had mild loss of appetite, then was taken seriously ill over night and hospitalised the next morning.

I'm off with Covid at the moment. It started slowly and I just thought it was the beginning of a cold, especially as someone in my office had said how lots of people seem to be getting colds now we're all back in the office.

On Wed, I had minor sniffles and felt more out of breath exercising than usual (but I have asthma so this can happen, particularly when the weather changes suddenly)

On Thurs, still minor sniffles and a sore throat started that night. I'd had my flu jab that morning so thought that might be why plus I always get a sore throat when I'm run down.

On Fri, sniffles and sore throat.

On Sat, as above but I was exhausted - however, I work really long hours in a stressful job so tend to be wiped out by the weekend anyway.

On Sun, started feeling more like flu and I decided to order a postal PCR just in case.

On Mon, was too unwell to work (from home) and too weak to get to a testing site. Stayed in bed all day. Realised I had ALL the symptoms of Covid now.

Subsequently found out that we'd had a Covid outbreak in the office (of which I was one of those affected). The guy who said to me "lots of people are getting colds" was the one I caught Covid from. Seems it was Covid people were catching rather than colds.

DS's came on quickly. Went to bed fine on Sunday, work up with bad headache, nausea and fatigue on Monday. Looked awful. Negative LFT. By Tuesday, he had cough, sore throat and slight sniffle. Wednesday cough worsened and chest pain started. Nausea continued for a few days before his appetite started to slowly return but he still has all other symptoms, although chest pain is a bit better today. Took PCR and sent it back on Thurs AM, returned a positive result by email just after midnight on Saturday.

I had it early in it the pandemic and it was swift. I was actually in the middle of eating Sunday lunch and had to get up, deal with sudden diarrhoea and felt an urge to go to bed.

DD2 (10yo) - Day 1 headache
Day 2 headache
Day 3 temperature of 39 degrees and feeling shit (+ day 1 for me).

Me - Day 1 headache (had a PCR at same time as DD2)
Day 2 headache and slightly wheezy chest (DD2 - Day4 - was snotty/sneezy at this point)
Day 3 high temperature up around 39, coughing and sneezing. Brain fog.

I'm on Day 14 now and feeling OK. Still coughing, lost my sense of smell and taste but don't have to isolate with those. I'd say days 3-7 were the worst. Could barely stay awake and couldn't focus on anything, not playing my games, watching TV, WFH was out. Started to feel more alert after that, though still had a nap yesterday.

Glad I'm fully vaccinated.

DD2 was still snotty/sneezy at day 10 so kept her at home for an extra few days - back to school tomorrow)

Original version march 2020 came on slowly, home from work in hospital Friday with scratchy throat and was Tuesday before further symptoms showed up and realised more than just a sore throat. Probably day 7 before properly poorly.

My first symptom was a very sore throat. I did a PCR the next day and it was positive. The symptoms came quickly.

I think my symptoms started on Thursday with a splitting s headache. Went for a long walk to see if I could shift it and felt better. When I got back I lit the fire as I was so cold - then was up all night with sweats.

Friday was exhausted so spent most of the day in bed. Otherwise ok but by the evening felt very unwell and another night of sweats.

Positive PCR Saturday. Spent the day in bed. Had every symptom by now except the cough.

Today I’m coughing if I talk but not if I’m just quiet. Fever seems to have gone and head is ok. Too tired to get out of bed though. Hoping it doesn’t go downhill again