Oh my god, I think I might have covid but I don't know

[BlondieD]

First of all I am not in the UK and antigen tests are discouraged for some reason in my country. I don't have any on hand.

Basically about 2 weekends ago, I went to a small family function. My partner was coughing and I was mad at him because he had symptoms but he wouldn't isolate or test. He went back to health easily. His coughs came to an end by a week.

Last weekend I came down with a cold. On Monday I went for a pcr test and it came back negative. I presumed it was a cold then. My work pressured me to go back to work as soon as a I got a negative test. By Wednesday I was feeling much better in my cold symptoms - the sore throat was gone, headache was gone, the coughing eased considerably. I was pleased with how quick this cold left me. I still have a squeaky voice and somewhat of a sore ear but I think the worst has past me.

Also the day before yesterday, I found out other members of my partners family came down with various degrees of illness - from colds down to flus. I'm just after hearing of another person with 'flu' and vomiting sick. They like to call it 'flu'. At this stage I gave out shit to my partner because various members of his family are ill and none of them are testing even to rule out covid. I find it bizarre we were all healthy at the function and now we all have various degrees of illness.

I thought I was bouncing back after my cold but tonight I am not too sure. I have a headache now but I don't know if that is stress or brain freeze (I ate ice cream earlier). I have what feels like a little bit of nausea in my tummy but I do generally have a dodgy tummy anyways so I don't know if this is something more sinister/covid/worry.

I think this is covid. My pcr was negative.. I don't have any antigen tests and I won't be near a pharmacy or shop tomorrow to but one.

I'm very worried. I think this is covid. I think the function we were at was an exposure for us all with my partner being the spreader. I find it all bizarre how there's various degrees of sick. Surely a cold virus wouldnt do that? Of course they all have their own lives but what are the chances of picking up other different bugs and infections within a week of each other. What's more bizarre is how there's isn't any one of my partners family turning around and testing for covid - just to establish if its covid or not.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. I feel OK-ish now from my cold but I am worried that perhaps it was covid.

Sore throat, slight cough here and runny nose. Grandchildren again. We're three families so sharing childcare. It's pants but the kids have picked up so much since September, we've done LFT PCR tests always negative. I've given up now, it's one snotty nose after another sigh

Perfectly normal for 3 families to catch a cold/flu from going to the same event. Just like my dd has now caught a cold from going to school just like all her friends have caught it too.

I ve known some people who had first negative antigen then retested and were positive - get another antigen test

On average Covid takes 5 days to become symptomatic after infection, realistically that makes it 3-7 days after infection. After about 14 days after infection an LFT is unlikely to show positive, but a PCR would.

However, there are so many bugs around that not everything will be Covid. Since September I’ve had Covid and a cold and I think I’m brewing another be now.

I hope you take the comments on here kindly, but honestly I do think you are having an out of proportion reaction/ response to whether your symptoms may or may not have been covid. It really makes no difference either way now. The only thing you are continuing to fuel is your own anxiety.
I'm a nurse, a parent, and we have all had lots of cold and flu symptoms ( both at work and at home/ school) over past few weeks and months. Occasionally someone has had covid, very often people have very likely had another illness that is going round this time of year.
Please try to notice the thoughts you are having and then gently let them go again. No good will come of ruminating on this now.

Colds haven’t disappeared since covid! And you can suffer from varying degrees of poorliness with colds/flu.

It seems unlikely it's Covid given your negative test. Have you lost your sense of smell/taste? That's a very distinctive symptom that would make Covid more likely.

Covid spreads the same way as other airborne viruses so it’s obviously very likely that everyone who was at the function caught your DH’s cold and there may be a couple of others floating around.

There is a definite horrible cold going around.

Your PCR test was negative. So you didn’t have Covid.

Covid is just one of a number of viruses all that spread in the same way. Colds, flu, norovirus..all spread at large events.
If somone has a cold at an event, it is more than likely that several other people at this event will come down with a cold in the days following. This cold may or may not be covid. In this case it’s unlikely to be covid, as one of the symptomatic people (you) tested on a highly sensitive test, whilst having symptoms, and it was negative.
Move on!!!

This post and the title are too dramatic.

I had Covid recently, as did my children. My mother, in her late 70s, was lucky not to catch it. I understand the concern, as we waited for her to test, but you need to dial this back, OP.

The UK's Covid response has created an awful lot of health anxiety over normal winter colds and bugs. And I imagine in Ireland it's even worse (I'm guessing you're in Ireland, probably wrong though!)

What's done is done. You can't change the past. Why will having a label change anything?

A few years ago we went to a friend's 50th. Within a few days loads of us had the most hideous cold. These things spread.

@BlondieD

I'm fine and that's all that matters is it? Never mind about putting my mom and a vulnerable person at work at risk.

Well it looks like you don't have it, so....you're not putting people at risk

You are overreacting a bit here, take a breath, sit down and relax