Those who refer to Covid as a 'cold' - have you actually had it?

[UndertheCedartree]

This is genuinely not goady. I'm just trying to distract myself (spiking fever with Covid).

There have been a few people in real life who have referred to Covid like this. One was back in Summer 20 and when I told him I'd been hospitalised with I due to breathlessness he suggested I was just having a panic attack!! Everyone who has referred to it as a cold (to me irl) has not actually had it. It seems a lot on here too refering to it as a cold or 'mild' illness have not actually had it. Mild means you don't need to be hospitalised afaik - not actually mild like a cold. They often seem to believe they have had it with no symptoms (maybe that helps them not be anxious about catching it) - not that that stops you catching it again of course!

I have to say it can feel a very lonely place when you see your DC so unwell and you are feeling dreadful yourself and people (who appear to have no experience of actually having the disease) are going on about how mild it is and we put up with colds we should be able to put up with this!

However 'mild' someone might have this I would not wish it on anyone.

I had it at the start. It was mild enough enough that I could carry on as normal although the weird dry cough did linger for a month.
It was milder than a bad cold for me.

It was a very, very mild cold for me (Sept 2021 so I assume Delta). Literally just a headache (but I'm a very headachey person anyway so thought nothing of that) and a sniffle. I was astounded to test positive on a routine LFT and would just have carried on obliviously spreading it around if I hadn't been doing them.

Almost everyone I know has had it and have ranged from asymptomatic to heavy cold. But then I know one person who was in ICU for 10 weeks from April-June 2020 and is still not fully recovered. And my husband is a London doctor. So I know very well that it's not 'just a cold.' But it's very easy to think it by observing normal life around you.

I hope you and your child feel better soon.

I have it right now! I’m not sure which strain it is, but in my country (Denmark) about 85% of cases now are the new variant.

I’ve had tonsillitis and two chest infections in 2021, and I have terrible lungs, but it was the least bad illness I’ve had. It was certainly much milder than the vaccine (Moderna) side effects both times. But that could be why it’s so mild.

I had a couple of evenings of night sweats, a loss of taste/smell, tiredness, a lot of phlegm, and a few days of coughing/sore throat. It’s been a week now and I’m more or less fine. To me, yes, it was nothing but a bad cold. I’m in my 30s, and everyone I know is getting it before the opportunity came to get a booster (positive rate is 20% in my area) and no one has been ill except a pregnant woman who was triple boosted. I actually had it worse than most people I know.

I’m pro-vaccine (I’ve had the full gamut for travel too - including some of the more gross ones, like yellow fever) but I will not be getting a booster now.

I think (I hope) I had this new variant at start of December. I work in a school and for the last few days of term (we break up earlier than state schools) I remember being absolutely exhausted with very strange headaches. One other teacher was telling me they were so exhausted they were planning on going to bed as soon as they got home and remember thinking how I agreed!

Of course none of our lft tests were positive and I didn’t take any the week after as on holiday. But the staff who run the holiday
Club caught a bad cold, tested everyday with lft and 4 days in one came back positive.

Then a lot of outbreaks in classes we heard through the grapevine.

My own dd had a one day tummy upset with a headache but we were not going anywhere, and I’m saving my lft tests for start of term so have been isolating anyway.

I would love to know if we both had omnicron. I’m CEV and worry I’m in for a rough ride if I catch covid.

I had it early December when I was doubled-jabbed, and wasn’t even a bad cold, just a headache for a day and a bit tired. But am aware that it affects people differently, my triple jabbed friend caught it a couple of weeks ago and was wiped out for 10 days.

My children have had it. Not a cold, they couldn’t have gone to school or even attempted remote learning. They were pretty ill for 4 days and then it was falling asleep at random times. Okay now though (Day 10).

I think if you are speaking to someone who is ill with Covid then saying 'Covid was more like a cold for me I was lucky ' and 'Why are we all making such a fuss about what is effectively a cold' are very different things. If you are talking about the latter you are right to be very irritated with them I certainly would be

When I had it , it was a bad cold - I have had worse colds tbh
When ds had it , he was poorly for 2 days with a fever. But I can only speak for us , of course there is a huge scale with people at either end .

Yes. Had it twice.

Delta was like a cold but with the post flu fatigue on top.
Omicron was the least remarkable cold I've ever had.

I’ve had it. I’ve felt worse with a cold. However I’ve never had chest pain/burning and breathlessness with a cold and these things were more concerning for me.

I had it this time last year and for me it wasn't even as bad as a cold. Only picked up via weekly pcr tests for work (home carer) and the worst symptom I had was a slightly sore throat. Certainly nothing I would have needed to stay off work for except for actually being covid.

Just about every colleague in my team also had it in Dec/Jan and the seriousness ranged from nothing to being hospitalised and still having long covid symptoms now.

It all seems very hit and miss if you get ill or not. I would never say its just a cold, more that I was lucky to have nothing more than mild cold like symptoms.

@Angrymum22

Oddly when I had the alpha strain I didn’t feel I’ll but the cough was horrendous. When I had delta the temp spikes made me feel rough but because you are isolating you are forced to lounge around waiting for every symptom. I had the alpha before restrictions started so just carried on working ( it wasn’t supposed to be in the community at the point). I think because of the whole fear/drama around at the beginning of the pandemic anyone diagnosed would be more susceptible to anxiety and possible panic which could account for breathlessness. We are much less anxious about catching it now.

Quite a lot of things in here I disagree with I wasn't lounging around. I was so ill I couldn't walk, hallucinating from high temperatures and coughing so hard I vomited regularly. I'm still a bit breathless from covid from March 2020 and need an inhaler when I play sports or run even a 5K. Breathlessness caused by anxiety is quite different.

I have it for the first time and for 3 days I was bed bound. Considered calling 999 at one point because of chest pain and shortness of breath.
Have experienced a whole range of symptoms but it took over a week before I could get out of bed without painkillers.
I wouldn’t describe it as ‘mild’.

It was like a cold for my family, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss it as being like that for everyone. We were very fortunate and I imagine we didn't have a high viral load.
to anyone who's has had rough time with it.

Felt like one of my normal migraines, so much so that I didn't think to test until I lost my sense of taste and smell. I wasn't leaving the house anyway though (severe anxiety so rarely go out). It made me feel very tired and rubbish but I was used to that with the migraines and it didn't feel like anything worse than I had dealt with before

I had it first week of December (so probably Omincron). Felt like a very mild cold that didn't last.

Usually when I have a cold virus, I have a head cold with streaming nose and eyes, sore throat for three days. High temp and then moves to a cough which lingers for a few weeks.

With Covid, no temp or streaming nose/eye, no sire throat. Did have slight fever and headache for a day. Couldn't get warm. No Cough (Ironic) I am double jabbed, had to cancel my booster as I was in isolation. (Now booked for 4th Jan - 28 days from my positive PCR)

I had it last year. It was certainly no cold. I was very unwell for a few weeks and it took at least six months for my lungs to recover.

Some people are lucky and have very mild symptoms. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

I don’t refer to covid as a cold, but I had it in November and I’ve definitely suffered more with some colds and with chest infections. At the time, the worst symptoms were exhaustion and loss of taste and smell.

However I should add that I still have a very minor cough if I’m tired or get cold, I developed a mild case of costochondritis which is still occasionally uncomfortable and the tiredness has taken ages to resolve (though I do have a couple of other fatigue-causing chronic conditions so it’s hard to tell on any given day why I feel tired!). The sense of smell is back to normal but my sense of taste isn’t fully back. So while at the time it didn’t feel particularly unpleasant, the after-effects have been worse and lasted longer than after a bad cold, though not worse than the chest infections I’ve had occasionally in the past. Also I was double-jabbed so I imagine it could have been much worse.

I think it genuinely is mild for some people. My child tested positive in December, and tbh I still don’t know if he ‘had’ it at the time of testing, or the week before when he was arguably less bright in himself. Whenever it was, as a parent I didn’t notice. He had tonsillitis a couple of weeks ago and was seriously unwell with that (fever and rigors, vomiting, unable to function) as a comparison.

I had covid alpha (suspected) in February 2020 and I was really unwell - fever for 3.5 weeks, awful cough, awful headache, loss of smell and taste, burning lungs, breathing laboured. It took a good 6 weeks to pass through my system, but at the same time I wasn’t as ‘unwell’ as I had been with some bouts of the flu, or with glandular fever. I could just about function (and actually didn’t have any time off work as it was before we really thought covid was here).

So I think unless you’re one of the people who ends up seriously unwell in hospital, it can be very mild, it does often make people feel terrible, but could be comparable to a bad cold (especially omicron), and probably doesn’t feel as bad as flu or glandular fever for most people.

I had Delta (I presume) in October and it was the worst illness I've ever had. It was far worse than the few bouts of flu I've had in my lifetime. I was very thankful I was double vaccinated by then as I dread to think how bad I could have been otherwise.

We all have it at the moment and I would say it's like having a cold.

Yes I've actually had covid and for me it was just a cold. No fever. Felt congested for 2-3 days and had a cough. The cough was pretty bad at night & was continuous and the lack of sleep was shit but I was better pretty quickly.

In pre-covid times I'd have probably continued to work as the cough was only bad when I was laying down.

I don't refer to it like that, nor have I had it but my teen has and described it like a mild cold.

I had it in September and it was like a cold to me but know it effects people differently.

I felt run down and a heavy chest for a couple of days but it didn't stop me being able to do housework unfortunately

Oh and also, I had tonsillitis a few weeks back and felt absolutely horrible. I could barely swallow water, had a fever, was swollen and it hurt to moved. Was definitely MUCH worse