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.

It certainly wasn’t like a cold for me. Almost two weeks of chest pain and I still get tired after a few hours of pottering around. (2 weeks since positive test)

I still don’t have my voice back, still no sense of smell- which I find highly disconcerting. I’m completely wiped out from it- I’ve never had breathlessness from any cold or flu.

I have no appetite and feel very weak still.

For the record, double vaccinated, very fit and no health issues.

Friends who are unvaccinated with health problems even seem to have bounced back from it within a day or two.

When my dd had it, it wasn't even a cold. Had it not been the a LFT we would never have known. She had a headache and felt a bit under the weather one morning but was fine by lunchtime. My ds was worse - classic Covid symptoms, but was fine within a week. He's had worse illnesses.

People are comparing it to tonsillitis- I used to get tonsillitis several times a year when I was an adolescent and a young adult and I have to say, if MUCH rather have covid again (assuming I had it as mildly as I had it in November) than tonsillitis. I felt FAR more miserable and unwell during bouts with my tonsils than covid made me feel.

Had it twice and both times felt like a headcold with a bit of a cough and muscle aches. Not had any jabs as don't need them and recovered from both after 4 days. Know of two others who had it and both rough for 3 days. One vaccinated and one no vaccine.

I haven’t had it (that I am aware of), and I have never described it as a ‘cold’ or ‘flu’.

However, everyone I know who tested positive last winter described the symptoms as very ‘cold’ or ‘flu’ like. Near enough everyone I know who has tested positive this winter have been completely asymptomatic/ had a mild sniffle/ scratchy throat/ bit of a headache and have been really annoyed that their Christmas/ New Year has been ruined ‘for practically nothing’.

I have not know anyone who hasn’t recovered fully within a week. I don’t know anyone who has been hospitalised/ die. I don’t doubt that it can be very serious for some, however it’s not my experience.

It’s such a strange and unpredictable virus.

I had it last year and I would describe it as somewhere in between a cold and flu, I've had flu and that was much worse. Dd had it with no symptoms. I know it's worse for some but with OUR experience of it I find it hard to measure the lockdowns against it.

@Lessofallthisunpleasantness

Just had it so this new Omicron I guess. Felt ill for one day with a headache and upset tummy. Scratchy throat and cough at night for a couple of nights. Very mild. Not as bad as a bad cold. Could totally carry on as normal.

Yep same! Carried on working /studying, just runny nose and glue-ey ears at times!

A mild cold. Maybe made worse by being stuck inside not being active for 2 weeks ish.

My husband has had it over Christmas, 1 day with a fever and a few days with a slight cough and a sore throat. I do notice he is quite fatigued. However, I have seen him much worse with a flu.

I had it 12 months ago and mine was not like a cold or flu, it was horrendous and I was left with long covid for several months afterwards.

@UndertheCedartree it annoys me when people say it's just a cold. We lost our sense of smell and taste and DH still not back over a year later. Also with a cold you don't need to isolate!

Sorry to hear about your DC. That's a huge worry of mine as my DC had it shortly after 2nd birthday. How old are your DC?

I had a slightly itchy nose and felt mildly tired for two days.

4 of us in the house had it last week (recovered now) and 3 of us had it like a head cold (2 extremely mild, me a bit worse but just a couple of days of feeling really rough) and youngest was sick twice then totally fine. I’ve definitely had much worse colds though and the one time I had tonsillitis was by far worse. We all had runny/blocked nose, sneezing, scratchy throat.

I have had it, and for me personally, it was a very short very mild cold. On the other hand I know people who were floored with it. Things affect people differently.This was also before the vaccine rollout. Still very mild.

Dh had what he classed a cold. I would have said a sniffle. Dd tested positive on her work PCR and Dh was shocked when his returned positive. Dd and ds had no symptoms, and Dh had the cold. Very mild like symptoms. But I'm presuming it's due to the vaccines. I had friends who were hospitalised at the beginning so I do think vaccines have helped my household.

We suspect we had it in February 2020, we were all ill and it took weeks to fully recover, high temperatures, cough, fatigue and breathlessness that lasted.

Two of us got it again this December. One managed to WFH through it, but slept a lot more. I ended up in hospital. All jabbed and up to date.

I have it now. I was very tired for the first 2/3 days but other than that it’s been like a very mild cold. Now on day 6 and feel totally normal. I’d take it over any of the other colds I’ve had this year which sucked. That said I’m assuming this is omicron which is supposed to be milder and I’ve clearly been lucky with it.

I had delta. I’ve had much worse colds. But I’m aware that not everyone has the same experience.

It’s not accurate to say mild Covid means you don’t go to hospital. It’s an enormously varied condition - I know people for whom it is literally like a mild cold, I know people who have been pretty unwell at home, but more seriously have ended up with long Covid symptoms, and I know of people who have ended up in a coma in ICU.

It’s hard to know as may have been asymptomatic, but one dc did just cough a few times and was fine.

He had a general virus that was worse for him earlier in year

Positive Covid test with the hardly anything, and negative with the fever and cough

For me it was like a mild cold...a bit snotty, headache for a couple of days, achy legs for one evening and a slight cough. This was in October so presumably Delta. DH & DS also had it and displayed cold symptoms although DH also had a fever (he's unvaccinated though whereas I'm double jabbed). My DM and DF were also positive and had heavy cold symptoms but no worse than that (both mid-late 60s)

I would 100% have gone to work if COVID wasn't a thing and it doesn't come close to how extremely unwell I was when I had Flu. I'd take COVID 10 x over than Flu or Norovirus again!

I do acknowledge though that it is more than a cold for some people and can't just be written off as such> Hopefully Omicron will be the turning point though and less people will be seriously ill/die

I know lots of people who have had it recently and when I asked them how it was they replied "like a cold", so it's not just people who haven't had it.

DS had it in November. He had a slightly blocked nose for around 3 or 4 days but complained of no other symptoms (no temperature, headache, coughing etc)

@Troublesometooth

I had it a few weeks ago. I’ve since had a really bad cold and honestly, the cold is worse for me. It’s dragged on longer, and made me feel more ill than I did with covid.

A lot of people have complained that the super cold is worse than covid.

If anyone is suggesting it’s always like a cold then they, as do you, need to understand it affects people differently. Your experience doesn’t negate the fact that others have experienced it as a cold. It doesn’t mean they’re lying or downplaying things.

From the outbreak among my colleagues, only one experienced it as flu like (bed ridden for a week, wouldn’t have picked up a £20 note off the floor etc) but the others had it as a cold or even less, some completely asymptomatic.

This has also been the case with friends’ children. In every case the kids have coughed a few times then been bouncing off the walls indoors for 10 days while their parents felt crap and had to look after them.

Mine was like a cold. Tested positive earlier December. Runny nose, sneezing, congestion and sinus pain. Probably had worse cards but the sinus pain was pretty bad.

I haven’t had it but out of the 7 people I know who have had it in December, 6 had no symptoms or a cold. Only one felt it was more flu like and had to stay in bed.