If you e recently had covid, how did it compare to expectation ?

[Wingingit15]

Interested in knowing how your covid compared to your expectations. Personally I have been in fear of it for the last two years but touch wood so far has not been that bad. It has really changed my perception of risk rightly or wrongly.

I had it twice, in March 2020 and 2 weeks ago.

The first time was hell, I thought my head was going to explode, had fever, chills and that horrible cough. It took me about 3 months to get less fatigued and sleepy.

This 2nd time started with a crazy headache, fatigue and a lot of sneezing then very blocked sinus. I thought I had hayfever. Took some sudafed for sinus pain ( 2 tables every 8 hours) and was feeling better 24 hours later. On Sunday I was no longer testing positive. Im still fatigued but feeling much better now.

I had Covid Dec 2020 …before vacs . I lost my sense taste and smell ,tired and full of cold .No temperature or chest problems despite being a smoker .
I definitely have been left with side effects, mainly poor memory,have to write everything down and forget the details of conversation,blocked sinuses if I talk for long periods,weird sense of smell with coffee and sometimes am convinced I can smell burning! Feel more lethargic generally!

I thought I was doing well to escape it. Got a mild version about 4 weeks ago. Chills/temperature/body aches for 2 days. Then one new symptom per day - weird bitter taste, tickly, not sore throat, weak arms, irritating cough. Tested positive for 12 days.
Middle sister had it shortly after.
My other sister who works with the public is just finishing her isolation after catching it for the first time after a mild dose. All unvaccinated.

I'm 52, no booster. Had covid a few weeks ago. 2 days of sneezing and a mild sore throat. That was it.

I tested positive 4 weeks ago for the first time. I’m CEV due to autoimmune drugs and have had 4 doses of Pfizer. It was horrible. I felt very ill for a week and on day 5 opted to accept the offer of treatment. It was like the worst head cold ever x 10. So much mucus! And ill, really ill. Second week I just felt normally ill and struggled through work which I probably shouldn’t have. Week three I was still really tired and kept relapsing but I really turned a corner last weekend and I’m mostly ok now but keep getting a sore throat for an hour or so and I’m still waking up congested. Mild? Didn’t feel mild. But my oxygen never went below 97.

I just tested positive today. It's milder than I thought. I thought it was just a cold, though mostly concentrated in my throat with a bit of snuffles/sneezes. My throat has been pretty bad but I've had colds that are far worse. No fever, only sporadic coughing. Headache on and off for several days but nothing pain killers doesn't fix. Tiredness, had a few early nights which is unusual for me.

I did a lateral flow test a few days ago when I started with a sore throat, negative. The only reason I tested again today was because my 13 year old caught what I thought was my cold, but she's feeling pretty rubbish with it and had a fever, she tested positive so the rest of us tested again.

I hope I'm not speaking too soon but today is day 4 since I started feeling iffy and I feel like the peak was day 2 really.
Earlier I was feeling so much better that I decided to assemble some furniture, but that did tire me out a lot and I've felt generally pretty tired all day but that's normal for me really.

It was thought (by my GP) that I had Covid at the very start, before lockdown & before testing based on the symptoms I had was in place.

I was so sick - in a way I've never been - for about 4 days. This included loss of taste / smell & awful vomiting. Neither were Covid symptoms at the time, so it was only later my GP rang back to say, 'it probably was Covid'. It's only in retrospect I realise how tired I was after, and for how long. I had difficulty breathing but somehow didn't connect it. It was such a crazy time with lockdown that I didn't think about it till much later.

I have Covid at present. Nothing like then, but also not mild. I'm on day 3 & feeling very wiped out, breathless, and then typical cold symptoms. It's not as severe as a flu but I definitely am sicker than I expected.

I am in my 40s, very fit, and otherwise healthy.

Oh, I was never afraid of getting it & also am sure I'll be fine again in a few days. I only didn't want to get it due to the isolation rules, as I'm a single parent & no real back up.

I've just recovered from it and wasn't bothered about catching it at all.
I actually felt pretty awful and not what I was expecting. I had awful headaches, chesty cough, sore throat, lost sense of smell, sore tongue and breathlessness. Got over it in 7 days fortunately.

I was worried about catching it until I was vaccinated. I had it a month ago and I got it bad. Last time I was that ill was flu 30 years ago. I am still feeling achey and fatigued. I am scared of long Covid, that's always been my fear. I was surprised I got it that bad, felt protected by the vaccine but that was bs.

@TypicaIMe

I'm on my fifth infection currently. Going by previous infections, this one is a lot worse than I would have expected - they've all been very mild comparatively (one was asymptomatic). I had no reason to think subsequent infections would be any different. Particularly as I'm quadruple jabbed and assumed I had some extra immunity from having had it four times before!

5 times? How on earth? It's only been with milder, newer variants that people have got repeat infections in a short space of time.

Surely some of those 5 infections were part of an existing one?

We’ve had it twice now. We were very lucky that everyone either had no symptoms at all (DH, 2x DC and I) or had very mild symptoms (baby)
However, despite having zero symptoms at the time, I found I started developing random symptoms a few weeks after such as fatigue, breathlessness, feeling dizzy all the time and spaced out. Lack of energy is my worst long term symptom that only developed a couple of weeks after.
My eldest DC who also was fine at the time, now frequently feels dizzy and tired.
I worry what other “silent” long term damage has been done that will slowly emerge.

Oh and another new long term symptom I seemed to have developed since covid is headaches. I didn’t even have a headache when I had covid. Don’t usually get headaches either, but a few weeks after covid I found I get frequent headaches

I had it recently and was like a very mild cold for me. Slightly scratchy throat, a bit snotty, bit tired and achy for a few days but nothing significant. I was completely recovered in about 5 days. Worked from home throughout without any issue.

I felt like I had a cold (saying that as a triple vaxxed person I would not have wanted to have taken it on without medical help) it really wasn’t as bad as I expected.

The odd thing was that it was all in my nose. No cough, no temp. I thought I would have a bad chest but I didn’t.

I had it twice. Firstly March 2020. I was horrifically I'll for 6 weeks. Took me a few more to get well. I coughed so much I vomited. I hallucinated for a few days. I couldn't walk without help.

This year in Feb: sniffle and a cough. Thank de fuck for vaccines and variants.

I was pretty unwell for two days with temperature, sore throat, tiredness and dizziness. I was then okay for two weeks until I started getting chest pains. I have hypertension but it rocketed up to 208/136 in a&e. They’ve literally just gave me an ECG and then another hypertension medication and left me to it.

No idea what to do now! Thankfully the chest pains settled but I’m now coughing up horrible tasting but clear phlegm… and I’m still knackered… and my blood pressure has come down but it’s still 168/95… but GP just says review blood pressure in three weeks 🤷‍♀️

Reading all of these, it really surprises me that all the msm coverage said Omicrom was mild. I know these are all just anecdotes but it seems odd that so many of us or/and DCs had quite bad effects either during or after it.

I'm day 3 symptoms, day 1 positive test and its been horrendous! I'm fully vaccinated and had my booster a couple of months ago. I started with a sore throat and have developed whole body pain, ridiculously chesty cough, fever, shivers, dizziness, headaches, my voice is gone, exhaustion and night sweats. I have genuinely not felt this ill in years. I perk up slightly after eating even though the last thing I want is food, I'm constantly tired and find it increasingly hard to breathe at times. I caught a variant at the start of the pandemic before vaccines and even proper testing and I was ill for a couple of days and that was it. This time has been hell and I have no underlying conditions. My 17 year old son has it too, tested positive today also and has the slight sniffles!

I knew it was likely not going to be pretty, based on my track record with colds and ´’flu. It certainly didn’t disappoint and, five weeks on, I’m still struggling. The household has been warned if they bring it home, they’re stuck isolated in their room as I can’t catch this again any time soon. Exhausted probably because I still can’t get a good night of sleep, horribly thick mucus production, tired, might finally be turning a corner on reduced gastric upset, some breathlessness, any exertion just knocks me out. It’s as pants as I was worried it would be

I got a positive test yesterday. I was expecting to feel rubbish pretty quickly given most the stuff I have read. I don't feel poorly at all so far, bit of a stuffy nose currently.

Dd1 tested positive on Tuesday night and despite the occasional sneeze and coughing once in a while she has been fine too. Slight high temp first thing yesterday but says she feels fine.

All 4 here currently have covid, all have been feeling pretty rubbish, DH and DS 29 spent first 2 days in bed. Myself and DS 26 were a bit better and were looking after the others. It took till 4 days after symptoms for myself to actually test positive, so I was trying to carry on, walking dog, cooking, cleaning etc., DS2 has asthma so I’m glad it hasn’t been too bad for him, but even he is surprised at how ill it’s made him.

I have spent 2 years absolutely petrified of catching covid, so it’s a weird feeling now, but we certainly don’t want it again any time soon.

I had it 3 weeks ago. I’ve had Flu twice and this was nothing like Flu. It was like a heavy cold that made me feel very tired for a week afterwards. It was nothing to worry about.

@AnnesBrokenSlate

Reading all of these, it really surprises me that all the msm coverage said Omicrom was mild. I know these are all just anecdotes but it seems odd that so many of us or/and DCs had quite bad effects either during or after it.

Selection bias. Clearly some people struggle with the illness and recovery, but this section of the site is less likely to attact responses where it's been a mild sniffle to give a representative proportion of the range of effects. When people had it also affects the liklihood of unpleasant symptoms.

I had a scratchy throat at Christmas and bit of a sinus headache.
We've had it again in our household over the past fortnight. DS2 had a regular cold this time (Christmas was a long sleep-in and brief temperarure, very faint LFT line) I tested negative early on but from timeline and symptoms may have had it again- no point in testing once DS2 effectively isolated me. DS1 has had a heavy cold that's not shown up on a LFT. He's never shown a positive LFT (could have had it very early on, certainly had a Covid-esque illness) He had general off-colour symptoms around the time I'd have got my Christmas infection. DH has had a few days of very unpleasant throat/ cough but is on the mend after a week; this is his first infection.

From my observation knowing a few families that have had it around Christmas and now, Christmas seemed to be milder, this round more like the Delta symptoms from 2021.

I've had pneumonia twice was concerned I'd be the same, very lethargic, struggling breathe and needing medical support. A relief that didn't happen, but I wasn't up to doing much and certainly couldn't have worked.

I thought I would never get it. Worked in a school through out.
I am on day 8 now.
It hasn’t been pleasant. What has interested me is how varied the symptoms have been. Yes it’s like flu but I have also had the following:
Feeling like I was about to faint for days on end even lying down.
Numbness in my body so I couldn’t walk unsupported.( like pins and needles all over)
Stomach issues- haven’t been able to eat a whole meal for a week now.
Pressure in ears
Blocked sinuses
Burning chest
Extreme fatigue- even now I cannot move around for long before I have to sit down for hours.
I think I am recovering but the lines on my test are as dark as they ever were, if not darker.