Can you get ill from Covid exposure with developing full Covid?

[Lioninthemeadow]

Probably a daft question, but we've had Covid in the house a few times with different people getting sick each time. Each time, others in the house have not gone on to develop it but have felt quite "off" or rundown.

Examples are being so tired we've fallen asleep in the day, or having issues with lymph glands or having chest pain flare up again that only occurred with Covid. All these happened when we had Covid in the house, but with the non-Covid household members testing consistently negative and not going on to develop proper Covid symptoms (so I don't think its a case of false negatives).

I'm guessing perhaps that we have all been re-exposed to Covid each time someone has it, but the non-positive people are fighting it off, which has caused these issues. I'm not explaining very well, but does that makes any sense?

I think "sympathy Covid" is definitely a thing, though I put it down to stress.

Definitely not sympathy Covid or stress (especially my kids!) Real physical symptoms after exposure but without going on to develop Covid.

It's probably their immune systems fending it off but not being "ill" with it.

Thinking this today, I had a positive last week after being run down with another bug a couple of weeks before. DH and DS felt off, bit of sore throat and lack of appetite. Tested them multiple times, but neither got a positive result. I think having all had it in Feb, they're bodies fought it off, but I've been anaemic and generally a bit stressed and succumbed!

Agree, I think this must happen. It also happens all the time with other illnesses that we've been exposed to but don't get properly infected.

I've wondered over a few years (even pre covid) if you can have fighting off symptoms!

I work in education and there's times where I feel dog tired like I'm ill and need to go to bed.

But never any fever (however temp goes up to 37.5) and never any actual symptoms like cold/sore throat but my glands feel up.

I'd also love to know the answer to this!

Should say my comment about working in education is I'm constantly exploded to germs - schools are like giant Petri dishes

Pretty sure this happened to me. DCs had it, DD spent hours on my lap with a fever. Next day I had horrendous headache and felt like shit, fever, glands up. Went for PCR and was negative, as we're the many LFTs I have to do for work.

I am a nurse and haven't 'had' covid at all, but pretty sure I've just fought it off before it took hold.

Makes sense, I mean the immune system is doing its job and winning the fight against the virus before it replicates enough to take hold. Aren't a lot of symptoms actually the immune response rather than the illness itself? Fever is meant to make you an inhospitable host.

I've wondered this for years as well! Never seen anything "scientific" about it, and anyone I've mentioned it to just gives me a WTF look.

I have just tested positive yesterday ,and my son has the same symptoms and tested negative, he has had covid twice before though so 🤷‍♂️

I think this was a thing even before Covid . Sometimes I would feel like I was catching a cold that never arrived.
I've always wondered if I was just fighting it off .

I've thought this a few times too. I asked a doctor once and he just shrugged and said, sure why not

Perfectly normal to have a sub clinical infection. The feeling under the weather is your immune system doing it’s job.
I think the assumption that viruses somehow swerve some people is incorrect. Everyone who is exposed to a virus will be infected, just some peoples immune systems prevent full infection at an earlier stage preventing full on infection.
Immunity is not like a shield more like an effective army against invasion.

What a helpful analogy 👍🏼

I’m hoping this is me. Exposed to Covid three days ago and feeling a bit under the weather and very tired, glands are tender but no full blown symptoms… yet. Rapid test is negative. But of course it might just be that it hasn’t fully established yet.

I don't think we get a magic force field around us once we've had it. Our immune systems having hopefully learnt what to do with it, still need to deal with it and in the meantime we may feel a bit under the weather and like we're 'fighting something off'.

I had covid symptoms starting two days after my dh - he tested positive on LFD but I never did. We had identical symptoms, just mine were milder and 48 hours later (and I had had barely any indoor contacts the week before so very unlikely i had caught something else). Six weeks later, I had the same symptoms (even milder) and tested positive and he was fine and negative.

I think I had it twice but the first time the viral load was never high enough to make my LFDs positive, and that also meant I could get re-infected relatively soon.