Covid but testing negative?

[ScarlettSunset]

Hi all, I feel terrible after starting to feel unwell a couple of days ago. Others in my house have Covid and have tested positive. They have been a bit generally under the weather but still okay-ish. But I'm really struggling yet I'm testing negative still.
I guess it's POSSIBLE I could have something different but it seems unlikely. I'm also feeling guilty that they have definitely got Covid but seem to be managing better than I do.
Does it just sometimes take a while to show up positive? Its the first time anyone here has had Covid so not really sure what to expect.

It took me four days to test positive.

On the other hand, DD shares a flat with two others who both tested positive. She became ill after them and despite lots of time together and friendly hugs she remained negative on four daily tests.

I got together with relatives over Christmas. Almost every single one of us (7 out of 8 of us) have become ill with similar covid-esque symptoms a few days later. But out of all of them I'm the only one who's had a positive lft. I'm not even sure how many of the others have bothered to test.

I've known similar happen in several households over the last few months and I'm convinced the tests (lft especially) highly unreliable with more recent variants. Most people now might do one test and if that's negative not bother doing any more, even though it's pretty likely they have covid (positive house members etc).

In that situation I would proceed on the assumption I had Covid. I do know people who have never had a positive LFT but have had positive PCRs when you could still get them.

I've heard the same.

I got Covid on 22nd December after feeling unwell for a few days. But on this particular day it felt different to anything I'd ever had before and I just knew. When I got home I took a test and wasn't at all surprised when it showed as being positive. I stayed at home for 5 days until I tested negative.

I think I probably had it the weekend prior and only the fact I'd not taken a test meant I'd just got on with things but when I became progressively worse I knew it was Covid. You might find you feel worse in the next few days and then test positive.

Thanks everyone. I have now tested positive on day 4 of symptoms.

Hope you're not too bad with it and feel better soon.

I've heard a lot of anecdata about people first testing positive days after the start of symptoms.

Also XBB.1.5 (nicknamed Kraken - moving away from Greek letters to mythical beasts) evades immunity, so may evade testing. It originated in US and has arrived here

You're much more likely to get a true positive if you swab your throat as well as your nose, and as high up the nose as you can.