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Original poster

How is COVID presenting now?

342 replies

Icecreamcoffee · 17/08/2023 12:16

I stopped following about covid and I'm wondering, how is it presenting now? What are peoples symptoms.

My mother was in town last week and so was I. I heard soany people with stuff and viral things and coughs. My mother has a sore throat now. She was definitely exposed to something whatever it is. Just wondering if COVID starts off as a sore throat?

OP posts:
tinytemper66 · 23/08/2023 17:35

pickledandpuzzled · 23/08/2023 15:24

How do you know what you have? Do you send for tests? I'm so out of the loop.

We don't go far, and don't have small dc, so haven't been ill for ages.

I have a box left over from work. They were getting rid of them before then end of term so grabbed a couple of boxes. They expire at the end of December.

stoptryingtomakefetchhappen · 23/08/2023 19:06

@Peony654
Well I want to know because I have a relative that is going through cancer treatment. And also I don’t want to pass onto anyone else inadvertently. Flu you are generally completely laid up so stay at home, but with covid you could have relatively mild symptoms and think you may just have a cold so go about your normal business. Lots of people can’t stay home for days on end just for a regular cold. And that, of course, contributes to the spread.

Lessstressedhemum · 23/08/2023 19:18

I want to know because my dad has leukaemia and 3 of my closest friends are immunosuppressed.

WeWereInParis · 23/08/2023 19:35

Flu you are generally completely laid up so stay at home, but with covid you could have relatively mild symptoms

That's not true. You can have mild flu, or even asymptomatic flu. People always say that if you can get out of bed it's not flu, but that's bollocks.

Fearofawelshplanet · 23/08/2023 19:53

Tested positive thid morning. I just knew it, nasty headache, stomach pains and sinisitis. 4th time, I'm lucky it will pass.

TooOldForThisNonsense · 23/08/2023 20:12

started with a slight sore throat and then to very mild cold symptoms last time I had it (March)

Time before that was a worse sore throat and then a runny nose

stoptryingtomakefetchhappen · 23/08/2023 22:54

My point is that you could go out and about with covid thinking it’s a standard cold, as the symptoms vary such a lot, and pass it all over the place. I personally have never had flu without a fever and therefore not ‘mild’ but that’s just me…

WeWereInParis · 23/08/2023 23:22

stoptryingtomakefetchhappen · 23/08/2023 22:54

My point is that you could go out and about with covid thinking it’s a standard cold, as the symptoms vary such a lot, and pass it all over the place. I personally have never had flu without a fever and therefore not ‘mild’ but that’s just me…

If you did have flu without a fever, or with a mild one, you wouldn't have known though. You'd have thought it was a cold.

I'm not saying don't test for covid btw, just that there is a myth around flu so people think that if they feel like shit and it's not covid, but they are capable of getting out of bed, it must not be flu and must be "just" a cold.

damsoncheese · 24/08/2023 01:09

When there was a lot of testing for swine flu, they found that some people did have it with barely any symptoms. They were family members of people who had it severely, or they wouldn't have been tested, and they were found to have it just incredibly mildly.

verdantverdure · 24/08/2023 07:49

damsoncheese · 24/08/2023 01:09

When there was a lot of testing for swine flu, they found that some people did have it with barely any symptoms. They were family members of people who had it severely, or they wouldn't have been tested, and they were found to have it just incredibly mildly.

Yes, one of my children seems to get it less severely than the rest of us.

My brothers anti-vax friend proudly declared it barely a sniffle, but then he got a post-covid heart condition so maybe the severity isn't all in the initial symptoms?

verdantverdure · 24/08/2023 07:52

I literally only learned recently that having chicken pox can lead to having shingles later in life. I swear they used today that the immunity from having chicken pox protected you against shingles because it was the same virus.

Sajari63 · 24/08/2023 07:53

Let's get this into some sort of perspective here shall we.

For all of our collective lifetimes we have had the common cold. You occasionally get summer colds but, more often, seasonal colds start around autumn into winter and ... guess what, in my 60 years on this blue planet, in 99% of cases it starts with a sore throat.

Yes, a cold can make you feel lousy for days and days but we certainly don't want to return to the hysteria we all had.

stayathomer · 24/08/2023 07:56

A few friends have had it now (not at same time/related to each other iykwim!)-all of them started with runny noses(!), all sore throats and two really bad chills and really achy but they said the chills and aches were literally over one or two days then started to feel better but all really lethargic for a long while after

betwelve · 24/08/2023 08:49

Literally what is it with these patronising posters who pop up to preach their "why are you still testing"/"it's just a cold" mantra?

It's. Not. A. Cold.
Stop with your puerile comparisons.

We were having a genuine and measured conversation until you piped up with your accusations of "hysteria", @Sajari63 . There was no hysteria, just discussion of our symptoms and what we've been going through, which incidentally is often nothing like a cold.

Sunriseatsix · 24/08/2023 08:50

K73c · 23/08/2023 11:42

Are you in hosp with covid? If so hope you get better soon. Is it the Eris strain or is there another?? I', day 5 , very flu like / wiped out (no cough - to think that was the erly symptom when all started and think it quite rarer symptom now from what I have read)

Yes, Eris I think. I'm actually admitted with something else but just happened to mention it. The sore eyes seem quite distinctive to Eris so I think that is the dominant form locally.

TooOldForThisNonsense · 24/08/2023 08:54

stoptryingtomakefetchhappen · 23/08/2023 22:54

My point is that you could go out and about with covid thinking it’s a standard cold, as the symptoms vary such a lot, and pass it all over the place. I personally have never had flu without a fever and therefore not ‘mild’ but that’s just me…

Yes this is true when I last had it it was just like a mild cold and I initially tested negative. Could easily have assumed it was a cold and been spreading it

TarquinOliverNimrod · 24/08/2023 08:56

Remember everyone presents differently. DH and I got it mildly, FIL was laid up in bed with shocking sore throat and lethargy. MIL only had breathlessness. All the same strain.

Polkadotfleece · 26/08/2023 07:13

I went back to bed yesterday after testing positive Sunday, off work until Thursday and went downhill again (with more trad cold symptoms yesterday). I had muscle aches, sore throat, horrendous headache - I get migraine and these were on a par, sore sinuses and cough now becoming chesty. It's knocked me for 6

Jokesadooooo · 26/08/2023 09:31

I’m on day 3. This is worse than when I had it at the end of last year. Headache, temp, blocked nose, eyes and nose streaming. Cough and a bit breathless. Lack of energy. I was in bed all day yesterday. Trying to get up now to have a shower.

cakeflower · 26/08/2023 11:43

I don’t know if I have covid but suspect I might. Had several weeks of headaches and sore eyes and then a week ago got ill with sore throat, runny nose, cough, weakness, shivers, aches and nausea. did anyone else have weeks of headaches leading up to getting the other symptoms?

Whiterose23 · 26/08/2023 13:22

Tested positive this morning and so far have breathlessness, a dry cough and headache. I test due to work policy so will have to be off work for at least five days. Thankfully I can continue to WFH if I remain well enough.

Timeless23 · 26/08/2023 19:52

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CheshireCat1 · 26/08/2023 19:56

Severe headache, which I still have 5 weeks later along with really bad lethargy, MSK pain all over, nausea. Didn’t have a sore throat or cough.

Jokesadooooo · 27/08/2023 02:29

I can’t sleep tonight. The pain in my face and sinuses is awful. I’m feeling very sick too. Awful virus.

oldscrappynhungry · 27/08/2023 04:59

4 of us all just had it.
DS severe headache, fever, sniffles, moderate cough and then bounced back within 48h
DD fever, sore throat, loss of appetite, vomited once, lethargic, bounced back in similar time to DS.
DP sore throat aches cough unwell for 3-4 days
Me sore throat/ears, mild cough for a couple of days then severe D&V for 24h, constant nausea for over a week after.

Compared with last time I had it it was much less in my respiratory system, which had been the scariest part. Breathing was barely affected.