The 'I have some sort of lurgy but don't know if it is corona or just a cold' thread

[Elpenor]

Headache, earache, very swollen lymph nodes; pain swallowing, dry blocked nose, inside of mouth and throat caked with thin layer of mucus, heavy breathing; inability to sleep at night, lethargy

This is probably day 4. Paracetamol and fluids, Vicks Vapor rub, lemsip etc all being taken but not helping particularly

Not taken a test, doesn’t seem worth it tbh as I can just stay at home.

 

[likesfish]

been off work for nearly fortnight with a lurgy Dr by phone was its a virus of some sort can't really go to work when you feel knackered after walking the dog my jobs outdoors for 9 hours bike and foot

 

[kalidarkone]

Just tested and it lit up like a Christmas tree.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Is this just what we're all going to have to put up with every few months forever now?

Seems like it. I even stopped smoking because I was sick of having permacoughs and immediately got some tonsilitis thing.

 

[yield]

Why is everyone getting sick at the moment? I had that hundred day cough, before Christmas, thought I had covid but multiple tests were negative. May have been the whoop that's going round?

Then I was laid up in bed with the flu or something twice in Jan/Feb.

 

[Callie]

I've been ill for over a week. Nearly better now just a bit congested and sometimes my chest feels a bit rattly. I think this is the first cold I have had since COVID appeared on the scene that didn't involve a sore very dry throat and associated cough. Didn't do any COVID tests but skipped working in the office while I've been symptomatic, hopefully stopped a few others getting it.

 

[kalidarkone]

Why is everyone getting sick at the moment? I had that hundred day cough, before Christmas, thought I had covid but multiple tests were negative. May have been the whoop that's going round?

Then I was laid up in bed with the flu or something twice in Jan/Feb.

I have no evidence for this , but just wondering if going back to more or less pre covid behaviour for more then a year? As well as winter?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I'm actually thinking of going back to proper lockdown behaviour because I'm tired of this shit. I've already returned to masking up on public transport.

Lockdown did admittedly drive me nuts but I'm still nuts now and you know what, I wasn't both sick and nuts then.

 

[Elpenor]

Headache, earache, very swollen lymph nodes; pain swallowing, dry blocked nose, inside of mouth and throat caked with thin layer of mucus, heavy breathing; inability to sleep at night, lethargy

This is probably day 4. Paracetamol and fluids, Vicks Vapor rub, lemsip etc all being taken but not helping particularly

Not taken a test, doesn’t seem worth it tbh as I can just stay at home.

Very bad sleep last night with odd and feverish dreams; usually I sleep 6-7 hours a night; getting off to sleep within a few minutes and never waking up. Instead I woke up every hour or so. Coughing up gunk a lot too. Took several hours to feel slightly more with it this morning - a shower helped - up to the afternoon but have started feeling bad again this evening.

Suspect may need to call in sick tomorrow, while I can manage a bit of low level work for a few hours, I won’t be able to talk to people on the phone.

 

[Epona]

Why is everyone getting sick at the moment? I had that hundred day cough, before Christmas, thought I had covid but multiple tests were negative. May have been the whoop that's going round?

Then I was laid up in bed with the flu or something twice in Jan/Feb.

I thought "hundred day cough" was a slang term for whooping cough, which I very much doubt you had, and if you had it you'd be given antibiotics as it is a bacterial infection (and you should call the GP If you think you or any family members have it, because it is treatable, unlike many viruses. Also depending on age and your parents not being anti-vaxxers, you're likely to have been vaccinated ).
Sounds more like you've had some sort of ongoing viral thing that has caused a cough, but not whooping cough.

I hope you feel better soon anyway.

 

[PR1Berske]

Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat.
I'm currently wide awake with coughs, sneezes, snot, and assorted symptoms.

Reading the past two piece pages of this thread gives me reason to think it's just one of those things, though my partner has had the "hundred day cough" for what feels like 99 days and counting so I wouldn't be surprised if things are more Covid than they are seasonal sniffs.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

on my second round of persistent sticky phlegm cough after a mild 1 day virus this winter, just as the previous cough had stopped sticking :/

 

[elbows]

Also depending on age and your parents not being anti-vaxxers, you're likely to have been vaccinated ).

The whooping cough vaccine scare in the 1970s went way beyond what we've seen with modern anti-vax stuff.

In countries including the UK it caused vaccination rates for whooping cough to fall by a really massive amount, perhaps as significant as uptake of that vaccine falling down from a high of getting on for 80% all the way down to under 40% uptake over a short number of years! This then led to several really major epidemics, because the population immunity picture had been badly compromised in age groups likely to spread it, before vaccine uptake rates later recovered at some point in the 1980s.

The scare included some doctors thinking there was a link between that vaccine and brain damage. There was no internet to spread the FUD, but there was also no internet to help people to get all the available facts and sense of perspective.

It was this scare that led to governments such as the UKs actually introducing a vaccine compensation scheme, as part of responding to public demands and trying to restore confidence.

The recovery of public confidence in that vaccine was probably a combination of studies that eventually reported, which showed no confirmed link between the vaccine and the brain damage (which would have also influenced doctors fears), epidemics leading to heightened public awareness of the dangers of the disease the vaccine had prevented, and the vaccine injury compensation scheme that was setup.

Public concern was understandable given the info that was floating around, and the establishment were slow to find a way of coping with such concerns. And the attitude of a families own GP had an impact at the time. I wasnt vaccinated because our GP advised caution in response to parental concerns, and I remember both myself and my younger brother catching the whooping cough as a result, probably in one of those epidemic years. It wasnt very pleasant. And my parent were not in any way anti-vaccine more broadly, I had every other standard jab at the right age.

That scare became a textbook lesson in how to do better at anticipating and mitigating losses of confidence in vaccination programmes. Various papers exist online about this stuff, eg: Pertussis - Vaccinating Britain - NCBI Bookshelf

 

[Epona]

The whooping cough vaccine scare in the 1970s went way beyond what we've seen with modern anti-vax stuff.

In countries including the UK it caused vaccination rates for whooping cough to fall by a really massive amount, perhaps as significant as uptake of that vaccine falling down from a high of getting on for 80% all the way down to under 40% uptake over a short number of years! This then led to several really major epidemics, because the population immunity picture had been badly compromised in age groups likely to spread it, before vaccine uptake rates later recovered at some point in the 1980s.

The scare included some doctors thinking there was a link between that vaccine and brain damage. There was no internet to spread the FUD, but there was also no internet to help people to get all the available facts and sense of perspective.

It was this scare that led to governments such as the UKs actually introducing a vaccine compensation scheme, as part of responding to public demands and trying to restore confidence.

The recovery of public confidence in that vaccine was probably a combination of studies that eventually reported, which showed no confirmed link between the vaccine and the brain damage (which would have also influenced doctors fears), epidemics leading to heightened public awareness of the dangers of the disease the vaccine had prevented, and the vaccine injury compensation scheme that was setup.

Public concern was understandable given the info that was floating around, and the establishment were slow to find a way of coping with such concerns. And the attitude of a families own GP had an impact at the time. I wasnt vaccinated because our GP advised caution in response to parental concerns, and I remember both myself and my younger brother catching the whooping cough as a result, probably in one of those epidemic years. It wasnt very pleasant. And my parent were not in any way anti-vaccine more broadly, I had every other standard jab at the right age.

That scare became a textbook lesson in how to do better at anticipating and mitigating losses of confidence in vaccination programmes. Various papers exist online about this stuff, eg: Pertussis - Vaccinating Britain - NCBI Bookshelf

Ah see I hadn't picked up on that, cos my mum actually ended up in hospital in an oxygen tent with pneumonia complications following a whooping cough infection, when she was about 2 years old - her earliest memories are of being in that oxygen tent and her mum sitting outside not allowed to have any physical contact with her, which I think was quite damaging (psychologically speaking at that age), she was in hospital for quite some time.
So she was very pro-vaccination when it came to us. There was one my brother couldn't have because of an allergy to something, but otherwise we got all the vaccines.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I seem to have had all my whooping cough vaccines along with diptheria, tetanus and polio when i was tiny, and again when i was 5 (all early 70s) - and got vaccinated for something when i was 11, but i can't read the doctor's writing to work out what the heck it was for...

 

[Elpenor]

Well I still feel like shit and it’s worse in the evening / overnight. Tend to feel better in the morning after a shower which is helping to clear out my airwaves.

Would be nice if I can have 6 hours unbroken sleep rather than waking every hour from a fevered dream which is getting very old now.

 

[kenny g]

I finally got through a three week viral infection. Started with chills, fever, muscle pains, moved to very dry cold and nausea, and then waves of lethargy. Didn't go swimming for three weeks or walk much at all. Finally this weekend did a five mile work and although obviously less fit after doing almost fuck all for three weeks was back to OK. Now appear fine and back to swimming. I had heard of similar symptoms recently so wasn't too phased but still intense. Nothing showed up on lateral flow test at peak symptoms.

 

[PR1Berske]

Elpenor , I have suffered with night terrors and sleep demons all my life and whatever I've got this week (I'm at the smokers cough stage) might have been the cause of whatever developed into feeling like ropes were being tied around me and then my actual "yelping" out loud at about 3am.

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I tend to "plot a graph" whenever I'm ill to monitor how things are going. I've gone from itchy throat, to snot creator, to chesty cough grump.

 

[Elpenor]

Elpenor , I have suffered with night terrors and sleep demons all my life and whatever I've got this week (I'm at the smokers cough stage) might have been the cause of whatever developed into feeling like ropes were being tied around me and then my actual "yelping" out loud at about 3am.

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I tend to "plot a graph" whenever I'm ill to monitor how things are going. I've gone from itchy throat, to snot creator, to chesty cough grump.

I am fortunate that usually I have no issues sleeping. When I do I tend to be unwell; or under a lot of stress. Am off work again today. Feel a huge amount better and slept quite well. Think will aim to stay off tomorrow too and be back for Thursday or Friday.

 

[weepiper]

Been ill for a good ten-eleven days now. I did two tests last week which were both negative but I could swear I've had Covid again. Started with streaming nose and eyes, headache, generally feeling crappy, diarrhoea etc. Progressed into a hideous chesty cough and achey body. I twice blew my nose and got a nosebleed and the only time that's happened before is when I definitely did have Covid. I've still got a really tickly chest and am getting out of breath on mild exertion, feeling tired etc. Bag of shite. Is this just what we're all going to have to put up with every few months forever now?

Really tired, sneezing and a tickly throat today I'm only just barely over the last one!

 

[Elpenor]

Spent two hours coughing rather than sleeping so far tonight

Again it’s the tickly throat and I can’t do anything to sooth it or let it settle down for even five minutes so I can get off to sleep. It doesn’t come on until the evening either. What else can I do but swig water and over the counter cough medicine? I’m paracetamoled up the gills as it is.

Cant see me managing work

 

[weepiper]

Elpenor you can try: propping up your bed head end with a few heavy books under the legs, or propping yourself up in it with lots of pillows, so you're not lying completely flat. Olbas oil on a tissue or in a bowl of water on a radiator, or Vicks vaporub on your chest if you can tolerate that (gives me an allergic reaction). The classic inhaling the steam from a bowl of hot water with a towel over your head. Eat lots of garlic.

 

[Elpenor]

Elpenor you can try: propping up your bed head end with a few heavy books under the legs, or propping yourself up in it with lots of pillows, so you're not lying completely flat. Olbas oil on a tissue or in a bowl of water on a radiator, or Vicks vaporub on your chest if you can tolerate that (gives me an allergic reaction). The classic inhaling the steam from a bowl of hot water with a towel over your head. Eat lots of garlic.

Thanks. I will try propping myself up a bit more (I always move around in bed so maybe raising the base is better) and the olbas oil. Guess I’m off out to Boots after work.

Vicks doesn’t seem to help much though I keep applying it as my dad swears by it, but I’ve found having a shower does in the morning so may try that in the evening too.

Starting to think I have the 100 day cough thing that I have been reading about. Just annoying at the prospect of spending another year poorly

 

[planetgeli]

Yep, sign me up for the 100 day cough.

Bastard thing. Some proper sleep would be nice.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Had about a month of coughing / fucked throat in January.

Last week had a horrible head cold that stopped me sleeping and sapped all my energy. Haven't really got that energy back yet, probably because work is relentlessly exhausting anyway. Lots of staff have been off lately and lots of those still standing are visibly dragging themselves through the day, coughing and sniffling as they go.

 

[weepiper]

Youngest son asked to come home from school about 1 o'clock because he said he had a banging headache. I was slightly sceptical because he often 'feels ill' on a Thursday lunchtime because he has PE on Thursday afternoon but gave him the benefit of the doubt seeing as I'm feeling a bit ill myself. I had to go out just before 2 and he wasn't back yet, I got back about 3.45 and he was asleep in bed and I just woke him up now. Guess it wasn't a PE headache this time then.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

work is relentlessly exhausting anyway

yeah this tracks

I was reflecting earlier this week that it felt like a whole bunch of people at work had been off sick recently, which is something I wouldn't necessarily have known in an office environment - I go on their Slack status messages, but previously I might have only known about those folk I dealt with regularly being off sick, unless I was in HR, which I'm not.

Also I am absolutely sure that fewer people officially go off sick with remote working because it's far too easy to think "uh I feel like shit but I guess I can get to the keyboard". So the actual number of sick people is going to be significantly more.

 

[gentlegreen]

It being 4 1/2 years since I was last sick, I've had a somewhat anxious 5 days hoping my immune system was fully in-gear to deal with the flu - especially since in 2019 I suspect I was hit by a second strain after being weakened by a first and ended up off work for 6 weeks and diagnosed as "diabetic" (probably a red herring, but it likely didn't help with my resilience ).

Prior to that, the usual course of events in the unvaccinated 20 to 50-something me was to feel a bit iffy towards the end of the week, perhaps a sneeze or two - then waking up unable to cycle to work - 4 days of being knackered then back in early the next week....

This time round, fairly sustained sneezing came on very quickly and made it difficult to sleep (it probably didn't help that I'd gone out for my bike ride to "test" how sick I was) and after successive days of noticeable incremental progress has reduced to little more than a snotty nose and a bit of a tickle and the phlegmy cough hasn't come to much ...

So 5 days since I first realised I had become a virus factory, I anticipate being up and about tomorrow - whether to the extent of managing a bike ride is yet to be discovered...

Even given I have apparently been too slack with handwashing after shopping, I have to assume the October flu vaccine was a reasonable substitute for handling teaching equipment at the university in terms of vaccination and getting a mild dose ... (I have masked since day 1 and continue to do so) - I clearly need to be more careful.

 

[story]

The 100 day cough thing. I started in September and finally ended exactly 100 days later. It would back off for a few days, then boom two more weeks of coughing spluttering snotty weakness. I don’t know what the virus is but it’s rife. One of the worst aspects is the fear of never being well ever again, the misery of realising it’s worse again after a couple of days of assumed recovery. Resting seems to be really important here, I guess because being ill and fighting it off uses a lot of energy. The mistake is to start doing more in those slacked off slightly better days.

If possible (it’s not, not really, but imagine if it was) continue to rest during the time it seems to be gone. Ive found and observed that if you can keep on resting in those gaps, the subsequent bout isn’t quite as bad. People who try to get back into the swing of things during those brief recovery spells go down hard again when it comes back.

The reason I knew for sure it had finally fucked off was because I had some post viral fatigue. It was a different kind of tiredness than while I was ill. Initially I was worried I’d be hit with a long bout of PVF to match the 100 days of illness, but I made sure to really take it easy and eat well and rest properly and the PVF was fairly minor and only lasted about three days.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

Caught another bug 2 weeks ago,
day one I thought "I am moving a lot of old stuff this is dust" day 2 "I am tired as I had a long drive yesterday" day 3: oh no it's that greenies taste coming up in my throat,
no idea what but only now feeling better after days of hacking cough, had to take a fair few days off work, not ideal as self employed without an insurance in place for these situations.