Seeking medical advice

[cupcake_goth]

 Those of you who said you’d had the mystery cold or flu that’s been going around, does this sound familiar?

I had a COVID test - drive-thru, self-swab, wait for results - before Christmas, and it was negative. I started feeling a bit better around the 26th, but whatever is going on has ramped up, and I (and a few others) suspect I might have gotten a false negative. It’s now 16 days since I first started feeling unwell  

My symptoms: extreme exhaustion, dizziness, and shortness of breath after any activity, such as getting off the couch and going to the bathroom. According to the oxometer, my oxygen level is generally around 96, and my pulse will jump by as much as 30 beats after any exertion. I can feel slight resistance when I inhale. I haven’t had any fever or chills, and the body aches/headaches are at my “normal” everyday level.

So, have any of you with the mystery bug had these symptoms, or do you think this points more to COVID?

Comments

[staxxy]

I also had a brief reprieve of a day or two followed by a relapse. Have you had the booster? I get mine wednesday. But regardless - yes, this sounds exactly like the flu I had. that last week+ of basically all the exhaustion in every way is the VERY WORST... you feel like you are finally on the mend... until you actually try to DO things. I kept checking on my temp a couple of times a day and I got all excited when it finally dropped below 99, but then it bounced back up in the mid 99s again off and on for a few days (the early 100s didnt last long, at least - maybe a half day) - still, it left my body seriously parched all this last week to the point of waking up with Charlie Horses every single day until TODAY so stay hydrated and eat some potassium rich foods too if you can. **hugs**

I found orange juice (I like Simply Orange, no pulp, but you might want the calcium and D fortified, it also has a no pulp option) to be very helpful, and upping my protein intake along with zinc filled foods like raspberries and pumpkin seeds (there's a lovely mix by Good Sense that is roasted salted sunflower and pumpkin seeds unshelled so you can just nosh on a handful - high in E and Zinc, plus protein!). Stay hydrated. Hot tea with honey will sooth a sore throat if you wake up with one at any point.

[cupcake_goth]

The thing is I haven't had ANY fever, sore throat, or congestion. None. My temperature has stayed at my baseline normal of 97.5 the entire time, which is why I can't figure out what's going on.

[staxxy]

0.o this may be a job for urgent care then. Ugh. That is dreadfully confusing. On the bright side, Covid would definitely bring fever from what I understand.

Could it be a massive flare up of the Lymes?

[leenerella]

It's really hard to get a PCR test right now, but if you can write to your doctor and have them order one so you have access, that might be a way to go. It will be much, much more sensitive, and, if I understand the literature correctly, it can detect whether or not the virus has been in your system at any point in the last 90 days.

I think that documentation is going to become important to the people who may need some kind of aid at some point, whether it's financial help with medical costs, or government compelling insurance not to withhold coverage for related things, or even getting access to new treatments as they become available... that kind of thing.

[luminosity]

I don't even pretend to know what it is (it sounds like flu-flu, but what do I know). I just hope you feel better. It's so exasperating to be laid up, even beyond the discomfort and achiness and fever.

Please hydrate! <3

[sistawendy]

My cold was much milder and more, well, cold-like. If it weren't for the Current Situation I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

[gwydion]

Okay, that sounds really alarming and much worse than the non-covid bug circulating in the PNW. I think you should see your doctor.

[leenerella]

I've been thinking about this... my neighbor apparently caught Covid in early 2020, but no one caught it because it was before we even hit lockdown. But she had long Covid and was even tested for TB because there were no explanations at that point. (She has improved since getting vaccinated and doing hydrotherapies...)
Her doctor finally told her to get into the long covid communities and see how her experience matched up.

Right now, Raven the Science Maven is going through similar, and this link was offered for information:
https://www.meaction.net/long-covid-me-understanding-the-connection/

Which is not to scare you, but to encourage you to find a safe place to listen and learn and ask questions about your experience, so you can give your doctors the best information to help them help you. And the ME/CFS described here can definitely be caused by viral infections other than SARS-COV-2.

[quillfaerie]

Hi there - I've been subbed to you for some time as I love reading about your gothy adventures as a fairly new convert to Corp Goth culture myself (like last three years). I've never commented, but, I hope you don't mind my popping in on this one as a coworker of mine recently had the experience of testing negative for covid more than once while testing at home. He was negative on Christmas, tested again at home I believe more than once, and then tested positive for it on January 2 and it has passed to the folks he lives with. Which is only to say, depending on what kind of test you were given at the drive thru, I suppose there is a possibility you got a false negative.

I wouldn't think anything of any of your symptoms - not even the no fever part, as I know a couple people who've been testing positive with only 'head cold' symptoms - except the shortness of breath if it's not something you normally have (I say this as an asthmatic for whom 'shortness of breath' is a common thing when I'm triggered). My mom recently got a horrible headcold but had no shortness of breath or fever and tested negative for covid. So, if you're able to, I'd say perhaps get retested.

It's such a mess, this whole thing. I sincerely hope you start feeling better soon.

[jengalicious]

That is how I felt after I was hospitalized with pneumonia

[cupcake_goth]

I’ve won a chest X-ray and a full round of blood tests, yay?