It's just a wicked cold! (Dammit!)
On the Jan 1, I got a scratchy throat.
The next day it was worse and I had body aches.
On the third day the body aches were gone but but now I had headaches—and a tickle in my chest.
I decided that these were the same symptoms that I’ve heard described for Covid. I’ve also heard that you need to get Remidesivir prescribed early in the onset of Covid, so I went looking for tests.
I was able to schedule a PCR test from the local health agency, but not for four days out.
I got in my car and hit every pharmacy near me and got the last two tests that a nearby CVS had. I took it. Negative.
In the next few days the symptoms got worse. Very sore throat. Heavily congested nasal passages with lots of snot (where does all that stuff come from). A developing cough.
By the time my appointment for a PCR test came up I was as bad off as I’d been in a long time and convinced it was Covid. I had to tell the test folks that I was experiencing Covid symptoms and got sent to the special handling line. (The testing folks were great).
It took three more days for the results to show up on the provider’s dashboard. In the meantime I’d only gotten worse. In fact, it wasn’t just the worst bout of cold-like symptoms that I’d had since the start of Covid times, it was the worst cold I could remember in many years.
The test came back negative. And I was kind of pissed.
People say that Omicron covid has symptoms similar to a severe cold. Well, that sure is shit what I had. If I had to go through that I figured I may as well get some immunity out it. But noooo. I only have a common—if severe—cold.
I’m now 18 days into this cold. My primary care doctor says to just ride it out. Sometimes cold last three weeks and he’s seeing folks with colds who’s coughs have lasted for 6 weeks!
Apparently I may still have to go through Omicron covid despite the shots, the booster, careful masking (Korean KF95 masks which are way better than the KN95’s I’d been using), avoiding crowds, close gatherings, all the soul draining shit you have to go through to be careful.
So I have this to say: If Omicron Covid is like a severe common cold, do your best to avoid it. I’d forgotten just how bad a cold can be. And if Omicron Covid is worse, none of us want to go through that.
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