Extreme Long Cold This Year, Not COVID nor a Flu

I've had a similar cold before.

Took 2-½ months for it finally to leave me after two false starts.

They're like souped-up, mega colds.

rsv.

Not a cold but a long nagging cough (dry) lasted for weeks. Tested negative for COVID.

R1 that's exactly what it sounds like. Wonder if this year's "common cold" came in some grizzly variants..

R2 I thought about that, but I never lost my appetite and haven't had any difficulty breathing (discounting the week were my nose was all clogged up). It COULD be a mild form of bronchitis, something I first contracted 4 years ago.

R3 How long did it last before you were finally in the clear?

I’ve had three colds/bronchitis episodes that lasted a long time, once from the night before Thanksgiving to the first week in January. But that was well before Covid.

I was sick in similar fashion right before Covid started. The constant coughing and fever. Maybe it was a slight case of Covid. There wasn’t a test yet, and I was able to go out the second week that March.

I've had a mild cold since the last week in August, with a runny nose and nasal congestion. I've also tested negative for Covid several times during this. I put off seeing my doctor because like I said, it's really mild, but I'm getting concerned it's dragged on so long so I have a Zoom call with my PCP on Wednesday.

I'm in the middle of one right now. I'm on day 16 of it, it was like a normal mild cold at first and then got worse on the fifth day, lots of congestion and coughing, so I thought it was COVID. The thing is, I did two home tests and both were negative. The only major symptom I'm having right now is fatigue, but it's bad. I'll sleep 10 hours and still be tired after being up only an hour or two. Also quite a bit of brain fog, I'm misreading things and having trouble with my words.

Yes and after testing 4x it ended up being covid. It’s been lingering for over a month

Same here, in Italy. It's been about 3 weeks now; coughing, stuffy nose. It turned into bronchitis which I had to treat with amoxycillin, but that cleared up (painful coughing, green gunk coming up). Not Covid.

My husband had/has it. Started in mid-October. Was a really nasty cold for about 9 days. He stayed home from work for 3 of those days.

Now he has this cough that won’t settle down. It gets worse at night. It was so bad one night that it made him puke. Poor guy.

His doctor said that isolating during Covid made his body especially susceptible because it meant he hadn’t had a cold in about 2 years. Immune systems are weak.

R4 Probably 3 weeks or so. It was quite nasty at one point, I tired myself out and hurt my chest from coughing so much.

It's somewhat of a relief to read your accounts, guys.

As I moved to a new town in March, I haven't concerned myself with finding a general practitioner, but I'll be on the phone this afternoon to make an appointment with one. Just want to understand what's going on.

Like many of you, I'm not exactly suffering or anything, just a bit of a cough that comes and goes and seems to "tickle" the part between my throat and chest constantly.

Yes I had a lingering “feeling like I’m going to get the flu” for like 2 months. I had a severe sore throat on one side the first week of October and this feeling of congestion but never actual severe symptoms. I could feel issues in my sinuses but that’s it.

Maybe it's the beginning of a new illness (say COVID-22) that we'll soon hear about.

Wasn't there a thread that started back in late fall of1999 consisting of posters talking about a wicked flu they were suffering from?

For 2 weeks I felt like, "this is it, I'm sick", but it never really happened. Very weird and I'm NEVER sick, so double weird 🤔 I think the weather knocked me out. We went from mid 70s to teens and 20s overnight and it just threw me for a loop 🥴

I just started antibiotics. Similar coughing up of green gunk, and kind of a mild cough. Turns out I have a cyst that got infected. It spread throughout the body, and there was actual pus coming out of my gums. The cyst is on my leg. Never leave anything too long.

Well, it was 2019, but what's a couple decades give or take?

R13 that sounds very familiar: My throat is always the first to go, and it always starts on one side, then a few days later the other side..

I can't describe how it feels: As if there is a dry patch inside your throat, and no matter how much you drink, it keeps feeling coarse.

R17 - hey I was posting in bed after having awaken a short while earlier.

It's hard to be a wise-ass while still groggy.

Try hot toddies nightly for a week or so , : Zest and juice lemon add bout 3/4 cup water and honey to taste heat add whiskey. It cures what ails ya.

Yes, I just had something like it last week. My dad has had it too. It's like a heavy cold that doesn't quite go away.

I had fever, extreme congestion, dizziness and fatigue. The cough keeps going, and it's to the point I can't do heavy cardio without having a coughing fit afterward.

I'm getting better, but I blow my nose constantly and can't control my cough sometimes.

R20, that sounds like it should have an octane rating.

take mega doses of vit C.

I just had this, it's a cold. no fever, a cough that's productive but I've never had a cold this long. it's like 10 days already.

Had it in June VERY bad. Two weeks completely out of it. Walking from room to room felt like my lungs were going to explode, and I have it again for over a week now, just a lot milder.

I had a runny nose like a faucet for a couple of days with aches and pains as well as a low grade fever last week. When I started feeling better I woke up one morning with diarrea and vomiting. I have no idea what it was since I had a flu shot and another Covid shot in October. Some sort of virus, I guess.

Op = TYPHOID MARY

i hope muriel ban u b4 u spread any nasty disease from thise gay cruises u do

Yes, OP! I've had a cold that began two days before Thanksgiving (22nd) and I still have sinus congestion. Also still have a slight productive cough, mostly at night because my sinuses close up and I sleep with my mouth open. Strange thing is that I haven't had a cold in about 7 or 8 years. I used to be good for two or three a year.

I'm finally better, thanks for asking.

Six weeks later.

R9

I wonder if people’s immune systems have weakened after wearing masks for so long. This is the first winter where people pretty much abandoned all pretense of social distancing or masking.

I had a fever as high as 101.8 C two days before Thanksgiving, but no body aches, sore throat or runny nose. The fever broke after 36 hours and I was left with a dry cough that has lessened over time but it is still with me, usually stirred by talking. I feel fine, though. I tested negative for Covid four times.

The people I was with the weekend before I got sick all got terrible flu-like illnesses that they’re still not fully recovered from.

Yes. It’s probably a sinus infection, they can last for sometimes months.

[quote]I wonder if people’s immune systems have weakened after wearing masks for so long. This is the first winter where people pretty much abandoned all pretense of social distancing or masking.

I don’t know where you live, but that ship sailed before last Christmas here in the Midwest.

I heard a neurologist this past week opine that it’s covid, not mask wearing, that has weakened many people’s immune systems. She says the majority of us have had Covid, but most cases have been asymptomatic — but even those can wreak havoc on our immune systems.

[quote]I wonder if people’s immune systems have weakened after wearing masks for so long.

Former surgeon general Jerome Adams:

An alternative to the “no germs” theory of ⬆️ respiratory infections: Over 80% of the population has now been exposed to Covid and it’s been shown you can be immunosuppressed months after infection.

So our increased infection rate, may be due to our increased infection rate. 🤯

What’s the data in support of this theory? Cohorts of children born both before AND after peak pandemic shutdowns have been observed to have higher RSV admissions than those born during shutdowns. I.e. the risk correlate wasn’t lack of exposure to RSV, but exposure to Covid.

Returning to this thread to tell you it'll be EIGHT WEEKS tomorrow since it all started. Overall I'm feeling absolutely fine: I have a healthy appetite, do my workouts at the gym, and have no cold- or flu-like symptoms; all good.

The only thing bothering me is a lingering, very superficial cough (that sounds and feels like some water went down the wrong pipe), and I can tell that my vocal cords are still affected.

The antibiotics didn't seem to make a difference, which leads me to believe the cause is definitely viral, and not bacterial. Again, it's not like I am suffering terribly, and I think R32 is right in that it's probably a sinus infection.

Ridiculous. People sick for weeks but keep testing neg for Covid. Relentlessly testing neg for Covid. Feeling ok I wont be dying of Covid. But darn I’ve felt sick for 3 months. ButitsnotCovid😊👍🏻😃

I had it for five weeks. Over the first few days I went through 2 boxes of tissues and had a phlegmy cough but then it turned into a just mild cold. It was never bad enough to take time off work (maybe I should have?) but didn't improve either. It was like 4 weeks of a constant B- or C+ cold. Last weekend it finally started to peter out but I'm still blowing my nose in the mornings. I gave it to my partner and he's now approaching week 3. Again, it's nothing major, just this mild, mucousy cold that doesn't get worse or better for weeks on end.

New strains of covid can't be tested with old test kits anymore. That's why many people don't realize that they have covid.

I suspected as much, R38

Sinus infections can really linger for a long time.

Here’s information from the US NIH that as of September 27, 2022, rapid tests for COVID-19 can detect current variants of concern and interest.

[quote]The only thing bothering me is a lingering, very superficial cough

I've had that since the day before Thanksgiving. I had a low-grade fever for 24 hours, the next day I started this cough. No other symptoms. The cough is not bad, just unusual for me -- I don't cough when I workout or I'm just sitting around, but talking and mild activity triggers it. It'll seem like it's gone one day, then it's back the next.

R42 that could have been written by me. I am going through the exact same symptoms.

I've been diagnosed with long covid although testing for covid proves negative. Extreme fatigue, lack of appetite, nagging cough, runny nose, blahs bordering on depression but not depression,

This thread makes me feel better because I feel like I’ve been sick on / off since October.

The new thing has been mucus / post-nasal drip. I get the stuffy nose at night and then I’m constantly clearing my throat and my voice when I first speak.

It scares me because I don’t “feel sick” so it must be something horrible. But it’s good to know there is something out there right now doing this to others lol.

Most people with Long Covid never had Covid to begin with, if that makes you feel any better, R44.

I have been sick since Sept. I had the worst fatigue I have ever had. I would take two steps and would almost collapse. the fatigue went away after a month and since have been having extreme breathing problems. I have COPD and about 3 years ago my lungs were at 30%. I could never manage a mask although I tried. I got Covid the first time in Feb 2020 before it was declared a pandemic. I didn't get it again for the next year even though I never wore a mask. I got my first set of vaccines exactly a year later and got covid (delta) within a month. I was sicker than the first time. I intended to get another vaccine but got Omicron before I could get it. Omicron was like a head cold and I didn't get very sick. I got another vaccine in June and in Sept I got covid again but this time it is really making me sick and I can't seem to get over it. On top of everything else, My insurance company billed me for a flu shot in June that I didn't get and so when I tried to get the flu shot it was denied because they said I already got one. Now I'm afraid to go to the doctor or the hospital because of no flu shot. My mom died from the flu in 1991. It seems like wearing a mask or not wearing a mask getting vaccinated or not doesn't seem to make a difference. Everyone seems to be sick now no matter how careful they were. China should have to pay.

I'm very sick right now OP, day three. The extreme fatigue, nausea and high temp scared me, but I'm marginally better today. UGH

RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) is circulating at high levels right now: I've been advised that this might be what I had.

^yeah I think so. I'm still dealing with mine too a month later. The cough is only bothersome at night, otherwise some mucus (finally clear) but generally don't feel ill at all.

Yes ! And it affects mood too

Sick since end of October. Tested multiple times but not covid. Congested all the time. Eating Mucinex like candy. Thought it was a sinus infection but antibiotics did nothing. Nausea and fatigue. Really getting tired of it.

It’s weird I haven’t gotten Covid yet but this year I’ve been catching all these weird ass colds.