Anyone else been sick all winter but it's not COVID?

So have I since mid November. I finally went to the Dr last week. They loaded me up with antibiotics, steroids and prescription cough medicine. I was coughing so much I pulled a muscle. They said the cough and post nasal drip would take awhile to go away. I forgot what it's like to not feel sick. I couldn't sleep fir weeks cause of the cough. Everyone I know has it. I never get sick, never even had Covid. WTF is this thing?

Today's colds seem to be much more potent in recent years. They hang on for weeks longer, and often they come roaring back just as you think you're finally over one.

I've been sick since mid December. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose. I went to the doctor but he wouldn't give me anything, said it's a virus and it has to run through my system.

It’s COVID related, people just aren’t realizing. It has weakened our systems.

R4 Correct. Covid wrecked your lungs and cardiovascular system like a big dick wrecked your virgin holes.

Wear a mask. It helps with allergies, too.

Check your stomach! When I have stomach issues, I feel sick, esp with headaches, nasal stuffiness and even sneezing. It’s the gases in your stomach coming up into your sinuses.

[quote]Covid wrecked your lungs

Absolutely. Even a little cold now goes into my lungs and stays for weeks.

Cold viruses, which weren’t being passed around as normal when people were isolating/masking, naturally evolve to be more virulent when they aren’t being easily transmitted. Add to that many people not having colds lost some of their natural antibodies to these viruses because they were being used by the body. Next year’s cold season won’t be this bad.

I haven't really felt well since I had covid in March 2023. The coughing, the fevers, the chills, all come and go, but I feel tired—exhausted much of the time—nearly always. I had a lot of the symptoms, including the cough, starting in early December. I'm being seen by the local medical center's Long Covid Study department in early April.

You better get a second opinion. Your doctor sounds like the doctor prescribing Seroquel to acne guy. They both sound like a couple quacks.

I have the '100 day cold'. That's what we're calling it up here in Canada. Started as a full on cold, then morphs into a congested cough, it tests negative for covid, probably not RSV, the congestion sloooowly recedes ending up with just endless coughing.

Not all winter, but Christmas Day through the second week of January. Had a variety of symptoms, not all at once but in phases. I only suspect it wasn’t COVID because I didn’t have any of the distinctive symptoms you hear described, and I tested negative twice while symptomatic. Just some random terrible URI that ruined the holidays.

Get better everyone!

This fall and winter, almost everyone I know (except me) has had some bout with a cold or flu, and a couple of possible COVID cases. Far more than during the actual pandemic.

I have this too. The really bad part (typical cold symptoms, but worse; no fever) lasted about three days, but it's been a full month and I still have terminal post-nasal drip and residual sneezing and these giant clots of yucky stuff in my nose.

[quote]Check your stomach! When I have stomach issues, I feel sick, esp with headaches, nasal stuffiness and even sneezing. It’s the gases in your stomach coming up into your sinuses.

Finally a solution - THANK YOU.

You should be wearing a mask then op.

Me too OP. I started taking Celtic salt, magnesium, and X-clear sinus spray. It went away almost immediately, though I can’t say if it was the combo of all three that did the trick. I take zinc already.

Yes!!! Got sick around dec 23. Nasty cold which mostly lasted a week, but I still have lingering chest congestion (though not bad) that will just not go away.

I’ve never had covid so far, and am absolutely terrified of getting it (even though I’ve been vaccinated five times). I have asthma that’s especially triggered by viruses, so a simple cold always goes straight to my chest and can send me to emerg, and the cough and struggling to breathe from just a mild, stupid cold can last for many weeks, thanks to my body’s ridiculous overreaction.

Having colds has always been a long ordeal where I feel like I might suffocate and die. I had pneumonia eight times by the time I was fifteen which left me with painful adhesions that can make one feel like one’s being stabbed in the chest at times… though at age fifteen, with bronchopneumonia after the worst cold of my life from using Japanese transit where, despite the Japanese reputation for cleanliness, older women were perfectly okay with picking their noses… like really digging in there, as long as they hid their intense nasal spelunking behind their hand - I did manage the eight-hour climb up Mt Fuji due to sheer gumption and as a “fuck you” to my traitorous lungs!

I work in a high school as a library tech with a thousand people coming and going in my hub; I still have plexiglass up and have not been sick in over a year thanks to that, but I’m fucking dreading a simple cold, never mind covid! 😭

Yes

I've had two colds so far this winter (neither was COVID). Hoping I'm done for the season.

Me. Tested for COVID and the flu. Nada. Just finished a round of antibiotics for a sinus infection & bronchitis but I still have congestion and a cough. My son was positive for the flu and had double ear infections. One ear is still infected and he just got another round of an antibiotic. If that doesn’t work, they will take a needle, puncture the ear drum to release fluid and insert a small tube.

What on earth is this shit?

^ Son was prescribed a steroid too.

R19 I dread colds as well. I get bronchitis and have asthma. Dr ups my dosage of Breo during December and January. I’ve been sick but my asthma wasn’t as bad this time. I haven’t had COVID despite my husband having it 2x.

Mine began a week before Thanksgiving, and has waxed and waned since then, never fully going away. Currently it's intensifying. My primary care thinks it's allergies.

I had Covid around Thanksgiving, 2022. Since then, I constantly feel fatigued and tired - no matter how much sleep I get (usually 7 -8 hours per night).

I had a cold for New Year's, and it lasted through mid-January (bad sinuses, too). Luckily, it went away for good without me getting the doc involved. I also got my second Shingles shot at the very end of December, so I wasn't sure if that triggered something.

Many of my friends have had colds since Christmas they can't shake. They think they're getting better, then it gets worse...then better / worse.

I wear a mask still. I'm in meetings in stuffy rooms with strangers all the time. I haven't been sick! Sanitizer dries up my hands but I use it too and wash my hands a lot. I look better in a mask actually too.

Everyone is sick all the time. Cold lasts forever. But no one’s connecting the dots. Most of us have had Covid more than once. Some of us have had Covid and don’t realize it (which is not a good thing, since a lack of acute symptoms can actually indicate a weakened immune system). It’s only year four, and this is where we are. Imagine what years 6, 7, 8 will be like if we all keep passing around this SARs virus. It’s madness that we are all pretending is normal.

Vaxxed with three boosters. Had one serious Covid infection with a really bad secondary infection of strep and tonsillitis in January 2023. It was rough!

Recently I picked up that upper respiratory infection, violent coughing and congestion, yet mercifully only a mild sore throat. I received a steroid injection that brought down the inflammation in my nasopharyngeal cavity, a great relief. They offered me antibiotics but I didn’t take them because I had no fever and no other signs of infection (did not cough up dark colored mucus or anything like that).

I am so easily tired out since that whole Covid experience. I think I was luckier than most of my friends. They have painful coughs and sinusitis that lingers between 4 and 7 weeks. I narrowly avoided that. My colleague coughs forcefully in my face all the time, and that makes me mad. I don’t want his kennel cough.

I mask on flights and crowded settings, and carry masks in my briefcase to wear if someone else is wearing one around me.

R28 sounds like a goddamned nut!

[quote]I mask on flights and crowded settings, and carry masks in my briefcase to wear if someone else is wearing one around me.

You'd be better off putting on a mask when no one around you is wearing one.

Yes! Starting 3rd week of the hacking cough. I wake myself up at night coughing. I have tried every OTC thing I can think of and nothing helps. Not covid. Not a cold. I have had the pneumonia tbd RSV shots. Pulled out the big guns yesterday, a huge pot of chicken soup with matzo balls. Didn't help.

What is "Celtic salt, magnesium, and X-clear sinus spray"? Magnesium I know, The other two I don't.

[quote]Everyone is sick all the time. Cold lasts forever. But no one’s connecting the dots.

Well, some people are.

"a new idea about how COVID can affect immunity has emerged: that even mild infections routinely cause consequential damage to our bodies’ defenses. This degradation was referred to as “immunity theft” by T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary biologist, as a counterargument to "immunity debt" being the reason why respiratory infections were more severe than usual this past fall.

So while the acute infection may be one reason to not want to keep getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 over and over again, the idea that it can increasingly cause damage to the immune system should be a significant reason. Throughout the pandemic, scientific evidence has mounted that even mild COVID infections may be doing something to our immune systems, as well as our collective immunity.

For example, what if SARS-CoV-2 infection causes the immune system to be able to respond to SARS-CoV-2 in such a way that we no longer experience severe COVID infections, but rather it causes a subtler, long-term immunological changes that leave us more vulnerable to other infections or even chronic disease?"

What I should have, R33, is that the public, our government, the business community, and assorted other powers that be are not connecting the dots. You’re right. The data is out there. People just don’t want it to interfere with their normalcy.

R30, those of us who refuse to bury our heads in the sand, are used to being called nuts. It’s OK. I’ll continue to fight for your health as well.

I had whatever this is. It started out as “sort of a cold” in the beginning of November, meandered all around my respiratory system, and by Thanksgiving it had become bronchitis. It continued for another four weeks or so, and I felt like it would never go away. But eventually it did. For the record, I’ve had every COVID vaccine, all the pneumonia vaccines, as well as flu and RSV, and I’ve never had COVID.

Someone I know got the flu for 9 days and was sick like a dog. He is aged 60 and he said he lost 14 pounds. He smokes cigars...so I don't know if that hindered his recovery.

A lot of people have had COVID without realizing it. Some of the newer strains are harder to detect with home tests. Many people test on day one or two of symptoms and think they’re good when really it takes several days for a positive to show up.

It’s just mindblowing that everyone is talking about how much sickness is going around and how long it lingers, yet refusing to acknowledge the variable that came into our lives two years ago. There is a reason many people draw parallels between COVID and HIV. It injures us by weakening us. Wake up.

Wake up and do what, exactly?

[quote]It’s just mindblowing that everyone is talking about how much sickness is going around and how long it lingers, yet refusing to acknowledge the variable that came into our lives two years ago.

Someone needs a new calendar. COVID was FOUR years ago, sweetie.

I had Covid and since my immune response seems to have gotten a lot stronger. It seems to have improved my immune system. I still get sick but my body goes into full on defcon mode now.

Chynah!

Bastards.

OP you're describing my sister, my sister in law and my brother. And my sister doesn't even live in the same state as my brother. I get this flare up once in a while where I cough all day, then it goes away, or I get head congestion and it comes and goes along with nausea. I think the nausea is related to the head congestion, because I get dizzy with the pressure.

Everybody has had it, unless you haven't seen people for several years, few are naturally immune. Still people walk around say they haven't had it, they are the spreaders.

R28 I agree with everything you say accept the last sentence. I truly believe this is 'the new normal' - and we have to get used to it.

I was telling a friend of mine last month - having holiday celebrations 'canceled' or 'altered' at the very last minute is the new normal now thanks to Covid. Sure, people used to get sick during the holidays with 'the flu', but this is something completely different for some reason. (The friend I was talking to has had to cancel her family Christmas dinner each year since 2020, as she or her husband has had COVID each year).

What I don't get is why people don't just stay home when they're sick. Why would you go to a family gathering knowing you were coming down with the flue and had to take some tylenol to feel good enough to show up? I have seen this happen several times in the past two years and it really pisses me off.

These virus are ENGINEERED by China, Fauci and [looks around] [whispers] the Jews to ruin everybody’s Christmas .

I never caught COVID, and live in a house with people who had it. I took 1,000 tests, and if I do get sick, I still take them. And I have been totally sick this year, but all my COVID tests are negative, WTF! How is it possible that I was co-habitating with three other people who had it, yet I remained negative? I refuse to believe it wasn’t in my body, yet I never showed symptoms or had a positive test.

This cough I finally got over was SO bad, so deep in my lungs, I was absolutely convinced that it had to be COVID. Nope, it was a virus or flu.

Because that is the point, R41.

THose tests may not be accurate. Have you been to a doctor, R49? Did your doctor say it was flu or virus? I got COVID, and developed the cough from Hell. It lasted for two fucking months. The Covid was gone and I ended up being treated for Bronchitis with steroids and antibiotics. Horrible. I guess 3 months is considered "long covid?" This year I got the flu shot, the RSV shot and my COVID vaccine. And I quarantined. When in public, I wore a mask, and I washed my hands frequently. This year I did not get sick. No fucking way I wanted to go through that again.

I don’t think we disagree at all, R46. You’re right. This is the new normal. But most people want to pretend like we are back to our old normal, which we are not.

We should probably be testing before all large events. High quality masking in peak periods and/or in big crowds, on airplanes, etc.

Trust me, I don’t want to do any of it. I complain about masks more than most people. But ideally, we would be trying our best to get it as little as possible.

You think that's bad. My dick curved and shrunk during the COVID epidemic. Peyronie's!

The problem, R52, is that it will be difficult if not impossible to get people to comply. Health professionals strongly urged people to mask up during the recent holidays. Almost no one complied. Everyone carried on as if there weren’t strains of Covid, the flu, and RSV circulating.

I had a meeting a few weeks ago at an organization that sent out, before the meeting, detailed instructions about testing and mask wearing — AND NOT ATTENDING if you were sick — because, as they emphasized, there were several “vulnerable employees.” I tested negative. I get there, sit down, and one of the organizers — who is sitting next to me — has her tissues in front of her because she had some sort of a cold. 🙄 I’m thinking, “bitch, please” YOU said not to attend in person if you were sick.

Getting any type of compliance was hard enough during the pandemic. Not going to happen now.

I had it but I am smart so I took magic foods and supplements and it went away immediately. I’m grateful to be magical.

Fully agree, r54. Along with a lot of other things, we have destroyed even the basics of public health.

Trump set the tone early. He fucked us in so many ways. I hate him.

I’m on prednisone now for my asthma. Will this never go away?

a lot of people I know are getting sick. coughing, fever...who knows what

take care folks!

I caught something between Christmas & New Year's. After 2 weeks, I went to the doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic. That worked. The cough lasted a while. Got tested 3X for Covid (negative), so, it wasn't Covid.

My partner and I have been fucked over by this crap since Christmas Day. Just today the doctor was like “plenty of fluids & bedrest and it takes forever.” I am long past over it.

I'm at a point now where I'm even checking the air quality index in my weather report before I leave the house. If it's not good I mask. Or I stay indoors as much as possible. We now have two air filters in our small apartment. I think it really helps with the coughing and sneezing.

Important discovery related to LongCovid: Fragments of SARS-CoV-2 virus can reassemble into "zombie" complexes (XenoAMP-dsDNA) and induce a major and sustained immune response, affecting healthy, uninfected cells, not seen with common cold coronaviruses

I have been fighting a non-covid cold/congestion since after Christmas. I normally am over any colds in three days. I think our immune system’s are weaker because of Covid plus any germs out there are now out in the open since people don’t wear masks or keep distance anymore.

My lips hurt now. They burn, are slight red, not swollen, but have very slight cracks at the side. Might be from poor diet, I haven’t been eating much lately due to not feeling well. I’m starting taking iron today and B12 tabs. Coukd orobacky use extra D3 thanks to dreary no-sun winter

Anyone know how to pronounce cheilitis? I’ve never heard it pronounced and when I checked YouTube every video pronounced it differently

I’ve had COVID at least three times, and most likely four. What I’ve noticed is something others report, and that’s LONG COVID feelings sporadically popping up here and there. Every few weeks I’ll get some vertigo. A lot of fatigue. Brain fog. It just comes out of nowhere, but it’s happened in pretty much regular intervals since my second infection.

R63 Interesting. Richard Gallo (second-to-last author) is a major player in the field of anti-microbial peptides, having been among the first to discover them years ago. It will be interesting to see where this discovery leads in terms of potential new therapeutic approaches to decrease damage from infections with pathogenic coronaviruses.

R68, and according to And the Band Played On, Gallo was obstructively egotistical in needing to claim credit for discovering the AIDS virus.

RSV.

R69 That was a different Dr. Gallo. That was Dr. Robert Gallo. The first time I saw a paper from Dr. Richard Gallo, I mixed him up with Dr. Robert Gallo, too, until I wondered why Robert was working with anti-microbial peptides, and then I noticed that Richard was at a different institution than Robert, and had a distinct bibliography.

Got a flu shot, Covid booster (I'm always negative) and RSV shot. I feel better but not 100 percent. This has been going on since mid-December.

Stated coughing last Friday, tested positive for Covid on Monday. Declined over the week. Experienced all the aches. Lost taste and smell. Today is Saturday and I feel much better with just an occasional coughing spell.

Oddly, I haven't had any type of flu since Covid started. Usually I get once or twice a year.

Oh, good catch, R71.

I had flu A in mid-December and tested positive for covid yesterday. It has been a rough winter.

Sorry, R76, hope your covid is a mild case and you recover quickly.

I’ve been achy for weeks. Now congestion, headache, earache, sneezing and fatigue. Never got sick before. Had Covid twice. This is my second cold in a year.

I've been farting since Christmas..... 2020

I’m finishing my prednisone tomorrow and I’m still coughing, have congestion and need my nebulizer. Fuck this stuff.

R78, one thing that will help with the aches is drinking enough water, and fluids like chicken broth or vegetable broth. And avoid sugary stuff. Take vitamin D3 it really does help.

Today I was feeling good - it’s staying light out longer; it finally stopped being rainy/cloudy/foggy. My postnasal drip wasn’t quite as bad as it’s been. And one of my back teeth fell out. I was eating a meatball hero. Shades of Dawn Davenport.

I’m 68 years old. I can’t afford dental work anymore. But there’s now a big hole where my tooth used to be and it is very sensitive.

R82, hope you feel better. You don't have dental insurance?

Been floored for the last few days. Took a COVID test today. Positive. FFS. I managed to not get it for 4 years.

You were lucky

I still feel horrible. Sore throat. Asthma. Fatigue. Fuck this.

Hi gang! I can add to the merry go round.

I started feeling sick on Saturday. I’ve tested negative for Covid multiple times. Still sick today. (Thursday) Horrible body aches, nasal congestion, mucus in chest, upset stomach from drainage.

It’s really fucking awful out there.

I think I may have a sinus infection. Had terrible pressure in my head all day yesterday. So bad I was nauseated. Sneezing like crazy. Then my stomach started acting up. I was exhausted. Took some Sudafed and went to sleep. When I woke up I felt a lot better, but now it's back. I feel like I just want to sleep. Its fucking with my balance too. Dizziness.

Last night and today, I’m freezing to death. Chills, face is flushed and I’m fucking drowning in goddam SNOT.

Fuck this snot! No coughing or sneezing, just gobs of snot coming out my nose, draining down my throat. Eyes running and I’m exhausted but I can’t sleep because I’m freezing to death and when I lay down, the snot just clogs my nose and mouth.

I fucking HATE snot! Why is there so much of it? Yuck.

R83, I’m retired. If I want dental insurance I buy it myself and it’s a scam. I had to go to dentist a lot a few years back.

Office worker: I you get dental insurance it’s 20% off regular price.

Patient: I’m going to pay cash

Office worker: We give 20% off for cash customers.

Everybody’s paying the same price. Why pay for “insurance”?

I know hardly anybody who has dental insurance these days. And if they do, it doesn't cover more than $1,000 a year, with lots of fine print for the insurance to wiggle out and deny payment.

Snotty McSnotface here. Just went to the doctor. It’s the plague (Covid).

Fuck. Apparently, this strain presents as a horrible allergy with the copious amounts of snot.

Sorry, R92. What is the protocol for seeing your doctor when you are a suspected Covid case? Do they insist that you wear a mask? Do they let you wait in the regular waiting room? Is there a special exam room they see you in?

I just wore a mask. Since I didn’t know I had it, I waited with everyone else. It was at one of those little clinics in Walgreens.

When she gave me the prescription, she said I had to use the drive thru to pick it up, as they didn’t want me hanging around the pharmacy with my cooties.

I totally understand.

Thanks, R94.

New research:

"At the beginning of the pandemic, environmental factors like social distancing, isolation, hand washing, mask wearing, and vaccination played a bigger role in whether people got infected, while over time, genetic factors have become more important. Now, genetics may account for anywhere from 30% to 70% of one’s chance of getting COVID-19."

Well, I went four years without getting it. Of course, I always worse a mask, washed my hands after coming home or before eating.

This weekend was the first time I ate at a sit down restaurant with some friends, then we went sightseeing. There weren’t a lot of people around, but I guess it was enough for me to catch it.

Are any of those friends also sick, R96?

I’ve been sick 4 times this winter despite being vaccinated with flu and Covid. This is the most I’ve ever been sick. I don’t know what it is about this winter but it’s very potent. The weather hasn’t even been that cold.

No, r97. I texted them all to tell them I had a positive test and told them they may want to test, but they all said they currently feel ok and will test tomorrow.

They’ve already had it back in early January, but it was the coughing and wheezing version.

[quote] This weekend was the [bold] first time [/bold] I ate at a sit down restaurant with some friends

Query for snotty: “first time” since when? 2020?

I have had a cough since a month ago - it was a VERY mucus-y cough - and cold-like congestion. And extreme fatigue. Dr. said lungs are fine. Was home from work a whole week. Went to my ENT, he looked up into my sinuses and down my throat. Said I had an infected sinus. Unfortunately the 2 best antibiotics he could give me, were one I know I can't take, and another that I took that made me itch and get a few hives. So he gave me 2 rounds of z-pack. I'm on 2nd round, still have the cough occasionally but I don't feel too bad, now. Several other people I know have had similar things.

Still sick. Next week it’s 4 weeks.

Fuck, r102, that’s bogus!

Yes, r100, I hadn’t eaten in a sit down restaurant since February 2020 until last weekend. I usually just get carry out if I’m going to not cook at home.

The restaurant wasn’t that full, either. There was no one to either side of us while we were there.

Now, everyone at work is mad because I’m going to be off for a couple of days. I was actually asked if I got tested or if I just “thought you have Covid”. No, asshole, I got tested, I got Paxlovid and I gave a note from the doctor! WTF!

No wonder people just show up sick in that place.

I used my nebulizer this morning and was coughing up crap. I took a decongestant, cough medicine, allergy eye drops and used nasal spray. I also took a Xanax. I’m biting on gauze now as I got my last wisdom tooth out. It wasn’t impacted and came out easily.

I tested negative for COVID twice, negative for the flu and negative for strep throat.

I’m on week two. Very sore throat, swollen glands, persistent cough, fever. It flares up and then dies down. Tested negative for the ‘Vid.

[quote]the ‘Vid.

Is Douche your native language?

The other name for whooping cough is "The 100 Day Cough". So if you've had one, you've probably got whooping cough.

It's quite a distinctive cough. Adults don't "whoop". It's not one of those rib-breaking coughs, it's more of a rattling cough, and most of the time you can manage to breathe OK, but you can literally cough for hours on a bad day. When you get a coughing fit it usually goes for much longer than with a normal flu, because it's not really clearing congestion, it's just coughing. The cough stays round long after the other flu-like symptoms have departed.

Having been vaccinated as a child is no protection for adults.

Damn, r107! I had no idea. Thanks for passing that along.

Should adults get revaccinated for it? I remember seeing commercials a few years ago about getting vaccinated for kids, but I didn’t realize adults could get it, too. Ugh.

Yes, R108. Boosters are a good idea, especially given the chance these days that you could get it after Covid has already caused damage.

[quote] Should adults get revaccinated for it?

Yes. It protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis and is commonly referred to as the Tdap vaccine. You should get a booster shot every 10 years to keep a high level of protection against tetanus and diphtheria.

I’ve had a fever of 101-102 the past 48 hours or so. No other symptoms but mild body aches, fatigue and sweating/chills.

Has anyone just had a fever?

Tested negative for Covid.

That might be a sinus infection, r112.

If a fever lasts more than a few days, you should see your doctor, as it is means some sort of infection.

The CDC is expected to shift its Covid-19 isolation guidance this spring to say that people no longer need to isolate once they have been fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or improving.

Not that most people paid attention to that guidance, anyway.

And older friend has been fighting RSV for two months with an unbelievable amount of congestion. He got his COVID booster, he got his flu shot, but he overlooked the RSV shot, and he is 67.

Why didn’t he get an RSV vaccine, r115?

Pretty much everyone over 60 who went in for a flu shot around here was told to get one.

No they weren"t. Not everyone has compromised immune/lungs.

I needed a doctor's prescription for my RSV shot and I'm nearly 70. I have COPD but the pharmacy needed a prescription.

Third visit yesterday to the doctor for the never ending cough. X ray. Swab. Pretty sure it's bronchitis and new meds prescribed. Cough syrup, inhaler ($104.00!!!), Amoxcyllin and a prednisone shot at the office. Let's hope it works. Tired of being sick already.

[quote] I needed a doctor's prescription for my RSV shot and I'm nearly 70.

Really? I just made my appointment at CVS online and went in and got the RSV vaccine. Nothing more. I spaced out the RSV, the latest Covid update, and the flu vaccines.

The CDC recommended Wednesday that people 65 and older get a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine made available in the fall because they are at higher risk for severe disease from the virus.

“Most covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said.

I had a mild cold, stuffed nose, no sore throat, about a month and a half ago but I am still coughing. It’s not a deep wracking cough but I have a constant rattle in the back of my throat. I can cough up sputum but it never feels like I’m clearing anything. I’m taking some cough medicine, dextromethorpan and guaifenesin, it’s not suppressing the cough very much.

After my bout with Covid, I now have a sinus infection. Fuck. Bright green snot, sometimes egg yolk yellow.

After three days of a zpack, it’s still green/yellow.

I’m so over this bullshit!

I'm not sick, sick, but I woke today feeling like I'm coming down with something. Chills achy joints, and nausea. My head is clogged up, I "almost" have a sore throat, and I feel congested but not coughing. Lots of sinus pressure in my head, too. I feel like I need a nap, but if I do that I may not be able to sleep tonight.

Take some zyrtec and go back to sleep, Whoopie.

[quote] I needed a doctor's prescription for my RSV shot and I'm nearly 70.

I didn’t. I just made an online appointment at CVS for flu shot and RSV. I’m over 65. Got both the same day.

I haven't had Covid that I know of, but get cold and flu bugs a lot more frequently than before 2020, even in summer. I've had all the vaccinations and boosters available but Covid boosters are now only available to select groups in Australia and there are new strains going around.

Got my Covid booster today. 5 months since my last. No problem.

Thnks, R128, for reminding me. I'm going to get mine next week.

Don't laugh but I think our environmental crisis is stirring up a lot of strange viruses.