covid, you asshole

[kindkit]

Short version if you don't want to hear any more about Covid: I'm fine, absolutely nothing dangerous is happening, Covid is just super annoying.



So I know Covid isn't a cold. But I have such a mild case that it feels like a cold, and so I find myself expecting the trajectory of a cold and then Covid throws me a curveball.

I'm still coughing, but not as much or as badly as I was. My temp is normal a lot of the time now, and never more than a little elevated. My pulse oximeter readings are around 94-95, which is normal for my altitude.

However, I was not expecting congestion and sneezing to start on day 4-5 of symptoms. Colds don't do that!

This morning, though, I was feeling quite a lot better. Enough so that I had another round of guilt over not being at work. (I keep reminding myself that I'm off work to protect other people from Covid.)

And I thought to myself: I've really been lucky with this. I didn't even lose my sense of smell!

Well, of course I immediately starting losing my sense of smell. I tested just now with a bottle of vanilla extract and got no more than a hint of it.

This is day 6 of symptoms. I thought I was done! And plus now I'm worried about when/if I'll get my sense of smell back. Years ago I lost my sense of smell during a sinus infection; it was completely gone for a long time and then, as it started to recover, everything smelled/tasted foul for months. I don't want that again. And my perfumes! I miss them already.


To be clear: I realize how fortunate I am not to have had Covid before, and to get such a mild case now. But the randomness of the symptons--both their nature and their timing--is kind of frustrating. I tried to Google information on how Covid usually goes, but of course it's such a variable illness that no one can tell you that.

Comments

[sovay]

And plus now I'm worried about when/if I'll get my sense of smell back.

For what it's worth, I know several people including family members who lost their senses of smell for the duration of the infection and regained it without complications in short order. Otherwise, *hugs* What a miserable thing to have to deal with at all.

[silveradept]

It's such a variable thing as to how everyone experiences it. I definitely wanted to get out sooner than I could, but I probably kept the symptoms mild and annoying by doing a lot of resting.

(And I still haven't shucked a lingering cough, but that one I recognize as happening just about every time I have a bad cold, so or makes sense that it's sticking around after COVID.)

You are staying home so other people don't get it.

I might have lost my smell as well, but I think it's come back to me now that I've cleared the virus. Should try with some hot sauce again just to be sure.

[lilacsigil]

It's so incredibly variable these days - my coworker had it recently with a mild sore throat and horrible gastro symptoms, while her teenage son had symptoms similar to yours. My dad had bad symptoms in the first week and cleared up quickly but tested positive for 18 days. I wonder if it's because of the vast number of variants floating around?

I hope your sense of smell is back and well-behaved!

[executrix]

I was too chicken to do the test, but I think I had a mild case of COVID about six weeks ago. My sense of smell returned after about a week.