I am just getting over my second bout of Covid. Amazingly, I still know a handful of people who claim they have never had it. Those lucky ‘novids’ are becoming rarer and rarer. While I was sick this time around, I found myself frequenting some Reddit communities. There was some comfort in seeing that others were going through the same stuff that I was dealing with; It was also interesting to see what folks were doing to allay some of the symptoms. Most importantly perhaps, it was a safe place to simply whine.
For those of you out there, like me who are interested in trying to figure out the covid trends, this post is for you.
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My personal Covid History
I managed to avoid Covid altogether until April 2023 when it finally caught up with me. It couldn’t have happened at a more inconvenient time. Sandy and I were on a small cruise in the Galapagos. When Sandy got a sore throat he decided to use one of the tests that we had brought with us. There were quite a few older passengers on board and he didn’t want to take any chances of spreading anything. We were pretty horrified when the test turned positive. He reported his results to the ship’s doctor and was understandably quarantined to the stateroom. I was negative so I still had free reign for another couple of days as long as I was masked. Clearly he caught it from someone on the ship, but most people weren’t testing. Sandy and I tried hard to stay as far from each other as we could manage, but we were sharing a stateroom, with one bed. At night, we built a wall of pillows between us. Spoiler alert, to no one’s surprise, that didn’t work. After 2 days, I tested positive and we were quarantined together. We spent the remainder of the time on the ship looking out our giant window, counting turtles in the ocean and watching birds. Add in amazing room service and I imagine there are worse places to be stuck.
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The final night, the staff on the ship closed off the upper deck, so that we and one other couple who had tested positive could dine under the stars. We laughed together when we discovered that they too had tried the pillow wall. That effectively doubled our statistical analysis. Pillow walls don’t work at eliminating transmission.
When the cruise was over we were moved to a hotel in Quito Ecuador. The altitude there is 9300 feet. There were no more turtles. Sandy was bored and had nothing better to do than check my temp and oxygen what felt like every ten minutes with his newfangled electronic gizmos. My temp was high. My oxygen saturation was low. It sucked on so many levels. We got through it.
Covid Redux
Lauren and Family came up for a visit in early July. One of my joys was the mornings. Lauren would bring me 4 month old Coby between 6:00 and 6:30 every morning and that time was my private baby snuggle time while the rest of the family slept. Once Elliot woke up I belonged to him. It was a great week.
We went all over the place with the kids. This included all of their favorite SF restaurants, the aquarium, the exploratorium, you name it. We were aware that Covid levels were starting to rise, but no one seemed to be wearing masks.I had gotten a booster in March, so I was optimistic that I still had some protection,
A week into the visit Coby got uncharacteristically fussy. He was somewhat congested and felt a little warm. We tested him on a Thursday morning and he was positive for Covid. How and when the baby got it when the rest of us seemed fine, remains a mystery.
Sandy had knee surgery scheduled the following week. Oy, right? In order to minimize the exposure, the kids packed up and drove home to LA. Between horrible traffic, the miserable baby, the 3 1/2 year old who had really wanted an extra ride on muni and a very large dog. It was NOT a fun drive.
The day after they left I started getting congested. I was very surprised that I was negative.
According to Sandy, I was also snoring loud enough to put our dear departed Uncle Bernie (famous for his sonic level night time noises) to shame. That might be the thing that spared Sandy from ultimately catching it. He moved into Alana’s old room in order to try to get some sleep. I proactively slept there the following night because the post nasal drip and throat tickle were keeping me up. I tested negative again on Sunday.
On Monday, I was clearly sick and sure enough my test had finally confirmed that indeed I had Covid.
This was 3 days after Coby’s positive test. It is hard to know when he started to be contagious and 4 days before Sandy’s prospective surgery.
I was able to do a virtual visit with One Medical that same morning. They gave me a prescription for Paxlovid. Within several hours after the first dose, I was assailed by a horrid taste in my mouth that lasted the entire 5 day course.
My symptoms were firmly in the miserable but not scary category. The first several days were mostly post nasal drip, piercing headache and nausea. Days 3-5 were colored by stuffy ears, a moderate sore throat, brain fog and fatigue. I never had a fever, although there were times when I felt warm.
Sleep was tough simply because of the taste in my mouth. I was up sucking on mints every 30 minutes. Having other people complaining on Reddit about the same issue kept me company during the wee hours. Of course, as with anything on social media, take most of the information with a grain of salt. Avoid going down any rabbit holes that don’t feel positive.
I tested neg on Friday, just 5 days after my positive test. Thank you Paxlovid. My energy is not quite back to normal but is heading in the right direction. Sandy’s surgery went great. All in all I feel fortunate that it wasn’t any worse.
The moment I tested positive, Sandy and I were ships passing in the night; we were masked when we were on the same floor but mostly kept our distance. We had HEPA Air purifiers running. We were scrupulous with hand washing.
He stayed negative! It can be done.
Remedies.
Congestion/post nasal drip
I confess to 2 nights of Afrin. This allowed me to breathe but it is making the deal with the devil. Try hard NOT to do it for more than 2 or 3 nights max. But in the beginning the congestion was so thick that I couldn’t even do the neti pot; the Afrin cleared the way. If you overuse Afrin it can cause rebound congestion and it is VERY hard to kick the habit.
I started Flonase nasal spray
Netipot/sinus irrigation throughout the day
Xlear nasal spray may have some protective properties. It is worth using after an exposure
My MD suggested Mucinex. I didn’t need it this time but it is worth having on hand.
Blue Poppy Cold Quell is something Dr Den suggests for all of her covid patients
Alternate warm and cold compresses to your forehead
Tap and massage your sinuses just to loosen things up
Steamy showers
Humidifier at night
This may sound gross, but try not to swallow all that mucous. Spit it out, keep a dixie cup or tissue handy.
Nausea
My sister Amy had covid a week before I did, she got zofran for the nausea. If you find that you can’t eat or stay hydrated, reach out to your doctor for a prescription,
Ginger chews from Trader Joes, were good for the queasiness and also gave a few moment of relief from the paxlovid mouth
Sore Throat
Manuka honey
throat coat tea
Popsicles
Lozenges
Nasty taste in the mouth
(some people are more sensitive to this than others. For me it felt like I was chewing on a leather boot that had stepped in dog poop)
Mints
Lozenges
Mini m&ms
Red hot candies
my friend Dee-Dee swears that tangerine flavored jellybeans were a game changer
Ear Discomfort
For the stuffy ears warm garlic oil felt great.
The use of flonase will also help with this, but it isn’t instant.
Hydration
Stay hydrated, I fell in love with aloe juice that I got from Trader Joes
Other people like coconut water/pedialyte
ice chips! Amy claims this saved her from going to ER for an IV
Drink Drink Drink!!
Brain Fog
Take a break from screens
Try to get reasonable sleep.
Vitamin B, D and Beef liver enzymes might be useful
My friend Oran who is a reflexologist suggests pushing on each fingertip.
Mindfulness
I leaned into gratitude. This time around at least I was home and not impacted by altitude. I didn’t have kids to chase or a job to get to. I had a partner making my garlic oil and tending to me from afar, both of us masked. Dear friends checked in and dropped off soup.
Contagiousness
My son-in-Law Adam tested positive the same day that I did. Like many people reading this, he did indeed have kids to chase as well as a job to deal with. I tip my hat.
Amazingly Lauren and EJ didn’t catch it,
COVID is everywhere right now
Alana had a birthday gathering and she asked people to test before coming.
At least 3 people with no symptoms whatsoever tested and found that they were positive!
Be careful out there!
And sometimes a cold is just a cold
A week later Lauren got a sore throat. It lasted for 2 days. She remained negative
Alana also just had a cold for several days and remained negative, even with a PCR test.
CDC guidelines for isolating.
The updated guidelines lump all respiratory viruses (Flu, Covid, RSV) together.
If you test positive for any of those, stay home and keep your distance from family members who are healthy.
Once you are fever free for 24 hours without the help of medication you can resume your normal activities.
You should take extra precautions like wearing a good mask, reasonable distancing and great handwashing for another 5 days.
With Covid, there is about a 20% chance of rebounding, especially after Paxlovid, so be quick to test again at the first sign of new symptoms. The rebound is most likely 3-7 days after you thought you were out of the woods.
Keep in mind that PCR tests will likely remain positive for weeks after an illness. They are very useful for figuring things out when you are just starting the illness, but are not a good indicator of whether or not you are still contagious.
What Dr Ted is seeing with his covid patients
Typically the kids have had sore throats and fatigue. Not everyone has a fever.
Most of his patients are similar to what I described; somewhat miserable but not scary.
He has seen some pneumonia so don’t ignore any respiratory distress.
There are some patterns but no rules because everyone's immune system is different.
One thing that is reassuring is that babies under 3 months born to a mom who had a booster in the third trimester have very decent protection. Poor Coby was just past that magic window.
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