I had COVID-19 and here is my story. I made this post public outof several requests from my friends who asked me to share. I hope itgives you some good information and peace of mind!
Firsthow easily you can get it. I believe I caught it when attending a smallhouse party at which no one was coughing, sneezing or otherwisedisplaying any symptoms of illness. It appears that 40% of the attendeesof this party ended up sick. The media tells you to wash your hands andavoid anyone with symptoms. I did. There is no way to avoid catchingthis except avoiding all other humans. 40% of folks were all sick within3 days of attending the party all with the same/similar symptomsincluding fever.
Second, the symptoms appear to be differentdepending on your constitution and/or age. Most of my friends who got itwere in their late 40s to early 50s. I’m in my mid 30s. For us it washeadache, fever (for first 3 days consistently and then on and off after3 days), severe body aches and joint pain, and severe fatigue. I had afever that spiked the first night to 103 degrees and eventually camedown to 100 and then low grade 99.5. Some folks had diarrhea.
Ifelt nauseous one day. Once the fever is gone some were left withnasal congestion, sore throat. Only a very few of us had a mild itchycough. Very few had chest tightness or other respiratory symptoms.Total duration of illness was 10-16 days.
Themain issue is that without reporting a cough or trouble breathing manyof us were refused testing. I got tested through the Seattle Flu Study.This is a RESEARCH study here in Seattle and they have been testingvolunteers for strains of the flu to study transmission within thecommunity. A few weeks ago, they started to test a random subset ofsamples for COVID-19 infection. They sent my sample to the King CountyPublic Health Department for confirmation; however, I was told that allof the samples that have tested positive in the research study have beenconfirmed by Public Health.
Asof Monday March 9th, it has been 13 days since my symptoms started andmore than 72 hours since my fever subsided. The King County PublicHealth Department is recommending you stay isolated for 7 days after thestart of symptoms or 72 hours after your fever subsides. I havesurpassed both deadlines so I am no longer isolating myself however I amavoiding strenuous activity and large crowds and I obviously will notcome near you if I see you in public. I was not hospitalized. Notevery country is hospitalizing everyone with a COVID-19 infection and inmy case, and in many other cases, I didn’t even go to the doctorbecause I was recovering on my own and felt it was just a nasty flustrain different from the ones I have been protected from with thisseason’s flu vaccine.
Ialso truly believe the lack of testing is leading to folks believingthat they just have a cold or something else going out into public andspreading it. And worse folks with no symptoms are also spreading it asin the case of a person attending a party or social gathering who hasno symptoms.
Iknow some folks are thinking that this can’t/won’t impact them. I hopeit doesn’t but I believe that the overall lack of early and pervasivetesting damaged the public’s ability to avoid the illness here inSeattle. All I know is that Seattle has been severely impacted andalthough I’m better now I would not wish this very uncomfortable illnesson anyone.
Onething that I believe may have saved me from getting worse respiratorysymptoms is the fact that I consistently took Sudafed, used Afrin nasalspray (3 sprays in each nostril, 3 days at a time and then 3 days off),and used a Neti pot (with purified water). This could have kept mysinuses clear and prevented the symptoms from spreading to my lungs.This is not medical advice: I’m simply sharing what I did andcorrelating it with the fact that I had no respiratory symptoms. Thetwo could be entirely unrelated based on the viral strain and viral loadthat I received.
Ihope this information helps someone avoid getting sick and/or push toget tested sooner rather than later so you know to isolate before itgets worse or to get medical care if you have respiratory distress. Handwashing doesn’t guarantee you won’t get sick, especially when folkswithout symptoms are contagious and could be standing right next to youin any given social situation. You more likely than not will not die,but do you want to risk spreading it to a loved one over 60 or someonewith an immunity issue? Stay healthy folks!
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