They have a cure of sorts, for CoVid, but you have to take it early on.
A couple of weeks ago, I started getting a bad post-nasal drip. It is annoying and I get this usually during allergy season. The nastiness drips down the back of your throat, causing you to hack and cough. It isn't glamorous. But my glands weren't swollen on my neck and I never was running a fever, so I thought it was just a bad cold. I never lost my sense of taste or smell, either. None of the hallmark signs of CoVid appeared. Friends told me they had the same thing - and it took a week to ten days to get rid of it! Rumor was, it was "just a bad cold going around."
What was really annoying was that when you lie down to sleep, this phlegm would accumulate in the back of your throat, causing you to hack uncontrollably - just as you were falling asleep! So I lost a lot of sleep for a while. I ended up sleeping almost upright, which was not fun. I tried all the usual cold medications and anti-allergy pills. Decongestants would eventually dry me out, but initially would cause my sinuses and ears to drain into the back of my throat, causing severe hacking.
The worst was one night, I hacked and coughed so hard that I got a migraine headache. It felt like I was having a stroke. Over time, however, I got better and better. I tested myself for CoVid - twice - and both times it came back negative (the Post Office, for some reason, offered to send us CoVid tests last week, so I said yes. I already had four in stock).
Mark seemed immune, but in the last few days started showing the same symptoms. I had to sort of force him to take the CoVid test - he felt that "not knowing" was a better approach. We ran the tests for both of us - twice - and each time, I was negative and he was positive. What's up with that?
So we called the doctor and they gave Mark a prescription for Paxlovid, which a friend of ours took a few months ago when they got it. Apparently it is an antiviral and helps your immune system chase away the virus.
By the way, it's free.
Alcohol can suppress your immune system, and I noticed that after I had a glass of wine or a cocktail, the symptoms would get worse. When I stopped drinking entirely, the symptoms improved dramatically.
The thing about Paxlovid is that you have to take it in the early stages of the infection. So if you are feeling sick, get tested - the kits are often free or covered by your insurance and sold at Walmart or any other pharmacy. Like I said, the post office even sends them out for free. If detected early, Paxlovid may help. Since I apparently already had the virus (and am now on the road to wellville) it is too late to take it.
Or maybe I never had it. It is hard to say. The home test kits do report false positives. So it is possible that both Mark and I have a simple cold and not CoVid - and his positive test was a false positive. Further testing may tell us more. I am going to get more test kits today.
So how did we get it? Well, we let our guard down. People have assumed the pandemic is over, even as a new, more easily transmissible variety emerges. Just being in close contact with other people is enough to do the trick, particularly if someone sneezes. Few are wearing masks anymore, or practicing social distancing. Maybe it is time to go back to that.
And it is going around our little island. Several nonagenarians have shuffled off the mortal coil in recent weeks. Getting CoVid at age 98 is often a death sentence - not that you would be expected to live much longer than that, anyway.
Anyway, it is nothing to be taken lightly. At best, you will feel like shit for two weeks. At worst, you could have lifelong complications or even die. So dig out those masks and hand sanitizer - this ain't over yet!
Bummer...
