I have not been feeling well for 3+ weeks now, it started off with a bad cold or so I thought it was. The usual associated stuff with that; cough, congestion, sore throat etc

I don’t recall having a fever at all, though.

That ended up morphing into a really nasty sinus infection, and I finally got some medication for it.

But now for the past week and a half or so, I’ve just felt lousy like I have a little touch of flu or something. My head feels like it’s in a fog and to be honest it feels like I have a hangover that just won’t go away.

The strangest thing is the random spots on my body that got sore to the touch, tender, almost, like I had burned it or something.

Started with the top of my head and then that eased up and now it’s my one arm and wrist just feels sore to the touch. I mentioned this all to a friend who works as a clinical data scientist and he said “you may have long Covid going on here”. He mentioned that could be an immune response from my body.

I went to the urgent care a few days ago and they checked me for strep, Covid and flu and it all came back negative, they also took a chest x-ray because I had a nagging cough that just wouldn’t stop.

The doctor just sort of threw up his hands and said “I don’t know, there’s a lot of viruses going around right now, you could have any one of them”.

Could I have gotten whacked with this latest Covid strain and not realized it?

Has anyone else had the brain fog/hangover feeling and the soreness like this? I’ve never experienced that before.

Seems there’s something called RSV going around and it can be nasty if you’re older.
Those sound like the symptoms to me, for what that’s worth.

I've had all of those symptoms long before I heard the word "Covid". The symptoms of so-called long Covid are strikingly similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which started for me when I was 18 from a crash trauma (I'm now 64).

Some are thinking that long Covid is just another name for CFS. If it is, I hope your case isn't anywhere as long or severe as my case.

Is Long COVID Really Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Another Name?

Are you vaccinated???
Here is why I ask.
After the first shot every muscle and joint in my body was sore for about 5 days nothing debilitating but like I had done a pretty good workout routine I had not done on a muscle group in awhile. It went away after 5 days.
After shot number 2 the same thing happened. However it did not go away after 5 days. After a month I was getting concerned and decided to go to the doctor.
I had to go to Physical Therapy twice a week for 3 months to get back to normal.
Now here we are almost 2 years out and about once a month I wake up with my back, shoulders, and arms just being sore, enough to keep me awake. I take a couple advil and call back to sleep.
Now, here for the past 2 or 3 months I am just kind of sore most of the time when I am not moving and just trying to relax. Nothing debilitating or really painful just a low dull annoying pain. On random occasions I will get really pointed pains in the bottom of my feet, calfs, and quads.
I too am tired pretty much all the time regardless of how much I sleep. I always get a couple sinus infections a year and a couple days of coughing but those have been no difference than past years.
I have never been tested for Covid nor do I really feel like I ever had it. Same with my wife or kids.
I have my 6 month physical on Friday and am going to bring it up with my Doctor.
I am also going to try float therapy and see if I can get my body to reset.

There are some tests that (allegedly) detect if you've had covid in the past on a much longer time frame.

Since I don't know whose info to trust, I will leave it to you to do your own research.

It does sound like you had it and are now experiencing side effects to me, but I'm certainly not qualified to diagnose for realsies.

My own experience is that I've tested positive twice and was miserable for about ten days both times. Even though it's been months, I still get a weird burnt rubber kind of smell that comes and goes at random. Thankfully, nothing worse than that for me...yet.

Yeah, probably. You're still alive though.

Surprise!!

RMD

Have blood drawn and test for anti-bodies??

^I would agree. You can have antibodies in your system for several months. Realize, though, that a negative result does not necessarily rule out your having Covid, just that the antibodies are no longer around.

My wife and I came down with Coldvidflumonia (term created by somebody on another forum) a week before Christmas. We were pretty sick for a couple weeks. Then the after-effects just hung around. They're still hanging around, but getting a bit milder every day.

A lot of coughing. We never coughed so much, so hard, in our lives. So bad it bacame downright painful. Had the "head fog." Would become exhausted doing almost nothing.

If your GP can’t answer your question you need to start looking for a better GP.

quote:

The strangest thing is the random spots on my body that got sore to the touch, tender, almost, like I had burned it or something.

Again, CFS and Fibromyalgia go hand-in-hand. Part of the criteria for diagnosing FM is specific pain points, just as you're describing.

General Practictioners are just that. These questions should be directed towards an Infectious Disease specialist. There is a huge base of knowedge in medicine, that is why we have Specialists.

quote:

The strangest thing is the random spots on my body that got sore to the touch, tender, almost, like I had burned it or something.

That's interesting, and not something I've heard associated with any of the common stuff - COVID, etc.

The urgent care doc probably wasn't an infectious disease specialist. I'd chat with my internist's office and see what they say the next step might be - see them, see an ID specialist, see someone else, get some tests, just keep an eye on it, ....

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
General Practictioners are just that. These questions should be directed towards an Infectious Disease specialist.
<snip>

A competent GP will know if a specialist is required and, if so, direct you to one.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

The strangest thing is the random spots on my body that got sore to the touch, tender, almost, like I had burned it or something.

That's interesting, and not something I've heard associated with any of the common stuff - COVID, etc.

Yeah, that's a new one on me, too.

So, I am feeling somewhat better today.

Went to bed the past couple nights extra early and I think that helped. The weird sore spots have all but gone except for one small area on my left wrist.

Friend of mine told me that could be my body’s immune response to something. Coworker in my office just tested postive with a pretty nasty case of Covid, just like me it’s all sinus this time and not lungs.

As far as people telling me, my GP doesn’t know what they are talking about, I basically do not have a GP anymore at this time. Cannot get into this place, the reviews have gotten progressively worse for it and we are now switching to a new practice. I basically have used the local urgent care over the past three years as my GP for any routine stuff.

I don't mean this against anyone personally but at this point...who the hell cares if it's covid or whatever. The flue, common cold, covid, etc. Get some sleep, drink lots of water and come back to work when your fever is gone.
Just like we've done for the last 100000 years.

All test have a false positive and negative rate. None are 100% perfect. It is possible you got a false negative on one of those tests, but not terribly likely. In my limited experience, the COVID nose swab test are more likely to give false negatives if the infection has just started. Once you have felt like shit for a few days. They generally show positive pretty fast. When you STOP testing positive on the home tests is a bit more of a crap shoot. Most of the folks who told me about their test results didn’t have a negative test until at least 10 days after they first felt bad, and pretty much no one was testing positive after three full weeks. Between 10 and 21 days it was a crap shoot when the tests would stop coming back positive.

So, if you didn’t get testing until a couple weeks after you first got sick, I’d say it’s possible you had it originally, and weren’t showing positive by the time you got nose-probed. You could do a home test and see if it comes back negative as well as a quick ‘second opinion’. If you really want to know, the blood test will register antibodies at lower levels than the nose poker. I’m not a doctor, this isn’t medical advice, YMMV, etc.

- Bret

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I don't mean this against anyone personally but at this point...who the hell cares if it's covid or whatever. The flue, common cold, covid, etc. Get some sleep, drink lots of water and come back to work when your fever is gone.
Just like we've done for the last 100000 years.

Yep.

Did I Have Covid And Not Realize It Until Now?
Who knows?
Doesn't really matter what you call it. You were sick.

That's why I haven't been tested except once when required for a special event. Why feed the narrative?

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I don't mean this against anyone personally but at this point...who the hell cares if it's covid or whatever. The flue, common cold, covid, etc. Get some sleep, drink lots of water and come back to work when your fever is gone.
Just like we've done for the last 100000 years.

Sure, unless it turns into long Covid like I have and Monte later the extreme fatigue does not go away. It affects people differently and some long term affects are debilitating. I am fortunate to have found relief after several months.