Best 2 out of 3?

[Prophet Zacharia]

I started coughing last night. Scratchy throat. No big deal, just like a cold (which I haven't had one of in two years), but my boss is hyper vigilant about any upper respiratory symptoms. So I tested at home with an antigen test, negative.

Went to work (we wear masks), but started having a coughing fit and left early. Did a PCR test, which is pending. Felt worse at home, headache, ongoing coughing, runny nose. Slight muscle aches. Did a second antigen test, again negative! 
 

I still think I will sleep on the couch tonight, but have my fingers crossed that the PCR result isn’t going to sink me tomorrow.

[Further]

There are still the regular old bugs going around 

[Prophet Zacharia]

Just now, Further said:

There are still the regular old bugs going around 

I’m praying for a simple common cold like I’ve never wanted one before.

[Airehead]

Colds, RSV, and strep throat all goi g around my area. 

[Airehead]

Oh yeah and COVID too but this strain seems to present more with the worst fatigue people have ever had. 

[ChrisL]

52 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I’m praying for a simple common cold like I’ve never wanted one before.

Hang in there bro.  Best to assume it’s the Rona & isolate.  

I have a nagging sinus thing going on but nothing like when I got Covid. I tested last week and was negative. 

[jsharr ★]

Could be reverse PRI.  Have you kissed any ass recently?

[Prophet Zacharia]

Positive by PCR. Fortunately, I avoided my family today, wore a mask when driving with my son. Hopefully he avoids this, he’s set to resume college classes on Monday. 

[jsharr ★]

10 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Positive by PCR. Fortunately, I avoided my family today, wore a mask when driving with my son. Hopefully he avoids this, he’s set to resume college classes on Monday. 

Sorry brother.  Prayers for healing 

[Airehead]

Rest and hydrate. Take it seriously. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

I’m going to start Paxlovid. Should shorten duration and improve symptoms quickly. I’m in the “moderate” cold-like symptom range currently. I was able to work from home today and hope to be able to do so for the duration of my quarantine. I’d probably still go to work in the office if this were a simple cold, but not if it gets any worse. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

On the plus side, no one else in my family is reporting any symptoms.

[Razors Edge ★]

15 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Positive by PCR. Fortunately, I avoided my family today, wore a mask when driving with my son. Hopefully he avoids this, he’s set to resume college classes on Monday. 

It was never in doubt.  "Cold"? "Allergies"? Other stuff don't add up - especially in August during the highly transmissive variant of COVID we have right now.  

You'll be fine.  It is good you can work from home .  I was fine working (with Dayquil), so it was less awful than it would have been with Delta.

[Prophet Zacharia]

9 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

It was never in doubt.

Probably true. Two negative antigen tests maintained some hope for a few hours, but I took the second one anticipating the first one had been wrong, as I went from just a scattered light cough and scratchy throat to being a bit more ill. But I acted like I had it, just to be safe.

[Parr8hed]

 

[Parr8hed]

Hope you feel better soon. 

 

[Prophet Zacharia]

15 minutes ago, Parr8hed said:

 

It’s HOF stats for baseball!

[Randomguy]

2 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I’m going to start Paxlovid.

I wish I had done that!  You will be feeling fine before you know it.

[Razors Edge ★]

3 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I’m going to start Paxlovid.

Is Paxlovid something that is just a "normal" treatment now? 

Jeanette Witten recently rummaged through her pantry for Red Hots, the cinnamon-flavored candy.

The 56-year-old in Montclair, N.J., was looking for a reprieve from a persistent residual taste—“like your mouth is just clenched around a grapefruit rind”—that came after she took Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral drug to treat Covid-19. 

Ms. Witten is one of many people who have scouted remedies for what is informally known as Paxlovid mouth, a taste that can linger for as long as you take the drug. Patients who have taken Paxlovid have described it as sun-baked trash-bag liquid, a mouthful of dirty pennies and rotten soymilk. They have tried to erase the taste with salves from cinnamon to milk to pineapple. They are also trading strategies online. 

A Pfizer spokesperson acknowledged the side effect, called dysgeusia, and pointed to a study that found the symptom occurred 5.6% of the time people took the drug. The study was funded by Pfizer and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The company said most patients’ dysgeusia symptoms were mild.

The culprit is likely ritonavir, a part of the drug that is used to boost levels of antiviral medicines, doctors say. Ritonavir has a known association with dysgeusia. It is a small price to pay given the nearly 90% reduction in hospitalization and death among those at risk for severe disease from Covid-19, say doctors and people who have taken the medication. 

But it’s still hard for many patients to stomach.

Lisa Crawford, 35, scoured the internet for potential remedies after the taste hit her: “It was like the smell that hot garbage has, but in your mouth.” 

[Prophet Zacharia]

8 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Is Paxlovid something that is just a "normal" treatment now? 

I’m a pretty big deal, so I don’t know what the others get. 
My wife and FIL both got gamma-globulin offers, my FIL took it, my wife did not. This seems like a safer course.

So I have a 94.4% chance of not getting a bad taste in my mouth? I’ll take that chance. Maybe I won’t lose my taste by taking it? That plagued my wife for months after her delta course. And I’m getting sicker as the day progresses, into flu-like symptoms. I’d like to reverse that course ASAP.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Mild metallic taste. 90% symptom improvement in last 12 hours. Not a bad trade off.

[Ralphie ★]

Nice work minimizing exposures. Sorry you got it.

 

[Razors Edge ★]

4 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Mild metallic taste. 90% symptom improvement in last 12 hours. Not a bad trade off.

I had three days/nights of Dayquil/Nyquil, so I wonder if that would have just been one day/night of the Paxlovid?  Metallic taste?  Interesting, but hopefully something gone as quick as COVID!

[Prophet Zacharia]

2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

 Interesting, but hopefully something gone as quick as COVID

The metallic taste is gone now, not sure what to make of that. Food tastes good, nasal congestion now minimal, all good things.

My wife has started to have a cough, though. 😪

[Kirby]

Sorry to hear it, but hope your symptoms aren't too bad and that you feel better soon.

Don't be in a rush to work a full schedule from home.  Listen to your body and rest when you need it.  That's also an important part of healing.

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 minute ago, Kirby said:

Don't be in a rush to work a full schedule from home. 

Ha! My boss is expecting my to do an antigen test on Monday and return on Tuesday if negative, so he can go out of town on company business. I could test M/T or Wednesday, but he needs me back on Tuesday. The problem is, if I don’t test negative on Monday, I can’t retest again on Tuesday or Wednesday, I’d have to continue quarantine for the full 10 days. So it’s a gamble.

[Prophet Zacharia]

My wife, despite her cough, sniffles and sneezing has eked out three negative tests, including a PCR.  I did another antigen test just to make sure they’re not defective!

[Airehead]

She may be one of the ones who take the full ten days post exposure to test positive, but I hope not. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

4 minutes ago, Airehead said:

She may be one of the ones who take the full ten days post exposure to test positive, but I hope not. 

I personally suspect a repeat PCR today would turn positive, and the antigen test is just lagging, but who knows.  At least she doesn’t feel too badly.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Fourth time is the charm. She’s positive by antigen test this morning. At least we can take off the masks at home now. And both boys are away and still symptom free.

[Airehead]

9 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Fourth time is the charm. She’s positive by antigen test this morning. At least we can take off the masks at home now. And both boys are away and still symptom free.

I am sorry. Do you need anything ?  Groceries?

[Prophet Zacharia]

19 minutes ago, Airehead said:

I am sorry. Do you need anything ?  Groceries?

Thanks, but we are good. We just had two teen boys move out, so our food supplies will last! And I feel absolutely fine now and can do curbside pick up and at point, and delivery has diverse options.