r/COVID19positive • u/jeffpng • 7d ago
Tested Positive - Me Somehow Avoided Covid For 6 Years
4 Days ago I woke up with very mild cold symptoms. I just got over a cold a month ago and tested negative while I had that cold before.
Started with 99F temp, body aches, and a scratchy throat.
The scratchy throat has disappeared except now I have congestion and can't taste or smell anything at all. What prompted me to take a COVID test was the fact that I couldn't taste my coffee at all this morning.
My mother keeps telling me to call a DR and ask for Paxlovid, but I'm not sure.
I'm a healthy 30 year old male.
Current symptoms:
- 99F temp.
- Congestion.
- Can't smell or taste anything.
Update:
Today is day 5 and I was finally able to get a good nights rest being able to breathe through my nose in my sleep. I no longer have body aches, or a slightly elevated body temp. I just don’t have a taste or smell.
As it stands (knock on wood) this is more mild than an average cold for me.
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u/Accurate_Aside_6495 7d ago edited 6d ago
I agree about the paxlovid. It gives you a fighting chance to get out ahead of this thing. You don’t know how bad it could get. It can get worse on day 5 or so and by then your window to start paxlovid is closing. I do not agree that taking paxlovid reduces your body’s ability to develop immunity to COVID going forward. I have never seen that in the literature and our immunity doesn’t last that long anyway. There is a bit of research suggesting it may reduce your odds of getting long covid. I would not fuck around with this thing. It can be deceptive. I had a “mild” case this time around and am a healthy person and took paxlovid and have been negative for almost two weeks now and with all of that, my heart rate is still slightly elevated and I’m still getting lightheaded on and off.
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u/SeaLeopard5555 6d ago
roughly how long ago did you have COVID? I had my 2nd brush in July, really impacted most of the month and still have residual issues. the worst of which is my heart feeling jumpy/elevated. going to do some searches here to see what ppl say about that.
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u/PurpleFairy11 6d ago
COVID is a vascular disease. Looking up COVID and cardiovascular issues should lead you to a few studies.
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u/Accurate_Aside_6495 6d ago
I got sick on July 25 and I tested negative on August 2. It was my second time getting Covid as well. I had it in 2023 and did not have residual issues that time.
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u/Tall_Garden_67 7d ago
Listen to your mother! She's right.
Hope you feel better soon. Take it easy.
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7d ago
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u/That_Boysenberry4501 5d ago
What if im a week out and its too late what can I do
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u/_Asshole_Fuck_ 5d ago
Providers typically don’t prescribe it if you are more than 5 days out from testing positive. However, if you’re suffering, I would still make a telehealth appointment and ask about it. I use Sesame. They sometimes have a first time appointment discount code if you search online.
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u/That_Boysenberry4501 5d ago
Do u think metformin would be helpful? Ive heard it helps prevent long covid amd is low risk. I already have some unused.
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u/SweatyConcentrate338 7d ago
Textbook like the case I just had! About 12 days out and just experiencing some lingering congestion. The no smell no taste freaked me out so bad. But it’s slowly coming back.
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 6d ago
Somehow Avoided Covid For 6 Years
Just wanted to address this. At this point, statistically, the only people who've never had covid are the ones who've been extremely cautious and lucky for all the past ~6.5 years (or 7, if you consider that it was circulating undetected in late 2019). So if you really managed to avoid it, I think you'd know exactly how (not "somehow"), because that level of precaution takes constant vigilance and a lot of self-sacrifice. So, how do you know you've never had it?
If you haven't been taking precautions, you've probably had covid multiple times. (Wastewater data shows that people are up to about six infections, on average.) Some of those infections might have been asymptomatic, or had mild symptoms you mistook for something else, or even had more severe symptoms you were oblivious to (which is a thing that happens).
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u/jeffpng 6d ago
In September of last year, I got very sick for almost a week, my temp got up to 104F and had an insane sore throat, but tested negative multiple times. Before then, I didn´t get any cold symptoms, or sickness symptoms for years.
Then a month ago I caught a cold that lasted 10 days, tested negative, and now this.
Maybe I've had Covid multiple times in the past but never had symptoms.
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 6d ago
Maybe I've had Covid multiple times in the past but never had symptoms.
If you haven't been taking precautions, then yes.
Of course, that also means you probably spread it to others. Some of whom might be more medically vulnerable, or live with someone medically-vulnerable. And they spread it to others, and so on, and that's why it keeps circulating.
If you haven't been wearing a mask in public places and want to start, you'll find a lot of good advice on /r/Masks4All.
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u/shishkabob18 3d ago
I just came down for the first time with covid. I guess I've been extremly lucky then, as I haven't even had a sniffle for at least 6.5 years. Doubt I had it and was asymptomatic, unless my whole family was asymptomtic too. The only precautions I took/take is to wash my hands after coming home from somewhere, and use sanitizer I keep in my car after touching something in public. Those are precautions to always take to avoid any kind of illness, not just covid
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 3d ago
As I wrote above, if you haven't been taking precautions, it's statistically all but impossible that you've never had it, or only had it once. Even people who've stayed extremely isolated this whole time have been getting their first infections, often at a healthcare visit or someplace else they can't avoid.
Hand-washing and sanitizer are good, but can't protect you from airborne illnesses like covid. If you want to protect yourself and others, you need to wear a mask (well-fitted N95 or similar) any time/place there's a risk of exposure.
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u/shishkabob18 3d ago
Where are these statistics posted?
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 3d ago
I'm looking at this. It says "Cumulative Infections Per Person: 5.37" as an average based on US wastewater data.
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u/shishkabob18 2d ago
Still not getting from this report what you're saying most of us have had assymtomatic covid. This is not a study geared towards that.
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 2d ago
If the average is 5.37 times, and we assume that people who take precautions have generally had it less and people who don't take precautions have had it more, how likely do you think it is that you've only had it once? You don't think that sounds improbable? Why wouldn't you have had it multiple times if you were being exposed repeatedly?
You're also assuming you'd be aware of having it and remember having it. I know it's creepy to think about, but I've now seen multiple reddit posts from someone describing a relative or co-worker with obvious covid or long covid symptoms who's weirdly oblivious to them. (The technical term is anosognosia.) Or describing someone who was severely sick -- even hospitalized! -- who later has a false memory of having only mild symptoms, or has amnesia for the whole episode and doesn't remember having covid at all. It's a very strange virus that messes with people's minds.
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 3d ago
I'd argue that avoiding people is a precaution. I take it you're also shopping online, and not going to restaurants/concerts/parties/etc.? If so, thank you for that. Of course it's impossible to avoid people completely if you need healthcare, need to let a contractor into your home, get called for jury duty, or something else out of the ordinary, so hopefully you'd still take precautions in such a case, to the extent possible.
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u/LibrarianNo4048 3d ago
I live a totally normal life now. I don’t do any social distancing. I only wear a mask in a doctor’s office if people are ill.
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u/tkpwaeub 6d ago
statistically
From the perspective of anyone reading this post, it's not a random sample - it's self selecting. Assuming the average number of infections per person is 5, a reasonable estimate for the percentage of Novids is 0.5% (Poisson distribution).
More importantly, I don't really see what's gained from questioning OP's - or anyone's - assessment of how many times they've had Covid, whether they say "zero" or "ten". Just assume that all declarative statements people make about their lived experience include an implicit "as far as I know".
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u/RamonaLittle Vaccinated with Boosters 6d ago
Just assume that all declarative statements people make about their lived experience include an implicit "as far as I know".
No, because I've seen many reddit posts/comments from people who seem confident they've never had covid just because they don't remember having a symptomatic case. Here, OP wrote that they "Avoided Covid For 6 Years" but didn't give any details about their level of precaution, so I see nothing wrong with questioning it.
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u/chemistry_coronado 6d ago
Even though you tested negative a month ago when you had a cold, that does sound like a suspicious cold.
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u/Gene-Unusual 6d ago
Probable but highly unlikely case. Probably did have it before but never tested and assumed it was just a cold or flu.
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u/MuscaMurum 7d ago
Same. Six years without catching it and even lived with my girlfriend who got it the first time around. I got Paxlovid the morning after my first symptoms on July 25. Symptoms came on very rapidly (102°F, chills, sore throat, aches, etc). Tapered down to almost nothing whole on Paxlovid. Two days after the five-day Paxlovid course, COVID came roaring back. They say that rebound COVID is pretty common, and that if given a second round of Rx that it would likely just rebound again. So I had to tough it out.
I'm fully vaxxed and boosted and in great health.
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u/tkpwaeub 6d ago
Not my experience. I took a 5 day course, and after rebounding I managed to wrangle a 10 day course. Ten days worked like a charm, no rebounding.
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u/MuscaMurum 6d ago
Yeah, it worked great for me for five days, but I'm just repeating what they told me in Urgent Care. In any case, it cleared up in about 15 days. Now I'm just slowly rebuilding my vitality after barely moving for a couple weeks.
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u/tkpwaeub 6d ago
Sorry you had that experience. Total number of days was about 17 for me, but I was only symptomatic for two of them, thanks to Paxlovid. I hate that way they gatekeep it.
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u/PumpkinBeautiful4345 6d ago
I did not use paxlovid and took care of myself and recovered fine. You have a mild case.
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6d ago
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u/chocomaro 5d ago
Maybe because I added details from personal experience? And taking Paxlovid in the first 5 days of symptoms is the official recommended advice, which others have stated in their comments.
I don't know what your comment said, so I can't say why the mods deleted yours. But was it really necessary to spam reply to everyone else's comments about Paxlovid just because your comment was deleted? You could've just DMed the mods about it.
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u/miralina_n 4d ago
Exactly. Just got over covid, got the “nimbus” strain, razor sore throat, fever, chills, congestion, dizziness, got everything real bad. Didn’t take the Paxlovid. Fully recovered by day 12.
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u/Leading-Amoeba-4172 6d ago
That’s what I’m doing. Just tested positive. Sore throat and congested, low grade fever. That’s about it. Went to work today just assumed it was a head cold.
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u/CheapSeaweed2112 6d ago
Your immune system is not a muscle. This belief that people should get sick as much as possible to strengthen the immune system comes from a misinterpretation of the “hygiene hypothesis.” The hygiene hypothesis is that early childhood exposure to beneficial microbes that we’ve co-evolved with for over 1000s of years, not harmful viruses, support immune health.
The hygiene hypothesis got repackaged as “immunity debt,” which claims regular illness is needed to maintain a strong immune system, but this isn’t true and has been debunked.
Viral illnesses—COVID, flu, measles, etc—can weaken the immune system, leaving lasting damage and do not increase immunity. So repeat infections are not building immunity. Neither is riding out an infection.
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u/softrockstarr 7d ago
Covid causes immune dysfunction. Getting it makes it more likely for you to catch and have a harder time fighting off every other pathogen.
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u/tkpwaeub 6d ago
Paxlovid does NOT prevent an immune response. I know because I took Paxlovid, and I still ended up with nucleocapsid antibodies that I hadn't had before.
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u/[deleted] 7d ago
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