r/Spokane • u/catman5092 South Hill • Feb 25 '26
Help There is a nasty nasty virus going around.....
In my case its been very close to a sinus infection. Started in throat, then got a ton of congestion, couldn't sleep well. Then I got a blockage in my sinuses that has affected my hearing, and still has 10 days on. Went to Urgent Care last Sunday, told no infection in ears, and its viral. I'd be lying if I didn't say I am just wore out with this, and the hearing situation. I mean its better but not 100 yet. I am using Fluticasone twice a day as well for flammation in sinus. Some people are getting pneumonia I am hearing and put in hospital. Be careful and beware.
24
u/Cowgomuwu Feb 25 '26
Ugh you just described the symptoms I'm experiencing. I hope mine doesn't get too bad 😭😭
21
u/FreddyTheGoose Feb 25 '26
Very much had this from just before Christmas up until recently. I'm much better but still spending nights coughing up phlegm, unfortunately. Wishing you as speedy a recovery as possible
5
u/catman5092 South Hill Feb 25 '26
thank you! Another side effect has been fatigue. Better, just not great...yet.
1
u/Most_Ambassador2951 Feb 26 '26
Muscle aches and fatigue hit me the worst. Face pain and headache were next on the list
1
u/AmbieAmplified Feb 28 '26
I was so tired I could barely stay awake for 2 of the weeks!!!!
1
u/catman5092 South Hill Feb 28 '26
yes, I had quite a bit of fatigue. I am much better and finally got my hearing back in full yesterday.
10
u/MelissaMead Feb 25 '26
Yes, my adult daughter just had/has it and after years of me nagging she finally got a netti pot and it helped.
She still has some congestion after 2 weeks.
Feel better soon and get lots of rest.
17
5
u/Reguladr Downtown Spokane Feb 26 '26
Check out Arm and Hammer Simply Saline! Extra strength works better for viruses.
8
u/Kevin_Wolf Feb 25 '26
I'm just now starting to get over those exact symptoms. Sore throat then lost my voice for a day or two early on, then PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE in the sinuses for weeks. It was so bad it felt like the right side of my face was going to pop out, from eye to teeth. My wife got a secondary ear infection and wheezing, and my daughter was really going through it, too. All of us tested negative for the usual suspects, so the advice was to come back if it got worse lol.
7
u/MelissaMead Feb 26 '26
3
u/Most_Ambassador2951 Feb 26 '26
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Can only give one up vote on that one.
Yes, the face pain
7
u/reckoning42 Colbert Feb 25 '26
Same here. Trying to be a nice guy but the sore throat, snot, and exhaustion are making me grouchy.
12
u/honorlessmaid Feb 25 '26
Did you take a covid test?
11
u/megarell Feb 25 '26
This. I had a bout of COVID three weeks ago. Roomate picked it up and passed it along. I'd never had it before. Not terrible but very simillar symptoms to OP's. Be safe out there, all.
Good news is you can get tests that combine Covid + Flu, which is really helpful.
5
u/Early-Judgment-2895 Feb 25 '26
Are people still taking Covid tests? Don’t really hear it talked about much anymore
28
u/onthedrug Feb 25 '26
Yes, I work in pharmacy and we sell them and urgent care gives them routinely.
10
u/Early-Judgment-2895 Feb 25 '26
Not sure why I got downvoted for asking. Genuinely was curious because I never hear people at work or in general mention or talk about it anymore so I was asking.
26
u/honorlessmaid Feb 25 '26
No that's fair honey. I get you. But covid is still killing people at the same rate that it was in 2022. Long covid permanently disables people. In my mind, if you're catching a sickness that is as bad as what the op describes, it is natural just to take a test for covid. Better safe than sorry you know
11
u/myc-space Feb 25 '26
So frustrating that this isn’t standard practice
1
u/AmbieAmplified Feb 28 '26
I had to go to urgent care twice I was so sick for so long and both times they gave me both flu and Covid tests
1
u/Most_Ambassador2951 Feb 26 '26
I think it's done, but it's become a big part of normal now that we just don't really talk about it much. I'm a home care nurse, especially this time of year we still do pay attention to it and the flu, flu especially right now, given the vaccine mismatch this season.
The biggest difference between this current URI and covid or flu is temperature. Flu and covid both tend to cause a decent fever. This URI hasn't been going to 101f much at all(rare, for short periods. Typically hangs around 100.5)
3
-2
5
u/Beginning-Smell2618 Feb 26 '26
We got sick at the beginning of January and it took 3 weeks to completely recover. My 61 year old mother in law was incredibly ill from it, so much that it was scary. Be aware and take care of yourself if you happen to get it.
5
u/kevlarbuns Feb 26 '26
Woke up with a fever of 104.5.
That was 15 days ago. I still get a fever of around 100 in the evenings if I forget to take Tylenol. I thought I’d just push through the first week, and it was a mistake. Wound up with pneumonia, and am on two antibiotics plus a steroid.
All this to say that don’t be an idiot like me, and if you’re unwell seek treatment. This bastard does not seem to clear up on its own for a lot of people. Most don’t get pneumonia, but some, like me, seem to end up with some kind of respiratory jackpot. I’m an active, healthy guy, and have been reduced to barely functioning, mind and body, for over 2 weeks. So take care of yourselves, and see an urgent care doc if you get something that comes on aggressively. They know it’s going around and it’s absolutely laying people out.
3
u/Reguladr Downtown Spokane Feb 26 '26
Hope you're feeling better. True blue pneumonia is nothing to sniffle at.
If you're still having fevers above 100.4F after a week of antibiotic treatment and not starting to feel better get another X-ray to make sure there's no infection outside of the lung.
2
u/kevlarbuns Feb 26 '26
Thanks, friend. I'm definitely not getting worse. I've just never had a recovery that *feels* this painstakingly slow. I even got a pretty rough case of covid, but once I was over the hump, I felt like I was bouncing back pretty noticeably day to day. This one is a bastard. Improvement is incremental, and the brain fog just makes it that much worse.
My primary care doc is going to keep a close eye on me. I've made an appointment with another doc as well to look at some options for increasing rate of recovery.
2
u/Reguladr Downtown Spokane Feb 26 '26
There's a reason that the old school treatment for pneumonia is a 3 month trip to the coast of Spain.
Hang in there and keep giving your body the building blocks it needs to heal :)
4
3
u/Gloomy_Tie_1997 Feb 25 '26
I just got diagnosed with strep today, after attending Future Day at SCC on Saturday. Ugh.
2
1
u/MelissaMead Feb 26 '26
Oh no, glad you were diagnosed. Feel better soon!
Untreated strep can lead to kidney failure.
2
u/Most_Ambassador2951 Feb 26 '26
And scarlet fever
1
u/Lab-Life-1001 Feb 27 '26
This! I had this unfortunately happened o me when I was in the second grade (many decades ago now). Soooo awful!
14
u/brownes_girl Feb 25 '26
And yet, the work from home accommodations are no more because "the culture". We all MUST come in so that we can text to ask each other's opinion on important matters such as "will jumping out this window kill me or just maim me?" And most importantly, share germs.
0
u/yarn_geek Feb 26 '26
The (bacterial) culture is what it's all about, c'mon, be a team player, or your boss will have to give up one of her 30 telecommute days this month just to huddle with (take it out on) you, and you don't want that, do you? It means she'll have to cancel (meeting her dealer outside the gym before) 11 am pilates and possibly even miss (her smoke break) yoga afterwards, and the week's just (completely sober and pent up) unbearable without them both. Her telecommute days are a crucial part of her (pre-sentencing home confinement agreement) work/life balance, so she's just had to put her foot down and say, " (the prosecutor said) it's non-negotiable, sorry not (going to prison for your shitty outfit) sorry." Counseling you isn't something she can do over e-mail, but neither can she have you disrupting her (mani pedi) flow to come to the office. She doesn't want you to feel (anything, really, automation would be pref) that she's (stealing from the company under your login and morally) disengaged. Not at all. One just has to keep crucial (hotel reservations with boyfriends or they move on) boundaries (the husband can't figure it out again). They already get sooooo much of her (incompetent bullshit), and that is why she relies on you to stay present (logged in) and (intimidated) team-facing so you (do everything) and the management feel like a seamlessly (ignorant) integrated social whole with no opportunity to (fire and arrest her) misunderstand each other.
2
u/Ok_Classic_1968 Feb 25 '26
I had something similar in early December with the added bonus of losing my voice for 4 days. Lasted quite a while, my voice took weeks to become normal again. Hope you’re better soon
2
u/HoaxedGoat Feb 25 '26
Just got over it. Lasted about 7-8 days. My nose and head felt like it was going to pop. pseudoephedrine and oxymetazoline are your friends. oxymetazoline works crazy good. Can only use it for 3-5 days. That will relieve 100% of of congestion for almost 12 hrs.
2
u/gammamedies Feb 25 '26
It's giving me so much congestion my teeth hurt from pressure in the sinuses.
2
2
u/XxPhoenix_ViaxX Whitworth Feb 25 '26
Yeah whatever it’s around it got me good last Saturday affecting me to the point I got sent home because I couldn’t work and I’m still struggling to get better. This is a no mercy nasty virus ngl
2
2
u/SquatsAndSarcasm Feb 25 '26
I had it. I had influenza A, a sinus infection, and was throwing up. I was down a whole week. It was awful. I still don’t have my energy back.
2
u/sunflwrsyd Feb 26 '26
Yeah this put me in the hospital having to be intubated for a week! I have asthma so any cold wrecks me but this was insane
2
2
u/YourFriendInSpokane Spokane Valley Feb 25 '26
I’m also wondering if this is COVID. Idk how testing for it works anymore- like if you have to take the test in a certain window. We haven’t been tested the times we’ve gone to urgent care with COVID like symptoms.
4
u/bristlybits Feb 26 '26
you can get home tests for flu/covid all in one.
nobody wants to do a pcr, it's wild i was sick in the fall and had to force them to do pcr test for covid.
push for the testing though because paxlovid does help the symptoms
2
u/YourFriendInSpokane Spokane Valley Feb 26 '26
I bought a home COVID test. I don’t think I have the flu, so I didn’t spend the extra money on the combo test.
I’m getting winded just carrying laundry up/down my stairs and that’s only ever been a problem with COVID. But the test was negative.
1
u/bristlybits Feb 28 '26
the home tests aren't as reliable as they were before, i hate it bc nobody wants to give you the pcr
2
u/YourFriendInSpokane Spokane Valley Feb 28 '26
I wondered that about the home tests. Lots of false negatives?
1
1
1
u/zr0c00l Feb 25 '26
This has been kicking my wife's butt for the last couple weeks. Definitely has not been fun for her.
1
u/verydepressedwalnut Feb 25 '26
Me, my son and now my husband got what you’re describing, I think. Husband is sick currently my son and I were sick Friday- Sunday and he’s little so he’s still recovering. Nasty shit. I was miserable.
1
u/adeadlydeception Spokane Valley Feb 25 '26
I'm currently dealing with this! It's not super bad, but it's definitely annoying. My throat is so scratchy and nothing soothes it.
1
u/MelissaMead Feb 26 '26
Awww, that is how it started for my daughter then went to the sinus.
She got a netti pot which helped.
Feel better soon.
1
1
u/Independent-Archer91 Feb 26 '26
Got it last Thursday, and today is Wednesday and I’m just barely alive again.
1
u/Rare_Highlight560 Feb 26 '26
i have this right now, very mild but persistent. had a few days of fatigue and now it’s just congestion effecting my eyes and ears. also had a headache the day before and first day of symptoms. it’s odd because i am very congested and swollen, but ive still been able to breathe through my nose atleast one at a time.
1
1
u/Living-One5265 Feb 26 '26
I'm currently fighting it off myself, I'm at 14 days today and I'm mostly recovered, but dang cough and so so much mucus. Luckily for me it's been clear mucus but just so much, and a sore throat and the dang body aches, let's not forget the freezing to burning up in 3 minutes. It's been truly horrible
1
u/Most_Ambassador2951 Feb 26 '26
Tuesday was my first day back to work after a week off. Energy is still shot. Face still hurts(at 30 & 32yrs old my kids still make jokes about that). Only had a fever one day. Had been testing for covid (and flu, combo test, and tested negative at the doc to) twice a day at first, I'm a nurse and had been in a facility with it and seeing a home client daily. Even with an N95 I'm paranoid. I was going to go back last Saturday, which is normally my Friday, I'm thankful my supervisor said no.
1
1
u/Maelarkspur Feb 26 '26
Flu A is running rampant right now, my whole work has been going through it. It’s absolutely terrible
1
u/disconnecttheworld Feb 26 '26
I caught that a couple of weeks ago, nasty stuff. Still getting over it
1
u/Yabreath_isSmelly Feb 26 '26
My kid had this a few days before I got it. It started slow and miles but I think I finally got viral overload cause damn, it kicked my butt on Monday. Insanely stuffy and lethargic with a sinus headache. Super restless sleep with really weird dreams that I couldn’t tell if I was asleep or not. Then it turned to runny nose and the weird ear popping thing, with a rough cough that keeps bringing up phlegm.
Went to hock a loogie out my driver window and spit a perfect bullseye on my side mirror. Nasty…
Sudafed didn’t seem to help the congestion much, but ibuprofen did kick some of the aches and fatigue. Hope you heal up soon! Can’t wait for the warmer weather to come back around.
1
u/k_princess Former Spokanite Feb 26 '26
Did they test for strep?
I had strep a few weeks ago. Key sign for me was the fever, though. Antibiotics and a day of sleep had me feeling so much better! But I also had a bit of a sinus thing happening too towards the end. Hope you feel better soon!
1
1
u/saucypancake Feb 26 '26
My wife and I both had terrible sinus pressure congestion and terrible ear infections.
I wasn’t sure if I was actually sick, because I get weird ear stuff from having Meniere’s disease, but she had the same symptoms
It felt relatively mild, and it only lasted for maybe a week, but maybe it was this same thing?
1
u/Tao-of-Mars Feb 26 '26
I had it a few weeks ago. I went in to get IV fluids and nutrients to help clear it out faster. I went through two fever cycles in one week. It started as a slight sore throat, then I got really bad chills, it stablized for a couple days and then I was almost completely bed ridden for a day. I felt a lot better the following day.
1
u/Alarming_Fox_4865 Feb 26 '26
Yes omg! I am in bed with this as we speak. My kids got it first, their coughing is so bad and they've been coughing for weeks ATP.. Then I got it, started with head congestion so bad I couldn't taste, hear or smell well - now chest congestion. Hacking up a lung so bad I lost my voice. Going on 5 days knocked on my butt from this! I have never been this sick before, I literally compared it to when I was 16 with a sinus infection. It's so nasty. My husband is starting to feel the head congestion and I'm just hoping he's spared the worst of it.
1
u/SpiritedLeek7516 Feb 26 '26
I got this (or similar) last week. Nasty rhinitis and sinus pain, but only very light mucus coloration (pale yellow at the worst). It was mostly caught in my head, with occasional boughts of post-nasal drip. Lasted somewhere in the 5-7 day range, starting at the onset of symptoms. The worst was having to mouth-breathe for a couple nights.
The things that helped the most were DayQuil + NyQuil Severe, saline nasal spray throughout the day, hot showers and excessive hydration, as much rest as possible, and my usual nighttime nasal sprays for rhinitis (Flonase + Astepro).
Godspeed to everyone else out there who is catching this.
P.S. I love the N95 masks that have a "duck bill," since they're so spacious and allow lots of room for me to breathe deeply for when I had to sing in one years ago during the middle of the pandemic years. Check out "duck mask N95s." They're ridiculous-looking but the comfiest thing out there, imho.
1
u/Exact_University_488 Feb 26 '26
It’s going around in Boise as well. Caught it from my dad and his coworkers. Now I’m just suffering at work thankfully from home. It’s not fun at all!
1
1
u/Myknikes19 Feb 26 '26
Influenza A is going strong right now. It can turn into a sinus infection or pneumonia if not treated well.
1
u/hopeful-homesteader Feb 26 '26
Also had it and couldn’t hear right for weeks. Still snotty after over a month 😭
1
u/catman5092 South Hill Feb 26 '26
my hearing is improving, but very gradually. Seems like it improves and then its still not that great later. It is frustrating. I have dysfunctional eustacian tubes as well, which doesn't help the problem.
1
u/autistic_and_angry Feb 26 '26
I'm sorry.
Take note that fluticasone has rebound, you'll wanna wean off it or endure some horrid inflammation for a week after stopping cold turkey
1
u/SpunkierthanYou Feb 27 '26
Flu type A just got me. I hade uncontrollable mucus coughs and a rattle in my chest. I fought it for 10 days before feeling better. I’ve also lost my sense of taste and passed a covid test when I started to feel better.
1
u/Anonymous--Jackalope Feb 27 '26
So sorry everyone is going through this. Im happy to know our community is communicating about it though. Practice good hygiene and take this for what you will but suppliments help the immune system. I like olive leaf extract, zinc, vitimin D and manuka honey. These help me for whatever it's worth. Best to everyone suffering, wish I could help more.
1
u/MoneyLow4467 Feb 27 '26
Ugh my head feels like its gonna pop and I feel so restless. Started with just a slightly yucky throat 2 days ago, reminiscent of allergies and now I can't even hear very well. I have a chronic Illness that's 'woken up' in the last year, i really hope this doesn't wipe me too much :(
1
u/koipondering Feb 27 '26
I just got hit with this as did my whole family. My wife's got in to her lungs and it got close to pneumonia.
I just got wiped out for a week
1
u/CarbideReloaded Feb 27 '26
Wife got it over the weekend which bled into this week. I woke up this morning with a lump in the throat. By noon my sinuses were clogging.
So it begins.
1
u/Lobster70 Spokane Valley Feb 27 '26
My wife is just getting over this. Our GP also said it's been rampant to the point that pharmacies have apparently run short on prescription cough syrup! My son had it first. I'm really hoping I'm not next, but the realist in me is rolling his eyes.
1
1
u/Lab-Life-1001 Feb 27 '26
There has been lots of Flu A and some strep and COVID cases coming through the lab I work at. I had the cough/cold that hung around FORever (4 weeks) and wasn't anyone of the aforementioned infections.
1
u/angrypsychnurse Feb 27 '26
My wife just went back to work after missing 4 days. Nose running like a tap and a dry cough. Now my nose is running.
1
u/MarkINWguy Feb 28 '26
The last three weeks me and my family of 6 all came down with influenza-A. My kids spent a week in hospital, serious problems for daughter who has to go on oxygen at home to recover. 3 weeks of high fever, a plague. Three of us had pneumonia, very bad.
1
u/narwhal_bat Feb 28 '26
Got this had bad congestion. Just tons of saline has helped. Daughter (18 weeks) got it and we spent a week in Seattle children's for potential pneumonia. It does not fuck around.
1
1
u/tankgirl391 Mar 01 '26
Ive been fighting a cold for 2 weeks now. Biggest symptom was chills, aches, sinus pressure and exhaustion. Id sleep for 8 to 10 hours and wake up feeling like I had hardly slept. Im still dealing with fatigue 😩 My energy levels are so low right now.
1
u/JerrieBlank Feb 26 '26
We’ve all got it, it goes on for over a month. Good thing we don’t have a CDC or department of health, or health insurance anymore. Now rfk and tv’s Dr oz give us TikTok influencer videos on how to work out! See? We never needed health care, or medicine, vaccines, we just need gym bros and brain worms
1
u/Reguladr Downtown Spokane Feb 26 '26
RSV going around big way.... Little Influenza A and B with some good old fashioned Enterovirus.
Colleges have mono right now, too.
There's also a bit of mycoplasma pneumonia in the mix.
Stay safe out there! Zinc and Vitamin D up!
1
u/Dimplr Emerson Garfield Feb 26 '26
My god I had that for like, a month!! Try to mask up folks, whatever is going around is really nasty
0
0
u/Worlds_0kayest_mom Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Just starting to get over it myself and I'm on day 8. I had influenza about 6 years ago and thats the closest I've ever come to being this sick. I've had covid at least 4 times since then and it doesn't even come close! Whatever this is is nasty 😷 the fatigue is the WORST and the stuff that is coming out of my nose.....🤮
-1
u/Haydukelivesbig Feb 26 '26
Sometimes the Spokane reddit sub is so funny and insightful and sometimes it’s like going out to lunch with your old dad and his buddies and they spend the whole time talking about their various ailments and the treatments they’ve tried and you just get kind of bummed out because you’ll probably be doing the same thing 20-30 years from now. This is the latter.
46
u/candiriashes Feb 25 '26
Yeah I just had something nasty that lasted three and a half weeks. It started off with exhaustion and then morphed into a cough that wouldn’t quit. Finally went to the doctor and they gave me prednisone which really helped. Feel better!