CORONA How Many of Us Have Already Had It ?

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Admins, if this is a dupe question, please feel free to lock of remove the thread. I didn't even know how to begin to search the thousands of related posts to see if it has already been discussed, but ...

Have any of you wondered if you've maybe already caught this and got over it before all this hype, thinking it was just another seasonal virus? It's been around for quite a while ( December at least ) and personally, I remember getting a week-long flu in early January after all the Fall and late Fall bugs had come and gone. My wife got it too, but hers drug out for pretty much the entire month of January ... relentless cough, fever, chills, aches, lung butter, etc. Makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe we've already had it?

Thoughts?

 

[onmyown30]

We got back from Amsterdam Jan 23rd and I was down with a cold for a week or so afterwards. Basically a dry hacking cough and a headache no fever. Never bad enough to go to the doctors so not sure

 

[greysage]

Right after Thanksgiving I got sore throat, cough, headache, etc. Turned into bronchitis. Antibiotics. Mid January before I said I was past it.

 

[Blacknarwhal]

Who knows?

 

[dioptase]

Exactly - who knows. DH and I came back from air travel/convention mid February. On the day we returned home, he was feeling sick with some respiratory crud. He is mostly recovered, but he is still off/on coughing. No fever through any of it.

I didn't get sick like him, but I was flattened with fatigue for that week after we got home, and have had a slight on/off cough and congestion since then, which I attribute to seasonal allergies... but maybe not.

Everyone is moaning about a lack of tests to see if you currently have it... I wish we had a test to see if we ALREADY had it. (Though, like the flu, this thing mutates and has different strains, so maybe much good it would do you if you DID already have it.)

 

[seraphima]

We need a test for antibodies, so we know how many people have had it. No way to estimate herd immunity (estimated to need ~80% of population). Right now, we only have official numbers of those who have tested positive and then recover.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Is there an antibody test? Too bad you couldn't go in for that. Imagine the relief if you knew it was behind you.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

(Though, like the flu, this thing mutates and has different strains, so maybe much good it would do you if you DID already have it.)

That's always going to be the case, tho. And mutations that reinfect can't be all that common, or we'd all have the flu and colds from October to March.

 

[Grock]

It would be a boon for healthcare if we could determine who has already had it. Even us old ex paramedic types could lend a hand, and relieve some of the uninfected medical staffers if we knew we had at least conditional immunity. Think of the amount of PPE that could be saved nationwide.
The largest failure, by far in this entire shitshow, is the CDC's complete incompetence in the testing of America for this virus.
Every one of those affirmative action, obesity battling bastards should be fired with prejudice.

 

[samus79]

I’ve been wondering that myself, right after Christmas I came down with a wicked flu that lasted about two weeks into January. Very bad fever that lasted almost 5 days, horrible cold chills and sweating. I would sweat so much at night I would soak the sheets down to the mattress. No respatory symptoms except a runny nose. Once I got over most of the bad stuff I still didn’t feel right for two more weeks. I’ve never had a flu like that in my life.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Think about it folks.

 

[Wildwood]

I'm beginning to wonder. I've had this strange...well I don't really know what to call it. It's not really a cold but I've had it for over a month. I feel a little run down and my throat will feel like it's going to get sore but never really does. I've been blaming allergies because there is a little drainage down the back of my throat and more recently, I've started running a low grade fever and coughing the drainage up. Day before yesterday I threw my back out for the first time in years but I'm not sure how. I was doing some lifting and working on my pantry so I assumed that's what did it but it doesn't feel exactly like an injury. Antibiotics haven't helped. For a while it would get better for a few days but now it just stays and the tired run down feeling is worse plus the fever lasts longer.

To make things a little worse, I'm having what I assume is a little appetite fatigue and having a lot of trouble sleeping. I feel all the time like I'm either getting over a virus or just coming down with one. I'm doing all the usual vitamins and supplements but nothing seems to make any difference. It doesn't matter because I couldn't get tested any way.

 

[Delta]

Great question. I haven't had anything I called the flu since 1991. But I wonder if my sister and wife had this a month or so ago. It would be nice to know.

 

[Sweetwood]

Right before Christmas I had “severe bronchitis” according to the doctor. I was down for nearly 10 days. I had a continuous fever for 3 days straight. I was miserable!

 

[et2]

early last month had something. Started as a cough that was somewhat productive. Couple fevers for a short period, definitely chills. Very weak ( could hardly walk), off balance for two days.Night sweats. Got meds from doc and paid him a visit. Mostly better now but still have a slight cough hanging around. Last week had a stomach bug (nasty).

Who knows, could have been a couple normal flu strains I got. I wonder the same ...

 

[et2]

Yeah, taking 2000mg of vitC daily, B12, D with emergenC, taking pills to break up mucus from my lungs Since all I went through the last month

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

I've been eating lots of rainbow sherbet to keep my strength up. My puppy Izzy likes to help.

 

[gillmanNSF]

This is just the speculation a bunch of us are making at my work place. We were a cluster of 10 who got sick within a week, the week of February 10th, with fever and cough, which lasted for a few weeks after. My fever was between 99.6 and 101.6 for 4-5 days. I even remember not being able to taste food, which was a new symptom for coronavirus, mentioned in the news a few days ago. One of us finally went to see his doctor, because the cough wasn't subsiding, and got a test for influenza which came back negative. So what was it? Everyone who got it said it was worse than anything they had had in the past 20-30 years. Everyone got better at different times. For some, the cough dragged on for more than a few weeks. I believe the virus has been around long before the epidemic in China was made known to us. People have been flying to and from Wuhan up to the time flights were banned.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Yep. A lot of people, self and wife include, have had this "odd" flu this year. Wasn't particularly bad; just persistent and very irritating.

 

[JMG91]

I’ve been wondering that myself, right after Christmas I came down with a wicked flu that lasted about two weeks into January. Very bad fever that lasted almost 5 days, horrible cold chills and sweating. I would sweat so much at night I would soak the sheets down to the mattress. No respatory symptoms except a runny nose. Once I got over most of the bad stuff I still didn’t feel right for two more weeks. I’ve never had a flu like that in my life.

I had something very similar in early January. High fever, horrible long-lasting chest cough, but no other symptoms. I went to get checked out--since I'm pregnant, and my symptoms were strange--and they told me that I tested negative for influenza, but never told me what I had. I suspect they didn't know. When the fever broke two days later, I sweat like a pig! That night, the sweating wouldn't stop, and I went through FIVE pairs of pajamas before I was able to sleep without "wetting the bed."

Whatever it was, I was the last in the family to get it, and my DH originally picked it up at his firefighter training class. (The entire class was sick.)

 

[bluelady]

I'm beginning to wonder. I've had this strange...well I don't really know what to call it. It's not really a cold but I've had it for over a month. I feel a little run down and my throat will feel like it's going to get sore but never really does. I've been blaming allergies because there is a little drainage down the back of my throat and more recently, I've started running a low grade fever and coughing the drainage up. Day before yesterday I threw my back out for the first time in years but I'm not sure how. I was doing some lifting and working on my pantry so I assumed that's what did it but it doesn't feel exactly like an injury. Antibiotics haven't helped. For a while it would get better for a few days but now it just stays and the tired run down feeling is worse plus the fever lasts longer.

To make things a little worse, I'm having what I assume is a little appetite fatigue and having a lot of trouble sleeping. I feel all the time like I'm either getting over a virus or just coming down with one. I'm doing all the usual vitamins and supplements but nothing seems to make any difference. It doesn't matter because I couldn't get tested any way.

I feel exactly the same!

It started with a headache for 5 days; unusual for me unless it's flu with a high fever. My head/sinuses/ears were/are somewhat stuffy, and my throat all along feels like I'm going to come down with something tomorrow. Five days ago I started a low grade fever, then a couple of days ago a tight chest and cough. The whole time I've been very tired & run down, to the point of being shaky at times, but then I was exhausted & stressed before things closed & we quarantined. Periodically for years I will get heart pounding/palpitations, mainly at night, but they never last long; I've been having them throughout this thing, so it's very hard to sleep. And my appetite is down also; normally not a bad thing...LOL!

Way at the beginning I started to take a LOT of stuff including C, D, and Sambucol, and upped them greatly and added more stuff when symptoms started. It's sort of like a cold gone sideways, but normally taking all this stuff would knock out a cold. I'm also wondering if it's the flu but taking SO much stuff is kind of holding it back. Or of course the C word....is it THAT and all the stuff holding it to a minimum? I'm really sick of swallowing tablets & drinking tea with weird things in it...LOL!...but I don't dare slow down unless I know what it is.

I had a telemed appointment this morning with our nurse practitioner, but because it's all so mild she just said to start taking expectorant (hasn't made me cough anything up yet) and call if it gets bad. Her office does testing with a 48-hour turn around, but only if you're severe. Basically when it's too late, I think. Someone posted on Facebook that two in their family had been sent home from our local hospital with diagnosis of Covid19, but no testing was done. So how will we ever know???

As far as the flu last winter, the grands each had it about 3 times; a couple of times negative for the flu, at least once positive (will have to ask DIL if it was A or B), and I caught it from them a couple of times. So I still think the winter ones were at least partly just the flu. I didn't hear of anyone locally having any serious complications; seems there would have been some if was actually Covid19.

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

My daughter told me her husband & 1 of their 4 kids were down with something nasty over New year xtending to mid Jan. 2 of the others had something starting mid Jan, another 2 weeks, all had high fevers. Her & the baby never got sick. She has type O blood. They live in Denver.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Kinda makes you wonder if the panic is being promoted to act as a cover for a graceful reset of the economy, vs an impeding bubble burst predicted last fall some time.

 

[atropa]

We all had something a couple of months back. Had all the symptoms. Daughter was the only one tested for flu but it was negative. Took us each about 3 weeks to get over it. I'm praying that was it because it would be wonderful to know that my daughter made it through with her immune system being compromised.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

My daughter told me her husband & 1 of their 4 kids were down with something nasty over New year xtending to mid Jan. 2 of the others had something starting mid Jan, another 2 weeks, all had high fevers. Her & the baby never got sick. She has type O blood. They live in Denver.

That's the time this strange "flu" started hitting a lot of people.

 

[Signwatcher]

I am seriously wondering if it was the Coronavirus and not Influenza B that we had at the end of December. Only God knows and He's not telling.

Every once-in-a-while I still get a coughing fit reminiscent of that vile bug. Like it will never really ever go away.

 

[lakemom]

I've been snotting & hacking since October. Sometimes worse than others, but a month or two ago I felt like HELL. Mildly sore throat, snotting like crazy, which naturally drained down the back of my throat, making me hack crap up. Still hacking crap up. I don't THINK I ever ran a fever, but I sure felt like hell for a week or so.

But, to directly answer your question...who knows? About any of us could have had one of the milder cases (not likely in my case since I'm in my 50's & smoked for 40 of those) and never realized it. I think there's a LOT more people who have/have had it and will never definitively know.

ETA: DD got sick in ?January?, doc said it wasn't flu, diagnosed it as bronchitis, gave her meds & sent her home. Fever, chills, body aches, hacking up nasty stuff.

ETA again: She came down with in mid-December and didn't get completely over it for a couple of months.

 

[nebb]

Mine was late Jan early Feb, no fever but felt lousy with productive cough. I sleep inclined anyways but I could hear the crackles in my lungs when breathing.......never struggled to breath just noisy. I used OTC meds and my Fire Tonic.....to awhile to get back to normal especially with allergy season starting.

 

[samus79]

I had something very similar in early January. High fever, horrible long-lasting chest cough, but no other symptoms. I went to get checked out--since I'm pregnant, and my symptoms were strange--and they told me that I tested negative for influenza, but never told me what I had. I suspect they didn't know. When the fever broke two days later, I sweat like a pig! That night, the sweating wouldn't stop, and I went through FIVE pairs of pajamas before I was able to sleep without "wetting the bed."

Whatever it was, I was the last in the family to get it, and my DH originally picked it up at his firefighter training class. (The entire class was sick.)

Thats another clue for me too, whatever it was I had was highly contagious. Swept through my workplace and a whole bunch of us got it around the same time, me and my manager seemed to get it the worst but we are the two oldest guys there.

 

[AlaskaSue]

To be honest, the thought has actually crossed my mind that I may have had it in January. I was so, so sick down in Florida on my extended stay...very heavy congestion like I've never had and just couldn't kick it; I think I hit all the symptoms I've seen for it. Not the flu, was put on Breo (steroid inhaler). Of course I really want to avoid it - I am really praying it misses my Florida family; DIL is a physician who sees a lot of patients every day.

 

[stormie]

Strange you would ask this. A couple of days ago out of the blue I wondered the same thing about myself. I had a bad flu like upper respiratory thing the last week of December. I went to the doctor to be tested for the flu. Test came back negative for influenza A and B. I got better after a week and then it hit again 2 weeks later. Strangest cold I've ever had. I was sick with low grade fever, body aches, lots of congestion and weakness. It really felt as bad as the flu.

 

[compchyk]

Beginning of Feb, felt a bit dizzy bp was elevated then one night diahrea and vomiting which lasted 3 days. Very high fever and barely had enough strength to get out of bed to feed the cats. THANK GOD for home grocery delivery! Took me about 5 days to get past 2 bites of bread for the day - only thing I could get to stay down was lemon juice and water. The the cough and stuff coming out of a lung started. I was megadosing with AHCC during the whole time. I would say it easily took about 3 weeks until I started to get strength back. Wasn't an issue working since I work from home 100% of the time.

 

[USDA]

At 76 I am full of frailties. Arthritis, COPD, Atrial Fib etc...in Oct I became very ill and could not catch my breath. Went to ER and have spots on my lungs, but that didn't seem to worry anyone...the upshot was that I needed a CPAP test and machine...my O2 was study about 95 or 93 but never lower.
I ended up sleeping setting up in a chair for a month. Hardly sleeping really and the CPAP machine was impossible for me.
I simply couldn't catch my breath. Finally I went to an acupuncturist...and when I left after that first visit...I finally felt I could catch my breath...and within a few days, could sleep lying down in bed.
What was frustrating, nobody took me seriously that I simply could hardly breath and felt I was being slowly strangled. After all the O2 sat was always more or less in OK range.
I kept thinking I was dying and frankly prayed for it...pain in the body is normal for me and I take Tylenol for it (not Ibuprofen due to blood thinners I take)...so I don't know if I had a fever or not. But I did have a bad non productive cough and still have it to a degree.
The virus was unknown at the time.
I can say I do not want to go through that again.






a

 

[bluelady]

Is it OK if I just self-quarantine for the rest of my life?

I'd actually be serious if it wasn't for the kids & grandkids.

 

[Wildwood]

I feel exactly the same!

It started with a headache for 5 days; unusual for me unless it's flu with a high fever. My head/sinuses/ears were/are somewhat stuffy, and my throat all along feels like I'm going to come down with something tomorrow. Five days ago I started a low grade fever, then a couple of days ago a tight chest and cough. The whole time I've been very tired & run down, to the point of being shaky at times, but then I was exhausted & stressed before things closed & we quarantined. Periodically for years I will get heart pounding/palpitations, mainly at night, but they never last long; I've been having them throughout this thing, so it's very hard to sleep. And my appetite is down also; normally not a bad thing...LOL!

Way at the beginning I started to take a LOT of stuff including C, D, and Sambucol, and upped them greatly and added more stuff when symptoms started. It's sort of like a cold gone sideways, but normally taking all this stuff would knock out a cold. I'm also wondering if it's the flu but taking SO much stuff is kind of holding it back. Or of course the C word....is it THAT and all the stuff holding it to a minimum? I'm really sick of swallowing tablets & drinking tea with weird things in it...LOL!...but I don't dare slow down unless I know what it is.

I had a telemed appointment this morning with our nurse practitioner, but because it's all so mild she just said to start taking expectorant (hasn't made me cough anything up yet) and call if it gets bad. Her office does testing with a 48-hour turn around, but only if you're severe. Basically when it's too late, I think. Someone posted on Facebook that two in their family had been sent home from our local hospital with diagnosis of Covid19, but no testing was done. So how will we ever know???

As far as the flu last winter, the grands each had it about 3 times; a couple of times negative for the flu, at least once positive (will have to ask DIL if it was A or B), and I caught it from them a couple of times. So I still think the winter ones were at least partly just the flu. I didn't hear of anyone locally having any serious complications; seems there would have been some if was actually Covid19.

It's very frustrating! I know better than to even try to go see a Dr. I did have palpitations for a short while with this but I upped my magnesium and that seemed to help. I started taking c and d early on and have since added Lugol's iodine, zinc, selenium, b6 and k2 since I'm taking a higher dose of d. I did switch from regular c to liposomal c and that seemed to help a little but it may just be the bigger dose 3000mg a day. Also, last night,as a last resort, I started amoxicillin again so we will see. I haven't had any chest issues yet but most days I take a mucinex and that helps...mine feels more bronchial than something like pneumonia. I always take benadryl at night and melatonin. I have year round allergies that are easily controled with that one benadryl.

My grands had flu A about a month ago and they were here when they came down with it. I have wondered the same as you...am I fighting it off just enough to keep from having a full blown case of flu. I normally have a very strong immune system. Also, this is a bad year here for allergies and I'm allergic to a lot but I've had my allergies under control for years. However, when my immune system is low, they rear their ugly head. I have also been strung a little tight getting ready for this virus. I just had a gut feeling early on to do all I could in every area of preps, especially medical so I've burned the midnight oil researching and making shopping lists. I feel good about what I was able to do and once I ran out of extra money, I felt a peace that I had chosen well and quit stressing quite so much. My business has stopped dead in it's tracks and DH's job is on the line but for some reason. I'm not worried about that yet.

Thirty years ago I had a fever of unknown origin for months and it took me a year to get over it and back to normal. I shudder at the thought that I took ten rounds of antibiotics before I gave up and took control of my own health. I completely gave up sugar, most carbs and added a ton of supplements...I'm about ready to try it again.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

USDA, don't feel alone. I've had a bout of dyspnea ( difficult to catch your breath ) since the fall of 2017 after I caught some mild but lingering 4 wk long bug. Got really bad that winter. Feels like you can't get that deep breath, then when you finally do, the cycle starts all over again. Blew my $3K deductible on several doctors where nothing was found, and its not silly "anxiety" as the first quack suggested, where his mind was made up before he examined me. I'm seldom anxious about anything and when I am, I can actually breather better. They never figured out what it was, and I still have it, tho not as severe. You learn to ignore it. In my case, I'm getting enough O2 ... just don't think every part of my lungs are, and those are the areas producing the feeling. I also have a mild cough associated with it, so phlegm is a factor somehow. I don't smoke, BTW. Also worth mentioning is that I've had this on and off my entire adult life, about every three or four years it would flare up for no reason and last for a couple weeks each time. This current bout, however has been around in some fashion for going on 3 years now. Some episodes in the past when younger I was pretty sure were related to hunger, where eating something cleared it up. Blood sugar problem? My blood sugar is normal, BTW.

In researching this quite a bit, the one thing I've found out is there's no single root cause for this. Medical (pseudo)science lumps all of them under one term: dyspnea. They don't understand it nor do they care enough to find a cure for it. So long as O2 sat is mid 90s or so, they don't see you in medical need. It can be very uncomfortable and even frightening at times. Find out what works for you and use that. For me, it's ignoring it.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Is it OK if I just self-quarantine for the rest of my life?

I'd actually be serious if it wasn't for the kids & grandkids.

Oh jeez, don't do that. Life is always going to be wrought with perils. Stay as healthy as you can, take what comes, and enjoy it ... rather than hiding.

 

[SpokaneMan]

Lately I have felt a mild sense of fatigue. 2 weeks ago I was sweating a little at night, but no high temps. Some mornings I feel a mild sore throat, but goes quickly away. I am not paranoid, but another strange feeling I have is in my eyes. Slightly burning and a little itchy. I have a strong immunity and haven't had a cold or flu in over 20 years, but something is just a little off.

 

[FaithfulSkeptic]

Lately I have felt a mild sense of fatigue. 2 weeks ago I was sweating a little at night, but no high temps. Some mornings I feel a mild sore throat, but goes quickly away. I am not paranoid, but another strange feeling I have is in my eyes. Slightly burning and a little itchy. I have a strong immunity and haven't had a cold or flu in over 20 years, but something is just a little off.

The dry air of winter can account for most of those and its effects do change as we get older. Get a good sonic humidifier for your bedroom. Try that for a couple weeks and see if it makes a diff.

 

[bluelady]

Oh jeez, don't do that. Life is always going to be wrought with perils. Stay as healthy as you can, take what comes, and enjoy it ... rather than hiding.

Yeah, I'm not really giving up, and I don't want to hide. But I'm an introvert, and a homebody, so I'm having no trouble at all just staying home with dh and doing all the things that I never have time for. Except that so far I feel too crappy to do much.

I do think that after this a lot of people will rethink how and why they do things. It's amazing how homeschool is mow becoming a "thing"...I wonder how many will find it's an improvement and keep going with it!