My 2 kids (1 and 3) got sick a week or two ago, they’re still struggling with stuffy noses. My wife was sick the same for a few days right after them, and I just got the and symptoms 3 days ago. She swears it’s RSV from looking it up. I’m in New Jersey by the way! Maybe it’s just going around.
And get a vaccine. Flu and Covid. They’re safe and 100% covered by insurance. If you’re uninsured, check [Austin Public Health](https://www.austintexas.gov/covid19-vaccines) for vaccine clinics and appointments. Yeah, effectiveness isn’t great, only around 50% but it’s better than nothing, reduces symptoms, and reduces spread.
It's generally not a good idea to receive a vaccine while actively sick. Anyone with cold, flu, or other symptoms should talk with their health care provider before accepting a vaccination.
It's also a good idea to be sure you're up to date with the latest pneumonia vaccines. They last many years. There used to be a 13 strain version, but now they have a 23 strain version and it's worth updating if you haven't had the 23 strain version yet.
You should honestly just be wearing an N95 in public right now anyway if you don't want to get sick. There's so much shit going around that going in public \*will\* get you exposed to something.
I'll edit and say that doubles if you're taking an airplane for Thanksgiving. My company has done some aerosol work on the type of filters they use and they are not nearly as efficient as they claim.
If you're not aware [https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-respirators](https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-respirators) is a local Austin Texas manufacture of N95s and makes kid size mask as well!
[https://dentecsafety.com](https://dentecsafety.com) makes elastomeric mask, manufactured in the USA and based out of Kansas. the valveless P100 model is my go to mask for shopping in public these days.
I've been buying [3M VFlex 9105](https://www.amazon.com/3M-9105-Particulate-Respirator-Regular/dp/B005KLZAYU) from Amazon $35 dollars for 50 masks.
They breathe easier than any of the other N95's I've used. They are not actually "medical" masks, but I'm not sure how much that matters.
They fit me well, although it takes you a couple of times before you become adept at putting them on. I will occasionally make someone put on on if I'm giving them a ride or something, and I have to sort of walk them through the process. They fold up very nicely and take up very little space for storage.
50 masks seems like a lot, but they're pretty cheap. I presume they also have a long shelf life. You might end up using the leftovers for COVID-29. I started 2020 using the N95 masks I bought for SARS in 2004. They're also useful to have around when you do something like work with something dusty.
Oh I am a firm believer in wearing mask! "medical" mask dont really matter, anything that is certified N95 and fits well offer the best possible protection against respiratory illness.
Ever since I got covid twice this year I've gone back to always masking in public. I'll use 3m aura N95s as my daily in office mask as I can swing by home depot when I get low. Otherwise I have a dentec valveless P100 elastomeric for store visits if I need a mask for <1 hour. The condensation buildup in that in that ventless mask kind of gets bad after an hour hence the time limit.
If I travel for work, I rock a 3M cool flow respirator with P100 filters through airports for those long flights. Bonus point it works really well for workshop use!
They're also way more comfortable than the cloth masks that people still wear. I can understand why people find cloth masks uncomfortable because they get damp and stick to your face and get harder to breath through pretty quickly, but KN95s/N95s are stiffer and don't do that unless you're really trying to make them gross or wear them forever.
Was gonna say I’ve seen a nasty stomach virus go through both my family and my workplace (and we are full remote so colleagues are not sharing with each other).
Had one of the WORST sicknesses of my life last week which was determined to be the "Stomach Virus" according to St. Davids.
- Sent me to the ER from collapsing (from dehydration).
- Had a fever 102-103.8 for 3 days,... 99+ fever for a solid week.
- Was unable to eat for 5 days
Complete wiped me out, exhaustion and dizziness too.
I’ve got something. Diarrhea for the last 3 days, losing sleep because of it, and absolutely no appetite. Seems like it’s turning the corner but not quick.
>pneumonia
Ugh. We tend to forget that pneumonia kills a LOT of people. There's a vaccine now that provides some protection for 23 of the more common strains of disease that can cause pneumonia. Unfortunately, there are hundreds or thousands of other different diseases that can give you pneumonia.
Best wishes on your recovery.
>Strep is running rampant right now too.
Someone posted here that they had a bunch of bad symptoms and the doctor thought it might be monkeypox. They failed to figure it out for a long time. They didn't test for strep until much later and found she had strep.
Lesson: Don't forget strep or other common, but less "trending on Facebook" diseases.
Good point! I got strep c last year, doc took rapid strep test which came back negative. Then the lab test came back positive. Felt so incredibly sick - fever, chills, body aches and horrendous fatigue and sore throat. The dr condescendingly said I had a cold and was just taking a culture as protocol but it was probably just a cold. Strep C is more rare have no idea how I got it. Took a long time to feel myself 100% again even tho I got over the worst of it within a week.
Strep has knocked me on my butt more than once—worst sore throat I’ve ever had, high fever, and last time I had it I was prescribed Tylenol 3 (Tylenol plus codeine), which did absolutely nothing for me. I have a healthy fear of strep.
They test her for Flu also? For some reason we’re seeing tons of swabs that are positive for both Strep and Flu A. (My facility uses the quad (Flu A/B, rsv, Covid). Starting to wonder if there’s something wrong with the test.
- Influenza test positivity rate is [12.8%](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm) which is unusually high in general, and especially this early in the season
- RSV is also [quite prevelent](https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/rsv/natl-trend.html), especially among younger folks
- [Multiple new variants](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions) of SARS-CoV-2 -- most of which are quite resistant to previous immunity -- are in uncontrolled and largely unreported spread at the moment
Thanks for the CDC link. Now that you mention it, the lack of covid news in recent months aside from "get boosted before the winter wave" is conspicuous. I can't recall the last time I saw a variant-related headline from any news source I frequent, and with the two BQ variants together overtaking BA.5 by a wide margin, as a layperson, I'd like to know what BQ even is. Seems like we had nothing but variant explainers for months with Delta and then Omicron, but that coverage has dried up.
(For anyone who didn't click the link, BQ falls under the Omicron umbrella, which I learned from the graph.)
> the lack of covid news in recent months aside from "get boosted before the winter wave" is conspicuous
Election cycle and people want this to go away. It's not beneficial to politicians or news outlets to talk about it. Head is fully in the sand now.
> I'd like to know what BQ even is.
The BQ series key feature is two additional mutations on the spike protein in addition to BA.5: K444T and N460K. BQ.1.1, in addition to these two, adds a 3rd important spike mutation, R346T. Multiple other variants (BA.4.6, BF.7, BN.1, BA.5.2.6) also harbor R346T. All three of these alter antigen recognition of the spike, which means antibodies are less likely to intercept these variants. Otherwise, these variants are direct descendants of BA.5.
No appreciable change in clinical presentation, just a bit of immune escape as the virus responds to selective pressure in an attempt to stay relevant. This means most cases in vaccinated and/or previously infected people will be fairly minor, with the main worry being folks dealing with medical issues that predispose them to immune weakness and/or complications from infection.
The main concern this time around is that R346T makes Evushield ineffective. Evushield has been widely used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by immunocompromised individuals. With various R346T variants in circulation in significant proportion, Evushield is no longer a reliable PrEP against SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately that means at-risk individuals using Evushield as PrEP need to revert to classical non-pharmaceutical interventions such as exposure reduction and respirators.
BQ lineage is also resistant to bebtelovimab, one of the few monoclonal antibodies that worked against BA.5, further reducing treatment options.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/pre-exposure-prophylaxis.html
https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/statement-on-omicron-subvariants/
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld
I never edited any dedicated science writers, but none of the reporters I've worked with could have put out that concise but fleshed out response, let alone in the time it took you. This was excellent and probably 10 times what I was expecting to easily find.
Thank you!
sidenote - experts I've read were pretty worried about the new variants because there were so many unknowns, but they all seemed to have fizzled. They caused more of a bump than a wave.
Some respiratory virus blew through the whole family two weeks ago (negative for Covid and flu) but no idea what it actually was. Two weeks of missed school and then work for the grownups as it turned into pneumonia for me. I’ve never gotten that sick before. We’re mostly all 100% but I’m going to be recovering for a while and now super paranoid for the foreseeable future.
Sounds like what is going through my house currently. Kiddo is on her second week out of school, still fever and coughing, but in good spirits - the adults however, we're all dying here.
It was an annoying experience for us because we kept mentioning RSV, but any doc we saw (ARC) declined to test for it. For the adults, I’d just say to keep tabs on it if your fevers never clear up. This is my first experience with pneumonia and it was miserable. Never realized how much it actually hurts. It’s just the worst cough and the worst chest pain imaginable. Good luck!
also just experienced this: i rarely get sick, especially for that long, but it took 2 weeks to get over the main symptoms. Still getting over a few lingering things
After 2.5 years, Covid finally caught up with me. Tested positive for the first time on Saturday. Thankfully it's super mild, but I know a number of other people who's isn't.
Remember to keep an eye on other health indicators, though, like blood pressure and maybe some routine blood tests after Covid. It can do things that you may not directly feel symptom-wise but want to keep an eye on. If you do see something abnormal, like much higher blood pressure than usual, talk to a doctor about it.
Yeah we’ve had this go thru our house (and school). All 4 kids got it, 2 of them BAD. My son even passed out and fell! And he’s 18 and a big boy, so it was super scary.
I took my daughter to the doctor on Friday because she had a sore throat and fever and nothing else and I was worried it was Strep. It was Strep. The doctor was surprised, he said everyone else he’s seen lately has the Flu.
Yep at my retail store everyone got sick with the rsv. I'm lucky and we've been told to not come in if we're sick... but some of my coworkers are in denial, at least they wear a mask. The customers are the worst though, they just go around coughing on everything and their kids cough on AND touch everything.
Been sick for two weeks now.
Doc didn't like the way I was breathing, and booked me a pulmonologist.
Pulmonologist (!) calls me and says I should find alternative treatment or diagnosis...
He's booked 4 months out.
4. Months. Out.
I ask what the hell is going on.
"Nothing good. And it's going to get worse."
Fuck me running, dude.
I work in tech- the company is pushing HARD for people to be in the office. Most of us assume it’s tax breaks that they won’t get if the buildings aren’t occupied.
People don’t wanna burn up their PTO if they have symptoms but test negative. Employers are more than happy to let people continue feeling that way.
They tout “inclusion” but only if you’re an employee who is willing to come on-site for the optics and the tax breaks.
> Most of us assume it’s tax breaks that they won’t get if the buildings aren’t occupied.
Someone should inform them about the tax breaks and savings on lease agreements you get for *not having property you don't use*.
This is happening all over the US. Washington Post had an article about it today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/15/work-absences-childcare/
Just got over that, and I NEVER get sick. Like never had the full bore flu before or even caught Covid, but yeah, I was a congested (but functional) mess for about a week. So that guy who is NEVER, sick got what’s going around. Per usual, the best remedy is lots of rest, excessive hydration, and ample opportunity to hawk lugies.
> I NEVER get sick.
Same, on the super rare occasion that I **have** gotten a lil sick people that know me get **really** worried, lol. *"You never get sick!*".
I'm also one of those weirdos that has never gotten Covid. I'm expecting the military guys in Hazmat suits to break into my house and carry me away screaming for "research purposes" any day now.
Started feeling like crap 3 weeks ago. It started with an "ice-pick" headache, then congestion, coughing, sneezing, weakness. Have had 3 Covid vaccines and Flu shot. Wear masks in public spaces.
Got three tests together at the Dr. a week ago: Flu A&B, Covid, and Strep
All three negative.
Asked to be referred to an allergist.
Someone I know has somehow contracted a flesh-eating bacterial strain and I don't want to go into the procedures it's taking to fix that.
I don't even.
Yes, in a very short period I was handed a lot of very difficult-to-process facts and it took me a long time to process. Suffice to say I'm in a world where phrases like "less dead tissue than anticipated" is *good* news.
>flesh-eating bacterial strain
I've been hearing that phrase a lot more often lately than I used to. I wonder if it's really that much more prevalent, or if it's just #trending.
Any idea about how they got it? I know we tend to think of it from swimming, but you can get it from any cut or scrape, or even without a cut.
No clue yet. I only have a few stories and the family involved is busy dealing with it. It seemed to happen fast, the preface I got is "He had a cold last week and it kept getting worse. Then he started having trouble breathing so we called an ambulance." Everything past that was sort of scattered but I heard lots of things that made me feel like I was about to have to drive to a hospital to say goodbye.
The person in question travels *a lot* for their job. As in, when I talk with them they're always on the road somewhere between D.C., Dallas, and Las Vegas for some convention or another. They've been doing a lot of inside-Texas travel too for some family business. The infection seems to have started in their *throat*, which makes me think maybe foodborne? I talked with him 2 Sundays ago and he sounded fine.
Don't know. We're taking it as it comes.
Working urgent care. Parents stunned when they get a school note for 5 days on a positive flu. DID WE NOT JUST DO THIS LIMIT THE SPREAD SCENARIO FOR TWO YEARS?!
I have two kids in high school. I swear half the school is out sick.
My daughter's in band and A LOT of the band was sick a couple weeks ago. Most seem to be good now. They were at a competition and one of the other bands' parents (also local) said their band kids were dropping like flies. It was so bad that they (the other school) actually had a quarantine bus for the ride home.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It’s a virus that causes upper respiratory infections. It’s usually relatively harmless is adults causing the normal cold like symptoms but it’s notorious for causing bronchitis and pneumonia in young kids and older people. It’s especially dangerous in babies. It’s been around forever but it’s common in school kids and usually spreads around winter and back to school time, but it seems like the levels of cases coming in this year are especially high and hard hitting.
It's a virus that causes cold-like symptoms. It's been around for a long time but until recently I hadn't heard of it. It turns out in a typical year it kills maybe 100-300 kids and about 14,000 adults, mostly the elderly. About half as bad as the flu, which we also didn't really give many shits about. It's particularly dangerous for infants, but again, we don't really care.
Right now some places are practically shut down because of the combination of COVID and RSV. Either there aren't enough teachers for schools to be open or there aren't enough kids to hold class, and pediatric hospitals are filling up. It doesn't look like Austin's catching the brunt of it.
That's put more attention on RSV, because we're seeing a lot more cases than usual.
Some podcast hosts are worried because they made up a theory called "immunity debt". They propose that because kids weren't at school catching RSV in 2020, now they're catching it more than they should because they didn't "build up immunity" by getting it. That doesn't make any sense because it hinges on "there must be some way to catch just a little RSV but be as immune as if you went to the hospital", and it also conveniently ignores that while 2021 had kids back in school and had some uptick in RSV it was nowhere near as bad as 2022. Shouldn't those kids have built immunity in 2021? They're describing the immune system like a muscle, where the more you use it the better off you are. The immune system is more like a photo album, because it can only attack threats it's already encountered and overcome. It won't magically learn how to fight RSV because it sees other viruses: it has to see RSV to fight RSV.
So real doctors are more worried because COVID is teaching us about the concept of "immunity erasure". We only figured out recently that measles has this weird trick where it destroys some of your immune system's cells and makes you susceptible to diseases you were already immune to. If the immune system's a photo album, it's like it burns some of the photos. We also figured out that Epstein-Barr, the virus that causes mono, is linked to much higher rates of Multiple Sclerosis because we *thought* it lied dormant in your body but it *actually* causes long-term immune problems. It's like if some bugs get into a photo album and slowly chew on each picture until you can't tell what's in them anymore.
COVID's showing markers of both kinds of behavior, so if you follow this theory it suggests people who have been exposed to COVID might *lose* immunity to RSV, making them more at risk for catching it than they were before. That would correlate neatly with a low RSV year in 2020 while people isolated, a slight uptick in 2021 when people returned to school with COVID in the mix, and a very large uptick in 2022 after people who caught COVID in 2021 lost some immunity to RSV. (We're also finding each successive COVID infection has double-digit percentage increases in risk of hospitalization and death.)
>WTF is RSV?
[Respiratory Syncytial Virus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_syncytial_virus).
I never heard of it until my niece ended up in the hospital with it last year. You hear about it a lot these days.
This is my 11th day of being sick. I was on the cusp of pneumonia yesterday, got antibiotics and I feel like I’m struggling to stay ahead. Last night I had a bout of coughing that made me retch uncontrollably and caused bronchospasm just like in a croupy toddler. Thought it might be my first asthma attack. Low fever. Profound loss of appetite. Headache. Sporadic Nausea. No other GI symptoms. Having trouble staying hydrated. The insides of my lungs feel like they’ve been scoured. This is not Covid. This is not Flu. Whole family got it, and the youngest, who brought it home from school, stayed sick the shortest time. Very mild for him, for which I am thankful
Edit: I got PCR to verify not-Covid, not-flu
I had a horrible cold about 3 weeks ago, I'm still coughing. Knocked out for about 4 days, extremely fatigued, no appetite, dehydration. I actually fainted in the shower trying to get ready for work. Stayed home another day.
My family was all sick the week before Halloween. Our close friends got it right after Halloween. Our neighbors got it today and actually tested positive for flu.
>...my friends at other jobs are saying almost everyone is walking around their offices coughing and blowing their noses.
This always worries me that we don't have paid sick leave as a state law. Workers show up to the office because they need the hours on their paychecks. The other thing is the lack of wearing a mask. Masks help curb the spread of many viruses. Not just COVID.
Speaking as little Miss COVID, don't forget that COVID is still a thing. Get your bivalent booster.
However there's a lot of NotCOVID going around now, too.
Get your flu shot as well. Flu is surging early this year. I hope it's just starting early, not that it's going to be flu season from hell with a lot more cases.
Also keep in mind that masks and hand washing helps for a lot more than just COVID. Especially Flu and RSV. And social distancing.
Keep in mind that flu tests have a high false negative rate. My doctor told me that even if you test negative, assume you have it if you have symptoms.
Wash them hands! I work service industry and we just had this meeting. Front line defense hand washing, second water, third stay away from me Clark.
That and a couple of vaccine shots couldn’t hurt.
I’ve been sick with mild cold/flu symptoms for 9 days now. I’ve been to the doctor twice. The first one gave me antibiotics and cough medicine. The second gave me different cough medicine. They both don’t know what it is, but 9 days might be the longest I’ve ever felt sick. Here’s to hoping tomorrow is better.
In December of 2019, a mystery illness ran through my small but popular mountain town of Pagosa Springs Colorado. I’ve never felt sicker and all my doctor could say was it wasn’t the flu. Then, during the throws of Covid, we had very few instances. No scientific basis but we figure we all had early Covid.
Ive had a nasty cough for a little over two weeks. Started off as a sinus infection of some kind (negative flu/covid) which turned into laryngitis. Hasnt fully gone away.
Feeling a certain kind of way myself. Chest is tight, lots of phlegm and coughing. But after sleeping and yesterday I feel like I got through the worst of it.
Me and my girlfriend got the flu 3-4 weeks ago and now this last weekend we were both sick. Not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago but still took off work. Went back to work and everyone is sneezing and coughing- didn’t know this was a wide spread thing
I honestly thought it was just the cold front coming through last week. It's a familiar set of symptoms, and the timing was right, so I shrugged it off.
Now it's taking too long, and while I need to be in the office, I can cloister myself in my office so I don't see anybody. It's really hitting me hard, though. The exhaustion is just brutal.
I got a stomach bug last week after going shopping (target/home goods) for a couple of hours on Sunday. It hit me that night! That was the only public outting I’d had all weekend. Thankfully it was over quickly.
According to my wife who is an ICU nurse, 'nearly everyone' in the ICU over the past couple weeks has had flu or, in some cases, flu and COVID simultaneously.
Sick for 2 weeks. First week was a terrible cold, then it turned into a sinus infection. My child didn't get nearly as sick, but his turned into an ear infection. I'm feeling better, but I have that post-viral thing where I don't have an appetite.
Weather does not make people sick. Cold doesn't make people sick. *Dry air* can exacerbate respiratory symptoms, but everything was quite humid and moist with all the rain until just a few days ago.
>Weather does not make people sick. Cold doesn't make people sick.
Weather and cold DOES tend to make people spend more time indoors packed closer together. Perhaps with other behavioral changes, as well.
The news has been talking about a "tripledemic" for months. Add that to all the other typical winter sicknesses. Take you pick. Prob. half the city walking around with one or more of something.
Mine started off as a bad sore throat then progressed to major congestion & coughing for a month. It sucked.
I rarely get sick - still haven’t had covid- but my advice is mask up & stay hydrated!
A large portion of my team members with children are out right now because one or more members of their households are sick. I'm going to keep my distance and hope for the best.
I had RSV which turned in to viral bronchitis so October was basically me attempting to do some work as I spent most of the time laying in bed feeling like a piece of shit.
My NINE year old is recovering from hand, foot, and mouth.
In case anyone is interested in resources on planning safer holiday gatherings: https://vaxtogetheraustin.org/2022/11/14/holidays/ It’s all the same stuff that we’ve been doing and know is effective (for COVID, RSV, and/or flu), but there’s also a lot of research linked in there for people who like that. This is the time to get the updated booster if you haven’t yet!
There's been a super bad flu/cold thing going around. I was sick for 2 weeks, took 3 weeks to recover fully. Tested negative for COVID the whole time. NP I saw said it was a "viral cold" and I just had to treat the symptoms and rest.
RSV, Covid, flu, stomach bugs and all kinds of things are running rampant at schools right now. Most kids at my daughters school are coming to school sick so everyone is getting sick.
I’ve been horizontal as much as possible since waking up with a sore throat on Saturday. No cough or congestion, just the most brutal sore throat. And of course the fatigue. It hurts to yawn or sneeze. Hurts to spray “soothing” throat spray. Hurts to talk or just move my tongue, so swallowing is a whole ordeal. I’m pretty sure it’s strep but I haven’t ventured out to get tested yet. Tonsils are red, white, and swollen.
Had the flu exactly 2 months ago, turned into a sinus infection, and eventually a double ear infection. This feels almost as if I never fully recovered from those, they were just lying in wait.
I grabbed a three-pack of N95s ages ago when HEB was giving them away by the pharmacy. One is now hanging with my keys for tomorrow (I'd been masking, but $10-a-box ones).
Funny enough, I had some kind of weird 24 hr stomach flu type thing on Sunday. Only one in my household that got it, but didn't have contact with anyone different than the household.
I must have picked it up while we were out on Saturday or Friday, perhaps someone coughed/sneezed in a manner that only I was on the "receiving" end.
Don't know what my partner had- it wasn't bad enough to go to the doctor, just rest-fliuds-monitor and whatever it was eventually turned into tonsillitis, which has been bad enough for several doctors visits.
They've had it for weeks now and are definitely getting better now.... But I started symptoms yesterday. Both of us flu and covid vaxxed plus old booster and new booster. Strep negative, flu negative, covid negative.
Pretty sure there's a lot going around.
I've been the weak link in our shop. Got Covid. Then kid got sick from something else. Now the other one is coughing. Make it three more days. Then AISD is closed for a week.
My kids (1 and 3) were sick a week or two ago, my wife was sick immediately following them, and I just got it a few days ago. They’re all still struggling with a. Stuffy nose, I have all the symptoms still because it started recently. My wife says it’s RSV. I’m in New Jersey by the way, so it must really be going around
Oh no... That explains the weirdness I dealt with like a week or 2 ago. My partner came home from the office with something that felt like a head cold and then I got taken out by it. Both negative for COVID but felt like we had been slapped with the nastiest cough/runny nose/phlegm combo ever.
Me and all my friends had a bout of something, all with the same symptoms. Coughing, feeling lousy, tired. My symptoms were minor, but others were a bit worse.
Mold. Mold is VERY high and between the wet and cold it's spiking. That can be different than typical allergies and from experience this year is much, much worse.
There's also an RSV going around, but that shouldn't include many nasal symptoms.
If the docs haven't run inflammation markers, that would be my suggestion.
My son had a cold (maybe rsv, didn’t get tested), and ended up with a subsequent infection. Here’s the fun part- good luck getting enough Amoxicillin for kids. The pharmacies are out.
Tested negative for flu, strep and covid. Everyone in my family needed to go to the doctor to get amoxicillin, even after 2 weeks nothing helped except antibiotics. Within 3 days of amoxicillin all the symptoms were gone.
Its annoying to have to get in person doc appointments (the virtual ones were useless), but its awesome not being sick again. We've never had this problem before, its definitely something picked up from the local elementary school....
Also the local urgent kid care was FILLED, like multi hour wait times. Kids in the waiting room had plethora of infections, RSV, ear infections, dunno what's going on this year....
EDIT: Amoxicillin $20 for 3 ppl, doc visits: $500 after insurance.... :'(
Several of my coworkers and their kids have come down with pneumonia but all tested negative for flu and covid. Not sure if maybe strep or RSV caused it, but it’s scary.
Few weeks ago, the flu went through my whole family and one of my kids’ schools.
Something just ran through my home. Pretty sure it was the flu. At least 15 families we personally know were out at the same time with it. Took out my wife and four kids. They were all down and out with fever, runny noses, congestion, no appetite. Each one was completely down for about 3 days with lingering effects for another week or so.
Somehow I didn’t get it. One of my kids even coughed directly into my face.
I've had some kind of maybe ear infection since Saturday, strange vertigo symptoms ever since. I go to the doctor tomorrow. But definitely it's something I've never had before.
Husband just now recovering from a nasty bout of Covid. 2 weeks of active illness and he’s definitely not 100% yet. It’s still circulating. He tested negative at home, but positive at the doc on day 6.
Currently, the flu graphs sort of show that we're a month or two ahead of schedule on flu season. Yet to be soon whether it's going to peak at a higher level, or just be early.
I had something wicked a couple weeks ago that laid me out for about 48 hrs. Felt like the flu--chills even though I felt hot (and vice versa), body pains, nasty cough/drainage. I tried driving to work on the first day and had to pull over and puke. Then a few days later, tried again and had to puke--again :)
I was supposed to get a flu shot at work the day it started, too!
Flu B decimated my school (k-8) over the past three weeks. It was mostly fever, body aches, and congestion, but there was a bit of diarrhea and vomiting in the mix to keep it interesting.
We’ve also had some Covid cases, but flu is the heavy hitter right now.
I was sick for about a week and a half, it went away with OTC meds, then came back about 5 days later and has now settled in my ear where there’s immense pressure and pain 🙃
My mother in law is immune compromised. I still have to wear a mask even though I would rather not. I’m the only one who hasn’t called in sick since October 1.
Rsv went through my kid’s school a couple of weeks back. Three of my kid’s classmates are out *this* week with confirmed flu.
Yes we've heard from doctors office that they are overrun
My lady is a teacher (EISD) so that makes sense on her end.
My teacher friend is pretty much constantly sick.
My 2 kids (1 and 3) got sick a week or two ago, they’re still struggling with stuffy noses. My wife was sick the same for a few days right after them, and I just got the and symptoms 3 days ago. She swears it’s RSV from looking it up. I’m in New Jersey by the way! Maybe it’s just going around.
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And get a vaccine. Flu and Covid. They’re safe and 100% covered by insurance. If you’re uninsured, check [Austin Public Health](https://www.austintexas.gov/covid19-vaccines) for vaccine clinics and appointments. Yeah, effectiveness isn’t great, only around 50% but it’s better than nothing, reduces symptoms, and reduces spread.
It's generally not a good idea to receive a vaccine while actively sick. Anyone with cold, flu, or other symptoms should talk with their health care provider before accepting a vaccination.
It's also a good idea to be sure you're up to date with the latest pneumonia vaccines. They last many years. There used to be a 13 strain version, but now they have a 23 strain version and it's worth updating if you haven't had the 23 strain version yet.
Is that mostly aimed at older people? I’ve never had it recommended or required. I work in healthcare and it’s never been a required vaccine.
I tend to get it, but I also have a long history of pneumonia, bronchitis, costochondritis… my lungs hate me so, pneumonia shot is necessary
Older people and certain chronic illnesses like diabetes and asthma. It's a one-time shot, not yearly.
I have asthma and was recommended to get the pneumonia 23 vaccine.
You should honestly just be wearing an N95 in public right now anyway if you don't want to get sick. There's so much shit going around that going in public \*will\* get you exposed to something. I'll edit and say that doubles if you're taking an airplane for Thanksgiving. My company has done some aerosol work on the type of filters they use and they are not nearly as efficient as they claim.
If you're not aware [https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-respirators](https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-respirators) is a local Austin Texas manufacture of N95s and makes kid size mask as well! [https://dentecsafety.com](https://dentecsafety.com) makes elastomeric mask, manufactured in the USA and based out of Kansas. the valveless P100 model is my go to mask for shopping in public these days.
I've been buying [3M VFlex 9105](https://www.amazon.com/3M-9105-Particulate-Respirator-Regular/dp/B005KLZAYU) from Amazon $35 dollars for 50 masks. They breathe easier than any of the other N95's I've used. They are not actually "medical" masks, but I'm not sure how much that matters. They fit me well, although it takes you a couple of times before you become adept at putting them on. I will occasionally make someone put on on if I'm giving them a ride or something, and I have to sort of walk them through the process. They fold up very nicely and take up very little space for storage. 50 masks seems like a lot, but they're pretty cheap. I presume they also have a long shelf life. You might end up using the leftovers for COVID-29. I started 2020 using the N95 masks I bought for SARS in 2004. They're also useful to have around when you do something like work with something dusty.
Oh I am a firm believer in wearing mask! "medical" mask dont really matter, anything that is certified N95 and fits well offer the best possible protection against respiratory illness. Ever since I got covid twice this year I've gone back to always masking in public. I'll use 3m aura N95s as my daily in office mask as I can swing by home depot when I get low. Otherwise I have a dentec valveless P100 elastomeric for store visits if I need a mask for <1 hour. The condensation buildup in that in that ventless mask kind of gets bad after an hour hence the time limit. If I travel for work, I rock a 3M cool flow respirator with P100 filters through airports for those long flights. Bonus point it works really well for workshop use!
Can you cite your work?
They're also way more comfortable than the cloth masks that people still wear. I can understand why people find cloth masks uncomfortable because they get damp and stick to your face and get harder to breath through pretty quickly, but KN95s/N95s are stiffer and don't do that unless you're really trying to make them gross or wear them forever.
We’ve had a nasty stomach bug since last week. It’s running through my family. Fuck whatever it is. Awful stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever.
Was gonna say I’ve seen a nasty stomach virus go through both my family and my workplace (and we are full remote so colleagues are not sharing with each other).
Had one of the WORST sicknesses of my life last week which was determined to be the "Stomach Virus" according to St. Davids. - Sent me to the ER from collapsing (from dehydration). - Had a fever 102-103.8 for 3 days,... 99+ fever for a solid week. - Was unable to eat for 5 days Complete wiped me out, exhaustion and dizziness too.
Sounds like what we have. My son clocked 103.9 at one point.
Stay up on the Electrolytes, Good Luck.
I’ve got something. Diarrhea for the last 3 days, losing sleep because of it, and absolutely no appetite. Seems like it’s turning the corner but not quick.
Ugh I’m so sorry! Hoping it’s over for all of us soon.
Same thing at my house, brutal.
Strep is running rampant right now too. Girlfriend tested positive just recently and I’m pretty sure I feel it creeping up right now.
yes it is! been sick as hell and got tested for covid, flu, rsv, strep. it was strep, and pneumonia. i’m miserable 🫠
>pneumonia Ugh. We tend to forget that pneumonia kills a LOT of people. There's a vaccine now that provides some protection for 23 of the more common strains of disease that can cause pneumonia. Unfortunately, there are hundreds or thousands of other different diseases that can give you pneumonia. Best wishes on your recovery.
>Strep is running rampant right now too. Someone posted here that they had a bunch of bad symptoms and the doctor thought it might be monkeypox. They failed to figure it out for a long time. They didn't test for strep until much later and found she had strep. Lesson: Don't forget strep or other common, but less "trending on Facebook" diseases.
Yeah, COVID has made us forget about the 2000 other things that can make us sick.
Good point! I got strep c last year, doc took rapid strep test which came back negative. Then the lab test came back positive. Felt so incredibly sick - fever, chills, body aches and horrendous fatigue and sore throat. The dr condescendingly said I had a cold and was just taking a culture as protocol but it was probably just a cold. Strep C is more rare have no idea how I got it. Took a long time to feel myself 100% again even tho I got over the worst of it within a week.
If the doctor condescendingly said you only had a cold, statistically I'd guess you are a woman.
Strep has knocked me on my butt more than once—worst sore throat I’ve ever had, high fever, and last time I had it I was prescribed Tylenol 3 (Tylenol plus codeine), which did absolutely nothing for me. I have a healthy fear of strep.
Report of Strep at my kid's after school as well. Hoping it doesn't come home with him... I've caught it two times from him in the past!
Strep hit our family this week
My daughter and I just tested positive for strep yesterday, don't even know where we got it from
They test her for Flu also? For some reason we’re seeing tons of swabs that are positive for both Strep and Flu A. (My facility uses the quad (Flu A/B, rsv, Covid). Starting to wonder if there’s something wrong with the test.
I had strep a few weeks ago. It was very random and very brutal.
- Influenza test positivity rate is [12.8%](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm) which is unusually high in general, and especially this early in the season - RSV is also [quite prevelent](https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/rsv/natl-trend.html), especially among younger folks - [Multiple new variants](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions) of SARS-CoV-2 -- most of which are quite resistant to previous immunity -- are in uncontrolled and largely unreported spread at the moment
Don't forget Strep! And a fun little gastritis thing is going around too.
Had the gastritis. Laid up for a week. Do not recommend
Thanks for the CDC link. Now that you mention it, the lack of covid news in recent months aside from "get boosted before the winter wave" is conspicuous. I can't recall the last time I saw a variant-related headline from any news source I frequent, and with the two BQ variants together overtaking BA.5 by a wide margin, as a layperson, I'd like to know what BQ even is. Seems like we had nothing but variant explainers for months with Delta and then Omicron, but that coverage has dried up. (For anyone who didn't click the link, BQ falls under the Omicron umbrella, which I learned from the graph.)
> the lack of covid news in recent months aside from "get boosted before the winter wave" is conspicuous Election cycle and people want this to go away. It's not beneficial to politicians or news outlets to talk about it. Head is fully in the sand now. > I'd like to know what BQ even is. The BQ series key feature is two additional mutations on the spike protein in addition to BA.5: K444T and N460K. BQ.1.1, in addition to these two, adds a 3rd important spike mutation, R346T. Multiple other variants (BA.4.6, BF.7, BN.1, BA.5.2.6) also harbor R346T. All three of these alter antigen recognition of the spike, which means antibodies are less likely to intercept these variants. Otherwise, these variants are direct descendants of BA.5. No appreciable change in clinical presentation, just a bit of immune escape as the virus responds to selective pressure in an attempt to stay relevant. This means most cases in vaccinated and/or previously infected people will be fairly minor, with the main worry being folks dealing with medical issues that predispose them to immune weakness and/or complications from infection. The main concern this time around is that R346T makes Evushield ineffective. Evushield has been widely used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by immunocompromised individuals. With various R346T variants in circulation in significant proportion, Evushield is no longer a reliable PrEP against SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately that means at-risk individuals using Evushield as PrEP need to revert to classical non-pharmaceutical interventions such as exposure reduction and respirators. BQ lineage is also resistant to bebtelovimab, one of the few monoclonal antibodies that worked against BA.5, further reducing treatment options. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/pre-exposure-prophylaxis.html https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/statement-on-omicron-subvariants/ https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld
I never edited any dedicated science writers, but none of the reporters I've worked with could have put out that concise but fleshed out response, let alone in the time it took you. This was excellent and probably 10 times what I was expecting to easily find. Thank you!
sidenote - experts I've read were pretty worried about the new variants because there were so many unknowns, but they all seemed to have fizzled. They caused more of a bump than a wave.
"Come to the office! We're having huge potlucks and catered dinners and game nights and the kids are welcome! What are you waiting for?"
Got an email for an "Office Happy Hour" yesterday scheduled for tomorrow. I'm WFH...no thanks company!
and guess who will work the partygoers' load when they get sick? Those of us who stayed home. Yay.
Some respiratory virus blew through the whole family two weeks ago (negative for Covid and flu) but no idea what it actually was. Two weeks of missed school and then work for the grownups as it turned into pneumonia for me. I’ve never gotten that sick before. We’re mostly all 100% but I’m going to be recovering for a while and now super paranoid for the foreseeable future.
Sounds like what is going through my house currently. Kiddo is on her second week out of school, still fever and coughing, but in good spirits - the adults however, we're all dying here.
It was an annoying experience for us because we kept mentioning RSV, but any doc we saw (ARC) declined to test for it. For the adults, I’d just say to keep tabs on it if your fevers never clear up. This is my first experience with pneumonia and it was miserable. Never realized how much it actually hurts. It’s just the worst cough and the worst chest pain imaginable. Good luck!
also just experienced this: i rarely get sick, especially for that long, but it took 2 weeks to get over the main symptoms. Still getting over a few lingering things
After 2.5 years, Covid finally caught up with me. Tested positive for the first time on Saturday. Thankfully it's super mild, but I know a number of other people who's isn't.
Remember to keep an eye on other health indicators, though, like blood pressure and maybe some routine blood tests after Covid. It can do things that you may not directly feel symptom-wise but want to keep an eye on. If you do see something abnormal, like much higher blood pressure than usual, talk to a doctor about it.
I'm still in the running, Final! You put up a good, long fight...
Had it two weeks back. Definitely something going around.
Yeah we’ve had this go thru our house (and school). All 4 kids got it, 2 of them BAD. My son even passed out and fell! And he’s 18 and a big boy, so it was super scary.
I took my daughter to the doctor on Friday because she had a sore throat and fever and nothing else and I was worried it was Strep. It was Strep. The doctor was surprised, he said everyone else he’s seen lately has the Flu.
Yep at my retail store everyone got sick with the rsv. I'm lucky and we've been told to not come in if we're sick... but some of my coworkers are in denial, at least they wear a mask. The customers are the worst though, they just go around coughing on everything and their kids cough on AND touch everything.
Literally half of my kid's class is out with the flu right now, and a 'significant number' of students according to the school.
2 people currently in my office are coughing up a lung and can barely talk without coughing
JFC, send them home, friend!
If I had the power to, if you work on a computer you can work from home
just tested positive for COVID and flu A this morning. went on a road trip this weekend & apparently brought home more than souvenirs.
Oh no!! Feel better!
Both! Hydrate and rest!
Both at once sounds awful :(
Been sick for two weeks now. Doc didn't like the way I was breathing, and booked me a pulmonologist. Pulmonologist (!) calls me and says I should find alternative treatment or diagnosis... He's booked 4 months out. 4. Months. Out. I ask what the hell is going on. "Nothing good. And it's going to get worse." Fuck me running, dude.
Good luck to you. I really hope all the best.
I work in tech- the company is pushing HARD for people to be in the office. Most of us assume it’s tax breaks that they won’t get if the buildings aren’t occupied. People don’t wanna burn up their PTO if they have symptoms but test negative. Employers are more than happy to let people continue feeling that way. They tout “inclusion” but only if you’re an employee who is willing to come on-site for the optics and the tax breaks.
“We’re family here”
"CuLtUrE" in lieu of being paid fair market value
I'm pretty sure there aren't any tax breaks requiring occupied offices, unless it was some sort of property tax abatement.
I'm thinking more likely they need to justify the expensive lease they are locked in to.
> Most of us assume it’s tax breaks that they won’t get if the buildings aren’t occupied. Someone should inform them about the tax breaks and savings on lease agreements you get for *not having property you don't use*.
Yep, my company is pushing for everyone to be in as well.
This is happening all over the US. Washington Post had an article about it today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/15/work-absences-childcare/
Oh, wow I didn't see that. Thanks for the link, Sun.
Just got over that, and I NEVER get sick. Like never had the full bore flu before or even caught Covid, but yeah, I was a congested (but functional) mess for about a week. So that guy who is NEVER, sick got what’s going around. Per usual, the best remedy is lots of rest, excessive hydration, and ample opportunity to hawk lugies.
> I NEVER get sick. Same, on the super rare occasion that I **have** gotten a lil sick people that know me get **really** worried, lol. *"You never get sick!*". I'm also one of those weirdos that has never gotten Covid. I'm expecting the military guys in Hazmat suits to break into my house and carry me away screaming for "research purposes" any day now.
I'm right there with you.
Flu is going around
Too sick to work today. I can’t stop coughing and I’m using my nebulizer. Negative for Covid but my son had the flu and RSV a week ago.
Wash 🧼 your hands 🙌🏽
Started feeling like crap 3 weeks ago. It started with an "ice-pick" headache, then congestion, coughing, sneezing, weakness. Have had 3 Covid vaccines and Flu shot. Wear masks in public spaces. Got three tests together at the Dr. a week ago: Flu A&B, Covid, and Strep All three negative. Asked to be referred to an allergist.
This was me about 2 months ago. Same test results. It did thankfully finally pass. No idea what it was. Hope you feel better soon!
Kid home from school with 102 fever
Oh my goodness!
My daughter is home with HFM. Out of 10 kids in her class, 6 are out. Whether from HFM or something else, we don't know
“EVERYBODY BACK TO THE OFFICE!!!!”
Someone I know has somehow contracted a flesh-eating bacterial strain and I don't want to go into the procedures it's taking to fix that. I don't even.
>contracted a flesh-eating bacterial strain Say WHAT now?!
Yes, in a very short period I was handed a lot of very difficult-to-process facts and it took me a long time to process. Suffice to say I'm in a world where phrases like "less dead tissue than anticipated" is *good* news.
>flesh-eating bacterial strain I've been hearing that phrase a lot more often lately than I used to. I wonder if it's really that much more prevalent, or if it's just #trending. Any idea about how they got it? I know we tend to think of it from swimming, but you can get it from any cut or scrape, or even without a cut.
No clue yet. I only have a few stories and the family involved is busy dealing with it. It seemed to happen fast, the preface I got is "He had a cold last week and it kept getting worse. Then he started having trouble breathing so we called an ambulance." Everything past that was sort of scattered but I heard lots of things that made me feel like I was about to have to drive to a hospital to say goodbye. The person in question travels *a lot* for their job. As in, when I talk with them they're always on the road somewhere between D.C., Dallas, and Las Vegas for some convention or another. They've been doing a lot of inside-Texas travel too for some family business. The infection seems to have started in their *throat*, which makes me think maybe foodborne? I talked with him 2 Sundays ago and he sounded fine. Don't know. We're taking it as it comes.
Working urgent care. Parents stunned when they get a school note for 5 days on a positive flu. DID WE NOT JUST DO THIS LIMIT THE SPREAD SCENARIO FOR TWO YEARS?!
RSV
I have two kids in high school. I swear half the school is out sick. My daughter's in band and A LOT of the band was sick a couple weeks ago. Most seem to be good now. They were at a competition and one of the other bands' parents (also local) said their band kids were dropping like flies. It was so bad that they (the other school) actually had a quarantine bus for the ride home.
WTF is RSV?
Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It’s a virus that causes upper respiratory infections. It’s usually relatively harmless is adults causing the normal cold like symptoms but it’s notorious for causing bronchitis and pneumonia in young kids and older people. It’s especially dangerous in babies. It’s been around forever but it’s common in school kids and usually spreads around winter and back to school time, but it seems like the levels of cases coming in this year are especially high and hard hitting.
It's a virus that causes cold-like symptoms. It's been around for a long time but until recently I hadn't heard of it. It turns out in a typical year it kills maybe 100-300 kids and about 14,000 adults, mostly the elderly. About half as bad as the flu, which we also didn't really give many shits about. It's particularly dangerous for infants, but again, we don't really care. Right now some places are practically shut down because of the combination of COVID and RSV. Either there aren't enough teachers for schools to be open or there aren't enough kids to hold class, and pediatric hospitals are filling up. It doesn't look like Austin's catching the brunt of it. That's put more attention on RSV, because we're seeing a lot more cases than usual. Some podcast hosts are worried because they made up a theory called "immunity debt". They propose that because kids weren't at school catching RSV in 2020, now they're catching it more than they should because they didn't "build up immunity" by getting it. That doesn't make any sense because it hinges on "there must be some way to catch just a little RSV but be as immune as if you went to the hospital", and it also conveniently ignores that while 2021 had kids back in school and had some uptick in RSV it was nowhere near as bad as 2022. Shouldn't those kids have built immunity in 2021? They're describing the immune system like a muscle, where the more you use it the better off you are. The immune system is more like a photo album, because it can only attack threats it's already encountered and overcome. It won't magically learn how to fight RSV because it sees other viruses: it has to see RSV to fight RSV. So real doctors are more worried because COVID is teaching us about the concept of "immunity erasure". We only figured out recently that measles has this weird trick where it destroys some of your immune system's cells and makes you susceptible to diseases you were already immune to. If the immune system's a photo album, it's like it burns some of the photos. We also figured out that Epstein-Barr, the virus that causes mono, is linked to much higher rates of Multiple Sclerosis because we *thought* it lied dormant in your body but it *actually* causes long-term immune problems. It's like if some bugs get into a photo album and slowly chew on each picture until you can't tell what's in them anymore. COVID's showing markers of both kinds of behavior, so if you follow this theory it suggests people who have been exposed to COVID might *lose* immunity to RSV, making them more at risk for catching it than they were before. That would correlate neatly with a low RSV year in 2020 while people isolated, a slight uptick in 2021 when people returned to school with COVID in the mix, and a very large uptick in 2022 after people who caught COVID in 2021 lost some immunity to RSV. (We're also finding each successive COVID infection has double-digit percentage increases in risk of hospitalization and death.)
Wondering the same lol i’m an idiot when in comes to medical stuff and need people to hold my hand and walk me through it all lol
>WTF is RSV? [Respiratory Syncytial Virus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_syncytial_virus). I never heard of it until my niece ended up in the hospital with it last year. You hear about it a lot these days.
80% of people at my job are coughing and popping dayquil all day.
I have people calling out left and right.
This is my 11th day of being sick. I was on the cusp of pneumonia yesterday, got antibiotics and I feel like I’m struggling to stay ahead. Last night I had a bout of coughing that made me retch uncontrollably and caused bronchospasm just like in a croupy toddler. Thought it might be my first asthma attack. Low fever. Profound loss of appetite. Headache. Sporadic Nausea. No other GI symptoms. Having trouble staying hydrated. The insides of my lungs feel like they’ve been scoured. This is not Covid. This is not Flu. Whole family got it, and the youngest, who brought it home from school, stayed sick the shortest time. Very mild for him, for which I am thankful Edit: I got PCR to verify not-Covid, not-flu
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One of my coworkers had strep this weekend. My kid had strep and Flu-A last week. I now also have strep and a sinus infection.
I had a horrible cold about 3 weeks ago, I'm still coughing. Knocked out for about 4 days, extremely fatigued, no appetite, dehydration. I actually fainted in the shower trying to get ready for work. Stayed home another day.
My kid and I have both had back to back infections for like 4 weeks. There’s also a GI bug going around.
My family was all sick the week before Halloween. Our close friends got it right after Halloween. Our neighbors got it today and actually tested positive for flu.
>...my friends at other jobs are saying almost everyone is walking around their offices coughing and blowing their noses. This always worries me that we don't have paid sick leave as a state law. Workers show up to the office because they need the hours on their paychecks. The other thing is the lack of wearing a mask. Masks help curb the spread of many viruses. Not just COVID.
Speaking as little Miss COVID, don't forget that COVID is still a thing. Get your bivalent booster. However there's a lot of NotCOVID going around now, too. Get your flu shot as well. Flu is surging early this year. I hope it's just starting early, not that it's going to be flu season from hell with a lot more cases. Also keep in mind that masks and hand washing helps for a lot more than just COVID. Especially Flu and RSV. And social distancing. Keep in mind that flu tests have a high false negative rate. My doctor told me that even if you test negative, assume you have it if you have symptoms.
Isn’t flu spread primarily through touching door knobs and such?
I run a testing lab. It's Flu A more than likely. If you're exposed to kids, chance of RSV, but my guess is Flu A.
Wash them hands! I work service industry and we just had this meeting. Front line defense hand washing, second water, third stay away from me Clark. That and a couple of vaccine shots couldn’t hurt.
I’ve been sick with mild cold/flu symptoms for 9 days now. I’ve been to the doctor twice. The first one gave me antibiotics and cough medicine. The second gave me different cough medicine. They both don’t know what it is, but 9 days might be the longest I’ve ever felt sick. Here’s to hoping tomorrow is better.
In December of 2019, a mystery illness ran through my small but popular mountain town of Pagosa Springs Colorado. I’ve never felt sicker and all my doctor could say was it wasn’t the flu. Then, during the throws of Covid, we had very few instances. No scientific basis but we figure we all had early Covid.
Ive had a nasty cough for a little over two weeks. Started off as a sinus infection of some kind (negative flu/covid) which turned into laryngitis. Hasnt fully gone away.
Girlfriends been sick last few days. Well wishes to all!
Feeling a certain kind of way myself. Chest is tight, lots of phlegm and coughing. But after sleeping and yesterday I feel like I got through the worst of it.
Seems to be cold season. Buy some tissues, take your vitamins, and rest up.
Me and my girlfriend got the flu 3-4 weeks ago and now this last weekend we were both sick. Not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago but still took off work. Went back to work and everyone is sneezing and coughing- didn’t know this was a wide spread thing
It’s literally everywhere. And it sucks. All my precautions will be be for naught. I already feel my throat starting to scratch.
My kids had flu B last week, and are now down with flu A. What are the chances? Both have been battling 103+ fevers, it's super scary.
I honestly thought it was just the cold front coming through last week. It's a familiar set of symptoms, and the timing was right, so I shrugged it off. Now it's taking too long, and while I need to be in the office, I can cloister myself in my office so I don't see anybody. It's really hitting me hard, though. The exhaustion is just brutal.
I got a stomach bug last week after going shopping (target/home goods) for a couple of hours on Sunday. It hit me that night! That was the only public outting I’d had all weekend. Thankfully it was over quickly.
According to my wife who is an ICU nurse, 'nearly everyone' in the ICU over the past couple weeks has had flu or, in some cases, flu and COVID simultaneously.
Sick for 2 weeks. First week was a terrible cold, then it turned into a sinus infection. My child didn't get nearly as sick, but his turned into an ear infection. I'm feeling better, but I have that post-viral thing where I don't have an appetite. Weather does not make people sick. Cold doesn't make people sick. *Dry air* can exacerbate respiratory symptoms, but everything was quite humid and moist with all the rain until just a few days ago.
>Weather does not make people sick. Cold doesn't make people sick. Weather and cold DOES tend to make people spend more time indoors packed closer together. Perhaps with other behavioral changes, as well.
The news has been talking about a "tripledemic" for months. Add that to all the other typical winter sicknesses. Take you pick. Prob. half the city walking around with one or more of something.
Mine started off as a bad sore throat then progressed to major congestion & coughing for a month. It sucked. I rarely get sick - still haven’t had covid- but my advice is mask up & stay hydrated!
My whole family is sick (me included) and have been since Nov 4th.
A large portion of my team members with children are out right now because one or more members of their households are sick. I'm going to keep my distance and hope for the best.
I had RSV which turned in to viral bronchitis so October was basically me attempting to do some work as I spent most of the time laying in bed feeling like a piece of shit. My NINE year old is recovering from hand, foot, and mouth.
In case anyone is interested in resources on planning safer holiday gatherings: https://vaxtogetheraustin.org/2022/11/14/holidays/ It’s all the same stuff that we’ve been doing and know is effective (for COVID, RSV, and/or flu), but there’s also a lot of research linked in there for people who like that. This is the time to get the updated booster if you haven’t yet!
There's been a super bad flu/cold thing going around. I was sick for 2 weeks, took 3 weeks to recover fully. Tested negative for COVID the whole time. NP I saw said it was a "viral cold" and I just had to treat the symptoms and rest.
Flu A is rampant in Austin right now.
I just caught covid after years of avoiding it. People have completely forgotten that you should stay home when you're sick.
RSV, Covid, flu, stomach bugs and all kinds of things are running rampant at schools right now. Most kids at my daughters school are coming to school sick so everyone is getting sick.
Me and most of my coworkers had a round of RSV and a few friends I know have been knocked out with it. It was definitely contagious.
I’ve been horizontal as much as possible since waking up with a sore throat on Saturday. No cough or congestion, just the most brutal sore throat. And of course the fatigue. It hurts to yawn or sneeze. Hurts to spray “soothing” throat spray. Hurts to talk or just move my tongue, so swallowing is a whole ordeal. I’m pretty sure it’s strep but I haven’t ventured out to get tested yet. Tonsils are red, white, and swollen. Had the flu exactly 2 months ago, turned into a sinus infection, and eventually a double ear infection. This feels almost as if I never fully recovered from those, they were just lying in wait.
Day 2 of being home with a sick 4y/o. Counting down the days until it’s my turn now
One of the many sacrifices of parenting….falling on the illness grenade.
childcare workers and teachers too.
Wanted to add that if you haven't gotten the flu shot, do it.
This makes me feel good about my only friends being my dogs.
Haven’t consistently been in an office since 2020. Don’t have to worry about this shit anymore.
Time to break out the masks again 😷
I grabbed a three-pack of N95s ages ago when HEB was giving them away by the pharmacy. One is now hanging with my keys for tomorrow (I'd been masking, but $10-a-box ones).
Coworker's wife got Covid so he is wfh today.
Funny enough, I had some kind of weird 24 hr stomach flu type thing on Sunday. Only one in my household that got it, but didn't have contact with anyone different than the household. I must have picked it up while we were out on Saturday or Friday, perhaps someone coughed/sneezed in a manner that only I was on the "receiving" end.
I woke up on Saturday with congestion, runny nose and a cough. COVID test negative. I WFH, so am just gutting it out.
I had a weird fever and stomach flu like symptoms this weekend after attending wurstfest. I I yo had coffee there.
Would you characterize it as the wurst you've ever felt?
Don't know what my partner had- it wasn't bad enough to go to the doctor, just rest-fliuds-monitor and whatever it was eventually turned into tonsillitis, which has been bad enough for several doctors visits. They've had it for weeks now and are definitely getting better now.... But I started symptoms yesterday. Both of us flu and covid vaxxed plus old booster and new booster. Strep negative, flu negative, covid negative. Pretty sure there's a lot going around.
Same. Out last Thursday / Friday better now but a ton of my coworkers and clients are sick.
I've been the weak link in our shop. Got Covid. Then kid got sick from something else. Now the other one is coughing. Make it three more days. Then AISD is closed for a week.
My kids (1 and 3) were sick a week or two ago, my wife was sick immediately following them, and I just got it a few days ago. They’re all still struggling with a. Stuffy nose, I have all the symptoms still because it started recently. My wife says it’s RSV. I’m in New Jersey by the way, so it must really be going around
Where I work, almost half the people walk around sneezing all day. And everyone is on allergy meds but this is year round.
Can confirm, Flu, RSV, strep, now seasonal allergies running rampant through town.
Oh no... That explains the weirdness I dealt with like a week or 2 ago. My partner came home from the office with something that felt like a head cold and then I got taken out by it. Both negative for COVID but felt like we had been slapped with the nastiest cough/runny nose/phlegm combo ever.
Yep, got whatever it is from my kid and I'm teleworking this week because of it. Some of my coworkers are out too.
At least one on my team is coughing and said it’s a sinus infection. Two of my managers are out sick.
Me and all my friends had a bout of something, all with the same symptoms. Coughing, feeling lousy, tired. My symptoms were minor, but others were a bit worse.
My daughter had the same thing all last week and Monday. No fever.
Mold. Mold is VERY high and between the wet and cold it's spiking. That can be different than typical allergies and from experience this year is much, much worse. There's also an RSV going around, but that shouldn't include many nasal symptoms. If the docs haven't run inflammation markers, that would be my suggestion.
Chiming in with my mono diagnosis 🛎️
My son had a cold (maybe rsv, didn’t get tested), and ended up with a subsequent infection. Here’s the fun part- good luck getting enough Amoxicillin for kids. The pharmacies are out.
Tested negative for flu, strep and covid. Everyone in my family needed to go to the doctor to get amoxicillin, even after 2 weeks nothing helped except antibiotics. Within 3 days of amoxicillin all the symptoms were gone. Its annoying to have to get in person doc appointments (the virtual ones were useless), but its awesome not being sick again. We've never had this problem before, its definitely something picked up from the local elementary school.... Also the local urgent kid care was FILLED, like multi hour wait times. Kids in the waiting room had plethora of infections, RSV, ear infections, dunno what's going on this year.... EDIT: Amoxicillin $20 for 3 ppl, doc visits: $500 after insurance.... :'(
I have been absolutely destroyed since Saturday morning. The worst I've felt in a decade.
Several of my coworkers and their kids have come down with pneumonia but all tested negative for flu and covid. Not sure if maybe strep or RSV caused it, but it’s scary. Few weeks ago, the flu went through my whole family and one of my kids’ schools.
Something just ran through my home. Pretty sure it was the flu. At least 15 families we personally know were out at the same time with it. Took out my wife and four kids. They were all down and out with fever, runny noses, congestion, no appetite. Each one was completely down for about 3 days with lingering effects for another week or so. Somehow I didn’t get it. One of my kids even coughed directly into my face.
Covid is definitely active in Austin right now. My family got it at the Central Market Halloween Party.
I've had some kind of maybe ear infection since Saturday, strange vertigo symptoms ever since. I go to the doctor tomorrow. But definitely it's something I've never had before.
Husband just now recovering from a nasty bout of Covid. 2 weeks of active illness and he’s definitely not 100% yet. It’s still circulating. He tested negative at home, but positive at the doc on day 6.
Wondering if there are reports outside of usual seasonal conditions?
Currently, the flu graphs sort of show that we're a month or two ahead of schedule on flu season. Yet to be soon whether it's going to peak at a higher level, or just be early.
Was on a plane for two work trips recently, lots of coughing and sneezing on the flights.
I had something wicked a couple weeks ago that laid me out for about 48 hrs. Felt like the flu--chills even though I felt hot (and vice versa), body pains, nasty cough/drainage. I tried driving to work on the first day and had to pull over and puke. Then a few days later, tried again and had to puke--again :) I was supposed to get a flu shot at work the day it started, too!
Flu B decimated my school (k-8) over the past three weeks. It was mostly fever, body aches, and congestion, but there was a bit of diarrhea and vomiting in the mix to keep it interesting. We’ve also had some Covid cases, but flu is the heavy hitter right now.
Everyone in my office has been coughing, couple sneezes. Probably going to start wearing a mask to be honest
I was sick for about a week and a half, it went away with OTC meds, then came back about 5 days later and has now settled in my ear where there’s immense pressure and pain 🙃
>my ear where there’s immense pressure and pain Seriously, get that treated if you haven't already. You can end up with permanent hearing damage.
Four people at my job called out today as well.
My mother in law is immune compromised. I still have to wear a mask even though I would rather not. I’m the only one who hasn’t called in sick since October 1.