r/VictoriaBC • u/pumpkinspicecum • 4d ago
Anyone sick right now?
I got sick with a cough and cold recently and it’s been two and a half weeks and I still have a bit of a cough and am stuffed up. This is only my second time in 6 years getting sick but I’ve never had a cold or cough last this long. I was just wondering if there’s a particularly annoying cold going around or if anyone else is dealing with the same thing?
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u/electricmeatbag777 4d ago
Covid load is high in the Island Health region according to BC CDC Wastewater Surveillance
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u/Pure_Weakness6723 4d ago
Yep. It’s a brutal one. I’m at about two and a half weeks also. The congestion is crazy and I still have a productive cough. Feeling pretty tired of this. Started with a sore throat. Tested for Covid and negative. Haven’t been this sick in years.
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u/AgentNo3516 4d ago
Sounds like covid. Have you tested again?
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u/Pure_Weakness6723 1d ago
No, I didn’t do a second test. Thought if this went beyond 3 weeks I’d go to the doc but I think it’s finally done today. It’s a bad one!
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u/pumpkinspicecum 4d ago
is your cough sort of a choking cough now?
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u/Pure_Weakness6723 1d ago
I think it’s finally done just today…🤞 3 weeks. It was a wet cough the whole time. Didn’t feel like I was choking but felt like I had a golf ball in my throat. It was weird.
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u/Hot-Fly-3187 4d ago
It's cold and flu season. Weather changes, childen go back to school. Not trying to be trite, it happens every year. If you're able, stay at home. Drink warm beverages, stay hydrated. Wash hands. Don't be over reactive of your symptoms. Yeah, you feel like absolute shite, don't run to the Emergency Room unless you have serious breathing issues etc. Make a duvet fort on the couch, put on the Price is Right, have some soup, keep up on electrolytes, give in to the naps.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 4d ago
i know. i was just curious if anyone has had it for 2.5 weeks or more as i've never had a cough/cold for that long before. curious if it's the virus or me.
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u/MikaelDerp Saanich 4d ago
I've had a cough for 3-4 weeks now which has kept getting worse. No other symptoms until yesterday which includes headaches and nausea.
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u/Comfortable_Pea2065 4d ago
My son had it for two weeks I’m on week two the son in law 21/2 weeks it’s the nastiest cold I’ve had could be covid
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u/Smlovers 4d ago
My entire family was down with it. Mine started first, Sunday before last so the 2.5 weeks tracks. It absolutely lambasted us, I'm just feeling semi normal today and last night was the first night I was able to sleep without hacking up a lung.
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u/SmirkyRacoon 3d ago
Yes. I had it for two weeks. I'm much better now however I cough and blow my nose once in a while.
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u/Hot-Fly-3187 4d ago
Yes hun. This current cold/flu , you'll feel ok for day or two,then whammo! Hits you again. Ride it out.
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u/stretchvelcro 4d ago
Also- Urgent Care is made for this type of situation to free up the ER for life threatening conditions.
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u/Amylee888 4d ago
All the urgent care clinics get booked up by 9am. So if your medical problems starts after 9am, you have to wait until the next day, and if you can’t wait, you have to go to the ER.
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u/jholden23 4d ago
I got Covid from a visit to Victoria on Labour Day weekend. Person I saw told me almost a week later she had it.
Exactly 7 days and I was sick. So very very sick.
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u/NewHere1212 4d ago
Ps- Vaccines are now available. Book your appointments.
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u/Anxious_Arm8057 4d ago
Or- hear me out. Our bodies were designed to fight off sickness with a useful thing called our immune system. People are so quick to get a jab instead of just building an immunity to it. My god
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u/Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpp 4d ago
That’s the best part - vaccines build up your immune system without the risk and discomfort of getting sick!
There’s no evidence that they weaken your immune system in any way for unrelated illnesses, either
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u/lacktoesintallerant6 4d ago
but thats exactly what vaccines do? 😭 flu vaccines inject you with a bit of the virus; enough so that your immune system is able to take the DNA information and store it in immunological memory. getting the jab doesnt prevent it, but it prevents it from being as bad as it could be if you had never been exposed to the virus before (i.e. unvaccinated).
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u/Vast_Engineering_626 4d ago
Your body can recover from a car accident too, but its job is a lot easier if you wear a seatbelt
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u/midgelovesscottie 4d ago
You do not understand the immune system. It is not a muscle that we need to work out by catching viruses. Viruses are harmful to our bodies. In fact, it is because of everyone catching covid repeatedly for years that people are so much sicker these days with things they can’t shake for weeks, and sometimes months. These are compromised immune systems at play.
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u/kathryn_sedai 4d ago
Wow, it’s almost like designed to take advantage of that aspect of our immune system and make it better! Don’t do research or anything, sounds complicated.
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u/mjamonks 4d ago edited 4d ago
That's what the vaccine does, it lets your immune system practice removing the virus.
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u/radziadax 4d ago
A bag of hammers has a better understanding of epidemiology than you.
I'm gonna get two vaccines this week purely out of spite (and because I have more than two brain cells to rub together)
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u/Equal-Direction-7285 4d ago
But if God was so loving, why would he design us to get sick?
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u/Bobbin_thimble1994 4d ago
- to reduce the surplus population
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u/oldgeezabutla 4d ago
Yep. Was sick 2 weeks ago and sick again...sucks!
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u/Complex-Bit-4764 4d ago
This is the same for me. I got sick almost 3 weeks ago, runny nose & congestion.
I am sick again with bad aches, chills & have a mild fever.
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u/Every-Helicopter5046 4d ago edited 2d ago
For all yall who will notice some health changes crop up after having this wave of covid get you, here's a long covid treatment guide. Stay safe homies, and consider regularly wearing a respirator style mask in public 🙏 long covid is growing at a rate of approximately o.4 to 1.5% every 3 months. https://www.rthm.com/treatmentguide
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u/J-Eichel 4d ago
To the OP, or anyone else reading, not to scare you, but this is sort of how long COVID started for me (I'm 10 months in at the moment, unable to work). I had 6 weeks straight of coughing and a sore throat.
I went to a clinic at this point as it was worrisome to be sick this long, and unfortunately they couldn't do anything. I'm saying this though just keep an eye out for long COVID symptoms, as an overly long acute symptom phase was what I experienced before dealing with CFS/ME in the following weeks to present time.
Also I do feel like Long COVID is going to become more and more prevalent as time goes on. Reinfections can increase the risk of getting it, and this is actually my second time getting LC (first time only lasted 2 months though after a flu in 2024, so might not technically be classified as LC as I think 6 months is the requirement)
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u/SaucyUnihorn 3d ago
I have long covid side effects and they have stayed with me for the past 4 years, and same with my spouse. Has put me in a rough position with work and daily life unfortunately
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u/J-Eichel 3d ago edited 3d ago
Damn sorry to hear that. That's definitely a worry of mine as well.
Do you have the subtype with common PEM/crashes, or is it more the POTS/other symptom type? Have symptoms at least improved to being somewhat functional over the 4 years compared to the beginning?
Edit: I've thought about even when I do get functional enough to work, that there will be a brutal middle ground where you have just enough energy to push yourself through work, but not enough to maintain anything else in life.
I imagine you might be in that position, and if so I know how shitty that feels, as that's what it was like for me before my symptoms got 10x worse. The rolling crashes ruined my baseline, but even if it didn't ruin it, it's a pretty shit existence
Also whoa, your spouse too? It's crazy how common LC has become. I'm hoping awareness and research gets dumped into this disease with how prevalent it's become
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u/Spiritual_Length9536 4d ago
Yep. Still on the tail end of it been 3 weeks First sickness since 2022. Pretty annoying all around.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 4d ago
literally same thing for me. what were your symptoms? for me it came on pretty quick and started as a sore throat, then a cough, feeling really tired, runny nose, stuffy head, and now it's just sort of a light choking cough for the past week
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u/Spiritual_Length9536 4d ago
Felt like bad allergies when it started. Then fatigue super tired and sneezing and coughing and ungodly amounts of mucus for days. Then just coughing and stuffy nose. Finally starting to chill out.
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u/Red_AtNight 4d ago
Man you and OP have some luck. Maybe it’s cause I have a toddler, but I’m probably sick 10 times a year
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u/Spiritual_Length9536 4d ago
I dunno. It's basically a 3 or 4 year cycle for me. I clean for a living, eat lots of spicy good and have almost no stress at home or work. The last one being the most important in my opinion.
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u/IllustriousVerne 4d ago
Second week. Still coughing and congested when I wake up in the morning...
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u/VICurling 4d ago
In Nanaimo, but yep! Husband has had it for a week now, I just came down with it today. Both of us tested negative for covid, at least.
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u/Asleep-Coconut-7541 4d ago
Rapid Antigen Tests no longer work for the new strains of Covid, apparently (according to my GP). The virus continues to mutate but because we are out of pandemic level threats, there’s no demand to keep making new RATs to keep up with each new strain. It’s true, you may not have had covid, but a negative test no longer verifies that.
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u/AgentNo3516 4d ago
Not true. This strain is similar to omicron. Our old tests picked it up. you can’t test too soon after getting it though for false negatives.
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u/Asleep-Coconut-7541 4d ago
Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t say RATs no longer work at all. My point is that you can’t depend on them to work consistently year to year. They may work and show positive, they may not. And I think my point still stands that a negative can no longer verify that it’s not covid
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u/Moth-eatenDeerhead 4d ago
Whatever new Covid strain I got showed up on two different boxes of RAT’s.
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u/Asleep-Coconut-7541 4d ago
That’s good to know! I didn’t realize this year’s strain was similar enough to previous year’s to show! I think it remains true though that positive tests can be used to verify positive cases but that negative tests cannot be used to confirm negative cases.
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u/AgentNo3516 4d ago
Covid. We’ve had it in our house for almost 3 weeks now. Cough and congestion have been our biggest issues with it (4 of us).
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u/RhodoInBoots 4d ago
Going to get my flu and covid shots this Friday. In the mean time, don't cough on me.
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u/WhyGirlsPreddy 4d ago
Started feeling it as I went up to my sister's wedding managed to basely fight it off but the minute the stress passed I was fully laid out. Husbo had to drive my sleeping laid out half corpse all the way home. It's brutal
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u/silverrosesinjune 4d ago
Called in sick. Nose will not stop running, and hint of a fever. Hopefully this is immunity building.
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u/No-Highlight-1882 4d ago
I wear my dreaded mask this time of year in busy stores and scrub my hands extra. It does help ward off these viruses - to a point. I too find colds last much longer now.
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u/holdencaulfield1983 4d ago
Our family is about three weeks into a cough that hasn’t quite gone away yet.
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u/Batsaboutit 4d ago
I've been sick off and on for a few weeks now. I barely get better and it starts off again. It's been so much worse since Covid. I feel like we just keep picking up everything the last few years and it's always hard to get rid of for a few weeks. I know we've had RSV. I just want this to end now please. My son and I have asthma and we get sick the most.
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u/Fresh-Ninja 4d ago edited 2d ago
Yes. It’s a terrible cough. I found a lot of liquids helped, and eucalyptus. Get better soon. This one is a particular doozy.
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u/ablackholeofjunk 4d ago
I'm still getting over the H1N1 flu. Flight from Zurich to Montreal, with half the people hacking their guts out. 2 days later in Montreal I was very sick, 102 fever. 2 weeks later now back home here, and not sick, but still have a heavy cough and am tired. It's brutal.
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u/eliza261 4d ago
Half my office has been out with some version of respiratory illness if some ilk. I was home for a week before I felt remotely well enough to go into the office( where I have enough space to social distance at least. I only just stopped taking cold/ flu pills on Monday after over 12 days of taking meds. We took a few Covid tests and they were negative. It was rough
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u/3lectroid 4d ago
How do you know it isnt covid
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u/pumpkinspicecum 4d ago
i took a covid test
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u/Obvious_Cranberry607 Langford 4d ago
It can take a few days before the testing will show a positive. If it's been a few days since you last tested, try it again.
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u/extremebean_ 4d ago
false negatives are common. always assume it’s covid. or just assume that it could disable you or someone else if you don’t take proper precautions, better safe than sorry.
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u/hudson27 4d ago
I was supposed to start a new job next week, but they asked if I could start today because someone was out sick. I told them I'd love to, but I'm also sick and can't start.
It won't make headlines like 2020, but this is almost certainly a new COVID variant. They've been tracking and warning about it for years
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u/Superbform 4d ago
Oh man it was a real lurker of an infection. For me, yhe worst wasn't that bad, though.
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u/aGiraffeNamedSarah Harris Green 4d ago
Yeah, since two days ago; missed thanksgiving with the family. Felt like a mild head cold slowly progressing to something, and then today it seems to have finally hit me - headache, burning sinuses, runny nose and generally feeling like doodoo.
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u/Snowtime69 Esquimalt 4d ago
Cough and sore through for both me and my kid about a week and a half ago. Finally got better and now both have fevers, runny noses, sneezing like banshees. Sucks to suck 😞
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u/Tiny_Temperature_808 4d ago
Yep, got sick 5-6 weeks ago, still trying to get over it. I have a cough that won't go away. I have a compromised immune system, so it's hard for me to fight off colds, seems like everyone is getting the same thing rn, could be mild COVID or just a light flu of some sort, who knows, but regardless, I've been masking up every time I leave the house, don't want to spread what I have or catch anything else
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u/Timely_Chicken_8789 4d ago
I’ve got it, and I had it last year too. Last year was 18 days. I’m currently at day 8.
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u/GoodShopping640 4d ago
Yeah, had a cold for about a week 3-ish weeks ago. Still have the phlegm and am quite stuffed up. It's taking a while
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u/colinboxbreaks 4d ago
Got the same thing, first few days sucked. Now its just lingering and won't quite go.
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u/blazeofgloreee 4d ago
Yup, I’ve had the same thing since last week. Wife had it too and many people at my work. Not a very harsh sickness but it’s persistent
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u/Living_Deer_2967 4d ago
Last year around this time I was sick for weeks with lots of congestion (ears/nose) and sore throat.
Seems allergies really got to me. Once I started nasel flush and antihistamines things quickly got better.
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u/Lilydyner34 4d ago
Yeah I won't go anywhere except my acupuncture's office to get immune boosting treatments. Masks everywhere else. Why do we have to live like this??
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u/2late4caltrate 4d ago
I had a very sore throat, dizziness, and fatigue. Now I have mild congestion. Never got a runny nose or cough.
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u/Civil_Afternoon_8261 3d ago
Got me a couple weeks ago. I feel better now, though. Hope you follow suit and get better soon!!
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u/Remarkable-Notice954 3d ago
Yes Snotty nose and headache for the last week. Weird there's no other symptoms.
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u/papermoonskies North Park 3d ago
Nope, Haven't been sick in almost a decade. I stay up to date on my COVID and flu shots.
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u/johnnybird95 3d ago
most of my roommate's workplace has been out sick with this year's bug the last 2ish weeks, and about half of my students have been sick. it's nasty
keep testing for covid every few days. apparently some of these new strains don't register as positive on the tests until after you've recovered
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u/SaucyUnihorn 3d ago
My partner got sick and then got me sick by proximity. I avoided it for a couple days but alas my bodies immune system folded in the end.
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u/Open-Dragonfruit-813 3d ago
I’ve got the exact same thing. Still have lots of phlegm and got a runny nose 4 weeks after getting sick. So tired of it!
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u/SatSapienti 3d ago
Been sick since Sunday night. Currently locked myself away from my family. It started with a sore throat that quickly progressed to a runny nose, headache, and fever within 12 hours. Normally, my sore throats and congestion don't overlap for my colds so I took an old covid test I still had lying around. Got a faint positive.
Hoping this goes away soon. I've got a trip coming up in 2 weeks.
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u/haemogoblinite 3d ago
It is a bad flu season and COVID strains still actively go around. Get your flu vaccines and COVID boosters.
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u/wage1slave 2d ago
I had a virus a month ago and I still have a cough from it. I asked doctor about it and he said it could last for another month.
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u/the_SQRL 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have seasonal allergies so I wasn't sure what's been ailing me but for at least 3+ weeks. I've had a very sore throat, sore sinus area (dry), severe migranes, with extremely sore eyes, occasional dry cough with a sore chest, very sore ears, but no fever, extremely tired (wiped out - low energy). So my symptoms are not like the ones people have described here ie mucous and runny noses. I'm more on the dry side and extremely sore. Feels like my head wants to explode. Wondering if anyone else has similar symptoms?
P.S. I should add I've been isolating just in case and wearing a mask when getting deliveries or having any contact with people. I truly believe in masking up and wished others would mask up when not well or even just to be safe.
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u/Upbeat-Cry-3863 1d ago
Upticks in Flu A and covid right now on the island. Couple new official outbreaks reported.
We’ve forgotten how to manage illness or people are still too mad at covid to stop spreading their germs all over the place with zero regard for anyone else.
Tis the season. Ftlog people -stay home or away from people if you’re sick and wash yer freaking hands!!! So simple
Yet…. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/joyfulplant 10h ago
I often get a cough for weeks now.. if it lasts longer than 3 weeks I sometimes get treated with an inhaler to help strengthen my lungs. You could speak with a doctor if it’s an issue for you.
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u/TheJester_85 4d ago
Been sick for almost a week now, fever, horrible cough. Thank you gain of function research for bringing these wonderful new respiratory viruses to the masses.👍
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u/PaleontologistNo5449 4d ago
Start with an allergy then did not even noticed I got a cold until I had a fever on and off for a couple days. Horrible cough stays ( my allergies cause cough too tho ) for 2 weeks in now. Someone told me Thyme tea ( 1 tbs dried thyme add hot water leave for 10-30mins 3 times a day ) seems work better than any cough syrup for wet cough. I sneeze, have an uncontrolled running nose and coughing even I take antihistamine 😫 I don’t know what it is anymore. 😩
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u/Peanutadjuster 4d ago
yep finally almost out of it after 5 days of intense congestion, sneezes, thick green goop, a painful cough, fatigue and headaches. Not a fun flu but not the worst either.
great timing for me personally, my fave game had a big update the day I had to call in.
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u/dflagella 4d ago
There's a lot going around rn. Flu, COVID, cold, Norovirus. I had a 2 day cold recently. Know some people with brutal flu-like and cold symptoms the last few weeks but uncomfitmed what illness
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u/catbirdchihiro 4d ago
A friend had Covid last week and was hit pretty hard, really really sick. My son had a cold but it only lasted a couple days.
Hope you feel better soon! ❤️🩹
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u/Middle-Recipe6701 4d ago
I posted about being sick about 18 days ago ... and I'm still sick! Wearing a mask and limiting going out only for necessities and usually at night when things are less busy.
And yeah, the cough lingers and lingers and lingers.
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u/MissAgent05 4d ago
I have been sick twice since September! I usually never get sick. I was just getting ivermectin the first one when I got the second one. And yes, I stayed home and wore a mask when I first went out.
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u/oliviaiscool2 4d ago
Yup I’m very sick too but unfortunately I’m being forced to go to school by my parent
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u/RestNo8279 3d ago
I'm not trying to promote it or anything like that but for me, whenever I feel a bug coming on, I take a couple of snorts of essential silver spray up the nose and gargle about 10 mls and swallow it. In the past 3 years since doing that, its only gone full blown cold once out of lots of times of sickness in our house (4 kids).
Last time was a week ago, felt something coming on, wife was sick, 1 kid also sick, wife accidentally takes a drink from my glass...I feel something coming on in the morning, did the silver and then again after work, next day back to normal...
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u/HeatProfessional4473 4d ago
Sounds like you have a sinus infection, if it's been that long. You need antibiotics.
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u/Automatic_Ad5097 3d ago
Sinusitis is normally viral, although it can occassionally be bacterial. Antibiotics are pretty ineffective against most cases.
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u/human-opossum North Park 4d ago edited 4d ago
Cold and flu season, a COVID spike, tests not designed to detect new strains, could be anything, I just wish people would wear their masks in public again especially when feeling ill or having respiratory symptoms. I mask even when I'm not sick, but I'm also severely immunocompromised and rely on other people to do their part as well, which i know they won't.