On Wednesday 7 July of this year, I came down with what thought was a mild cold. This seemed remarkable to me considering that I had limited contact with people, was masked whenever in public, washed my hands often and whenever necessary or prudent – In short, I was careful.
But it turns out that colds can be highly contagious, and even when great care is taken, it is still remarkably easy to get one. Summer colds can be an especially interesting animal.
This one started with a raw throat on day one. No big deal. I took herbs and vitamin c, and the raw throat went away. The raw throat subsided to be quickly replaced by headaches on day 2, and a low grade fever beginning on day 3. Day 4 a cough and mild asthma started, and I got out the blood oxygen monitor (doesn’t everyone have one?) just to be sure something more sinister wasn’t going on. Blood O2 hovered between 95 and 98% (more or less normal values) – and has been between those values throughout this cold.
That cough was a routine part of my day from July 11 through July 20. From July 14 through the 20th sleep was a challenge, to say the least. I would say that there were at least 4 nights where the longest chunk of sleep I was able to get was 2 ½ hours. Sometimes I got more than one “chunk” in a night, sometimes not. Yes, that was almost two weeks of coughing. If you’ve ever experienced “whooping cough” – a nasty, intractable need to cough, you have an idea what those “worst” four days were like. Think of someone scratching the back of your throat with a sharp pin. You WILL cough if that happens, and you won’t be able to stop coughing any time soon!
It is now August 2, and most of the symptoms are gone, except for the cough – which is admittedly, much improved. Others who say they have had this beast, say the cough will likely go on “for a while” yet.
Here is a summary of the symptoms from this cold:
- Sore throat, then itch, stinging sensation leading to –
- Cough – dry, then intractable, then productive
- Stuffy nose, then – Post nasal drainage
- Asthma
- Sleeplessness (due to cough)
- Fever
- Brain fog
- Loss of appetite
- Mild nausea
- Vertigo
- Achy joints
- Some muscle aches
- Headaches multiple times a day
- Teeth hurting
- Jaw pain
- Inside of mouth shedding outermost layer of skin
- Diarrhea
- Blood pressure spikes – not dangerous, but outside my norms.
So what is the point of all of this diatribe? I was masked. I had limited social contact. I was careful when I did have outside contact. I’ve had the Vaccine. As a Reiki Master / Teacher charged with teaching a healing modality, deciding to get the vaccine wasn’t a hard decision for me.
But I either slipped up in my precautions, or someone was not as careful as I was, and I therefore got sick. Quite sick.
Now mind you, this was a cold, not Covid. Yes, I got tested to be sure. Yet this “cold” made me sick enough that I consulted with my doctor, just in case I needed more extreme interventions than cough and cold meds. Like a hospital. It completely flattened me for more than two weeks. The symptoms chased each other around like a bad game of “whack-a-mole”. One symptom went away, to be immediately followed by the next one. Now repeat. Now repeat. Now repeat.
I wore and still do wear a mask when I’m out. I do it to protect myself, and to protect friends and strangers from anything I might have been exposed to. I do this as a matter of the most basic kindness to them. I hope for the same consideration from others, but I’ve learned not to expect it.
If you’re wondering, no I don’t get every vaccine that comes along, but when something comes along like Covid 19, I take notice. I studied Covid. I looked at what was done to create the vaccine. I looked at the underlying scientific study of both the disease and the vaccine. I looked at who funded that scientific research, and whether or not the scientific method was used. This is how I research any medical problem I’m reviewing, for whatever reason. I don’t care for opinion. I want the science.
The end result was, I got vaccinated. Why? The research looked pretty good, and Covid is a truly rotten way to die. You drown in what you can’t cough up (or in other even less pleasant ways). I’ve lost friends that way, so that’s not a guess. Dying because of vaccination inaction is waste of your life, and sure looks like a giant “you didn’t matter enough to me” to those you leave behind.
Just my opinion, of course.
The Covid Delta variant is far more contagious and dangerous than my little cold was. So what are YOU going to do?
