Two negative tests

[carbonel]

My nose is a spigot, my head is stuffed, my sinuses ache, and my throat is scratchy-sore. Maybe it's COVID-19 (despite the negative tests) or maybe it's my first cold in three years. In any case, I'm thankful for generic Sudafed and aspirin. Also Afrin, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to use my CPAP last night.

I'm running low on tests until the new ones I ordered arrive, but I have enough for tonight and tomorrow. So we shall see. In the meantime, I'm isolating on general principles.

I have food in the house and plenty of things to watch and read. It could be worse.

Comments

[graydon]

All best wishes for a swift and comprehensive recovery!

There's a lot of stuff going around so here's hoping it's not COVID.

[dreamshark]

It turns out that colds are terrible. I also didn't get a cold for almost 4 years, and when I finally did it was quite a shock. It wasn't even an especially BAD cold but it lingered and lingered. Which, now that I think about it, my colds usually do.

I hope you feel better soon.

[laurel]

Ugh, that sucks. Sympathies. Have seen several reports from people I know about colds being a lot worse after having had COVID, FWIW. Which makes sense given what COVID does to a person.

The rapid tests aren’t so great at catching COVID anymore, though reportedly the BinaxNow ones work better than some others with the latest variants. Lots of people swear by doing throat swab instead of or in addition to nasal swabbing (er, doing both sounds a bit icky, maybe they’re just doing throat swabs).

Don’t know if anyone local has the Lucira tests in stock: https://amzn.to/3vgRfKt

You might qualify for a free PCR test from one of these programs:

https://covid19homestudies.org/

Does Walgreens still offer drive up PCR testing? I miss the days when the state of MN would deliver a PCR test to you for free and then it could be sent in for free and you got your results fairly quickly. Alas. And I see community testing sites don’t even have PCR tests right now for some reason here in MN. But maybe pharmacies still do.

Because if it is COVID, the sooner you know the more likely you can get Paxlovid etc. But maybe it’s not COVID! I know there’s lots of stuff going around.

Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t get any worse and instead improves (and goes away sooner rather than later).

[carbonel]

I've been using the BinaxNow ones and swabbing my throat, so I'm getting the best home accuracy I can. Still negative today.

It's the third or fourth day, so even if it were positive it would probably be too late for Paxlovid. But it's seeming more like it's a cold.

[laurel]

Hopefully the worst of it is over and it’s just a cold that will leave soon. (Ugh, though, not what one wants.)

Oh noes!

[lsanderson]

Speedy recovery.

[bibliofile]

Yuck, DNW, glad you have appropriate supplies. Hoping you feel better soon.