Welp… The time finally came where I tested positive for COVID 19. I wanted to share my experience to be transparent. If you are interested, keep reading!
Disclaimer: I am not a physician. This post is simply to share an experience and should not be taken as recommendation. Please refer to your primary care provider for medical advice.
For starters, I am pretty sure I caught it while working a shift in the Pediatric Emergency Room (my second job). I had a lot of COVID positive children that night who were super friendly and wanted to chat and play. The next night I worked my full time job in the Adult Emergency Room and I was assigned to be triage. Obviosuly, I had a lot of mild COVID cases out there and did not have access to PPE (aside from a surgical mask and hand hygiene). I am exposed every night I work, but my most reasonable guess would be my shift with the kiddos is the culprit
Wednesday
- Sudden, random onset of fatigue
- Sudden increase of throat mucus production
Thursday
- Felt great, had a great workout
- Tonsils starting swelling around 5p.m.
- Went to work
- Voice started cracking around 11p.m. + mild headache (thought it was just work)
Friday
- Came back from work, went right to sleep
- Woke up with horrible shivering at 10a.m.-11a.m.
- 100.8 fever around 2:30 pm.
- Took at home test and tested positive, but felt great
- Called Employee Health, told to quarantine until Monday at midnight
As you can see, after my point of contact, my symptoms were pretty vague. I am a person who never gets sick. I have never even had the flu. I have never had problems with my tonsils being that red and inflamed. I had went ahead and started taking Motrin around the clock. The shivering was next level…My entire body was shaking and I was so cold even with three blankets. The only time I had those shivers was after my COVID 19 booster…and then I broke a fever. My immediate thought was “Seriously?”. Friday night was literally my last night to work before vacation and I was looking forward to getting a little bit of weekend money… The dissapointment continued when I realized I had to cancel my solo birthday trip…
Saturday
- Extremely productive and painful cough
- No fevers
- Mild runny nose and nasal congestion
- Mild nausea
Sunday
- Productive cough, intercostal cramps from coughing
- No fevers
- Moderate runny nose and nasal congestion
- Gum pain/sensitivity
Monday
- Less coughing, more dry cough
- No fevers
- Mild nasal congestion
- Gum pain/sensitivity
How I Managed My Symptoms
- Cough syrup
- Cough drops
- Motion sickness medication (for nausea)
- Ibuprofen/Motrin
- Vitamins (Vitamin C, Zinc, Vitamin D)
- Water
- Hot shower steam with strong smelling ointment/oil (for congestion)
- Rest, with light stretching (the hardest part)
I ended up returning to the gym and back to my usual lifestyle with little to no difficulty. It took about three to four days for my very infrequent cough and congestion to clear up. I continued to take the vitamins everyday and have made them a part of my routine. Overall, I had a very positive experience considering the horror stories you hear. I just wanted to share my experience. Thanks for reading!
NURSE ANNA 