Ringing in the New Year….with Covid-19

Never thought this would happen to me but it certainly did. Just in time for the New Year. That’s right; I ushered in the New Year recovering from Covid-19.

Nearly three years ago when New York City was the epicenter of Covid-19, I was among the many unlucky thousands to experience this devastating respiratory disease. That was a time of uncertainty and anxiety for many, globally. It was also a time before widespread testing and pharmacological intervention methods such as vaccination. 

By God’s grace, I survived without even receiving medical attention, because I was not deemed a “serious” case.  To the contrary, I felt like I was dying – the high fever and the level of discomfort was unmatched. That seemingly near-death experience can be found in this blog post.

I was subsequently vaccinated against Covid-19 and have received two doses and a booster to date. So, this means that I am alright now? Not quite so. Though I have heard of breakthrough cases, I never thought it could happen to me; I was vaccinated, and I had it before. Further, I still wear a mask daily out of sheer habit. 

This is how it all went down:

Wednesday Evening (Dec 28th)

I went out for Happy Hour and intentionally did not plan on eating due to my ongoing problem with food allergies and my goal to control my calorie intake for the month of December. (I mean, being remote for a while lends to constant overeating eating and I wanted to regain control of that aspect of my life). Anyways, I gave in and had a side of plantains which to my knowledge should not contain any known allergens that would affect me. 

When I went to bed that night, I noticed that my throat started to feel itchy. It was that weird feeling that I would get to signal the start of an allergic reaction. My ears were also engaged in an irritating way, so I was pretty sure of what this was. For the whole night my throat and ears were inflamed. 

Thursday

I woke up with a fever, and what felt like an intense body ache. I was also congested, and the throat and ear inflammation continued. I still attributed the way to I felt to an allergy attack. I mean, what else could have caused this? I have already taken my flu shot for the season, and this certainly did not feel like my first bout with Covid. 

When I got home from work that day, I was in intense pain. I was not even able to use my computer to do some work as planned. Damn, these allergies really did a number on me this time around. 

Interestingly, I have not had frequent/recent allergy attacks due to my intentional approach to what I consume. However, I do remember for sure that my allergy symptoms entailed the engagement of my ears, nose, and throat to a heightened level of discomfort. Of note, I cannot remember whether previous attacks were associated with a fever and body aches.

On Thursday night, I also experienced a runny nose, along with the previously described symptoms.



Friday

Rinse and repeat. Muscle aches, runny nose, sneezing, sore/itchy throat.

Saturday (New Year’s Eve)

The fever was not as severe as the previous days, but I was still not feeling like myself. I decided to do something that I had never done for an allergy attack. I decided to go to an urgent care center so I could get medical treatment. In the past, I have used Benadryl^TM but that did not seem to work this time around. Of note, I took about two Benadryls on Thursday. 

During the intake process, I told the medical assistant my symptoms, and she further questioned me about Covid-19 (vaccination, testing, etc.). I immediately dismissed the thought of a Covid-19 infection because there was no way I could be infected. After a quick exam, the provider prescribed allergy medication which I was grateful for as a great alternative to the usual OTC drugs.

Upon reaching home that day, there was something that urged me to just take an at-home Covid-test. I have quite a few Covid-tests that I have interestingly, never used.

Though I was certain that my test result would be negative, I obliged, and carefully read the test directions in preparation for my test. 

Two lines at the T and the C indicate a positive test. 

After collecting my sample and pouring the liquid into the well, I anxiously waited to learn my fate. To my amazement and utter disbelief, I saw evidence of what indeed meant a positive test. 

See for yourself:

No way! I just tested positive for Covid-19. Is this accurate? Is this a fluke? What is the specificity and sensitivity of the test? A quick google search explained that the test is more likely to give a false negative than a false positive result. So, my positive result was likely to be quite accurate. 

What does this mean?

Do I need to isolate? How do I get proper treatment? What is my next step?

This was New Year’s Eve, by the way. 

Since Covid had been around for close to three years by now, there must be some treatment available for affected individuals. I headed to another urgent care (luckily just two miles away) to get tested, and hopefully treated if it turned out that I did in fact have Covid-19.

I checked in, went into the exam room, and completed the intake process. I did a nasal swab two separate times, much to my discomfort (one for a Rapid test) and surprise, surprise…..

My fears were doubly confirmed. The virus has struck my poor soul again.

When I asked for medication, I was told to take standard OTC medication for pain, congestion, etc. Oh, really? Seems like we are treating Covid like the common flu now. Isolation was also recommended for 5 days after the onset of my symptoms. 

The outcome was quite opening, as I did not expect to have been infected with the virus again after my initial near-death experience. To some extent, it did make sense that there was something else more than just my allergy symptoms – indeed, I can’t recall whether my allergy attacks were also followed by severe body aches and a high fever. Now, I wonder if I did in fact have an allergy attack along with Covid-19. The presence of Covid-19 certainly does not rule out a concurrent engagement of my immune system in an allergic response.

It is likely that I contracted an Omicron subvariant in December of 2022, as these are the variants causing current Covid-19 infections according to the CDC. Research has shown that the Omicron variants are associated with less disease severity than previous strains such as the Alpha strain, for instance. For reference, the Alpha variant was the dominant variant back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic in New York City. 

I think that the difference in how I felt this time around may be attributed to both the fact that I have been vaccinated, and that we are now dealing with a less lethal and less severe variant. 

Is Covid-19 here to stay? It has been almost three years since our first encounter with one of the deadliest elements of modern times, and we still seem to be so far from an answer. The progress in vaccination is promising but the looming uncertainty in which we live begs for a deeper understanding and more clarity, in general.   

Of course, I am beyond grateful that I am not immunocompromised which would have exacerbated the effect of a Covid-19 infection. I’ll end by encouraging you to listen to your bodies, keep an open mind, and to be kind to yourselves.