Been not posting for a bit for bad-feeling reasons and now this
Shit just keeps getting worse and worse 
One antigen test (all I had/can afford) is negative but I'm almost certain its covid cuz my friend I see all the time is sick and someone they live with has a confirmed case :(
I have never felt more doomer in my life, can't stop thinking about not living
I don't want to get worse anymore
At least this time I don't feel so sick
There’s a lot of viruses going around because everyone is immunosuppressed from covid. You can have multiple infections simultaneously. There was a tweet recently from someone whose nasal PCR in hospital came back as covid, RSV and influenza. Which would suck.
So it’s possible you don’t have covid but caught from them something else that makes you feel dogshit. If that is the case good news you’ll feel better faster and are less likely to have post infection complications.
However you can also test false negative early on. If you can afford to test in a couple days you should. Brand doesn’t matter, whatever is cheapest. You should rest and keep contact with others to a minimum. Even if you don’t have covid don’t spread what you have.
If you do test positive and there’s any chance of antivirals get them, these are expensive privately but many different places have funding/programs for at risk infected, embellish your history if you need to. Antivirals make you recover faster, have less risk of dying or getting long covid.
If not possible and it is covid. Rest as much as possible. Like actual sleep rest, not inertia on a computer or in front of a TV. Don’t exercise either.
Statistically, the odds are you'll be totally fine in just a week or two, stay strong buddy, and have a good recovery
Hopefully, thank you
Just can't stop thinking about all those studies about increased risk of strokes, heart attacks, cognitive impairment etc, brain shrinking, etc etc etc
While what you say is true, we should keep in mind that those effects are rare overall, and that COVID being one of the most studied (and most tested) diseases at this point, we're bound to find more effects than for other illnesses. You've beat it before, you can do it again 💪💪 keep us updated, comrade
we should keep in mind that those effects are rare overall
This is untrue. I get that you're trying to be positive here, but it's not worth minimizing the dangers.
Around 1/5 Americans (18.3% or 60 million people) have had long COVID in total, and around 5-7% (1/20-1/14 or 16-23 million people) seem to be experiencing it at any given time (the latest CDC survey from June-July says 5.5%). For Trans people, the percentage currently experiencing long COVID is 16%; for people with disabilities, it's 12.6%. Around a quarter of the total (1.4% or 4.5 million people) reported having long COVID symptoms that caused "significant activity limitations".
The VA study from 2022 had a 52% increased rate of stroke, and 63% increased rate of cardiovascular issues in general.
These are not "rare".
Thank you. I wanted to say something similar but didn't have the numbers readily on me, and call this a hunch but I suspect you'll want to have any citations handy for the rest of the stats that are unrelated to the CDC survey.
You've beat it before, you can do it again 💪💪 keep us updated, comrade
I will, ty
Gonna go rest, my anxious posting energy has run out
While what you say is true, we should keep in mind that those effects are rare overall
no
When I had COVID last time, I felt similar this way as well, but I think anxiety is normal symptom or side effect of the symptoms.
If you're scared of COVID, I think the best solution is to get vaccinated regularly. I don't feel like going through that again and I also have some worries about the long term effects, so I'm planning to get mine soon and having one every year.
Vaccines are useful tools but they are not a perfect solution, and people should still be taking other measures such as masking and avoiding in-person events whenever possible. Additionally, as vaccines lose effectiveness and the most prominent variants tend to change over time, people should be getting a booster every 6 months.
Also just a pet peeve but most people aren't "scared" of COVID, they're accurately realizing that we're in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and mass disabling event and feeling despair.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of masking, pointing out that "scared" isn't the right word, and pushing against minimizing rhetoric.
If it hits different coming from the outside my friend, i fight this feeling also and see you very well. Lets hold hands and keep going, shall we?
Try to get paxlovid if you can, I didn't and I had a bad case that stuck with me for months and thought I might have to go to the hospital at points
I eventually recovered but I have some long covid symptoms with increased fatigue and some brain fog
Wishing you the best
I'm a bit torn at what to do about the reports of covid minimisation. On one hand, we don't want to pretend that COVID is harmless. On the other hand, poor OP is super stressed at the moment.
If another mod wants to step in and remove the comments, I support it. At the moment, to me I don't feel it's a black and white issue. Also it's late and my brain isn't at its best.
I've also left them up because obviously the support for OP is good and worth keeping, but made some comments that (hopefully) help to point out that minimizing is wrong.
Maybe slightly
I'm lucky to have a very mild case at least
Home Test2treat has been discontinued unfortunately but their page now links to https://www.paxlovid.com/paxcess for acquiring free paxlovid when you're uninsured, might be worth checking out.
Swabbing your tonsils/back of your throat along with your nose is the best practice for home tests now. You can test negative from a nasal swab and positive from a throat swab on back to back tests.
No-cost testing resource: https://testinglocator.cdc.gov/
Hope you feel better soon and double hope it turns out not to be covid in the first place.
Idk if anyone still reading but I don't wanna make a new thread
I managed to get a real PCR test and it was negative
Wtf, literally worst time for any other illness, right after my friend I see all the time got it
It's a relief but having some doubt about the result still...... I guess I'm lucky
Will go get the new vaccine when I'm better
Thank you all for the love and support and the links
Too tired to come up with replies to all of it, am sorry
hope you're feeling better today