I have been very grateful and trying not to take for granted the fact that up I was one of the very few people I know who has not contracted COVID over the past three years.
Even when I was directly exposed to people who had it, I managed to avoid it and every test I’ve taken came back negative.
As a matter of fact, I have not been sick with anything for at least four years, probably more like five or six. Not a cold, flu, not even a sniffle.
I probably didn’t appreciate it enough because, well, human nature. It’s hard to appreciate the status quo when you have nothing to compare it to.
I have been blessed throughout my adult life with good health. I rarely suffer from ailments that are all too common, such as headaches, nausea etc. I do have a couple of chronic peccadillos, such as sinus issues, that are more of an annoyance than anything.
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All in all, though, considering my lifestyle hasn’t always been the healthiest, I have known to comment that I am way healthier than I have any right to be.
That all changed a couple of weeks ago when I experienced a bit of a sore throat followed by a headache, cough, diarrhea an increased desire to sleep. The symptoms were so mild, though, I brushed it off as a simple cold, stayed home, took over-the-counter medicine and slept more than usual.
After a few days, the overt symptoms subsided, but I was left with an overwhelming sense of fatigue. After a couple more days, the sore throat and headache returned and the exhaustion just got worse.
I still don’t know if it was COVID, but the fact that I relapsed and even when I felt otherwise fine couldn’t keep my eyes open for more than a few hours at a time is certainly more consistent with that than any other respiratory bug I’ve ever known in the past.
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It has been really unnerving. I am a very active person so being in bed for 16 or more hours a day is anathema and yet all I’ve really wanted to do. I don’t know how the people I know who suffer from chronic headaches put up with it.
What did I learn?
Not to belabour the obvious, but being sick sucks.
I also have a new appreciation for the few people I see still wearing masks in public even all these months after the requirement was lifted.
Regardless of what it was, when I get to the other side of it, you can bet I am going to appreciate my good health and do everything humanly possible to not contract anything else.
And, perhaps more importantly, if I do get sick again, I’m going to do everything humanly possible not to pass it on.
editor@interior-news.com
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