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queer_scribblingIn theory, Covid-19 is supposed to last about two weeks.
June 24th: Warm (low grade fever), but not terribly concerned. Left ear has the feeling like it “won’t drain” (muffled sounds / no hearing), and I can hear my own sounds Too Much (autophony).
June 25th: Yesterday’s symptoms continued. Tired, even before taking the acetaminophen pm. Mentally checked out (notes say “an early night” for not staying up much). Right forearm: The not-quite-a-rash “unhappy skin” look before a psoriasis plaque forms. (One did not fully form, but it was a clear physical sign that my immune system is on overdrive.)
June 26th: Not nearly as feverish feeling, but sometime between the evening of 25 and morning of 26, intermittent pulsatile tinnitus started in my left ear. I did some googling and found out that the “continuing weird ear issues” was my left Eustachian tube being open when it should not be (PET).
June 27th: Yesterday’s symptoms continued with no new ones or changes.
June 28th: Continued sinus pressure, very slight fever feeling, PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, headache (evening).
June 29th: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, feverish, took daytime and nighttime OTC meds (included acetaminophen). Dozed during the day. “Brain static day”.
June 30th: Tired, outright napping during the day, continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear. Continued OTC meds, and feverish feeling wasn’t still noticeable while on meds after dinner.
Sometime in the first week: Tingling in left arm (like ‘pins and needles’ without being in a position for the arm to fall asleep) at least twice. A weird thing to happen, but I honestly wasn’t sure if it was related when I made the initial note. Might be?
July 1st: As a solidly nocturnal creature, I was surprised that my body woke me up at 6:30 am. I took some daytime OTC meds, and when I got back into bed, I noticed an odd pressure in my chest when I tried to lay on my side like usual. It didn’t hurt or feel strange enough that I was concerned, but I noticed it was easier to breathe laying on my stomach. Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, “unhappy” left lymph node (neck), bit of a sore throat. Still took nighttime OTC meds.
Sometime between June 29th and July 1st: The days blurred together a bit, which wasn’t exactly helped by dozing or napping during the day. Somewhere during this time, I noticed that I would hit a bit of resistance while breathing if I breathed too deeply (full, diaphragm level breathing). I also felt like I had to concentrate on the act of breathing itself. (It wasn’t like my body couldn’t still do it on its own, but if I didn’t concentrate, I would breathe too shallowly and feel weird.) On one of these days, I remember covering myself with a flannel shirt because I felt chilled.
July 2nd: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, unsure if I had a fever, both lymph nodes (neck) weren’t thrilled (but not as painful as yesterday), and I still took nighttime OTC meds. During the nighttime routine of letting the dogs in, the cat got into the garage and wanted to explore, so I had to walk back out and bring her in. It took more energy than I was expecting, and my body was reacting like I had been asked to do something horribly strenuous.
July 3rd: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, tired, bit achey, slight fever feeling right before bed (nighttime OTC meds).
July 4th: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, “autopilot” tired, and I had a “chest tickle”. It felt like I should cough to clear something from my chest, but I didn’t feel like I needed to (or cough unexpectedly on my own).
July 5th: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, coughed only after sneezing, headache, less tired and feverish feeling, and the chest tickle continued (it was particularly bad with shower steam). (I read what some of the other ingredients in the OTC meds did, and one was a cough suppressant while another ‘loosened phlegm’. I’m not sure if they were just doing their job or what.)
Sometime this weekend: Despite feeling like I wasn’t nearly as feverish as before, and I could stay conscious long enough to string words together, I felt like I couldn’t keep track of where I was going in the thread with Siggy. I wouldn’t quite see where I was going with a sentence by the end of it, I didn’t remember typing out certain parts the next night, and I forgot his name. (Reassurance that I was making sense aside, this was not normal for me.) I chalked it up to not being aware of how tired and/or feverish I actually was, but this might be ‘brain fog’ in action.
July 6th: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion, but felt better than the past few days. I still took nighttime OTC meds.
July 7th: PET in left ear briefly stopped in the evening (popped closed), but then it returned. Continued occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, bit of a sore throat, hoarse, but only took daytime OTC meds.
But wait! There’s about a week more.
July 8th: Stopped taking OTC meds (in theory I should’ve been over the worst of this). Sinuses drained down my throat (am), low grade fever (pm), and continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear.
July 9th: Continued PET and occasional pulsatile tinnitus in left ear, sinus congestion/pressure in forehead (am), sinus drainage (pm), warm but not feverish, “Eh”.
July 10th: PET stopped (popped closed) in left ear sometime after midnight (before bed). Later right on the edge of falling asleep, my heart started racing and the pulsatile tinnitus was really noticeable in my left ear. I didn’t feel panicked, so I’m confident I wasn’t misinterpreting a panic attack or something like that. I didn’t feel anything that seemed like a sign of a vascular emergency, so I breathed calmly and deeply, and eventually, I just had to ignore the pulsatile tinnitus to sleep. Some sinus congestion and drainage during the day, but overall, I felt better.
July 11th: Sinus congestion and drainage, less intermittent pulsatile tinnitus, warm but not feverish, little appetite, “Eh”. (Currently, the last day with any pulsatile tinnitus.)
July 12th: Sinus congestion and lots of drainage, little to no appetite, “Eh”.
July 13th: I’m tired of trying to sleep on my stomach, but I’m not sure if my dream suddenly ended with gasping / coughing and not being able to breathe because I couldn’t breathe adequately enough on my side or not. Jerking awake and startling myself into turning on my stomach is rude as fuck either way. Also: Feverish in the morning, continued sinus congestion and drainage, and I had another moment where getting the cat felt like my body had to put more effort than usual into it.
I hope this isn’t connected, but I’m making note of it just in case: I had a brief moment during dinner where my right hand trembled a bit. (I was holding a spoon, and I was like, ‘hmm, why does it look like the spoon is shaking?’ Then I looked at my hand, and I was like, ‘hmm, why didn’t I feel my hand shaking before I saw the movement?’)
As you can see with the fever coming back, I’m not sure if I can trust “3 days with no fever, respiratory symptoms have improved, and 10 days since symptoms first appeared” [CDC] as being enough to tell me when I’m safe to be around others. I might fall in the category of taking 3 to 6 weeks to recover, but apparently, this is also the first I’m hearing about Long-Haulers. (I’m definitely not at that point yet. I just. Was anyone going to mention that? Or am I supposed to stumble into googling what I need to know about Covid-19 on my own here?)
