I made it 3 full years avoiding Covid, but alas, I wasn't able to dodge those germs forever. Since I take a medication which literally states that it "lowers the body's ability to fight infections", it was a rough time for me. Safe to say it was definitely a worse experience since I have to inject myself with immunosuppressants every other week.
At first it was scary with 103° fevers. I probably should have gone to the ER that night, but I haven't had the best experiences at the ER in my lifetime. My smart husband put ice packs on my veins and neck and took away the extra blankets I had piled on. It was miserable and about 1 degree away from causing brain damage. I was shivering so violently that my teeth were chattering. Eventually we managed to bring my temp down to 101. Then I had to be careful not to be overly active or use too many blankets. I was so exhausted yet had difficulty sleeping. I felt SO cold, even though I was actually burning up.
ALL THE SYMPTOMS
Once the fever became less of a threat, I developed a terrible head cold. I coughed so hard I threw my neck out. My nose became raw from blowing it so often. My throat was very sore. I was also experiencing extreme body aches - I'm talking Charley Horses in every muscle group and even Shin Splints. When I would manage to fall asleep, I was woken up by the intense muscle spasms cramping up. The fatigue was next level.
PAXLOVID
There's an antiviral medication that my doctor prescribed since I'm immune compromised, called Paxlovid. It's supposed to keep Covid from turning severe, but I wasn't able to start it for 3 days due to taking my migraine medicine the night before.
One of the side effects listed for Paxlovid is "altered sense of taste". I understood that to mean things wouldn't taste normal. Nope, it meant my mouth tasted like vomit at all times. There was no way to get rid of the rancid taste. Brushing my teeth made it worse. I figured out that sucking on hard candies helped, but I had to have one in my mouth constantly or I started to gag. I only made it through 4/10 doses of the antiviral. I couldn't deal with the disgusting taste any longer and besides that, the hard candies started wearing holes in my cheeks.
YEASTY BEASTY
Besides all the Covid symptoms, I had a bad yeast infection going on that I could do nothing about. After a week of feeling like a pile of garbage, I mustered the strength to go to the doctor to get treated for that. Ladies know how uncomfortable that is to deal with.
BACK IN TIME, POURING LIME
As you may recall, I've had colorectal surgery where they removed my large intestines and rectum. Due to these missing organs, I deal with a lot of anal discomfort in my day-to-day life. I have butt creams that I rotate to be able to function and hold down a job. I have days that are worse than others to walk. Let me tell you though, in the midst of Covid, I felt like I got thrown backwards a decade in time to when I just had my rectum cut out. Every time I pooped it felt like pouring lime juice on an open wound. (Insert screaming pain.) It felt like someone was actively slicing me open with a knife. All my remedies and creams were suddenly useless. Sitz baths were only temporary relief. My GI doctor was out of town, so it took 5 days to get in touch with her. She prescribed me a nitroglycerin gel that has lidocaine in it that I can use 3x daily. This numbs things a for a short while so that I'm able to walk without cringing in pain. I'm still dealing with whatever is going on with that, and I have a pelvic MRI scheduled this week to check for abscess. (Since I have Crohn's, that is always a possibility.) PRURITUS RETURNS
There have been several seasons in my life when I have dealt with something called Aquagenic Pruritus. It's an auto-immune condition where the skin develops severe itching upon contact with water. This inflammatory response causes extreme itchiness that can go on for well over an hour. The last time I dealt with this was in 2019. Usually during a flare up on this I would avoid showering...but remember how I just mentioned that baths for my booty were the only way of relieving the anus burn? Yeah, so...another Catch 22. I had to choose burning anus pain or intense itching on my skin...all while dealing with a yeast infection and all of the Covid symptoms. I was miserable.
POST-COVID
Its three weeks post-Covid and if I do too much physically, I have a coughing fit in the evening. I lost my sense of taste and smell for a while, which eventually returned. Even though my Covid experience was awful, I'm grateful that I dodged the earlier versions. Afterall, I caught the super mutated, less intense variation. It still sucked hardcore and set off a domino effect of other problems in my body. I'm doing my best to rein things back in again. Life with chronic health issues can be so frustrating.
