COVID with a Vengeance... Yet Again

I've had COVID since we returned from Manhattan.  I tested positive the day after we returned home.  All in all, this bout with COVID seemed to be a relatively minor case.  The only troublesome symptom this time around was breathing problems requiring daily breathing exercises to help clear my lungs.  Other relatively minor symptoms were a fever that came and went a few times throughout the day, a bit of a sore throat, swollen eyelids, and joint pain.  In the past, I've experienced far, far worse so I was pretty happy and confident that this would pass relatively quickly.

I was wrong. 

The other night, I noticed that my sinuses were hurting.  I assumed they were hurting because they were so dry after many days of taking cold medications.  I had been taking cold medications since returning from Manhattan so I thought that perhaps the cold medications dried out my sinuses.  My plan was to stop taking the cold medications and use my saline nasal solution four times a day rather than just twice a day in an effort to allow my sinuses to recover.  So, I stopped taking the cold medications yesterday.

During the night last night, apparently COVID had returned with a vengeance!

My nose suddenly began running off my face so I got up out of bed to take some nighttime cold medications.  My nose was running so much that there was no way to sleep so I was hoping the cold medications would take effect quickly.  Unfortunately, the cold medications don't seem to have any positive effect on the runny nose that is like a powerful waterfall.  I took two nighttime cold capsules during the night and I've taken two daytime capsules this morning...  my nose is still running like a powerful waterfall. 

My nose is itchy and running...  well, it is really a combination of itchy and burning so that I am constantly reaching for tissues to get rid of the itching and burning.  The more my nose fills with mucus, the itchier it gets.  My eyes are itchy and watery.  My throat is scratchy again.  I generally feel lousy again.  I haven't checked my temperature yet today but I wouldn't be surprised if I have a fever this morning.

So much for that anti-viral, Paxlovid, that I took for five days.  I don't think that useless 'emergency use' medication worked.  I'm on day 11 of having COVID and I feel as lousy as Day 2 of COVID before I started on Paxlovid.  I felt mediocre on days one through three of Paxlovid but then felt lousy again on days four and five so I'm not surprised that Paxlovid was not enough to rid me of this virus.  

In all the other times I've had COVID (four other times), I needed months to recover.  I was hoping this time would be different after having so many boosters of the vaccine (we are both current on boosters) but, so far, it is looking like I'll need months to recover...  yet again.

UPDATE:  January 1st, 2024 - This 'COVID Rebound' is brutal.  I'm feeling far worse today than I did any point in the previous 11-12 days of this bout with COVID.  I feel like the Paxlovid was completely ineffectual.  

I'm exhausted (as in, can't keep my eyes open and feel like I could sleep for days if my nose would let me)...  my nose won't stop running even with cold medications...  my eyes are watery and itchy...  my nose is itchy and burning so I need to constantly blow my nose...  and I still have a fever.  My breathing is "okay" so that is about the only spot of good news.

This is definitely beyond 'getting old'.  This virus is as bad or worse than Epstein-Barr and I have many decades of experience with that virus.  

Another few hours have passed and I am about to head to bed...  Wow...  I really feel like crap.  I've been dizzy since mid-afternoon and my nose continued to flow like a waterfall although my nasal passages are all swollen now too because blowing my nose is difficult.  

We'll see what tomorrow morning brings.  I suspect I'll be up a few times through the night though...