Ever since we returned from our Christmas cruise, Sue and I have had colds. Until last Wednesday, they were inconvenient and unpleasant but overnight they suddenly got a lot worse. In my case, I was having so much trouble breathing at night that I had to take off my C-PAP machine because it felt like I was being waterboarded!
We tried all the usual remedies, but although they gave a bit of relief, neither of us felt like doing much. I was supposed to be giving a talk to a Masonic group in Watford on Friday, but once realised that I was just not up to driving that far safely (it is a 62-mile drive in both directions and my eyes were itching, my nose was constantly running when I wasn't sneezing, and my concentration was very poor), I had to cancel ... which is something that I don't like doing.
We had to go out on Friday to do some food shopping, but even this task was difficult to complete. What should have been a quick drive to the shops and back turned into a marathon that was so tiring that we both fell asleep for over an hour once we got back. What was worse was that I had lost my sense of taste and my appetite!
Sue and I decided to take COVID tests just in case we had contracted the virus again, but although the number of cases in our borough more than tripled last week, we were not amongst them. We have both had our annual flu jabs, and last year we had jabs to prevent us from developing pneumonia. As a result, we should be able to shrug this cold off ... but an online news item that I read on Saturday indicates that there is a particularly virulent version of the Common Cold doing the rounds in our part of London, and that we are not alone in our suffering.
We spent yesterday keeping warm, drinking lots of fluids, and generally resting ... and after a rough night we both awoke feeling slightly better. Hopefully we are now over the worst, but as we have already been suffering from it for nearly a month, we have no idea how long it will be before we are fully recovered.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteHope that you and Sue continue to get better. The last time I had the common Flu I had two rounds of AntiBiotics to shift it- it seemed it just wouldn't go away. I've been well these past years. Pity you have had to cancel your Watford Masonic talk- stay well there in London. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteIn my case, I know that some of the drugs I am on might have reduced my ability to combat this cold virus, but that’s not the case with Sue. All we can do is to keep warm, drink plenty of fluids, and take paracetamol … and be patient!
The talk was about Rabbie Burns and was to be followed by a traditional Burn’s Supper … which is one of my favourite meals. I really regret not being able to go, but judging by how tired I got just doing a bit of shopping, there’s no way I could have done the journey to Watford and back.
Keep safe and keep well,
Bob
My sympathies. I came down with a cold just before Christmas and it took five weeks to clear it out of my system. With all the concern about flu and Covid, we perhaps forget at our peril a heavy winter cold can be a heavy hit in itself.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Clipsom,
DeleteI’m glad that you’ve managed to get over your cold.
You are right about how bad a winter cold can be, and I agree that the precautions etc., we took during the height of the COVID outbreak has actually made us forget just how bad they can be.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeletePoor you, it sounds terrible.
There seems to be a lot of unusual cold/flu symptoms around this year. Quite a few of our friends are suffering from symptoms that they just can't shrug off. We often return from Christmas in the UK with bad colds, but fortunately not this year. In fact (fingers crossed) no problems at all so far.
Like you we have had both covid and flu jabs, as have most of our friends. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that so many folk seem to be suffering for longer than usual.
Wish you a speedy recovery
regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow (Paul),
DeleteThanks for your best wishes.
It really is one of the worst colds I’ve had in years … and you are right about this year’s one seeming to hitting a lot of people quite hard for a long time. You are both lucky to have avoided it so far!
I never seemed to get really bad colds whilst I was working in schools. I suspect that I was exposed to all sorts of cold viruses during my work and built up a degree of immunity, but since I have been retired, I’ve gradually lost it … and the flu, pneumonia, and COVID jabs I’ve had have done little to help.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, I hope both you and Sue will soon recover from this 'super-cold' or whatever it is. Look after yourselves.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Arthur
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteCheers! We both felt a bit better this morning after a longer than average sleep … and we haven’t dozed off since we got up, which is a good sign.
All the best,
Bob
Glad you are both starting to feel a little better. Your symptoms sound so like Covid, maybe a good idea to take another test to be sure. Not heard of a "super" cold before, hope it does not migrate up here. Best wishes for a full and rapid recovery.....Regards.
ReplyDeleteTony Adams,
DeleteWe both took another COVID test last night … and no sign of the dreaded second line so it must be just a very nasty cold. I hope that it doesn’t spread, but I suspect that it will.
All the best,
Bob
Sorry to hear this Bob. On the news a week or so ago young children have been hit hard on the cold front due a combination of the lockdown limiting exposure to build up resistance and then this year being a bad flu one. On top of this you have local outbreaks which appear to have hit your part of London. We had something similar when our kids were young and we all had very bad flu for a week which just affcted our local area. IIRC on one day the GP has seen 30% of the local school kids who had caught it!
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteCheers!
A lot of what you have written in your comment rings very true for this cold, especially the bit about the youngsters being less resistant than they used to be, thanks to the lockdown.
Our area does seem to have been badly hit by this particular cold virus, and I understand from a very brief chat with one of my neighbours that everyone in their household has it, some worse than others.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI went sick Christmas Day followed by my wife and son. I was sick for a week then washed out for two more. While washed out, at least initially, I could not even face walking eight minutes to the shops. So if you have anything even remotely similar I would expect you soon to be feeling much better but to be short of energy for quite some time.
Hope this helps
Steve
Steve,
DeleteYour description pretty well matches how I’ve been since Christmas, but my washed out feeling just won’t go away. I hope that it will soon!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob, sorry to hear that, you both could do without it adding to your health conditions. I think colds and flu tend to be lumped together since we stopped calling the latter ‘influenza’. Flu jabs don’t protect against colds or, indeed, all flu viruses. During the summer those viruses thought most likely to cause illness are identified and included in the vaccine but because of constant mutation there are a huge number of viruses about so the vaccine may not provide full protection against the one you catch but usually provide some. It’s thought that immunity to colds may have decreased due to a lack of exposure to colds during covid so it may not be a question of a ‘super-cold’ but rather decreased immunity. Pleased you didn’t try to see how bad you were by packing yourself and Sue into the care and going for a test drive…
ReplyDeleteBrian,
DeleteI agree with what you have written. I understand that the drugs I am taking have had an effect on my immunity to certain viruses, and this has not helped me to fight off this cold. That, and the fact that since lockdown people in general have less resistance to viruses, has - as you write - led to lots of mutations.
All the best,
Bob
Sorry to hear that, you both could do without it adding to your health conditions. I think colds and flu are lumped together since we stopped calling the latter ‘influenza’. Flu jabs don’t protect against colds or, indeed, all flu viruses. During the summer those viruses thought most likely to cause illness are identified and included in the vaccine but because of constant mutation there are a huge number of viruses about so the vaccine may not provide full protection against the one you catch but usually provide some protection. It’s thought that immunity to colds may have decreased due to a lack of exposure to colds during covid so it may not be a question of a ‘super-cold’ but rather decreased immunity. Pleased you didn’t try to see how bad you were by packing yourself and Sue into the care and going for a test drive…
ReplyDeleteBrian,
DeleteIt looks like the comment gremlin has been at work! At first, it wouldn’t allow me to reply to you comments. In fact, it took three attempts!
All the best,
Bob
Get well soon!
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteCheers! I hope that I get better really soon!
All the best,
Bob
Sorry to hear about your health problems. I trust that you’ll soon make a full recovery. Oddly enough, none of our friends seem to be having any of these colds (currently anyway) so it may be that you are in a localised hot spot? Of course, if so, it may move on to our locality in due course.
ReplyDeleteAs for you problem with shopping, we switched to having our groceries delivered during the first lockdown and never reverted to making the weekly supermarket run. This can have downsides, but at least there are no worries about the need to shop while ill. Also, it turned out to be a boon when I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and told to loose a lot of weight. It is much easier to avoid comfort eating by leaving one’s favourite comfort foods off the PC shopping list than it is to walk past them on the shelves. I never could avoid the ginger nuts with my cup of tea when they were in the house, but as they never get onto the shopping list …
I do still miss crisps and Jaffa Cakes and snacking between meals, though I did lose the weight so I should not complain.
Mike Hall,
DeleteJudging by the comments I’ve received, it seems as if this cold is affecting people in the part of London where I live but has yet to spread elsewhere. I hope that it doesn’t as it a really nasty one.
We also use online shopping during lockdown, and have continued to do so on a regular basis. However, my wife likes to choose some things rather than rely on somebody else’s choice, which is why we still shop several times each week in our local shops. (We have branches of Tesco and Morrisons about two miles away from where we live along with a number of excellent local butchers, bakers etc.)
My wife and I have cut down on lots of thing we used to eat but what I really need to do is to up the amount of exercise I take. I walk about a mile a day, but I’d like to increase that to at least two per day. The problem is that my scoliosis and arthritis make walking difficult at times, but I’m determined to lose the weight I need to so that I can undertake the course of prophylactic radiotherapy.
All the best,
Bob
There is indeed a lot of it about. Hope you are both on the mend soon!
ReplyDeleteDavid in Suffolk,
DeleteAh! Then it isn’t just confined to Southeast London. That’s not good news.
All the best,
Bob
It's too bad you had to cancel your plans but at least you're considerate enough to do so. My family had to cancel our Christmas plans because I came down with COVID. Here's to a quick recovery Bob.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pavone,
DeleteSorry to read that your Christmas didn't go quite as planned. Even after having three jabs, COVID is still something that I want to avoid catching again.
At least by staying at home I didn't risk giving my cold to other people ... or catching something worse whilst my defences were weakened.
All the best,
Bob
I am sorry to hear about your cold. Please be vigilant about illnesses like that. I don't remember what your cancer treatment is, but my friends who are undergoing cancer treatments have to be very cautious not to catch even common colds due to there immune systems being so low.
ReplyDelete--Chris
Chris,
DeleteCheers! I was warned that my treatments might weaken my immune system so I am taking care not to expose myself unnecessarily to potential infections. It’s why I’ve had flu, COVID, shingles, and pneumonia jabs over the past year.
All the best,
Bob