The Covid-19 symptoms I was not prepared for…

The Covid-19 Symptoms I was not prepared for…

In an earlier blog post “Covid-19: My unorthodox experience… this might help you too” I discussed the interesting way I found out I had Covid. Honestly, it was the last thing I thought I had.

Fear

I remember that drive home from the testing site (my primary care physician’s parking lot). I was stunned, confused and anxious. It was December 2nd, and since March of that year, I lived with constant fear of this illness. Let’s talk for a moment about that fear. I couldn’t help but be consumed with the frenzy of Covid. It was everywhere. The news, Facebook, Instagram, commercials, advertisements, blogs, YouTube videos from my favorite influencers, the gym, the grocery store, church! It was pretty much anything and everything everyone talked about non-stop for months. A loop. Over and over in my brain, whether I recognized it consciously or not, it was there. This is something I had to acknowledge to soothe my mental state while I had Covid.

Anxiety and Depression

I moved from a heightened sense of fear level 5 to a baseline consistent state of anxious depression. I cried…. A lot. But crying made me anxious because it created more post-nasal drip and made my nose run and my cough worse. I was anxious, upset and worried: Did I give this to someone else? Who might I have passed this to? When did I contract it? Am I going to die?! Did I kill someone else!?

The depression was worsened by the fact I couldn’t workout or exercise, much less get anything worthwhile done around the house. I went from exercising 6 days a week to none, zip, zilch, natta. My endorphins were like “what in the heck is going on?!”

I believe also, I was depressed because I felt extremely isolated. My husband was negative, and never contracted Covid (Thanks be to God!). So we quarantined from each other in the house as much as we could. I didn’t see, touch, or even spend time in the same room with my husband for about 2 weeks. That was hard. I felt like I could legitimately put his life in danger had I broken that barrier to soothe my own sadness.

Guilt

This one was a doozy. I had so much guilt weighing on my heart. I feel this was slightly different than the anxiety and depression but definitely related. I had guilt over things like “did I pass this to someone unknowingly?” “Why am I not more sick?” “Everyone else around me in the world is so scared of Covid and people are dying but I don’t feel that bad.” - Which lead to thoughts like “When is the other shoe going to drop?” “Something must be totally wrong and I must be having internal damage I can’t see because my symptoms aren’t that bad.” I was pretty fruit loopy for those couple weeks.

Thank goodness I had people in my life that reminded me to practice gratitude. To be grateful my symptoms were not worse than they were. And I truly am very grateful for these things.

The Covid Symptoms - Untraditional

In the previously mentioned blog, I discuss the pain in my abdomen and back that felt like a kidney stone. These are the symptoms that lead to me finding out I had Covid. Once that subsided, around day 3, the cold-like symptoms did start. I had a runny nose, slight cough, headache and body aches. I would say the body aches were definitely the worst of these physical symptoms. My sense of smell and taste remained intact, thankfully. I do feel very fortunate. Even though these symptoms were no fun, I feel I’ve had much worse symptoms with other sicknesses in the past.

The honeymoon phase

Oddly, there was this sense of relief, like a honeymoon period, that I experienced right after I recovered. I felt that for at least a little while, whether it be 2 weeks or 90 days, I could feel a slight sense of normalcy in my life. Less fear around every corner of contracting Covid or giving Covid to someone I love. I imagine this is what some people might experience after receiving the Covid vaccine.

Check out my “Home remedies I used to treat my Covid-19” blog to see how I dealt with the physical, mental and emotional symptoms of Covid.