The Virus Diary
If you follow my Twitter, you probably know that my entire family and I got the virus about 3 weeks ago. I have felt a lot better since then, so I decided to write my experience here.
Around 3 weeks ago, my father started to cough. Since March, we have been very careful. We pretty much never go outside other than to get food. We always wear masks outside, and we carry disinfectant sprays everywhere we go. So, I honestly have no idea where my father could have caught it. My best guess is probably from the workers. Unfortunately, due to his job, he has to interact with them on a regular basis. Despite wearing masks all the time, my father still caught it.
A few days later, I woke up feeling sick. I felt chill, fatigue, and my whole body ached. My mother told me she was feeling the same. A day later, my brother also started to feel sick. At that time, I genuinely thought we have caught a cold or flu. This is mostly because I didn’t get fevers, and my body aches disappeared after two days. I didn’t know that out of everyone in my family, I was the only one who didn’t get fevers. Everyone else, including my brother had fevers (38.5 degree and above) for several days.
In other words, my symptoms happened to be the mildest of them all. I guess I was quite lucky. My parents and brother went to see a doctor, and I was the only one who didn’t. I pretty much relied on natural remedies and Panadol (Paracetamol) to survive.
Not long after, my parents and brother went for swap tests and the results were positive. Imagine my shock. I assume I also have it since we live together. My father and brother got generic flu medicine from doctor, while my mother, who was hit the hardest, received Avigan, a drug approved for virus treatment.
The main reason why I refused to see a doctor is because they tend to prescribe antibiotics for cold and flu. As a GERD sufferer, I want to avoid anything that can potentially destroy my stomach. So yeah, while my symptoms were mild, I still have to deal with GERD. Luckily, for the most part, it didn’t bother me too much.
These are the things I did when I was feeling sick:
- I drank Zinc, Probiotics, Ginger Tea, Chamomile Tea, and Honey every day.
- I drank Panadol (Paracetamol) when I have headaches and body aches.
- I rubbed oil on my chest, stomach, and back to keep my body warm.
- I slept a lot, like really a lot.
- Day 1-2: Chill, fatigue, body aches.
- Day 3-5: Chill, fatigue, headaches, runny nose.
- Day 6-12: Chill, fatigue, runny nose, loss of smell.
- Day 13-21: Mild chill, mild fatigue, runny nose.
For comparison, the rest of my family had fever and cough, while I was the only one who had headaches and runny nose.
Anyway, it has been 3 weeks since then, so all of us are getting a lot better, albeit not 100% recovered yet. I get tired easily if I work for a few hours, and I still have runny nose. I’m planning to go with my family for another swap test soon. Hoping for a negative result. For now, gonna keep living a full time hermit life. I don’t want to spread my virus to anyone else.
In any case, stay safe everyone. If you happen to get virus too, please don’t panic. If you are a healthy individual, you will most likely be fine.
