Have your “colds” changed since the pandemic ? As people who train we are quite aware of how fit we are and for how long we are ill / under the weather. In fact, for me, whether I train or not is as close as one can get to a subjective measure of how ill I feel !
Since the pandemic my “colds” appear to have changed. I used to get one of two a year and they were all pretty similar, they’d get worse for 2 or 3 days, then slowly ease off for about the next week then I’d be back to normal.
Since the pandemic, for whatever reason, they seem very different. I had a cold last November (poss caught in Mardeira) which was worse than usual and lasted longer, I don’t think it was Covid as my wife had the cold too and she tested negative.
But, on the other hand, I have also had a few (more than I used to get) which slowly get worse but not as severe as before, then they stick around for what seems like ages. I may feel under the weather and a bit weak but not bad enough to stop me going swim training (always the objective measure of how bad a cold is for me). However, they are often accompanied by a cough / sore throat which can sometimes stick around for weeks and is a PITA.
I had the first two vaccines (AstraZeneca in spring 2021) but none of the boosters.
I had Covid in April 2022 (i.e. after the vaccine), it was worse than a cold for me but no worse than some throat infections I have had.
We have a 10 year old child at school.
Yes 100%. I used to get a lot of colds, 4-5 a year maybe, plus in recent years flu in winter was a usual appearance .
Then since covid I have hardly been ill at all, except end of last year when I had a cold that lasted for weeks, couldnt shift it. Then after that got covid having avoided it for nearly 3 years.
Same here, hardly a sniffle in the last 3 years compared to a 2-3 colds a year, I put that down to having been mostly working from home and no commute.
Since Covid I haven’t altered anything about the way I live my life, but my colds have still altered significantly. Not just the number, but the type of cold. I am just coming out of a cold / throat infection. It cannot have been severe because I trained through it, but it’s already been nearly two weeks. I do feel “under the weather” though and I am sick to death of this soddin’ cough !
But there have always been different variants of colds, in fact all viruses.
It may be early days after Covid but so far my colds have been different. I never remember having a mild “under the weather” cold for weeks. General I’d feel phlegm down my throat or a slight sore throat and under the weather feeling and start thinking “oh no, not a cold coming on !”
It’d then almost always get worse for a few days and last about 10 days in total (i.e. a full cold), or ease off within days.
I actually think there are more respiratory viruses now. A few times I’ve not felt like I have a Cold, but rather a sensation in my chest and feeling shorter of breath than normal.
Today I had a moment in Waitrose, and I had my Son with me which unnerved me too as he asked what I was doing when I crouched down by the meat section when the puddings were opposite! (maybe it was the prices). I felt hot, light headed, nauseous and short of breath. I’ve decided to avoid caffeine for the rest of the day, as I think that has aggravated me post-CV19 when I’ve been feeling sub par. I wonder if going balls-out on Zwift yesterday has not helped at my age; only the second time I’ve climbed off after the finish through effort.
I didn’t really have any for a couple of years due to the restricted socialising, but did get Covid which wasn’t bad.
But the 3 I’ve had since December haven’t been that bad, mostly just annoying and the usual stuffed up head. Not sure if that’s because I usually stop training for a few days now or significantly ease back or they just haven’t been as severe. Who knows, maybe my immune system is more alert after the vaccine, although that was a long time ago.
Interesting topic. I had Covid back in November last year, utterly wiped me out.
Since then I have been struggling with low level bronchitis and generally feeling shit. I have not been able to tolerate the cold air and damp; all my training has been indoors since.
In the last week since the weather turned I have started to finally feel better.
Doctor wouldn’t go as far as calling it long Covid, but that’s what it was/is.
Nothing has changed for me, all the same, irregular pretty minor respiratory symptoms. unvaccinated, no knowledge if I’ve had covid - although probably did in March 2020.
This is interesting.
I had a cough for 2 or 3 months in early 2021 which was really quite annoying.
I never succumbed to the Covid testing frenzy (asymptomatic transmission was far less likely anyway) though my wife had to test if she thought she might have it for her job. Thus I have always assumed if she tested negative I was also.
That said, I know two members of my family did get Covid asymptomatically (my 89 year old Aunt and her 63 year old son, my cousin) and that is probably genetic.
I doubt I got it asymptomatically because when I did get it in April 2022 it was was worse than a cold for me. That would have been the later Omicron strain, but that is supposed to be milder.
The good news is my latest cold, which I have had mildly for nearly two weeks, appears to be on the way out (thank Gawd) !
It is weird having a mild cold for two weeks…
It’s been steady around 55bpm until last year with the odd peak (mainly multi-day cycling trips but I did have an unexplained elevated period at the end of 2018).
2022 then. I had Covid at the end of January and you can see my resting HR is already rising slightly at that point (although you could argue that 1bpm average is barely worth talking about). After this I must have been fully recovered as I was cycling as well as ever really - did an early season 98 mile/2200m sportif in Shropshire in exactly 7hrs, good for me. After that, however, things got quickly worse.
The first I was really aware was when I picked up a respiratory infection in early June. I was on a long weekend cycling in the north Pennines and bagged 5 of the Warren 100/200 climbs over two days so it wasn’t that bad, however I binned the third day.
You can see from the chart that June/July resting HR was over 60. I was wheezy all that time and my trip to the Alps in late July wasn’t a great success. At the time I put it all down to 40deg temperatures but I think this ‘illness’ must have contributed.
I didn’t cycle much for the remainder of the year, that will have contributed to the higher HR, you can see Feb 2023 has dropped back down as I started exercising more regularly.
It may be coincidence, I didn’t go back in to an office until September 2022 so it’s not that.
Long covid? The dates don’t match so again, unlikely.
I’ve been wheezy all winter. As an asthmatic, I guess that’s not overly unusual but I don’t keep a wheezyness chart so I can’t compare to previous years.
I did have a long but mild illness in Feb this year, a sore throat/tight chest for a few days but then coughing lasted for a month, about double the usual length. We don’t mix much as a family with others indoors, my cycling friends have all been going down with covid but I’ve only seen them outdoors so I doubt it was covid. I never took a test though.
