My Experience with COVID-19

After over two and half years of the pandemic, I finally caught the virus. I tested positive after attending an in-person event and feeling a slight tickle in my throat. But, what was most interesting about having COVID-19 was how little it affected me. While the physical symptoms were not really present--I had no cough, fever, shortness of breath, or any of the other commonly associated symptoms--the mental anguish that I went through was unparalleled and quite frankly alarming. I never want to go through that level of anguish again because it was so deleterious to both my physical and mental health and my path to recovery after COVID. With all of that in mind, I want to share my experience today as an immunocompromised person who contracted COVID.

Contracting COVID-19 despite wearing my mask

This whole mess started after attending an in-person event where the majority of people weren't wearing masks. I've still been very cautious about going to places that don't require or necessitate masks--including events, restaurants, etc.--but I was required to attend this event. Still, I clutched to the usage of my KN-95 mask and hoped for the best.

About 3 days after the event, I started feeling strange. I was almost as if a foggy malaise had settled in my body and brain. Combined with a tickle in my throat that transgressed into pain while swallowing, I decided to go to urgent care. I had a similar experience at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 that developed into the worst case of tonsilitis I ever had, so I wanted to be more swift in tackling this sick feeling this time around. Turns out, my precociousness was a saving grace since I tested positive for COVID-19, which was subsequently announced to me by the doctor saying, "we've got a positive!"

COVID and my compromised immune system

I am grateful for going to urgent care and the experience I had while there because the doctor took my positive test result while being immunocompromised very seriously. She sat down with me, went over everything I needed to do, and reassured me that with the proper care and following up with my health team, I would be okay. Thankfully, since I caught it so early, I was able to get Paxlovid, the new antiviral drug that has emergency authorization usage for individuals who tested positive for COVID, have symptoms, and started feeling those symptoms from 3-5 days post-exposure. Any time after that, Paxlovid is ineffective, so thankfully, I was able to get it since I noticed my symptoms roughly 3 days after my potential exposure.

A quick recovery due to Paxlovid

Taking the Paxlovid though, as much as it helped, was rather nightmarish. The main side effects of the new drug include GI troubles and insomnia, two things that aren’t conducive to resting and healing. I found that I had to take extra rest and extra Tylenol (can’t take ibuprofen when you have COVID-19 because it interacts with inflammatory markers in some way) in order to combat the side effects of the Paxlovid.

Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for being prescribed the Paxlovid because I believe that it truly made my experience with COVID so much better than it could have been. I essentially had no symptoms to speak of except for fatigue, and I was over that in in 3 additional days. Overall, this experience taught me the importance of listening to my body and acting swiftly because had I not, my experience with COVID could have turned out differently.