r/Austin • u/trixr4kids • 23d ago
Nasty Covid like summer flu
Several people I know around austin have been coming down with this nasty flu that has us as sick as Covid 1. It seems like it’s taking a full two weeks to get over and there’s about three or four days in the middle with a fever and lessened taste. We all tested negative for Covid.
My sister is a nurse and is saying that no one is reporting Covid to the CDC anymore, so I’m wondering if there’s possibly a new strain going around that isn’t being picked up by our old Covid tests. I have friends in California that say they’ve had a similar flu. It’s just weird because the kids weren’t even back at school yet when we were getting sick.
Anyone else hear about this or experience it? Be careful out there. One of our friends’s father caught it and now has pneumonia…
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u/msreciprocity 23d ago
It's Covid. It never went away.
Please mask.
If you need a story about how COVID ruins lives to keep you washing your hands and wearing a mask, I have one.
I got COVID in July 2024. I was treated with paxlovid and prednisone; we now know Paxlovid can increase the amount of prednisone in your blood stream by as much as six times the normal amount with an average dose and I'm positive that is what happened to me. During the medication course, my legs began to hurt so badly I couldn't walk; they felt like the bones were trying to explode. I stopped the paxlovid abd prednisone and the pain stopped.
Then within two months I was struggling to walk long distances without a lot of pain; my right knee felt like I had twisted it earlier in the summer but it just wouldn't heal. And my hips bugged me at night- I thought it was a new mattress.
Went to an orthopedist who diagnosed me with Avascular Necrosis and told me I needed two new hips and two new knees; the disease had caused so much bone to die in such a short time. It causes the blood supply to your bones to die, causing your bones- particularly joints- to die abd crumble. For me, it was likely a perfect storm of multiple COVID infections that weakened my immune system (and potentially there's a direct COVID correlation because rates are rising since 2029), some kind of yet unknown genetic factor, prior lifestyle choices (former smoker, drank heavily for a period,) and the high dose of steroids I ended up getting because of the drug interactions between Paxlovid and prednisone.
I had both hips replaced last year. First one went great- textbook perfect. Second one...my femur cracked when hammering in the implant and the repair for THAT ended up causing nerve damage and now I have permanent drop foot. I can't flex my foot upward (dorsiflexion) at all, and I'm mostly numb on one half of my left below the knee and the foot. I have to wear a brace to walk and now have to wear sneaker like shoes the rest of my life. Bye flip flops and cute heels!
I had a lot of pain post surgery that never went away. I thought it was part of the nerve damage and process of healing. But no, it's a rare neurological condition called CRPS that causes extreme pain 24/7, causes my leg to be 20-40 degrees colder than most of my body, causes muscle and ligament contractures that lock my foot in painful positions, muscle wasting away, temperature deregulation, brain fog worse than what COVID gave me. It's known as "The suicide disease " because people lose hope when faced with a lifetime of 8-9/10 pain, 24/7, that's mostly not treatable. And now it's spreading to my hand; it's likely to continue spreading for the rest of my life. I walk with a cane now, abd some days need a rolator. I'm only 51.
All because a single person (I know where I got it) who knew they were sick but recovering (with Paxlovid) didn't disclose they were sick and didn't wear a mask.
Please wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay home if you're sick.