COVID: An experiment I hoped not to try

[Sapphyre]

I have a "weird" immune system. Among its quirks are an assortment of uncommon yet severe allergies (e.g. parsnips), a general indifference to histamine (this creates problems for those skin-prick allergy tests, as they use one's response to histamine as a "control" against which other responses are compared... that is, when they can actually get a response to compare with...) that renders most allergy medications useless, and maybe its main upshot: a long history of repelling respiratory viruses even after significant exposure. Under pre-pandemic conditions, I measured time between colds in years, and time between bouts of flu in decades.

I was hoping not to find myself testing this with COVID... but it snuck through my precautions. >.< A close friend of mine (who is half-vaccinated and had no known exposures) came to visit for emotional support purposes, staying the night with much close contact. Approximately 18 hours after leaving, she developed symptoms of what would turn out to be COVID. She's still muddling through being sick with it, as is the rest of her household. From what I gather, the overwhelming probability is that she was contagious before she left here (though some members here may be able to weigh in on that...?).

I've stayed isolated since she fell ill as a precaution. It has now been 12 days since she left (or about two standard deviations past the mean incubation period, for mathy people), and I haven't noticed anything. Food still tastes good. I'm starting to think I dodged it, but I'm curious whether that's because I somehow avoided exposure or because my immune system did its usual thing and handled it asymptomatically.

Since I haven't been vaccinated, I could consider getting an antibody test in a week or two, to see if my immune system ever noticed the virus. I dunno...

It's been a stressful couple of weeks. o.o;;; Has anyone else been through the "waiting game" after exposure?

 

[ade]

It's been a stressful couple of weeks. o.o;;; Has anyone else been through the "waiting game" after exposure

It seems to have been a nonstop waiting game at my end. I usually catch everything going and have a bit of an overly aggressive immune system.
I've sort of 'enjoyed' all the extra precautions which some have been taking (not to mention my own) and I think that this could be my longest period without a cold (although, given that I'm sensitive to everything else and often coughy and snotty, it's hard to tell, properly; I often become giddier than usual just before the onset of classic cold symptoms, so there's been plenty of times that I've been gaily singing my head off for hours, suddenly remembered and gone , and then worried about that sore throat that's 'just come on' ).

I would say that if you don't often 'get' colds and flu, it's a good idea to act like you could be an asymptomatic spreader.
Taking the extra precautions aren't a big deal (mask, handwashing, etc) and only what's considered considerate behaviour in other parts of the world.

 

[Weatheronthe8s]

I haven't knowingly had the virus. However, I wouldn't be surprised if I have. I haven't had any symptoms, but who knows. I can only imagine I have been around some people with the virus. Who knows. I have only been tested once. I just always wear a mask in stores to try and do my part.

 

[Azie]

If it were only 18 hours after leaving that she had symptoms, she was most likely infectious during her stay. It can actually take up to two weeks after infection for symptoms to develop, assuming you weren't asymptomatic. I would suggest actually getting the normal test instead of the antibody test, or wait a few more weeks than get the antibody test. Glad its going good so far, and hope it stays that way.

 

[Sapphyre]

It seems to have been a nonstop waiting game at my end. I usually catch everything going and have a bit of an overly aggressive immune system.
I've sort of 'enjoyed' all the extra precautions which some have been taking (not to mention my own) and I think that this could be my longest period without a cold (although, given that I'm sensitive to everything else and often coughy and snotty, it's hard to tell, properly; I often become giddier than usual just before the onset of classic cold symptoms, so there's been plenty of times that I've been gaily singing my head off for hours, suddenly remembered and gone , and then worried about that sore throat that's 'just come on' ).

I would say that if you don't often 'get' colds and flu, it's a good idea to act like you could be an asymptomatic spreader.
Taking the extra precautions aren't a big deal (mask, handwashing, etc) and only what's considered considerate behaviour in other parts of the world.

My immune system is certainly "aggressive". The main reason I haven't yet been vaccinated is that I'm very hesitant to provoke it...

Most of the time, colds "bounce off" and never manifest. Occasionally, about 12 to 24 hours after an exposure, I'll start to feel as if I'm getting sick --- a characteristic "malaise" that is hard to describe --- but then it passes without coming to anything.

Other times, it's approximately 4 days of a kind of hell. The worst part of head colds, by far, is the itching... it is so intense it triggers excess salivation. It feels like there's poison ivy up my nose. The next worst part is "water faucet nose", which literally requires plugging my nostrils to seal them and tilting my head to just the right angle in order to get any sleep. The only consolation is that it's just a few days and then it's finished. The people I have caught such colds from usually have a different course of illness involving 7 to 10 days of "sniffles" and feeling blah.

In general it's a very binary all-or-nothing deal. There's either no reaction or else my system goes completely bananas. Mild colds literally never happen.

I've been in "hermit mode" hiding from COVID since the beginning, as I didn't want to see which path my system would take if exposed to that. o.o;;

If it were only 18 hours after leaving that she had symptoms, she was most likely infectious during her stay. It can actually take up to two weeks after infection for symptoms to develop, assuming you weren't asymptomatic. I would suggest actually getting the normal test instead of the antibody test, or wait a few more weeks than get the antibody test. Glad its going good so far, and hope it stays that way.

I hear the test is rather unpleasant. o.o I don't see a real need to find out just now, unless I start feeling sick... I'll just continue being a hermit for another couple of weeks, but I might be curious enough to get an antibody test after that.

 

[Sapphyre]

So... I decided to try a test. I opted for PCR as it is more sensitive. I took it 15 days post-exposure.

It came back negative. ^.^

It seems like either my friend wasn't contagious just before her symptoms developed, or the virus "bounced off" like colds so often do.

I'm still considering going for an antibody test. I'm really curious.

 

[Peesalot]

Both my wife and I had Covid in early November. We have no idea where, or when, we got it. My guess is it was from touching a door handle (or something similar) after an infected person had touched it. It's of no consequence. As the virus goes, we had mild cases of it. We both spent about 10 days when all we wanted to do was sleep.

 

[Sapphyre]

I took an antibody test... also negative. o.o

"Virus? What virus? I don't see any virus..." -- my immune system, apparently.

White blood cell count is running near the top end of normal though, and eosinophils and basophils are both quite elevated... hmmm...

My doctor agrees that the probability that I somehow missed exposure to COVID from my friend's close and prolonged visit is virtually nil. Go figure.

I have a referral to an immunologist to see if it's reasonably safe to provoke my system with the vaccine. Given a negative antibody test, I'm guessing I have no greater resistance to the virus now than I did prior to exposure...

 

[dogboy]

I'm glad you didn't come down with Covid. I too have a strange immune system as I've always had allergies. Like you, I either shake a cold in one day or it becomes hideous with my nose running like a faucet. I've actually been rehearsing with my band mates 3 times a week ever since Covid and none of us got it unless we were all asymptomatic. We've all had our shots now, you know, like my dog getting all her shots. Anyway, that's how I feel.