Never ending “ cold”

It certainly has some hallmarks of what I've been dealing with, though I'm doing better than I was two weeks ago. (More HERE.)

WalkingbyFaith (more HERE), astroman (more HERE), and RainyCloud (more HERE) have been dealing with recent illness, too.

Whatever you're dealing with probably won't last forever, though it might seem like it. If you check out some of the above threads I hyperlinked, you may find some useful comments in them. I hope you feel better soon!

Yep. As Dude mentioned, I am in on this fun deal, too.

Got sick Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Tested negative for COVID and flu. The next week I went to ENT and was told sinus and ear infection and got Augmentin and Sulfacetamide ear drops for 10 days. The Augmentin helped but didn’t finish the job.

Days after finishing Augmentin, I was put on 10 days Doxycycline. That seemed to work better and a couple days in I felt back to my normal self but still had drainage and coughing and continued taking Flonase and guafenesin.

Four days after finishing Doxycycline, I got a pain in the right side of my throat and right ear after eating supper. Was gone the next day and came back the next night after supper.

The next day I had another followup with the ENT. She looked at my throat, mashed on my parotid gland and checked what came out of my salivary glands. Saliva came out and was clear. She suspected infection was trying to get hold in the parotid (salivary) gland.

She told me to not take guafenesin or Zyrtec anymore, as they can dry you out and to drink plenty of water. She prescribed another 10 days of Augmentin for that. That was Tuesday of this week. I didn’t pick the Rx up that day and didn’t have a recurrence of the throat pain that night, so decided to wait.

Well, Wednesday I had burning pain in my right hip and by nightfall was convinced I had shingles again. Yesterday (Thursday), the hip pain was gone. I felt pretty good and did a bunch of yard work. Showered and ate supper, and wouldn’t you know it - the throat pain came back!!! This time on the left side. Had it all night and woke up with it this morning.

That didn’t happen the other two times. It went away in the nighttime before. So now I have to wrestle today with do I pick up the Augmentin and start over again or hold out more???

I don’t feel sick anymore like I did before the Doxycycline, but I still have drainage and coughing. I never had much of anything in my nose. It was sinuses, ears, and coughing, and now throat pain.

I have no earthly idea what this is, but I have never had anything like it. When it first started, I had some measure of fever for at least part of the day for 8 days straight. I’m over 50, and that’s never happened before. That makes me think whatever this is, it’s something my immune system has never been exposed to before.

My wife and I moved in recently with my mom after my dad's death. She is a social butterfly so I knew going in that we'd probably get more acute illnesses. I just went through something similar to what Lightlife and others here have described. It started with my mom, went to me, and now is with my wife. It wasn't that bad, but some congestion remains even after a week. My mom is near 70 and has improved greatly but she has a persistent cough. We all tested negative for COVID. My mom tested at a clinic for flu. That was negative as well. I've had the flu several times and it has always been a much worse experience than any of us have had. Thinking it's prob a common cold strain.

Itchy eyes is a symptom of covid. Try taking mepron or alinia.

Don't take doxycycline if you have this. There is a reason why "cold and flu" are listed as common side effects of doxycycline - it suppresses your immune response to these viruses.