Covid? Strep? Flu?

[maxaroni]

All negative. 10 days ago, DS30 went to urgent care to get a covid test as he had some symptoms. He feels the correct thing to do as he does not want to expose co-workers and Father’s Day was coming and DH is high risk. It was negative. He woke up hte next morning feeling worse, stayed home from work, his throat was on fire and it hurt to swallow. He had a bad headache and felt like he was swallowing rocks. 2 days later he went back to urgent care and repeated the covid test, had a strep test and flu test, all negative. He was told to alternate the advil & Tylenol and use throat lozenges. another 2 days and no better, back to urgent care and he was given prednisone. Within 24 hours, his throat was feeling a bit better but he felt fatigued and low energy. Monday he still felt fatigued and low energy, just felt blah. Yesterday morning his throat was on fire again and he felt as bad as he did back on day one. He couldn’t get an appointment with his own doctor until tonight. All he was told was to get a netf pot. Doc does not know what this is and can’t rule out a virus for 14 days.

Anyone know what may be going around? What this may be? His wife hasn’t gotten sick, so not sure how contagious it is.

 

[hmsTigger]

Did they do a Mono spot test?

 

[maxaroni]

Not that I know of. DS said that the urgent care had suggested it but to wait for 10-14 days.

 

[kymom99]

I was thinking mono. Why would they want him to wait 2 weeks? By then it would be over.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

I agree with mono testing, but HMPV and adenovirus have been circulating lately. Care is palliative though so not sure if testing for these will help other than for data collection purposes. Sinus rinses, antiviral nasal spray, and lots of rest may help.

 

[Minnesota!]

Sounds similar to when I had mono .

 

[hmsTigger]

No idea why the 14 day wait. Was his spleen enlarged? You probably don;t know if they examined his abdomen. Did they do Blood tests?
Sometimes 3's a charm with a covid test I would Repeat.
Repeat Blood tests.
So sorry your DS is not improving. 10 days is a long time for someone to not be feeling well. Please Keep us posted.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Mono is my first thought. Our doctor said they were seeing cases of it in our area anyway.

 

[Her Dotness]

Coworker of DH's was out for two weeks with all the covid symptoms but repeatedly tested negative. Doctor thought maybe a new variant resistant to testing.

Eventually called it "a covid-like illness" and recommended rest and other home remedies for cold or flu.

In short, it was a "doctor dunno."

 

[PalmettoPath]

Could be this. I think it's what I had last month. Same as your case...thought mono or strep because of razor blade throat. Then I saw this article.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/29/health/human-metapneumovirus-explainer-wellness/index.html

 

[LuvOrlando]

I get this all the time since a kid but am never sick. I rarely get full blown illness like this so I'm pretty sure it is how my body fights things off since I don't have any allergies according to testing. It's like all the tubing in my throat, sinuses and sometimes ears is on fire, feels like it was sandpapered or peeling and it is very painful but never more than that although it feels exactly like strep but comes back negative, Covid and Flu negative too and no fever. Recently, I discovered that there is lidocaine mouthwash that helps a ton, and it is cheap but a RX is necessary & it can interfere with gag reflex so I only use it before bed. Chloraseptic would work too but it is harsh, tastes terrible, not that the lidocaine doesn't taste odd. I treat it like an injury & cold soft things to eat help it heal, usually passes in a few days of yogurt, fruit and banana smoothies with warm potatoes and eggs for dinner, you get the idea. No real idea what it is, I just go with aiming at comfort once I test negative for normal illness.

Haven't had Covid yet so maybe this is how the vaccine helps fight it (and other things) off

 

[CGB]

Our two adult kids (about the same age) had those same symptoms about a month ago as well that couldn't be explained (lots of neg. tests). We saw the article mentioned above and chalked it up to that. They were miserable and it took awhile for improvement. Lots of fluids and meds to handle the cough/sinus pressure. DH and I never caught it, thankfully.

 

[barkley]

my oldest ended up with similar symptoms a week ago-clear tests all around. was told it's a 'virus going around' and to take otc meds. cleared up for the most part in about 4 days with the except of a raspy voice and cough.

if tiredness is excessive i would also push for a mono test (both mine had it some years back and that was the big tip off along with a flaming bad sore throat that pulled up a negative strep test).

 

[leebee]

Coworker of DH's was out for two weeks with all the covid symptoms but repeatedly tested negative. Doctor thought maybe a new variant resistant to testing.

Eventually called it "a covid-like illness" and recommended rest and other home remedies for cold or flu.

In short, it was a "doctor dunno."

Did they PCR test for covid or just do the rapid test? Two years ago DH had covid, took the antiviral and was back on his feet. At the same time I was sick as a dog while he had covid but home tests were always negative, so I went to work (sick... why do we do this to ourselves?). About a month later I was at walk-in care for something else and the nurse said I sounded a little stuffy so she was going to do a covid test and have them analyze it by PCR. Sure enough, it was positive. We both strongly suspect that I had covid when DH had it; about 1/3 of the variants don't show up on the rapid tests.

 

[momz]

consider requesting a throat culture, sometimes the rapid strep test can be wrong.

Another thing to consider, do you live in an area that is affected by smoke from the Canadian fires? The pollution in the air in my area is causing considerable sore throats. Also seeing a lot of eye irritation from it. But any individual can have either or both symptom.

 

[Her Dotness]

DH said she had both the antigen and PCR tests consistently show negative.

They ran some other tests, too, but DH didn't know for what.

 

[Moliphino]

Did they PCR test for covid or just do the rapid test? Two years ago DH had covid, took the antiviral and was back on his feet at the same time. I was sick as a dog while he had covid but home tests were always negative, so I went to work (sick... why do we do this to ourselves?). About a month later I was at walk-in care for something else and the nurse said I sounded a little stuffy so she was going to do a covid test and have them analyze it by PCR. Sure enough, it was positive. We both strongly suspect that I had covid when DH had it; about 1/3 of the variants don't show up on the rapid tests.

My mom even tested negative on PCR. We're mostly sure she did have Covid, as my dad and I both tested positive multiple times (I did home test and PCR) and she had the same symptoms at the same time after the same exposure.

 

[maxaroni]

Thanks everyone! DS said his doctor did palpate his abdomen and no concerns. The reason for the 14 days was more that the practice does not prescribe antibiotics until that point, as it could make a viral infection worse and way too many over prescribe antibiotics. Of course, the exception is if tests are positive. He did not have a PCR test, just the rapid covid tests but was told they are pretty reliable (he’s had 3) and since the government doesn’t pay for them anymore, private insurance co-pays could be up to $200 and didn’t feel it necessary. The strep was 3 rapids and one sent away, all negative.

I am wondering if it could be a mixture of things going on. It could have been something, mixed in with allergies and the smoke from the wildfires. I didn’t have it nearly as long as DS but back in March, had a cold where my throat became raw. I wanted to rule out strep and went to get tested. The rapid was negative but was sent to the lab and that was also negative. The doctor said that since covid, everything seems to be lasting long as our immune system didn’t have to fight off as much during covid.

We don’t know if it is/was covid and at this point, nothing really to be done. He’s doing the resting, drinking fluids, etc. He is using the neti pot and will see if that makes a difference.

Edited to add: no blood work has been done as of yet

 

[VandVsmama]

Test for mono

 

[longboard55]

Both my wife and I have been sick for about 4 weeks, mostly chest congestion. From the description I think we have the HMPV. Its not covid. Nothing seems to help other than rest