Covid in Hastings area: This is what it is like to have the new variant

Having been doubled jabbed and had a booster, I wasn’t too worried about getting Covid.
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Like many I believed it would be no worse than a common cold and the experiences of friends and colleagues, who have caught the virus in recent months, seemed to back that up, a few days of snuffles and a general lack of energy.

Don’t make my mistake of thinking we are living in a post-Covid world. This new B4 and B5 Omicron variant, which is responsible the latest surge in infections, hits like a train and comes with some really nasty hidden extras.

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I succumbed to it on Friday June 17 as I was wrapping up at work and looking forward to a week’s holiday. I had an early morning medical appointment that day. I cycled there and back, ignored the lift to sprint up four flights of stairs and was feeling great.

Covid virusCovid virus
Covid virus

Halfway through the morning I noticed I was struggling to cope with normally routine work tasks, lacking in focus and concentration.I went for a lay down at lunchtime and my limbs suddenly felt heavy, with pains in the joints and an unpleasant cold sensation that seemed to pulse around the body.I pushed on at work but by tea time I was a mess. It felt as if I was underwater, with my head full of cotton wool. I finally discovered what ‘brain fog’ that people have referred to, is. On top of that I was sneezing and showing cold symptoms and feeling slightly nauseous.It was a beautifully sunny evening and determined to make the most of it, I sat out and read my book and enjoyed a couple of cold beers. By the end of the evening I was feeling slightly better but woke at 2am with a sore throat and an uncontrollable cough.On the Saturday and Sunday I was managing to cope quite well, thinking it was just a bad summer cold.But then the variant showed the trick it would repeat often in the coming days by pulling the rug out from under me. I felt much worse on day three and four. It’s a disturbing feeling to start going backwards with an illness. It’s then that you realise it’s very much in control of you rather than you controlling it. I felt drained of energy and unable to do very much at all.

I am not even sure how I got infected. I work from home and the week before I had led a pretty solitary existence, not socialising or even going to the pub. I would sit out alone most evenings reading in the sun.

The new variant does seem incredibly infectious and confirmed side effects are nausea, dizziness, and muscle aches. More than a week into it and recovery seems painfully slow, with tiny incremental improvements from one day to the next and still the feeling of being drained of energy . According to health experts, side effects can last for up to six weeks.Be warned, Covid is still very much out there in Hastings and if this variant gets a grip on you, it is very hard to shake off.

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