What can I do to treat covid-19 infection?

I think I have covid. I am not sure that I'm up to date on what should be done in this situation. Please advise.

Symptoms started 3 days ago with a sore throat. Now a stuffy nose, cough with a little production of phlegm, and a bit of malaise. No worrying symptoms but I'm a little concerned about long covid and other sequelae.

Question: Is it too early to perform a rapid test? How useful are rapid tests anyway at this point with so many variants that have come and gone? How important is it to obtain evidence of covid infection?

Question: assuming that I don't do a rapid test, would it be useful to do an anti nucleocapsid test in ? weeks to confirm that I had it and have fresh antibodies, so that I know whether I should get vaccinated or not?

Question: Is there anything that can be done to speed up the recovery and/or reduce risk of long covid. I heard about metformin but I'm not overweight.

Question: are there inexpensive nasal sprays that are useful when I'm already infected?

 

It's certainly in your interest to find out if it is covid or something else.

It's not too early to test. I would do 2 or 3 tests over the next few days / week if you have access to rapid tests.

I'm not clued up enough about antibody tests to provide advice. I suspect it's very complex, like most antibody tests.

As Trish says: rest, eat as well as you can, reduce stress if possible, stay hydrated.

The nasal sprays lower chance of infection once exposed. You've already developed symptoms, so whatever this is these sprays will be useless.

 

I think Rapid tests are still worth it. There are concerns about their accuracy with all the variants that have come and gone, but whenever I had Covid a rapid test detected it extremely reliably, of course a PCR test is far more accurate. I don't think it would be too early for a Rapid test either, for me 2 days of symptoms was always the positive test peak.

If one of the tests do come back positive, then there's always the possibility of trying to get some Paxlovid, which has shown some small statistical signs of reducing Long-Covid (of course this might entirely depend on the definition of Long-Covid that is used and might be more PICS related) and probably does close to nothing for an individuals prevention risk.

If one is worried about Long-Covid I do think that if a Rapid test is positive it might even be worth it to get a PCR test. Simply because this might make it possible to partake in clinical trials in the near future or even medication if those will ever exist. At least the current trials usually require a confirmation of an infection and it's more straightforward that doing some alternative tests later.

Carmen Scheibenbogen recommends Paxlovid+nasal cleaning to prevent a severe acute disease www.twitter.com/user/status/1623062908421775360, but I think those are rarely the case anymore and probably are unlikely if you've already had it for 3 days.

 

I second EndME’s recommendation for a PCR test and Paxlovid and also recommend this website: https://peoplescdc.org/2023/01/10/what-to-do-if-you-have-covid/

 

The rapid test was negative. I've been told a lot of people in my area have covid now so I'm not convinced.

 

I’ve never managed to test positive on a rapid test, I think because you have to catch it early because I have ME the early phases leads to extreme exhaustion(similar to normal but more extreme) so I don’t think infection immediately, so do my tests till 2/3 days after this phase when more with it or when more obvious signs appear. Probably too late. Where as other members of family get in quick and have tested positive.

 

@Hoopoe wishing you a speedy and straightforward recovery

 

Rapid test on day 2 after symptoms start; then test again 48hrs later. About 90% accuracy of detecting a positive.

 

I was advised by the NHS to test on at least three consecutive days if I started having symptoms, so they could make a judgement call about antivirals. I don't have any details about the reasoning is behind the strategy, but that's what they seem to be saying at the moment. The rapid tests are all they're using outside hospitals, so that's pretty much the only option here. They should still be as accurate as they ever were.

I don't think there's much you can do if you have picked it up, unless you can access antivirals. Just rest, fluids, and try not to be too worried ... yeah, I know how stupid that sounds, sorry.

I've been through the testing protocol three times already—actually turned out to be PEM in every case, which sometimes includes cold symptoms. I'll keep my fingers crossed that might be the case for you too.

 

I'd like to add, for me it was always good to swab both nose and mouth, only doing one sometimes gave a negative. In my case mouth seemed to be of particular importance.

Paxlovid still has a great impact on preventing severe infections, at least that is my understanding. From what I can tell severity of acute infections have decreased for various reasons and aren't too relevant for the classical Long-Covid (not PICS or classical organ damage related things). If someone still feels like he's dying on day 1 I would think that's quite a different situation to someone feeling relatively normal on day 3 in terms of developing a severe acute infection. If someone already has LC then I would also think that 10 days of Paxlovid early in an acute infection seems like a very good idea.

In general for any immunocompromised patient, a patient with LC or some similar scenario, like previously very severe Covid infections, I think Paxlovid is the way to go if there is a positive test result, no matter how severe the infection might be.

 

I swabbed throat (near the tonsils) and then nose (all the way back). The swab technique was rotating and pressing the stick with the cotton-like material on the end against the skin to collect some cells. That's the proper way to do it as far as I understand.

 

How are you feeling @Hoopoe ?

 

My fatigability and PEM threshold is slightly worse. Throat a bit scratchy. ANS is a bit overactive. Not very different from my usual level of sickness.

 

I hope it stays this way and then goes away again!