On day 3 I was still unaware I had COVID, but I was starting to feel weaker. I was debating, is the weakness due to a major allergic reaction, or is it because of COVID? I did not feel bad enough to believe it was due to COVID yet. I did reach out to my asthma & allergy doctor to get my IgE levels for a shell fish allergy.
At this point, I needed to know if I had a shellfish allergy regardless. I love shellfish and I didn’t want to test it out by eating more shellfish, and see what happens. YIKES! I made an appointment and went to get my blood drawn while wearing both an N95 and surgical mask. If I did find out later this was COVID, I did not want to contaminate anyone else.
I continued taking Claritin, Benadryl, and my Albuterol inhaler but I added a few more meds on day 3. What medications did I start on day 3? Pepcid and Aspirin. There is no reason why I did not start Pepcid before when I started Benadryl. I simply forgot to purchase it at Walgreens and did not want to be inconvenienced during my last vacation day to do another medication errand. I know, I know. Priorities. As you can tell, I was not feeling horrible at the beginning or I would have prioritized starting the meds sooner.
Once I arrived home, I started 10mg Pepcid twice a day and 325mg Aspirin to prevent blood clots just in case this was COVID. Blood clots are a huge concern with the coronavirus. The hyperimmune response causes your body to produce clotting factors, which puts you at risk for stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolus. With the symptoms progressing, I was becoming more and more concerned that this may actually be COVID.
Even though my chest started burning on day 3, my breathing was fine, but I was getting more congested. Why was my chest on fire if I still felt fine overall? Now, I am over a month out from COVID and I can answer this question, inflammation. COVID causes inflammation in your blood vessels, lungs, and heart. The hyperimmune response causes inflammation which spirals out of control.
By this point, my energy level is so low I am starting to be very concerned this may be COVID. In the hopes of helping others I started making a day-to-day video diary of what I experienced just in case. In hindsight, I am so glad I did. I hope my video log helps you. Cheers to vlogging!
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