Extrapolating from other coronaviruses, it's probably that you CAN catch it again but it's "very unlikely" to produce serious consequences after the first time.
So basically only first time you will experience more serious symptoms like a fever, the subsequent infections would be trivial common cold.
My hypothesis is that people who got Covid once and recovered feel safe, thus start doing more risky things and have more exposure to potential Covid carriers.
So the second time the viral load may be much higher, which leads to worse symptoms.
Do you think this is true in your anecdotal experience?
Doesn’t every additional infection also reduce the likelihood of you getting it again or even noticing you got it as it gets milder?
If I hadn't tested I would not have guessed that the mild cold I just got was my second covid infection. My first covid infection was quite bad even with 3 vaccinations.
First time: severe headaches, severe chills (like ice cold in a 68? room), annoying gastrointestinal issues. Lasted 72 hours. Very early in the epidemic. Didn’t know to check SpO2 or temperature. Only diagnosed as Covid retrospectively when comparing symptoms I’d reported before we knew what Covid was.
Second time: approximately four months after first bout. Lost sense of smell for 48 hours. Winded walking up stairs or walking briskly. Temperature barely moved. Had “brain fog” for about three months.
Neither infection has been formally confirmed, by the time I took an antibody test over a year had passed from the first infection and close to eight months from the second.
Have since been vaccinated with Moderna, haven’t had any noticeable symptoms since.
Anecdotally I know a family where every member tested positive for COVID in the spring with severe symptoms at the time. They recovered, then over thanksgiving they started experiencing very mild symptoms (some none at all, others loss of taste and smell to more typical cold like symptoms), and all tested positive once again.
It might be that after you contracted COVID once, or a particular strain of COVID once, that you have a heightened immune response and less severe symptoms when you do catch the disease again. It is hard to say for sure what is going on from an isolated case, but this certainly doesn't bode well.
I am sorry to hear about your situation. I have read about others with long COVID finding relief after being vaccinated or catching it again. While I cannot in good faith recommend anyone attempting to catch COVID for a second time, I am curious if you were vaccinated after your bout, and if so, did it have an impact.
Re-infection is very rare, so the chance that it happened to two people in the same household is extremely rare. Are you certain you were infected with covid both times?
I wonder what the implications are for COVID in the long term. After catching it the first time, I lost all smell and taste for two months, and I can say my taste has been altered probably forever because of it. Does this mean I could catch it again and get anosmia regularly? What about long COVID?
I first caught COVID in October 2020 and again (omicron) in February 2022. Both times I was unvaccinated.
The first one was pretty bad, high fever (like 104F) for a week or so, lost sense of smell completely for months and had pretty bad coughing for some time. I have asthma, so I had to up my medicine dosage as high as allowed and the residual feeling in my lungs lasted for about 6 months in total.
Omicron last month I had a high 103.28F fever for one day, some cough and that was about it. Very odd fever in that it literally lasted for a little over 24 hours and then it was gone.
That's interesting because after the first time I got COVID, I honestly felt OK. It was after the second time that I felt like "hmm, have I fully recovered?"
After the third time, that's when I felt for SURE I was struggling relative to before. Granted, I've had other infections over the last 3 years so it's hard to say it was all COVID.
I had a friend think he had it 3 times (and the third time was probably legitimate). The symptoms the first two times? Typical cold symptoms. No fever. No major cough. No real loss of taste. I had another friend do the same thing.
This was back before tests were widely available. I have genuinely had it twice myself, but people largely have though for the past two years that if they were sick it was COVID.
My interest is purely from avoiding further unpleasantness from catching COVID19. I took the J&J vaccine and ended up around 103F fever for a few hours so I have an inkling if I end up in the 28% who still has symptoms when catching COVID19, would I go through another bout of fevers and chills. Of course I could ride it out, but if I had the opportunity to avoid, I would!
It's closer to the cold than the flu, so like the cold people have been reported to have been infected after having had it, then not had it, then to have it once more. Though, at this point it's not known if it was dormant or through new infection.
Did he actually get tested for covid both times? There's plenty of other illnesses that'll make you plenty sick. I personally took a few weeks to recover fully after the flu a few years back.
i(early 30s male) did catch it early 20(unvaxed) and again in late nov 20 (also unvaxed), due to no available vaccine. now i am double vaxxed with pfizer. i am still recovering from long covid.
- chest pain
- damaged sleep (not recovering enough even after 8 or more hours)
- panic sometimes, i think came from the asthma like feeling i had and not getting enough air (O2 was always more than 95%) but i woke up from it and felt like dying
- hair loss in beard
- eye damage (rcs in left eye)
- dizzyness (had it on early 2021 could not work/drive/walk for nearly 2 weeks)
- various nerve pain in legs and arms
- brain fog for nearly 6 months in 2021
- nausea partly so bad i had to stop working (i freelance so not working == no money)
so to sum it up, i'd rather not catch it again, i lost so much happiness and freedom in these 2 years, i am not sure if the stress and depression lurking did some on these symptoms, but i feel sad when people just blush it off, saying it is a common cold, when it was heartbreaking for me
Yeah, this is anecdotal of course but I was double vaxxed + boosted by last October, and I got covid for the first time in late December 2021, and the second time early April 2022. The first time was extremely mild (no real symptoms beyond the sniffles) and the second time was like getting the flu (fever, sore throat, persistent cough and lots of mucus).
I didn't take the vaccine (I decided it didn't make sense for me) and have had covid twice. Once was likely Beta, the other likely Omicron.
The first time around sucked. It was basically a very bad flu for about five days. I caught it on a trip to southern Mississippi, and it didn't help that I had to drive >10 hours back home without stopping anywhere that I might spread it. I ordered medicine, food, and supplies for contactless delivery and drove it nonstop.
The second time I only knew it was covid because I was testing every time I had an inkling that I might have gotten it. I had a very mild fever and a runny nose for two days and nothing else. I isolated myself in my home office and managed to keep anyone else in my family from getting it, too.
Everything I've experienced, heard, or read strongly indicates that each round is significantly less bad than the last.
So basically only first time you will experience more serious symptoms like a fever, the subsequent infections would be trivial common cold.
We'll see.
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