Allergies? Nope! Covid

PNCC2001 · Nov 20, 2020

On 10/31/2020 at 4:40 PM, Ioreth said:

I always get allergies this time of year, like clockwork. It is even worse when the heaters get turned on since all the crud in the ducts set off my allergies like no other.

On Monday, I woke up with allergy symptoms (itchy eyes, post nasal drip, sore throat) and no fever. I took an antihistamine and went to work. I felt cruddy, but it was also a rough day. Went home at the end of the day, checked again, no fever. Next day rinse, repeat. Wednesday, my husband suggested I get a free covid test in my community. I thought it was silly, but sure I'll do my due diligence. I got one, mostly to prove my husband wrong. Friday I worked again, and still had the same allergy symptoms (though slightly better) and no fever.

Well today I got my result back and it is positive. Now I'm really worried because I've been around patients and my coworkers. I called Oc Health and I'm still waiting to hear back from them. I've been very good about keeping my mask on at work, hand hygiene and not getting unnecessarily close. But it is still nursing and I still have to get close to take care of my patients. I'm worried that I've infected someone. I'm worried that I'll be "in trouble" for not calling Oc Health earlier. And I'm worried that now my family will get sick.

What is most frustrating is I have no identified vector. None of my patients I've cared for recently have been identified covid. One is recovering from an ICU stay for covid, but was cleared by infectious disease for standard precautions. We have another nurse out with covid on my unit, but I haven't worked closely with her in weeks. I've also not done much of anything besides work and be home. Even grocery shopping has been on low volume hours and not much of that either.

Also I thought I had it already. I was sick in early July with flu-like symptoms. Tested twice negative and negative antibodies, but short of breath and couldn't smell anything for a month. The doc I saw said it was very, very likely I had it based on symptoms but also that I might not have had a great immune response and didn't produce antibodies. I thought I was free and clear from covid at least for a while longer. This is one of the reasons why I dragged my feet on calling Oc Health since I had already been out for 3 weeks in July with a fever that took forever to go away. I already felt like I was being reactionary from the first time since I tested negative. (Though it occurs to me now that if I did have it the first time and didn't produce antibodies, then of course I'm still susceptible. Argh.)

I'm so frustrated, and I'm angry with myself for not going through proper channels.

The other possibility is that you ARE having allergies symptoms, and that the test was a False Positive.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Nov 20, 2020

2 hours ago, PNCC2001 said:

The other possibility is that you ARE having allergies symptoms, and that the test was a False Positive.

Good point. There has been a few false positives in our experience. Many of us providers and nurses signed up for frequent testing as part of a research on how HCW's get infected and one Pulmonologist had a false positive...the person who was asymptomatic was so distressed for a while until the repeat ended up negative.

PNCC2001 · Nov 20, 2020

I think there are many more false positives than we hear about. Possibly, even many of those that we are told are asymptomatic carriers.

Ioreth, ADN, RN · Dec 10, 2020

Update:
After I last posted on Nov 1st, I did get pretty sick. Never had to go to the hospital, but I stayed in close (virtual) contact with my nurse practitioner. O2 sats stayed around 86% for a while, but I never felt any different with the low O2. I mostly slept during the worst part of it and I don't feel like I'm anywhere near my previous energy level. I've since gone back to work and I have developed what the NP is referring to as post-Covid asthma. It only comes up when I'm active, which is all shift, every shift, and I have a persistent tightness in my upper chest with increased work of breathing. I now have a couple of inhalers to get me through the shift and manage this dyspnea so I can exercise on my days off. I just hope that it isn't permanent. I've also since had an antibody test and now I have antibodies for Covid, but still masking up at work and N95 in Covid rooms, which of course doesn't make it any easier to breathe.

My Oc Health has been weird on testing criteria too, and I now realize that this probably influenced my delay in contacting them. In the previous month, they sent out a message talking about seasonal allergies and told people that they don't have to call if they are having usual asthma and seasonal allergies. Makes sense, but it did delay things when it was real and just "felt" different. I understand that my Oc Health is no longer denying testing for allergy symptoms, as they still were around the time I tested positive. They're pretty much testing anyone who wants to be tested. (finally!)

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2020

On 11/19/2020 at 11:53 PM, PNCC2001 said:

I think there are many more false positives than we hear about. Possibly, even many of those that we are told are asymptomatic carriers.

Likewise with the false negatives. We've had several patients test negative in the door and a door or two test positive.

What's worse I think is those not being tested at all that are spreading it. I think there are many more of those than we think.

It's a mess.

StrwbryblndRN · Dec 10, 2020

Also, could be allergies and your positive. A large portion of our staff were asymptomatic when they came up positive. Some just thought it was there allergies too.