By Raymond Nava
Getting COVID-19 was the worst experience of my life, one I never want to have again. It lasted for three weeks and it felt like an eternity.
The first two days felt like the start of a flu, but it immediately felt like the flu on steroids.
I first caught COVID-19 back in mid-December from my mom.
My mom went out to a small party with her friends.One of her friends had it, and she caught it from her.
While I never got officially tested for the virus, my mom did and was confirmed positive.
My symptoms showed up at the exact same time as hers and were similar.
The first symptoms lasted like a normal cold and this was for about a day or two.
They were just a sore throat and a runny and stuffy nose. My symptoms got worse very quickly however. I started to feel sore almost everywhere on my body. My body would feel so sore it felt like there was a war under my skin.
It made me feel drained physically and mentally. It became worse the second week when I started to have stomach problems.
During the first week my stomach felt like it was constantly cramping. I was still able to eat a good amount of food.
The second week though my stomach had a never ending nauseated feeling and I could barely eat a single slice of pizza.
This was when it was just completely unbearable. Trying to eat more food just made me feel so nauseated that I felt like I was going to throw up.
The third week of having the virus was almost worse in a different way. By this time I was somewhat able to eat a decent amount of food before I felt like throwing up.
However, I’d still have these nauseated feelings in my stomach that would not go away.
This left me very uncomfortable all the time.
This got to a point where it felt like a minor annoyance, which was almost worse just due to the fact that it felt so small but the symptons would constantly not go away.
After three weeks, I was practically feeling back to normal, with a few small lingering symptoms here and there.
After a few months of being Covid-19 free, I was able to get my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on April 20.
Getting the shot itself wasn’t really bad, even though I have a constant fear of needles.
The needle hurt a lot less than the flu shot.
The needle is thinner than the one that’s used to administer the flu vaccine.
The day after was when I really started to feel the side effects of the vaccine.
My arm got sore, to the point where it became hard to sleep because I couldn’t get into a good position where I wouldn’t be sleeping on my arm.
Throughout the day, the side effects got to a point where it felt like I was getting the virus all over again. The soreness started spreading the other parts of my body.
Thankfully it only lasted that one day and a bit after that and I was feeling much better in the evening.
Getting Covid was something I tried to avoid but was unlucky to have gotten.
Considering my symptoms weren’t the worst ones other people have had, I can consider my self lucky in that respect.
I’m glad to have gotten my first dose of the vaccine and I look forward to getting my second in the next few weeks.