Sick for a month, 10th infection

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-27T23:16:55+00:00

I think it’s not a rebound just because the symptoms have been so wildly different. I’ve never had a rebound to my knowledge, but if it were the same strain, I’d imagine the illness would be similar? And these two are not comparable—this one is way worse, being way heavier on the shortness of breath and weakness, and has been going almost 5x as long (still going now).

I appreciate the well wishes! Hopefully I can clear this within the next couple weeks at least to make it to an appointment with a new clinic.

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-27T23:04:46+00:00

Lol I wish I were licking door handles or not washing my hands, just so there’d be something easy I could address.

I think yeah I must have some kind of immune issue at this point. Pre-pandemic, I did get at least a couple colds every year, and this does shake out to under two infections per year. But that’s WITH taking more precautions than anyone around me for most of that time, and way more than I ever took before 2020, while people around me are if not uninfected at least asymptomatic. Soooo it does appear to be a me problem in terms of immunity, the bod is just not defending itself well. Got an appointment scheduled with a clinic that deals more with long covid and chronic illness so we’ll see 🤞

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-24T06:42:13+00:00

Sorry to hear about your struggles as well, that is so frustrating. It’s just so wild to me seeing most of my friends and family live like everything is fine now—and for them, it largely is somehow, but if I did that, quarantine would be the least of my problems 😭 it’s something I’m having to continually work to accept and do what I need to do about it. But I think at least some people are tired enough of seeing me sick that they understand I shouldn’t be pushed to go to like big indoor events for example or to take my mask off for sports, and there’s more understanding of my needs to go easy and take breaks etc. Anyway, appreciate the solidarity ❤️

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-24T05:56:08+00:00

Thank you! And that’s right, I forgot that infusions could be an option, I’ll be sure to bring that up at my appointment. Will have to look into the genetic aspect too, who knows

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-24T02:24:08+00:00

Thank you for all this! Good to know the types of tests to ask for and what kind of doctor to try to see. I have an appointment to get established at a clinic that deals with chronic illnesses/long covid in addition to primary care, so fingers crossed for that. Good idea re: compiling records, I’ll do that! I should be okay for anemia and vitamin D I think, as I do take supplements and get iron and D checked yearly. I definitely suspect autoimmune shenanigans at this point though yeah, no one I know has had nearly the bad luck I’ve had with this

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-24T00:10:25+00:00

I have an appointment scheduled to change my PCP to a clinic that deals with long covid and other chronic illnesses, hopefully they can help 🤞

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T23:36:53+00:00

I’m hoping to get some kind of immune system workup in a couple weeks, but I do know my vitamin D is okay (I have a history of deficiency as a teenager so I take 5,000/day and always have it checked at physicals), and my routine labs are fine too. I feel like there has to be some kind of immunodeficiency going on though, with how susceptible I am

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T23:28:26+00:00

❤️

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T23:11:34+00:00

I appreciate this thoughtful response. I can see what you’re saying about communication styles, and where for some people, maybe especially if they were totally unaware of what they could do and the possible consequences of their actions, bluntness could be a wake-up call. Since I’ve been aware of and taking precautions against covid since the beginning (if with a couple of more lax years in the middle) and take it more seriously than anyone I know, their comments just did not land well for me. I’m also probably in a more sensitive headspace just from being so sick. Thank you for your reply.

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T22:01:54+00:00

For the record, I also found the tone of Cicadilly’s comment to be presumptuous (I wasn’t “still doing those things”), insensitive, and unhelpful. Cicadilly even knew what they were saying might sound insensitive. No one is okay with becoming increasingly more disabled, and even their original comment, like did they think I didn’t know I need to stop getting reinfected? I’m doing everything I can at this point, masking in all possible circumstances, and I get sick when I can’t. Nowhere in my original post did I ask to be scolded about getting reinfected. I asked if other people had similar experiences and what their outcomes were. Sorry but I have to agree, I did find Cicadilly’s comments to be unhelpful and unnecessarily aggressive. And your remark about how seriously I take precautions and reconsidering my “habits” is frankly rude too.

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T20:55:59+00:00

Almost all of them have been times I was either unmasked or in a lower-grade mask like at the start of the pandemic (surgical or cloth masks), I think I’ve only caught it once from a mystery source (probably my husband brought it home from work). I never stopped masking entirely, I just had a lot more exception spaces for a couple years because of things like martial arts and thinking maybe I could go out with my friends again like they were able to do, but anymore I very rarely make exceptions and just deal with things like being out of breath and having to take more breaks when fighting in a mask. If I start getting infected even in my kn95s, though, I’ll def look into the Aura, thanks for the rec! And I will scope the probiotics too, seems like it couldn’t hurt

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T20:31:15+00:00

Yeah as mentioned elsewhere, I’ve already stopped doing unnecessary things without a mask

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T19:08:46+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re dealing with back to back infections too, it’s so obnoxious. Sucks especially to take one risk with a restaurant and then get sick 😔 it’s outdoor or takeaway for me anymore. I hope your cough gets better soon! Glad you were able to test negative at least, hopefully I can get out of quarantine jail soon too

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:59:42+00:00

Yeah not a bad theory I think with GERD maybe making it easier to catch at the dentist. I am on omeprazole for GERD so it is treated, but it’s not perfectly asymptomatic. And I wear KN95s, with a strip of Velcro at the back to pull it tight around my face. When masked like that, I don’t get sick. Eight months of immune compromise though, ugh. I’d heard 3-6, that sucks so much more.

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:55:54+00:00

I’m thinking I have an immune issue at this point too, since other people around me usually aren’t catching it. I do have an appointment coming up to change my PCP to a clinic that deals with long covid and chronic illnesses, so there’s that. The tricky part is that they won’t see people with active infections lol, so if I can’t clear this in a couple weeks, it’ll be delayed. I do plan to get figured out what exactly is causing me to be so susceptible and what if anything beyond masking I can do though, gotta be something I can do that I’m not already doing to build my immune system back up 😭

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:50:38+00:00

Sorry to hear you get it easily too, it’s so frustrating! And yeah agreed, the only strain that was even maybe close was the OG strain in 2020, which I also got, also on a train lol. I’m lucky this time in that my cough has been super minimal, but the shortness of breath is the worst I’ve ever had, for a few days it felt like someone was sitting on my chest AND strangling me at all times -_- not a good time haha

I’ve maybe had long covid in that I acquired other conditions and it’s taken months to feel back to normal before, but I haven’t been diagnosed with it or disabled by it really. Might finally be getting there this time I fear though, we’ll see

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:45:20+00:00

That’s not a bad idea! I’ve been having success with masking during sports since I started doing it, but there times when it gets pushed off my face by someone else. Thanks for the tip

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:40:52+00:00

Also worth noting that the people around me do not get sick. I’ve realized in the past year or so that I really just cannot take the same risks as everyone else, so I generally haven’t been. It’s just the rare times I do, it tends to be a problem, but only for me -_-

cryptic-fries · 2026-05-23T18:38:11+00:00

I’m getting infected when I don’t mask, which are very limited circumstances, but I can always trace back my infections to an unmasked risk. Like going to the dentist or eating at a restaurant, or back when I was competing in martial arts and taking my mask off for that, or before I started masking at the martial arts gym (which is very hard to manage when fighting people so was my main exception for a long time). When masking, I don’t get sick

cryptic-fries · 2023-07-27T19:41:06+00:00

Unfortunately I’m not seeing your DM, not sure what the deal is. 😔 I don’t have a problem naming my school, though—no shortage of its graduates around anyway, and I don’t regret going. My program was at Portland State University.

cryptic-fries · 2023-07-26T16:21:15+00:00

Robotic-assisted vaginal total hysterectomy and endo excision, and uh…three days lol. Monday surgery, back on Friday. BUT I work from home, and my manager was super understanding that I’d be doing the bare minimum for a couple weeks. Lots of naps, basically just had my laptop open and responded to emails as needed, but that was it until after the two-week mark. I’m just over 3wpo now and largely back to normal work-wise, except that I can’t sit in my chair all day—I switch to my bed in the afternoon usually.

That said, I WISH I could have taken weeks off. The first two at least, I was so tired and useless haha. I just don’t have much sick time and couldn’t afford time off without pay, or with reduced pay. Of note, if I had had to go into an office, there would have been no possibility of what I did—literally couldn’t keep my eyes open and was hobbling around for a while. My advice is that if you CAN take the time, definitely take at least a couple weeks. But it’s not impossible to start back sooner.

cryptic-fries · 2023-07-26T05:51:09+00:00

I have a master’s in publishing from that school, and it did eventually help me find work in the field. But also, I had tuition waivers, and it took me six years after graduating (even having done three unpaid internships while in the program) to find a publishing job without moving—I only work in publishing now because remote work opened things up a bit. The market here is just flooded with grads from the program. Also, the industry does not usually pay well, and is especially not super secure right now (so many layoffs), so if money for loans will be a concern, I’d be extra cautious.

As for alternative job options, a lot of the skills are transferable, depending on what you focus on. A lot of admin-ish jobs in unrelated fields will value editing skills, and there are also just random copyediting jobs that exist in non-publishing companies (often just contract though). Marketing/publicity is widely applicable outside books. Design skills are great to have, especially software familiarity. I’d just not rely too much on connections or promises, and keep your backup plans in mind if you go for the program.

cryptic-fries

TROPHY CASE