Age: 35.0
Sex: M
Vaccine: COVID19-2, FLUX
Symptoms: Respiratory tract congestion, Rhinorrhoea, SARS-CoV-2 antibody test negative, SARS-CoV-2 test negative, Sinus congestion
Clinical narrative: From the time I got my fourth dose, I felt fine. Then on 12/22/2022, I started coming down with cold symptoms, such as sore throat and fatigue. On 12/23/2022, those got worse, and I started to have coughing and nasal congestion. I also began to have diarrhea and moments of nausea without vomiting. The nasal congestion worsened and the coughing made it difficult for me to sleep. On about 12/23/2022, I went to the doctor and told them about the symptoms. I was told to use MUCINEX to treat. I continued to have symptoms through the holiday weekend. The symptoms worsened. I had severe sinus congestion, coughing, sore throat, sleeplessness, diarrhea, sporadic nausea, and fatigue. I don't think the MUCINEX helped at all, because it didn't alleviate the congestion or any of the other symptoms. I took another OTC cold medicine in conjunction with the MUCINEX, but it also didn't help. On 12/23/2022, I took a home antibody test and got a negative result. Over the holiday, I skipped work, because I was so ill. I went to an urgent care clinic around this time. They prescribed me an amoxicillin mixture of some sort, prednisone, TESSALON PERLES for my cough, and a cough medicine with codeine. I think the codeine cough medicine helped a little. I took the prednisone only once at night, because it made me very restless, irritable, and sleepless. I stopped taking MUCINEX and started taking SUDAFED. I didn't immediately have the antibiotic prescription filled, because the doctor advised me to wait a few days to see if the symptoms subsided on their own. The aforementioned symptoms persisted. Around 12/31/2022, I saw my PCP. I told him about the series of events. At that point, my sinus pressure had decreased, but it was still present. He performed an exam on me and diagnosed me with a sinus and ear infection. I think the SUDAFED was more effective than the MUCINEX, but since I had an infection, it was only able to alleviate the symptoms by a notch or two. My PCP advised me to get the prescription for the amoxicillin mixture that had been prescribed by the urgent care doctor. I began taking it, and within a few days, I started to feel better. The coughing and sinus pressure improved, and so did my sleep. I still had fatigue, though, and the diarrhea worsened. After a few days from 12/31/2022, I returned to the urgent care and told them that the diarrhea wasn't improving and that I needed something for it. I also still had a sore throat at this point. The urgent care tested me for C. diff, and streptococcus, and I tested negative for both. They concluded that the diarrhea was caused by the antibiotic, because I had not been taking a probiotic with it. They also concluded that I had contracted another virus that caused the sore throat and fatigue. Throughout the time that the sinus pressure was increasing, I had become deaf in my left ear, because it was so clogged. When I went to the urgent care the second time, the sinus pressure and deafness were still present, but less severe and less painful. I think the antibiotics were helping me with regard to that. I then went home and started taking probiotics with my antibiotics. I had sinus congestion throughout January 2023, though it was less severe and less painful than before. I consulted with my PCP about it, and he advised me to continue taking SUDAFED. I was also taking probiotics to try to get my system back in order. I was also on the BRAT diet to help the diarrhea. I adhered to the BRAT diet until the diarrhea began to improve. Throughout January 2023, I had sporadic congestion, which I treated with SUDAFED. I began to feel better, and my hearing came back in my left ear. In February 2023, I continued to improve. I still had sporadic congestion and diarrhea, though they weren't nearly as bad as they were at the end of December and beginning of January. By the middle of February 2023, I pretty much felt back to normal. On the early morning of 2/16/2023, my sore throat and severe sinus congestion returned. I took a COVID-19 test, and the result was negative. I chalked it up maybe to another cold, because that's what it felt like. I took cold medicine and EMERGEN-C or AIRBORNE. I took a plane trip that day. Throughout the day, the sore throat and post-nasal drip continued, so I got a sinus rinse, ZICAM, and SUDAFED. From 2/16/2023 to 2/26/2023, I would just take SUDAFED, ZICAM, and EMERGEN-C. I would also do a sinus rinse multiple times a day. At that point, I was blowing out yellow mucus, so I think I likely had a sinus infection. By the time 2/26/2023, the yellow mucus had subside and been replaced by clear drainage. My symptoms had improved, and my sore throat was gone. I continued to have sporadic congestion. From 2/16/2023 to 2/26/2023, I noticed that when I was more congested, I had more nausea and fatigue. When my sinuses began to clear up, all of the other symptoms went away. From the first week of March 2023 until now, I have pretty much felt normal, though I still have occasional popping in the ears and sinus congestion. When I had COVID-19 in 2021, I had fatigue and diarrhea. When I got sick with the sinus infection in December 2022, some of it felt like cold symptoms and flu symptoms combined. I seldom get sick, but when I do get sick, I usually recover within a week. The symptoms I have had from December 2022 until now are outside the norm for myself. During my current illness, I have taken at least three home antigen tests and gotten negative results on all of them. I was also tested for COVID-19, influenza A, and influenza B during one of my trips to the urgent care, and I tested negative for all three of those. Overall, I feel better now, but the congestion just won't fully go away. Whenever it rears its head, I take more SUDAFED and do another sinus rinse, and then it goes away within a day. At the time of this writing, it's been about a week to two weeks since I have returned to feeling normal.