Age: 31.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19-2
Symptoms: SARS-CoV-2 test positive, Upper-airway cough syndrome
Clinical narrative: I received the Moderna Bivalent booster on 9/7/2022. On 11/14/2022, I developed a runny nose. I was fatigued, but I didn't give it much thought, since it was late. On the morning of 11/15/2022, I woke with a very painful sore throat. I took a home antigen test that very quickly yielded a positive result. I took 2 more home antigen tests the same day just to make sure, and the results were positive both times. On 11/15/2022, which was at the height of my sore throat, I had a swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck; the swelling went down a few days later. Over 11/16/2022 and 11/17/2022, I continued to have fatigue and sore throat. I also developed muscle aches. I continued to have a runny nose. On about 11/17/2022, I began to have a cough, which was only slightly productive. The sore throat began to resolve at this point, but the cough and runny nose continued. I treated my symptoms with a version of DAYQUIL that did not have acetaminophen. I also took ADVIL for the sore throat and muscle aches. After I ran out of DAYQUIL, I switched to an ALKA-SELTZER cold medicine that had aspirin as an ingredient and included medicine for both daytime and nighttime in the same package. The medicines helped somewhat, but not completely. Around 11/20/2022 or 11/21/2022, the runny nose began to abate and was replaced primarily by nasal congestion. I also had continuing fatigue. During this time, I was frequently testing myself, as I work with immunocompromised people and I don't want to endanger them. Not only that, but it was around the end of November, and I didn't want to spread the virus to my family. Up until 11/24/2022, I continued to test positive. On 11/25/2022, I finally got a negative result. Even though the test result was negative, I still experienced significant fatigue, nasal congestion, and cough. Around 11/28/2022, I continued to have the nagging cough. Not only that, but I also had shortness of breath and exercise intolerance; climbing stairs was an ordeal. At this point, the congestion and postnasal drip were gone, but a tickling sensation in my throat made me cough. It was very uncomfortable, so I reached out to my doctor. She prescribed me benzonatate; unfortunately, it didn't really help much. It didn't completely get rid of the tickling sensation. Not only that, but it didn't provide long-lasting relief the way that it was supposed to. When I didn't get any relief from the benzonatate and I continued to have shortness of breath, I went to see the doctor again. She diagnosed me with reactive airway disease and prescribed me an albuterol inhaler. They helped somewhat, but not completely. At the time of this writing, I now no longer have to use the albuterol inhaler. However, I still experience shortness of breath whenever I climb the stairs and have to stop midway. This is unusual for me, because before I got sick, I frequently did mountain climbing. I think it's also worth mentioning that my doctor suspects that I had multiple viruses. I work with sick children who often suffer from viruses like RSV, strep throat, and flu A, so it's a possibility. However, we'll never know for certain, as there are no home tests for those conditions, and I wasn't tested for them, as I was staying at home and isolating after receiving my COVID-19 diagnosis.