How do your colds usually progress?

[Italiangirl]

I was wondering... what's the progression of your colds like?

I'll share mine: the 1st symptom I get (which is a tell-tale sign that I'm getting sick) is a sore throat that gets progressively worse and lasts for about 2 days. 

Then,around the 2nd day,I get a runny nose and I sneeze a bit,my nose feels irritated and tickly. After that,the sore throat and sneeziness go away and the congestion begins: at the beginning it's not that bad and then,by the 4th day or so,it gets AWFUL,to the point where I can't breathe through my nose,blowing it is useless and I also sound so congested (my m's and m's sound like b's and d's).

Then,I sometimes get a dry cough (as a result of post-nasal drip) and a low-grade fever (which doesn't last long). The congestion tapers off after about 10 days or so and it's the last symptom to go away.

Now it's your turn! 

 

 

 

 

[bingochamp7]

I mostly get head colds rather than chest colds so this is the typical progression of a head cold.

Day 1: Sore throat where swallowing is painful and difficult

Day 2: Sneezing singles or doubles every 30 minutes or so. There is no congestion or runniness but the sneezes feel ‘heavier’. If there is coughing, I mostly get dry coughs. 

Days 3-6: Cycle of congestion and runniness sets in. I spend a lot of time feeling congested to the point of not being able to breathe properly through my nose and constantly feeling like I’m going to sneeze, which produces a few false starts. Eventually, I will hitch like crazy and 4-10 sneezes come out from one tickle after which I have to blow my nose. I can sneeze up to 30 times in a day in the thick of a cold. Intermittently, my nose will get so runny that I drip constantly where I have to blow to sort it out. My m’s and n’s are b’s and d’s and it’s really hard to hide the cold at this point. If a cough is included, I alternate between dry coughs and wet coughs. I generally have to cough every time I breath on these days so there’s a lot of coughing. Coughing also tends to make my nose runny.

Days 7 and onward: My colds typically last 7-10 days. On the last few days, I don’t sneeze much and I’m not as congested. I still have a drippy nose for these few days so I blow it somewhat frequently. If there is coughing, I still cough but less frequently and it’s mostly wet coughs to clear everything out.

If it’s purely a chest cold, day 1 consists of a sore throat. Days 2-6, I need to cough every time I breath and I alternate between dry and wet coughs. I also get drippy from all the coughing so I have to blow my nose. No stuffiness or excessive sneezing when it’s just a chest cold. Days 7-10, I get wet coughs that get rid of whatever was making me sick and my nose doesn’t drip as much.

[oOMariusOo]

Personally, my own colds vary a lot. Usually the nose is affected first, the first symptoms are fatigue, sniffling and some tickling. I don't always have a cough accompanied neither before nor after. Usually a cold only lasts two or three days with only one day of sneezing. My colds don't settle like the others. At times, my colds are accompanied by headaches, more or less intense fatigue, fever. My nose can be sniffling at different intensities, sometimes stuffy or congested and like you, my m's and n's sound like b's. 

However my very last cold that I caught at the beginning of the week was very different...
The first day in the morning : I had more and more tickling accompanied by a few sniffles which very quickly intensified. My nose ended up buzzing all day, causing a constant, almost insufferable tickle.

The next morning : It started again but at the beginning of the afternoon, it calmed down fairly quickly, giving way to a cough. I didn't cough much but my sore throats lasted a long time and are still a little present even today.

[Lazyrunner]

When I was younger they always started with a very sensitive tickly nose with plenty of sneezes that got progressively wetter and not many other symptoms. These days they tend to start with a sore throat, but then the nose tickles start which lead to 1 or 2 very sneezy days, I tend to get fatigue/headache these days as well. I'm currently getting over a cold now and my nose is still quite sneezy. Lots of tickles and false starts with a strong sneezes every so often. 

[sneezeguy468]

It's actually been a while, probably since Covid started but...

Day 0: the frog in the throat kind of feeling. I know it'll turn into a full blown illness soon.

Day 1: kinda sore throat and sinus pressure/stuffy nose. Maybe some sneezing

Day 2-3: sneezing picks up a lot. Runny nose, stuffed up, sometimes coughing.

Day 4: sneezing starts to die down and the sinuses clear up. I get better quickly or I keep coughing for what seems like weeks and weeks more (even if I'm all better).

 

[Trynasneeze]

For me:

Day 1: This is normally just a sore throat, maybe with a few sneezes, and I'll potentially feel a bit crumby 

Day 2: Will still have a ripper of a sore throat and I will start sneezing a lot. Normally a runny nose develops by the end of the day. 

Day 3-4: These are normally my peak days. These are the days where my nose just won't stop running, the congestion starts to set in (probably pretty heavy by day 4), and I'll be sneezing doubles every 20-30 minutes. The sore throat will normally be disappearing or gone by this stage, and I'll be blowing my nose every ten minutes. 

Day 5: Much less sneezy, nose is less runny but still quite productive and very congested. Normally this is another day of major nose blowing, and much to my displeasure a cough may develop. 

Day 6-7: Still congested somewhat, nose isn't runny or anything but just needs like a really good blow every half hour or so. Probably a cough