Illness Catching colds on public transport (self)

[snzer]

As promised here's some obs about 2 of my 4 winter colds!

The first cold was caught from the redhead woman in my last obs on the subway during my trip to NYC. After her sneezes I got a tissue out of my backpack and wiped my face, but most of the sneeze spray had dried on my skin by then. So I knew I was kind of doomed to catch whatever she had because with the way she looked there was no way she wasn't sick.

When I went home on the plane back from New York I had a little sniffle every so often but I made sure I kept a handkerchief with me to wipe my nose if I ever needed to. I usually use tissues more than handkerchiefs in public (I do use handkerchiefs in public just not as often) but I didn't have any tissues in my carry on bag. I had a handkerchief just in case though, so I grabbed it and kept it folded up on my leg where it hopefully wasn't too noticeable. I was happy I had a handkerchief instead of a balled up tissue or two to deal with I guess since all I had to do was wipe my nose a few times.

I can't remember exactly when but a day or two later I woke up fully with the cold. I'm lucky that my colds are usually in my nose and don't go down to my chest, but I'm unlucky because they make me sneeze a lot. Or maybe that makes me lucky haha. It was during the work week so I had to go in to the office. I wore a mask around because I'm not good at stifling or holding back when I'm sick. I tried to keep to myself but I did have a meeting with a coworker (the woman who sneezes all over the place). I didn't feel too embarrassed when I sneezed or coughed since she seems to not care about covering hers or spreading germs. Regardless I sneezed into my mask or a tissue to be polite even if she isn't. The cold wasn't bad and I was sneezy and a little cough for about a week and a half.

The second cold I caught from public transport was from the sick woman who sat next to me on the bus on Monday. I went home still thinking about her haha but I thought I might have escaped her cold since I woke up on Tuesday and Wednesday feeling fine. I should have known I would catch it though since spending more than a few minutes near anyone with a cold gets me sick 75% of the time let alone sitting next to them for over half an hour while they sneeze uncovered. I should have worn a mask on the bus but lately I've been forgetting them when I leave the house which I know is bad...I'll try harder so I don't get another cold haha.

Wednesday afternoon and evening I started to get sniffly and yesterday I woke up with the full cold. I went in to work because I don't have many sick days and I tested negative Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning (tested when I got the sniffles just in case). I had my mask on but I think I went through 5 of them throughout the day by sneezing into them a little too much. I tried to pull it down and sneeze into tissues to preserve the masks but if I ever didn't, the inside would be too wet to keep wearing. When I'm sick, my sneezes are usually really wet and hard to control. In general I sneeze either once or a bunch of times, so an unexpected triple makes a mask unwearable. Usually I sneeze in little fits when I'm sick, so it can be anywhere from 2 to 10+ and I never know.

Today my nostrils and the tip of my nose are bright pink. I can feel my nostrils twitch when my nose gets really itchy and it's totally out of my control. Especially if I'm hitching a lot because they have a mind of their own then. My nose is pretty sensitive anyway, but it's being set off so easily today. If I sniffle the wrong way I'll start sneezing and once I accidentally brushed my nose with the edge of my handkerchief which made me sneeze a lot. Even though it's concentrated in my nose/head I'm feeling pretty bad. It's just a cold but all the sneezing is getting exhausting and I get really stuffed up.

 

I asked to work from home today since I didn't have any in person meetings or anything so I've been working from my couch all day. My laptop screen and keyboard have been sneezed on too many times and I have 2 handkerchiefs next to me for when I need to wipe or blow my nose. It's not worth trying to sneeze into a handkerchief or tissue because I live alone and it feels good to let them go and not worry about ruining a mask haha. They're all at least a little wet, but most of them are wet enough to feel or see some amount of spray. I had a fit of 6 sneezes and when I was done I could see so much spray in the air because of the sunlight. It looked like someone used air freshener or something but it was all from my cold. The air in my apartment has to be half germs at this point...

Even though I'm alone sometimes I catch myself saying "I'b godda sdeeze" or "excuse be" out loud haha. I sneeze so much that I haven't needed to induce yet but I might in a few days. You can ask any questions you want about this cold and I would love to answer.

[MeForever]

Lovely obs! How often are you sneezing right now and how would you describe them like sound wise?

[snzer]

@MeForever I thought the sneezing was slowing down because I was sneezing maybe 5 little fits of 2-5 sneezes every hour in the afternoon but I've been getting really itchy again. For the last 2 hours I've been sneezing mostly triples every 5ish minutes but 30 minutes ago I had a fit of 12 with a few seconds of hitching between. It's hard to spell my sneezes since I haven't thought about it a lot but I recorded a few so I could listen and get an idea haha. The triples have been really wet and a little loud because I'm alone so it's like huh'tshhhhhhooh! tschhhhhoo! hih-TSSSSHHhhuh! The last one is always louder than the others by a little. Sometimes they're more controlled if I'm in public but they get more wet and desperate if it's a longer fit.

[allergyboy2001]

These are really excellent descriptions, very vivid. But i hope you feel better soon.

[Lady Blessington]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:16 PM, snzer said:

I tried to pull it down and sneeze into tissues to preserve the masks

Oh my goodness 🧡

I hope you feel better soon! Have you put the recordings anywhere?