Yes and no. Some people will only stay down when they’re incapacitated by illness, so although their symptoms still exist they can be ignored. Others have strong immunities.
If I’m able to rest and look after myself a cold will last a day or few. If I have to work and remain active then the cold will persist for ten or so days.
Most people use “cold” as a place holder for not feeling well. They don’t realize it literally refers to a viral infection just like flu is specific to influenza virus infection. They likely don’t actually have a cold or flu majority of the time.
I usually start to feel off, then the next day I’ll have full cold symptoms (I usually take this day off from work to avoid spreading it, and because it’s really annoying having to work while in constant need of tissues), then the next day I’ll have a little sore throat and cough, then it’s gone. So like 3 days total, with 1 day of actually feeling like I’m genuinely sick.
I used to be sick for longer, but idk if that’s cause I was a teenager/child, or if it’s because I stopped eating meat. I’ve switched between vegan/vegetarian over the years with no changes to this sickness pattern.
Conventional wisdom is it takes three days to get a cold, three days to have a cold, and three days to get rid of a cold. It sounds like you may have an underlying issue like bronchitis or other lung problems.
Wirh winter viruses going around, I saw people recover after 2 to 5 days, and I was always brought down for 1-2 weeks and in the end usually needed antibiotics for a bacterial additional infection – which I knew would happen, bht no doctor wanted to give me antibiotics for a virus.
It turned out I had a deviated septum and a malformed entry to one of the sinuses. I got the FESS surgery and finally I can also reccover from a small winter virus in 2-3 days.
This said, this year we got the actual flu (type A) and I have to say I had never felt that sick in my life.
That’s me. Colds usually hit me for just a day and then it’s business as usual. I mean, I still have some symptoms for a few days (runny nose, green phlegm, etc.) but a sore throat, headache, etc. usually only last for a day.
I have a pretty strong immune system, it’s now a joke with my family that when germs encounter me they get scared. When I do, it’s usually a day or two
Yeah. Sometimes I’m not dead sure if I’m sick or just short on sleep or something until my wife gets the same symptoms but for days in a row instead of just the one.
Whoops, sorry love I’ll get the dayquil and some soup.
Do you smoke at all? Since I quit cigs I don’t even get the once a year season changing sickness really. I rarely get a serious cold, never had the flu, bronchitis, nothing like that, and if I do feel sick it’s only a day or two. Covid was the longest I actually felt sick and that was around 3.5 days. 2 days of probably the worst cold I’ve ever had and then about a day and a half of what I’d consider feeling regular sick.
It’s weird though cause I feel like most people I know get sick a lot more often and definitely for longer when they do.
I have managed to build up a pretty good immune system. I work in a doctor’s office where I can’t help but be exposed to stuff every day. For the first six months I got sick once a month. After that, hardly ever. What normally happens with me is that I will feel very mildly sick for a few days and then be ok. It will be just enough to be annoying. Like a mild sore throat or the sniffles or some tiredness. My belief is that I have picked up a bug but that my immune system has kicked in and is somewhat fighting it off so that my symptoms are only minor for a few days. I very rarely get full blown sick. Maybe once a year at most. Knock on wood.
So I put it all down to the fact that I am lucky that I seem to have a well working immune system.
be glad you didn’t have what I just got over…I was sick as a dog for 5 weeks total, worst cold I ever had, lost my voice in week 2 from coughing so much and so forcefully (no joke I had an 18 and a half hour STRAIGHT coughing fit, couldn’t sleep or anything, just sit there coughing, hard), doctor says I damaged my vocal cords, now I sound like I chew gravel for a hobby and it may be permanent, all I can do is wait and see and hope my vocal cords repair themselves over time
My cold symptoms usually last 2-3 days. There is some fatigue the first day, but it’s mostly nasal congestion, sore throat, and coughing. By day 3, I mostly feel fine with only slight symptoms.
Most people use the word “cold” to describe any upper respiratory ill ess that has symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, scratchy throat and mild cough. There are dozens of viruses that cause such and some of them also cause more severe illness. Human metapnuemo virus is one such and can cause pretty severe illness as can RSV. The best thing to do is maximize immune resilience. Optimize vitamin D and take quercitin during high risk seasons. It really does help.
Not a doctor, but I also got those coughing spells that wouldn’t go away. A fantastic nurse at my clinic diagnosed it as “cough-variant asthma.” No wheezing, just a cough. When we treated the asthma, the cough vanished, and I know how to handle it now.
Yeah, I usually have a pretty bad fever for one day and a mild fever for another day, and then I’m ok, might get a runny nose and some headache, but that’s easy to ignore.
I start my day with a dayquil and redbull bomb and drink lots of water throughout the day. Or stay home and sleep if I can get away with it. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.
I haven’t gotten a cold (or been sick in anyway at all) since before COVID. Like maybe a year before. And the last cold I had lasted not even half a day. Woke up stuffy and congested. Sneezed and coughed a few times. By 3pm I forgot I had woken up not feeling well.
I haven’t gotten a cold (or been sick in anyway at all) since before COVID. Like maybe a year before. And the last cold I had lasted not even half a day. Woke up stuffy and congested. Sneezed and coughed a few times. By 3pm I forgot I had woken up not feeling well.
i had covid for 15 hours once or at least was only symptomatic for a little over half a day. had a head ache and went to bed early that night woke up the next morning early with sniffles and a sore throat and my friend whos house i was at had a spare test so i took it and tested positive for the boogeyflu so i had a few breakfast whiskeys and a super feast and went back tobed. i woke up that evening feeling fine. it was literally the shortest sickness i can remember having 🤷
My mom’s symptoms last as long as the cold, which for her is always less than 48hrs. My dad’s symptoms last a couple days longer.
I on the other hand follow an exact formula for each cold I’ve had since puberty: Two days sore throat, one day moment’s reprieve where the sore throat has mostly gone away and the cough hasn’t ramped up, followed by four to six weeks of a persistent cough that only begins tapering off in the last week.
For me, I considered it a cold when I can’t function and call in to work. But I might feel crappy the day before or like loogy the day after. It’s one day that’s bad maybe two then I’m fine. Actually, this year started with me getting really sick, just a real bad cold that had me out for about two weeks. I took like 2 or three sick days from work but just for the worst days. But yea two weeks I felt like crap. I would have gone to the doc but it’s that old awful saying of ignorance is bliss plus I assumed it was just a cold. I actually assumed COVID but I never tested positive. I’m just getting old lol
I didn’t think so until I had a kid. I used to be like you where the only things that got me would knock me out for so long and now I get “head colds” that last like a day. I never knew what a head cold was before haha now I’m in the thick of em
Yes. There is this “thing” called 24 hour cold. It is not really a medical term.
I had it happen a few times.
Usually I start to feel sick. If I can, I will leave work early and then take a hot shower, take some meds and make myself a hot water bottlr and go to bed.
Drinking a lot of water/herbal tea.
Next morning I feel terrible. Having a little fever maybe and every once in a while I get cold chills.
I take another shower and repeat everything again.
Sleep, sleep, drink sleep, sleep, drink, meds. Sleeeeeep.
On the 2nd day, I get up, take a hot shower and can go back to work, feeling refreshed but still a tiny bit groggy.
For context, here is the rough timescale of when I catch colds (which I typically do approximately a dozen times a year):
Day 1 – light sneezing. Might not even realise it’s a cold yet as I suffer from hay-fever 5-6 months a year and this stage is functionally identical to a bad hay-fever day
Day 2 – heavier sneezing, nose streaming and often blocked resulting in sometimes swallowing down catarrh
Day 3 – sneezing already reducing, throat a bit sore from the catarrh
Day 4 – mildly sore throat resulting in a bit of coughing. Nose starting to get a bit sore from repeated blowing on tissues
Day 5 – throat already recovered. If the cold was particularly bad I might get dried skin around the nostrils as the aftereffect of the sore nose (which might last 2-3 days). Otherwise, this is the end of the cold
Given that there’s only 2 or 3 days where I feel even mildly inconvenienced, I can see how that might translate to it feeling like the cold only really lasted a day. Especially if it’s a very mild cold (which mine often are), I might barely even get a sore throat, in which case the cold for me is one day of a lot of sneezing and that’s it.
I thought I got colds for only 1-2 days but it turns out I have non-allergy reactions. So I don’t have any allergies, but I get allergy symptoms in response to various things like weather changes and smoke smell. Because I don’t have allergies, I assumed it must be a cold.
It changes for me depending on the season. A cold will last a lot longer for me in spring when my allergies are in full on fucking me over mode but in the winter it might be just a couple of days
I managed to have a one day cold just a week or two ago. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen. My husband got pretty sick so I knew it was inevitable that I would too. Yet I just had a sore throat for a day and that was it.
one time my boyfriend had the flu for around 4 hours.. I had already been sick for a few days when he came home from work early and took his temp. we both went to immediate care and tested positive for the flu and then went home and went to sleep. he woke up like an hour later feeling completely fine and left our room to go play video games. then went to work the next day like nothing had ever happened. sometimes I think he might be a robot.
Sometimes. Last week I had a cough, a scratchy throat, and that “sick” taste in my mouth for a day and a half and then it went away. It’s more common for things to last a week or two.
It carries by person. For me if I’m able to take a day or two off to properly rest, I’m over it in two or three days. But if I can’t swing it and have to worth through it then I’m gonna be congested and caughing for a week.
I used to be able to recover after 2-3 days. But now it takes me a good week, usually two, to recover. 🙁 I am not sure if it’s just getting older (I’m only 38) or because I have an issue with my B-cells (I’m seeing a hematologist for this). Either way, I definitely miss being able to kick a cold in a couple of days.
If you haven’t been diagnosed with asthma, you can ask a doctor about it. I only say this because I felt the exact same way for decades and then once got so sick I was kept awake for almost a month with awful coughing fits and finally they were like “oh hey, you have asthma” >.>
I always thought asthma was like it is on TV where you hyperventilate but it’s not always that bad. Sometimes it’s really mild and seems just like allergies, until you get sick.
Sometimes I’ve been lucky enough to be blessed with a cold where the worst of the symptoms only last a couple days and I can function normally (still sick) after but more times then not I’m the one who takes weeks upon weeks to feel back to normal 😭😂
I’m 38, with a 2 year old. When I get sick, I’m typically flattened for a couple of days, and then I’ll still have pretty bad symptoms for 7-10 days. With the kid around, I can’t really just rest and recover.
Not if you have an autoimmune disorder where your immune system reacts.
Most symptoms are from your immune system fighting the virus. When you have one that fights harder than is needed, you experience more severe and prolonged symptoms. Your immune system is not too weak, it’s too much.
For me yes, but I suspect it is that I only feel the symptoms for one or two days and then after that it’s still there but it’s not bothering me. But typically, if it’s ‘just a cold’ it’s one to 2 days maximum.
I rarely get sick. I’m very lucky. I must have a strong immune system. When I do get a cold, I generally am over it within 2 to 3 days. People around me will have something that lasts one or two or sometimes even three weeks and it just zips in and out of my system.I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I am a very healthy eater and I am extremely active so maybe it has to do with that.
That’s how my colds used to be, then as I got older and entered by 30s any colds I get almost always turn into a sinus infection and/days long migraine.
I haven’t had a cold in ages, but when I feel sick, I will SLEEP as long as I need to to get rid of it. It’s very helpful. I also keep the house warm, take Vitamin C and zinc, but I think the sleep helps the most.
My colds usually last for at least a week and often even longer than that, and I take even longer to recover completely, but for the first time ever, I had a cold that only lasted 3 days not too long ago and almost couldn’t believe it
Mine just has phases (like I assume so does everyone else) getting the lurgies when you notice the runny nose or itchy throat. Then the next day is usually the illness, and it could peak there, and the next day, I could be feeling a lot better but still a little sick.
But usually, for me it’s, feeling it coming, Ill the next day, worse the 2nd day (the peak of it), 3rd day significantly better. Then, just a cough or something the next few days.
Some people do get those mini colds. You know, like just a day or two of feeling a little off, scratchy throat, maybe a bit of sneezing and then they’re fine again. It’s kind of wild. It’s not always a real cold. Sometimes it’s your body reacting to something random, like allergies, dry air, or just being super tired. Other times, your immune system just kicks butt and shuts it down quick.
Yup I just got over a two day cold, I consider myself lucky sometimes they last longer. And oddly the symptoms had no overlap. Scratchy sore throat one day the next runny sneeze nose and terrible sinus pressure/pain, and then all better albeit a bit tired and fatigued.
You a smoker? When I smoked I’d be sick for a long time, usually at least a week or two. Since quitting 10 years ago, I’m now usually over it in day or two.
Personally, I only have a bad fever for a day or two. Afterwards I may have a bad cough or whatever for a week, but at that point I’m full of energy and the only reason I stay home is so I don’t spread it. The cough doesn’t fully disappear for like a month though :<
When I was young I’d get sick 1 day , feel like crap but sound fine the next day , feel fine but sound like crap the next day and have a cough for a few days after . That was allergies to colds to the flu .
Now I feel like crap for a week , sound like crap and feel like crap for another week , cough for a month .
Yes, if I get sick in summer I sit out in the sun and sweat it all out and feel 100% the next day. If it’s winter, I fast and only have broth with garlic and a ton cayenne to sweat it out. I don’t take anything to reduce fever, that seems to keep me sick longer. Covid took me down for 4 days though and I did take Advil for the extreme headache.
Depends on the pathogen and context. If I get a cold and try to power through, I’ll be sick for a week. If I take a day off work and rest as soon as I feel it coming on, it might only last a day or two and be much milder. If it’s influenza or something similar, you’re generally in for a bad week or three if you get a full blown infection.
A lot of people also downplay or bullshit their symptoms, though. They’ll be actively symptomatic (cough, fatigue, runny nose) but they won’t admit to being actually sick unless they’re completely incapacitated.
I find generally, a couple days RnR and I’ll be pretty much good, but if I force myself to work it last weeks and it’s miserable for both me and all around. But apparently I’m the asshole for taking sick days instead and showing germs everywhere
The virus is usually beaten within a few days but the immune system is still “triggered” and so coughing persists for a while longer until the immune system calms down again.
Yes, i 100% do and my colds are not even that bad. I get the sniffles, maybe a little of a sore throat when i wake up and then the next day im fine. Last cold i got was like 7 months ago
I actually am just now getting over a 3 day cold myself. It started on Sunday with an itchy throat and sore roof of my mouth.
Yesterday was the worst. I thought I could tough it out. Got up at 5:30, got 3/4 of the way to work while feeling a chill, and made a u-turn to go home. Slept for about 15 or more hours total the first day, about 4.5 hours so far today. Because I stayed home on the worst days and could actually rest, I’m on the up and feeling like I’m recovering. Had I actually went to work and tried to tough it out it probably would’ve lasted the entire work week.
Idk if i have a terrible immune system or what, but a cold easily lasts about 10 days for me.
I don’t actually have a cold log but I’d guess it’s something like this.
Day 1 – tired and weak
Day 2- tired, weak, and itchy throat
Day 3 – 5 – sneezing, stuffyess, sinus headache, stuffy ears, generally feeling malaise
Day 6-7 – a little stuffed up ears still feeling full, but less tired and feeling slightly better
Day 7-10 – lingering stuffyess and tiredness but feeling progressively better from 80-100%
People tell me this isn’t normal but idk, I’ve never ever had “just a cold” or a “mild cold” however I do only get sick like once every other year or something. I rarely ever get sick.
I’m usually feeling the worst for 2 days or so, then over the next 2-3 weeks slowly getting better. I usually don’t feel 100% until a month or so after I get sick though.
I used to work at a job that wasn’t really kept clean, so I’d get sick pretty much every month. And holy shit was I miserable. I’d slightly recover from a covid-level infection after 5 weeks, then get sick again.
It’s been practically a year since I left, and I’ve only ever been sick like twice–first time being covid, which lasted like 5 days, and some flu-like sickness, which lasted like 12 hours (which got my parents sick for like a month and a half).
Ultimately I feel it depends on exposure and overall nutrition. I wouldn’t say my immune system is godlike, but I’ve noticed the rate of me getting sick extremely decrease albeit taking public transportation regularly.
I was like that for years. I’d get sick and be fine 2 days later. My husband would catch the same bug and be down for a week. It was great while it lasted.
Sure, I’ve had “colds” where symptoms popped up and then were better in 48-72 hrs. Some people have a harder time fighting illness than others. I have 4 kids; 2 get sick easily and are sick for a while, the other 2 don’t get sick often and get through it much faster when they are sick.
It’s not that I never have a cold, but maybe once every 7 years. If I have to blow my nose once, I consider that a cold. I may get the day before a cold feeling, but wake up fine the next morning.
Mostly, one day of “coming down with a cold”, then 2 days of feeling like crap. A day or two forever blowing my nose and hacking up phlegm, but otherwise feeling fine. The odd time get laryngitis or a nighttime cough that will persist for a week.
My baby boomer father caught COVID and in a 48 hour period went from being fine to feeling like dog shit to feeling totally fine again and showing no more symptoms. No meds, nothing. That is completely typical for him (same thing happened with the flu before I was born, which is the last time he was sick). Yes I am very happy for him and also extremely jealous as I did not inherit this.
Immune deficiency here I think I’ve had a 3 day cold once in my life 😮💨. Generally I’m more likely to get sick and it takes me longer to get over than the average bear… boat loads of fun. While I usually don’t feel like I’m dying, since I’m slow to shake anything so it’s usually a couple weeks before I’m 100%
Depends on the cold. I’ve been sick 3 times in 4 months, 2 of them were super minor barely noticed I was sick, one I was off work for over a week and honestly still wasn’t well enough to work but had to get back after so long off, and the third was a day or two terrible but the congestion lasted 2 months…
I used to only get sniffles and a cough for a day or two but I was also super aggressive about staying super hydrated and medicated, post-covid and over 30, no matter what I do or how I self-treat things I’m stuck with a cough long after I otherwise feel normal. Steamy showers in the mornings help along with multiple pillows or an adjustable bed.
No. First our kid has it, so we as parents are running behind her with handkerchiefs, keep cleaning her nose so she can at least breathe, and enjoy the cutting down of the Amazone forest at night.
Then I get it, so I can’t breathe or sleep decently.
Then my wife gets it, causing her to be tired and losing her voice.
So no, we have it for at least two weeks.
But that’s not how you meant it, I guess.
It is a myth that colds only last a couple of days. Typically from first symptom to being back to normal completely is 10 to 21 days depending on infection.
Of course there is no such thing as “the common cold”, in fact there are many different viruses grouped into 3 or 4 different main varieties, each of which has thousands of strains and although they have similar symptoms they vary a lot in detailed prognoses.
Then it is complicated further by degree of immunity to the particular virus you got: if you get reinfected by a virus that has changed only slightly you may indeed recover in the magic couple of days and have minimal symptoms, on the other hand a new novel one may some people low for weeks while others’ immune systems cope better.
Comments
Yes and no. Some people will only stay down when they’re incapacitated by illness, so although their symptoms still exist they can be ignored. Others have strong immunities.
Sometimes I’m same as you, sometimes I get lucky. No symptoms after 12 or 48 hours is always a win
If I’m able to rest and look after myself a cold will last a day or few. If I have to work and remain active then the cold will persist for ten or so days.
Sounds like you had the flu
Sweat it out
I don’t know. Is this rule four?
No. They tough it out until they can’t do it any longer and then take the worst 1-2 days off. Then they go back to toughing it out again.
Most people use “cold” as a place holder for not feeling well. They don’t realize it literally refers to a viral infection just like flu is specific to influenza virus infection. They likely don’t actually have a cold or flu majority of the time.
I usually start to feel off, then the next day I’ll have full cold symptoms (I usually take this day off from work to avoid spreading it, and because it’s really annoying having to work while in constant need of tissues), then the next day I’ll have a little sore throat and cough, then it’s gone. So like 3 days total, with 1 day of actually feeling like I’m genuinely sick.
I used to be sick for longer, but idk if that’s cause I was a teenager/child, or if it’s because I stopped eating meat. I’ve switched between vegan/vegetarian over the years with no changes to this sickness pattern.
Conventional wisdom is it takes three days to get a cold, three days to have a cold, and three days to get rid of a cold. It sounds like you may have an underlying issue like bronchitis or other lung problems.
Wirh winter viruses going around, I saw people recover after 2 to 5 days, and I was always brought down for 1-2 weeks and in the end usually needed antibiotics for a bacterial additional infection – which I knew would happen, bht no doctor wanted to give me antibiotics for a virus.
It turned out I had a deviated septum and a malformed entry to one of the sinuses. I got the FESS surgery and finally I can also reccover from a small winter virus in 2-3 days.
This said, this year we got the actual flu (type A) and I have to say I had never felt that sick in my life.
That’s me. Colds usually hit me for just a day and then it’s business as usual. I mean, I still have some symptoms for a few days (runny nose, green phlegm, etc.) but a sore throat, headache, etc. usually only last for a day.
A lot of people call a hangover a cold
I have a pretty strong immune system, it’s now a joke with my family that when germs encounter me they get scared. When I do, it’s usually a day or two
I’m a two day recovery kinda person maybe my lifestyle of fitness and food play a role in it but usually longest 3 days I’m sick but usually 1-2
Yeah. Sometimes I’m not dead sure if I’m sick or just short on sleep or something until my wife gets the same symptoms but for days in a row instead of just the one.
Whoops, sorry love I’ll get the dayquil and some soup.
Do you smoke at all? Since I quit cigs I don’t even get the once a year season changing sickness really. I rarely get a serious cold, never had the flu, bronchitis, nothing like that, and if I do feel sick it’s only a day or two. Covid was the longest I actually felt sick and that was around 3.5 days. 2 days of probably the worst cold I’ve ever had and then about a day and a half of what I’d consider feeling regular sick.
It’s weird though cause I feel like most people I know get sick a lot more often and definitely for longer when they do.
I’ll feel run down for a day or two. Then I’m fine again but I’ll have a runny nose And cough for weeks
I have managed to build up a pretty good immune system. I work in a doctor’s office where I can’t help but be exposed to stuff every day. For the first six months I got sick once a month. After that, hardly ever. What normally happens with me is that I will feel very mildly sick for a few days and then be ok. It will be just enough to be annoying. Like a mild sore throat or the sniffles or some tiredness. My belief is that I have picked up a bug but that my immune system has kicked in and is somewhat fighting it off so that my symptoms are only minor for a few days. I very rarely get full blown sick. Maybe once a year at most. Knock on wood.
So I put it all down to the fact that I am lucky that I seem to have a well working immune system.
Technically it’s almost not possible. But in reality the symptoms disappear faster on some individuals, making them think that the cold is gone
First day for me js miserable and I can’t move
2nd day im able to get up but dizzy
3rd day in basically fine and have mucus for 2 weeks
be glad you didn’t have what I just got over…I was sick as a dog for 5 weeks total, worst cold I ever had, lost my voice in week 2 from coughing so much and so forcefully (no joke I had an 18 and a half hour STRAIGHT coughing fit, couldn’t sleep or anything, just sit there coughing, hard), doctor says I damaged my vocal cords, now I sound like I chew gravel for a hobby and it may be permanent, all I can do is wait and see and hope my vocal cords repair themselves over time
I can’t say, I haven’t had a cold or flu in 55 years.
3 days to get it, 3 days to have it, 3 days to get rid of it.
My cold symptoms usually last 2-3 days. There is some fatigue the first day, but it’s mostly nasal congestion, sore throat, and coughing. By day 3, I mostly feel fine with only slight symptoms.
Most people use the word “cold” to describe any upper respiratory ill ess that has symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, scratchy throat and mild cough. There are dozens of viruses that cause such and some of them also cause more severe illness. Human metapnuemo virus is one such and can cause pretty severe illness as can RSV. The best thing to do is maximize immune resilience. Optimize vitamin D and take quercitin during high risk seasons. It really does help.
When I get sick I can still feel some effects like 3-4 weeks later. FML
Felt off colour on Wednesday evening, rough all day Thursday and Friday and fine on Saturday. Had temperature, hot and cold sweats
There are some times where for a day or two I don’t feel good, then as time goes on, I end up feeling better.
Yes
I’ll take a day off work, take a load of cold drugs, eat some junk food, and sleep it off.
I’ll be good enough after a day or two to go back to work, but I’ll have some lingering issues. A cough, tiredness, etc.
Generally when I get sick it’s really only for 1 day. I’ll feel (and dread) the coming down stages more than the actual sickness.
Typically like one day of sore throat, one day of bad congestion, one day of general feeling crummy while recovering.
I do, the times that I have it for more than 24 hours, I had strep throat or COVID. Besides that, only need 24 hours to bounce back.
I usually have the common cold for 5 to 6 days, but I always stay above it by sticking to my training routine
typically, I get the common cold once a year…but not since covid.
I was exposed to covid countless times, never got sick, never tested positive. I was probably a super spreader, likely
ever since pandemic hit, I haven’t gotten sick, with anything. it’s weird
I do have Vikings’ blood. that probably has something to do with it
My husband thinks he does.
Of course, that means he’ll lay low for a day, THEN go out and spread it among the general population.
Not a doctor, but I also got those coughing spells that wouldn’t go away. A fantastic nurse at my clinic diagnosed it as “cough-variant asthma.” No wheezing, just a cough. When we treated the asthma, the cough vanished, and I know how to handle it now.
Yeah, I usually have a pretty bad fever for one day and a mild fever for another day, and then I’m ok, might get a runny nose and some headache, but that’s easy to ignore.
I start my day with a dayquil and redbull bomb and drink lots of water throughout the day. Or stay home and sleep if I can get away with it. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.
Viruses that cause cold-like symptoms can cary pretty wildly, more mild viruses may only make you feel ill for a day or two
I haven’t gotten a cold (or been sick in anyway at all) since before COVID. Like maybe a year before. And the last cold I had lasted not even half a day. Woke up stuffy and congested. Sneezed and coughed a few times. By 3pm I forgot I had woken up not feeling well.
I haven’t gotten a cold (or been sick in anyway at all) since before COVID. Like maybe a year before. And the last cold I had lasted not even half a day. Woke up stuffy and congested. Sneezed and coughed a few times. By 3pm I forgot I had woken up not feeling well.
i had covid for 15 hours once or at least was only symptomatic for a little over half a day. had a head ache and went to bed early that night woke up the next morning early with sniffles and a sore throat and my friend whos house i was at had a spare test so i took it and tested positive for the boogeyflu so i had a few breakfast whiskeys and a super feast and went back tobed. i woke up that evening feeling fine. it was literally the shortest sickness i can remember having 🤷
My mom’s symptoms last as long as the cold, which for her is always less than 48hrs. My dad’s symptoms last a couple days longer.
I on the other hand follow an exact formula for each cold I’ve had since puberty: Two days sore throat, one day moment’s reprieve where the sore throat has mostly gone away and the cough hasn’t ramped up, followed by four to six weeks of a persistent cough that only begins tapering off in the last week.
Depends what virus, there’s thousands that trigger out immune response
For me, I considered it a cold when I can’t function and call in to work. But I might feel crappy the day before or like loogy the day after. It’s one day that’s bad maybe two then I’m fine. Actually, this year started with me getting really sick, just a real bad cold that had me out for about two weeks. I took like 2 or three sick days from work but just for the worst days. But yea two weeks I felt like crap. I would have gone to the doc but it’s that old awful saying of ignorance is bliss plus I assumed it was just a cold. I actually assumed COVID but I never tested positive. I’m just getting old lol
I didn’t think so until I had a kid. I used to be like you where the only things that got me would knock me out for so long and now I get “head colds” that last like a day. I never knew what a head cold was before haha now I’m in the thick of em
Yes. There is this “thing” called 24 hour cold. It is not really a medical term.
I had it happen a few times.
Usually I start to feel sick. If I can, I will leave work early and then take a hot shower, take some meds and make myself a hot water bottlr and go to bed.
Drinking a lot of water/herbal tea.
Next morning I feel terrible. Having a little fever maybe and every once in a while I get cold chills.
I take another shower and repeat everything again.
Sleep, sleep, drink sleep, sleep, drink, meds. Sleeeeeep.
On the 2nd day, I get up, take a hot shower and can go back to work, feeling refreshed but still a tiny bit groggy.
It always depends on how far along everything is.
For context, here is the rough timescale of when I catch colds (which I typically do approximately a dozen times a year):
Given that there’s only 2 or 3 days where I feel even mildly inconvenienced, I can see how that might translate to it feeling like the cold only really lasted a day. Especially if it’s a very mild cold (which mine often are), I might barely even get a sore throat, in which case the cold for me is one day of a lot of sneezing and that’s it.
I thought I got colds for only 1-2 days but it turns out I have non-allergy reactions. So I don’t have any allergies, but I get allergy symptoms in response to various things like weather changes and smoke smell. Because I don’t have allergies, I assumed it must be a cold.
It changes for me depending on the season. A cold will last a lot longer for me in spring when my allergies are in full on fucking me over mode but in the winter it might be just a couple of days
People are different. For example:
When I get sick, I get REAL sick. Down and out for two days then I’m back. My wife gets mildly sick for like two weeks straight.
Yer it’s called Colombian flue. Prominent on Monday.
Sometimes I can sleep off a killer fever in 3 hours, but everything for the rest of the day is sluggish and I’m super tired
A few months ago I was sick as fuck on and off for like a month straight. It was horrible.
Depends on the person, really. If your immune system is good but not great, you may get sick, but not for long. Could also just be luck lol
from first symptom to last, up to 21 days is normal
Yes, you can recover in 1-2 days
I managed to have a one day cold just a week or two ago. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen. My husband got pretty sick so I knew it was inevitable that I would too. Yet I just had a sore throat for a day and that was it.
one time my boyfriend had the flu for around 4 hours.. I had already been sick for a few days when he came home from work early and took his temp. we both went to immediate care and tested positive for the flu and then went home and went to sleep. he woke up like an hour later feeling completely fine and left our room to go play video games. then went to work the next day like nothing had ever happened. sometimes I think he might be a robot.
It depends. I had one day sicknesses before. It always leave me wondering if I was truly sick.
I’m usually only feeling sick for one or two days but I will continue to be all snotty/coughing for the better part of a week following it.
Sometimes. Last week I had a cough, a scratchy throat, and that “sick” taste in my mouth for a day and a half and then it went away. It’s more common for things to last a week or two.
It carries by person. For me if I’m able to take a day or two off to properly rest, I’m over it in two or three days. But if I can’t swing it and have to worth through it then I’m gonna be congested and caughing for a week.
I used to be able to recover after 2-3 days. But now it takes me a good week, usually two, to recover. 🙁 I am not sure if it’s just getting older (I’m only 38) or because I have an issue with my B-cells (I’m seeing a hematologist for this). Either way, I definitely miss being able to kick a cold in a couple of days.
I haven’t had a cold for decades. But never for over 24 hours.
If you haven’t been diagnosed with asthma, you can ask a doctor about it. I only say this because I felt the exact same way for decades and then once got so sick I was kept awake for almost a month with awful coughing fits and finally they were like “oh hey, you have asthma” >.>
I always thought asthma was like it is on TV where you hyperventilate but it’s not always that bad. Sometimes it’s really mild and seems just like allergies, until you get sick.
I get a sinus infection every time I get a cold so I am usually sick for around a month.
Sinus infections aren’t contagious, though, so I’ll only isolate from others for the first week.
I’ve had illnesses that put me down for a week only effect my husband for half a day. It’s not fair.
I either have a cold for one day or three months.
I used to only get sick for that long and then COVID happened.. now every time I get sick it’s a week +
I’ve been sick once or twice with a good head cold. I’ve taken some Sudafed, gone to bed and turned my electric blanket on “broil.”
The heat has helped cook out the sickness, and I have felt better the next day.
It doesn’t always work, but on occasion it’s made a difference.
Sometimes I’ve been lucky enough to be blessed with a cold where the worst of the symptoms only last a couple days and I can function normally (still sick) after but more times then not I’m the one who takes weeks upon weeks to feel back to normal 😭😂
Symptoms, sometimes yes. The actual germs being present in their body? No. Ditto sometimes being contagious and not being aware of it.
I’m 38, with a 2 year old. When I get sick, I’m typically flattened for a couple of days, and then I’ll still have pretty bad symptoms for 7-10 days. With the kid around, I can’t really just rest and recover.
I get value for money out of my colds. Always ten days at least. Type A flu was particularly generous – six weeks of it.
Yes
My colds normally last at least like 3 weeks
Not if you have an autoimmune disorder where your immune system reacts.
Most symptoms are from your immune system fighting the virus. When you have one that fights harder than is needed, you experience more severe and prolonged symptoms. Your immune system is not too weak, it’s too much.
For me yes, but I suspect it is that I only feel the symptoms for one or two days and then after that it’s still there but it’s not bothering me. But typically, if it’s ‘just a cold’ it’s one to 2 days maximum.
I rarely get sick. I’m very lucky. I must have a strong immune system. When I do get a cold, I generally am over it within 2 to 3 days. People around me will have something that lasts one or two or sometimes even three weeks and it just zips in and out of my system.I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I am a very healthy eater and I am extremely active so maybe it has to do with that.
Depends on how much rest I get. If I can take work off and sleep for a day, then I’m usually better in a day or two.
That’s how my colds used to be, then as I got older and entered by 30s any colds I get almost always turn into a sinus infection and/days long migraine.
Sucks to be you. I don’t get colds.
My grandmother told me something when I was little that has always proved to be true.
A cold takes three days coming, three days staying and three days going.
I have like 2 bad days then the rest I’m just a little sniffly and croaky but can go about my day mostly
I don’t get sick very often. When I do, I typically knock them out quickly, but I’ve had some linger, too.
Not usually but the worst of it only lasts that long
It has been eight days thus far and I’m ready to square up if I meet a two day person
I haven’t had a cold in ages, but when I feel sick, I will SLEEP as long as I need to to get rid of it. It’s very helpful. I also keep the house warm, take Vitamin C and zinc, but I think the sleep helps the most.
I’ve not had a cold in years, when I have, it doesn’t last long, 2 or 3 days.
I would take a sick day but I only have so many of those so I’m back to work in no time, so I tell myself it’s allergies until it gets really bad
I get them rarely but they can last weeks when I do
My colds usually last for at least a week and often even longer than that, and I take even longer to recover completely, but for the first time ever, I had a cold that only lasted 3 days not too long ago and almost couldn’t believe it
They can last a few weeks but you’re generally only going to have a few days of very severe symptoms.
Mine just has phases (like I assume so does everyone else) getting the lurgies when you notice the runny nose or itchy throat. Then the next day is usually the illness, and it could peak there, and the next day, I could be feeling a lot better but still a little sick.
But usually, for me it’s, feeling it coming, Ill the next day, worse the 2nd day (the peak of it), 3rd day significantly better. Then, just a cough or something the next few days.
Some people do get those mini colds. You know, like just a day or two of feeling a little off, scratchy throat, maybe a bit of sneezing and then they’re fine again. It’s kind of wild. It’s not always a real cold. Sometimes it’s your body reacting to something random, like allergies, dry air, or just being super tired. Other times, your immune system just kicks butt and shuts it down quick.
Yup I just got over a two day cold, I consider myself lucky sometimes they last longer. And oddly the symptoms had no overlap. Scratchy sore throat one day the next runny sneeze nose and terrible sinus pressure/pain, and then all better albeit a bit tired and fatigued.
You a smoker? When I smoked I’d be sick for a long time, usually at least a week or two. Since quitting 10 years ago, I’m now usually over it in day or two.
Personally, I only have a bad fever for a day or two. Afterwards I may have a bad cough or whatever for a week, but at that point I’m full of energy and the only reason I stay home is so I don’t spread it. The cough doesn’t fully disappear for like a month though :<
When I was young I’d get sick 1 day , feel like crap but sound fine the next day , feel fine but sound like crap the next day and have a cough for a few days after . That was allergies to colds to the flu .
Now I feel like crap for a week , sound like crap and feel like crap for another week , cough for a month .
Was true when I was younger. Now that I’m almost 40, takes a little longer.
Man, I wish! Mine usually lasts a good 4 to 5 days for a mild one.
I got sick last Sunday.
Anyway I’m fine.
[Coughs]
Yes, if I get sick in summer I sit out in the sun and sweat it all out and feel 100% the next day. If it’s winter, I fast and only have broth with garlic and a ton cayenne to sweat it out. I don’t take anything to reduce fever, that seems to keep me sick longer. Covid took me down for 4 days though and I did take Advil for the extreme headache.
I have been sick since my first son was born 6 years ago
Depends on the pathogen and context. If I get a cold and try to power through, I’ll be sick for a week. If I take a day off work and rest as soon as I feel it coming on, it might only last a day or two and be much milder. If it’s influenza or something similar, you’re generally in for a bad week or three if you get a full blown infection.
A lot of people also downplay or bullshit their symptoms, though. They’ll be actively symptomatic (cough, fatigue, runny nose) but they won’t admit to being actually sick unless they’re completely incapacitated.
PLT. WASH yout HANDS. It helps.
I find generally, a couple days RnR and I’ll be pretty much good, but if I force myself to work it last weeks and it’s miserable for both me and all around. But apparently I’m the asshole for taking sick days instead and showing germs everywhere
I wish. It depends. Some people do. Others have it for 3 weeks like me.
When I get a cold, I’m out for two days or a week.
The virus is usually beaten within a few days but the immune system is still “triggered” and so coughing persists for a while longer until the immune system calms down again.
There could be but I’ve never heard of someone that’s had it for only that long
i used to feel effects for a while, but now they go away within 1-3 days
Yes, i 100% do and my colds are not even that bad. I get the sniffles, maybe a little of a sore throat when i wake up and then the next day im fine. Last cold i got was like 7 months ago
I actually am just now getting over a 3 day cold myself. It started on Sunday with an itchy throat and sore roof of my mouth.
Yesterday was the worst. I thought I could tough it out. Got up at 5:30, got 3/4 of the way to work while feeling a chill, and made a u-turn to go home. Slept for about 15 or more hours total the first day, about 4.5 hours so far today. Because I stayed home on the worst days and could actually rest, I’m on the up and feeling like I’m recovering. Had I actually went to work and tried to tough it out it probably would’ve lasted the entire work week.
Idk if i have a terrible immune system or what, but a cold easily lasts about 10 days for me.
I don’t actually have a cold log but I’d guess it’s something like this.
Day 1 – tired and weak
Day 2- tired, weak, and itchy throat
Day 3 – 5 – sneezing, stuffyess, sinus headache, stuffy ears, generally feeling malaise
Day 6-7 – a little stuffed up ears still feeling full, but less tired and feeling slightly better
Day 7-10 – lingering stuffyess and tiredness but feeling progressively better from 80-100%
People tell me this isn’t normal but idk, I’ve never ever had “just a cold” or a “mild cold” however I do only get sick like once every other year or something. I rarely ever get sick.
I did when I was young. I gounced back after food poisoning after 36 hours, which made my freinds bed ridden for 5 days. That was when I was 23.
Now I’m mid 30’s and not so much, lol.
Sounds more like an allergy
I was out for a week, it was awful, sore throat runny nose, fever the works. Felt like I was dying inside.
I’m usually feeling the worst for 2 days or so, then over the next 2-3 weeks slowly getting better. I usually don’t feel 100% until a month or so after I get sick though.
I mostly recover after 2-3 days
I usually always get hit hard and have anything for about a week, even if it’s just the remaining symptoms going away, they stay strong
I used to work at a job that wasn’t really kept clean, so I’d get sick pretty much every month. And holy shit was I miserable. I’d slightly recover from a covid-level infection after 5 weeks, then get sick again.
It’s been practically a year since I left, and I’ve only ever been sick like twice–first time being covid, which lasted like 5 days, and some flu-like sickness, which lasted like 12 hours (which got my parents sick for like a month and a half).
Ultimately I feel it depends on exposure and overall nutrition. I wouldn’t say my immune system is godlike, but I’ve noticed the rate of me getting sick extremely decrease albeit taking public transportation regularly.
Every once in a while if I sleep a ton right away it will be that short.
Unfortunately work usually gets in the way of that plan.
My wife goes down for a week and she will give it to me and I get it for like one day. I’m a firm beleiver in your diet playing a huge role.
I was like that for years. I’d get sick and be fine 2 days later. My husband would catch the same bug and be down for a week. It was great while it lasted.
Sure, I’ve had “colds” where symptoms popped up and then were better in 48-72 hrs. Some people have a harder time fighting illness than others. I have 4 kids; 2 get sick easily and are sick for a while, the other 2 don’t get sick often and get through it much faster when they are sick.
Yes. Take a lot of zinc and vitamin C as soon as you start feeling sick and you’ll see.
Since covid…no
It’s not that I never have a cold, but maybe once every 7 years. If I have to blow my nose once, I consider that a cold. I may get the day before a cold feeling, but wake up fine the next morning.
I’m almost ALWAYS a week to recover. By day five, I don’t feel like death, but I’m not fully over it until days 7-9.
i did a few times. The whole cold process would happen in like a day and a half. Then the final half of day 2 is recovering.
The longest sickness ive ever had in the past 15 years was covid and it lasted a 2 weeks.
Used to have regular week long colds in grade school but at some point that changed and i never got sick longer than 3 days
Two bouts of Covid damaged my immune system so colds knock me out for days. You might have the same issue.
Mostly, one day of “coming down with a cold”, then 2 days of feeling like crap. A day or two forever blowing my nose and hacking up phlegm, but otherwise feeling fine. The odd time get laryngitis or a nighttime cough that will persist for a week.
some colds really only last for a day or two. others kick your ass for a week.
Depends on the situation. Some the symptoms or the severe symptoms goes away after a day or two
My baby boomer father caught COVID and in a 48 hour period went from being fine to feeling like dog shit to feeling totally fine again and showing no more symptoms. No meds, nothing. That is completely typical for him (same thing happened with the flu before I was born, which is the last time he was sick). Yes I am very happy for him and also extremely jealous as I did not inherit this.
Immune deficiency here I think I’ve had a 3 day cold once in my life 😮💨. Generally I’m more likely to get sick and it takes me longer to get over than the average bear… boat loads of fun. While I usually don’t feel like I’m dying, since I’m slow to shake anything so it’s usually a couple weeks before I’m 100%
I’m totally same as you.
Depends on the cold. I’ve been sick 3 times in 4 months, 2 of them were super minor barely noticed I was sick, one I was off work for over a week and honestly still wasn’t well enough to work but had to get back after so long off, and the third was a day or two terrible but the congestion lasted 2 months…
I used to only get sniffles and a cough for a day or two but I was also super aggressive about staying super hydrated and medicated, post-covid and over 30, no matter what I do or how I self-treat things I’m stuck with a cough long after I otherwise feel normal. Steamy showers in the mornings help along with multiple pillows or an adjustable bed.
I’m on day 15
Yea sometimes i catch a cold, i take meds fast, have a good sleep and in the morning im well.
Depends on why i am sick.
sick because of virus (or bacteria)? i takes me 3-4 days to kinda recover.
sick because of lack of sleep? 1-2 days and i am kinda fit.
No. First our kid has it, so we as parents are running behind her with handkerchiefs, keep cleaning her nose so she can at least breathe, and enjoy the cutting down of the Amazone forest at night.
Then I get it, so I can’t breathe or sleep decently.
Then my wife gets it, causing her to be tired and losing her voice.
So no, we have it for at least two weeks.
But that’s not how you meant it, I guess.
It is a myth that colds only last a couple of days. Typically from first symptom to being back to normal completely is 10 to 21 days depending on infection.
Of course there is no such thing as “the common cold”, in fact there are many different viruses grouped into 3 or 4 different main varieties, each of which has thousands of strains and although they have similar symptoms they vary a lot in detailed prognoses.
Then it is complicated further by degree of immunity to the particular virus you got: if you get reinfected by a virus that has changed only slightly you may indeed recover in the magic couple of days and have minimal symptoms, on the other hand a new novel one may some people low for weeks while others’ immune systems cope better.