I posted after Christmas on how my "it's just a cold" wing of the family came to Christmas dinner sick and gave my partner and me covid. My partner was almost hospitalized and developed type 2 diabetes after. I spent months almost throwing up every time I started to move more, daily nausea and GI issues and lots of back and joint pain. Also palpitations and brachycardia, so much shit.

My partner just got his fitness back up so he was able to run his beloved easy 5k runs again and I was rid of the nausea and pain mostly. Doing stairs at work without feeling like death and winded after felt pretty good. We were so happy about this, just talked about it last week. That we might get our lives back, one more time. We have been down the covid/postcovid road too many times now.

Then we had a birthday party last weekend for my family. My dad has just been on an IV antibiotic and he was also there. I thought beforehand that surely nobody comes sick this time because our dad and surely Christmas was a lesson.

But nope, the "you ruin our vibes if you mention covid"-team came to the party with illness in the family. One of their voices sounded off/congested and I was like, oh no. I didn't dare ask because last time I did, I got yelled at.

Today, two days after this party my partner gets a sore throat. By evening he has a 39 C fever that isn't responding to otc meds and red bloodshot eyes. We do a test, it's covid.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

meow-hug Hoping you guys get off lighter on long COVID this time. Unfortunately it sounds like you're really going to have to weigh whether those gatherings are worth the risk if nobody is going to recognize that COVID is real, let alone take actual precautions. There's no good answer, and it sucks.

I've just recently broken off speaking with my parents for the next year after they lied and invited anti-vaxxers to a family get-together. It's really, really difficult to maintain relationships with people who refuse to care about your wellbeing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Oh I am sorry. meow-hug

And yeah, we have to do what we must now. I personally work in so called frontline work where everyone is always sick, but I never brought it home because I do mitigations.

I have an air purifier in my office, do the nasal sprays, remote days, masking where I can socially get away with it (public transport), not eating together with others etc. It feels like such a slap in the face when it then gets brought to you by people who have fully adopted a sort of fash "immunity is a muscle" wordview. These people haven't been ok for some time tbh. And their kids look like little ghosts now, dark circles under their eyes always.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm so sorry to hear of your continued struggles. I hope you and your partner recover more quickly and completely than you did last time.

Are you open to the possibility of separating yourself from these problematic family members? I know some people feel very strongly about "familial bond" but I've always held the belief that nobody should get extra points for sharing genes. If a person is not a person I gain anything from, I don't feel the need to maintain contact with them.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I probably have to. Being audhd and eldest in the family I have taken a lot of abuse from these people always as it is. Then again I don't really have people in my life outside of family and have always gone out of my way to maintain good relationships with them.

I also sympathize with the need to work and have kids in school, but not with the yelling and lib tears over ruined vibes when their right to come to these gatherings sick literally threatenes the lives of others and they genuinely seem to have decided to ignore this reality. They are all a bit younger than us, their covid aftermaths have never been that hard, but they have had issues, they just choose to think that their sudden high blood pressures and debilitating gerds aren't related to covid.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Require dated covid tests before next gathering. If they refuse; they don't come. Or more convenient; don't do the gatherings with these people.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Yeah we are out now. This can't continue.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm sorry your partner got sick. Here's hoping for a swift, full recovery. meow-hug

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Thank you. heart-sickle

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

You can try to get paxlovid, and hopefully it will help.

It's supposedly reserved for high risk, seriously ill or elderly, but they were using it to treat covid outbreaks at the olympics. Considering your past history with covid you might even be considered high risk.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/paxlovid-commercial-market-transition-8384418

https://www.paxlovid.com/enroll-in-co-pay-program

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

We will ask about this, but in our country of "let the frail fall" I have heard it isn't prescribed to nearly anyone. Being in two risk groups isn't enough here. He would have to be a cancer patient, a transplant patient or severely immunodeficient. It's ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

The absolute kicker from the pandemic is over people today:

I sent them a pic of the positive test. They go "Holy shit, it really is covid! Hope I DON'T GET IT. Wonder who at the bday had it?"

Bruh, it was you who has just had it and brought it to us... You just said that you had "a cold" a few days before the bday. You just said that two more people in your family have developed a fever after the bday.

These are supposedly highly educated people...