I have not been feeling well the last few days. A generalized fatigue, with muscle aches and headaches and the occasional lightheaded feeling one gets when standing too quickly. I have felt the need to lay down quite often, and have taken advantage of being self-employed to do just that. As it persisted, I began thinking I was suffering from a chronic low energy availability, as I’ve been dieting for some time and at 1900 daily calories currently, I’m walking a tight line between a needed deficit to keep losing fat, and a deficit that will create issues often seen in athletes trying to make weight for their sport, or athletes perpetually under-eating for their activity level.
I bought the Oura Ring and the Fitbit to alert me of impending illness, and the Oura confirmed my overnight body temperature has been increasing the last few days, as has my resting heart rate. Last night, after a fitful night of sleep I think I brought on by reading that low energy availability can disrupt your sleep, so I may have created the self-fulfilling prophecy, I awoke with the same lightheaded feelings, headache and body aches and when I took my temperature, it was 100.1 compared to my normal 98.4. A momentary panic took over and I could feel an anxiety attack creeping up my cerebral cortex into my prefrontal lobe. I checked my Oura overnight stats and sure enough, it was my highest overnight variation in body temperature and heart rate, and my Fitbit displayed the very first episode of High Variation in my estimated O2 saturation. I am freaking sick.
I am now having to contemplate the very real possibility that I’ve acquired the contagion I have taken so many precautions to avoid. How, I don’t know, but what else could it be? According to DHEC, there’s a confirmed 1,669 cases in my town, with an estimated 11,921 cases. If the estimates are close, that would mean almost 14% of the residents of my little town are infected. The possibility I encountered one of them somehow is all too real. There’s a test being offered Tuesday morning down the road from my house, so I may bite the proverbial bullet and go get my brain scraped to see if COVID-19 has claimed me as its latest victim. I went through the FAQ’s and used the CDC’s Chat Bot to be sure I’m doing the right things. It’s pretty alarming to read the ominous warning from the CDC: “There is no treatment for COVID-19…”
As of now, I’m dosing on acetaminophen and trying to take it easy, although I am training legs as I write this. I ordered a pulse oximeter and paid the steep price for overnight shipping. I’m hopeful it’s not the worst case scenario, but I’m open to the idea that it is, and hoping my overall health and maybe minimal exposure to a viral load will keep me from ending up in the ICU or the morgue. What a time to be alive.
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