an aussie in austria

In any other year, a tickly throat or a headache or a strange taste in your mouth would usually be overlooked. I’m just run down, you’d justify. Or maybe I’m getting a cold. Welcome to Corona time, where every miniscule symptom has your guts knotted in a vague but never-quite-gone panic.

Recently, I donated blood, and a day or so later, I got a headache. My standard response to this would be, oh well, something to do with the loss of iron/blood or in fact, just nothing at all. Because… well… headaches happen for multitudes of reasons, and sometimes for seemingly no reason at all.

But it was enough. It was enough to start driving me a little bit mad. After a terrible night’s sleep, my headache was, surprisingly, not gone, and in fact, I felt a little worse (yes, lack of sleep will do that to you). All of these things I knew, all of these things I kept repeating to myself. I didn’t want to spark all-out panic. I didn’t want to worry my husband, or anyone I might have come into contact with. I checked my temperature multiple times and it stayed steadfastly in the normal zone. ButI quickly discovered that Google Doctor can award you with Corona no matter what your symptoms, or how mild. 

Eventually it got the better of me. I miserably informed my husband about my two-day headache, that I hadn’t been sleeping well, and that I didn’t feel 100%. I was ready for the dreaded ‘Rona shame, but he just smiled and said not to worry. My eyes grew wide: but I have a headache! He asked me when the last time I’d actually seen someone, or been out of the house was. And to be fair, it had been almost a week. You’re ok, he reassured me, you don’t have Corona. It’s basically impossible.

Still, I stayed home from the weekly shop that day, and I nervously called the Red Cross, now panicking that I’d perhaps given someone bad blood. After speaking to one of their lovely doctor’s I was reassured that I was fine, that I did not have Corona, and that my blood was also fine. Unless I developed other symptoms there was nothing to worry about.

That Friday evening, we skipped our normal Friday night dinner to eat in the comfort and safety of our own home. I drank a couple of glasses of wine, and I slept like a baby. The next morning I woke up feeling completely fit.

My reaction caught me completely off guard. Turns out I’m a crazy secret panicker (people who know me might say that it’s not so secret). But I know I’m not alone – I know a number of people who have experienced the same kind of reaction when it was merely a common cold or a sinus infection.

What about you? Have you had a ‘Rona panic?