Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. Well, that’s true, at least in my case.
For months, I was struggling post-Covid. Little did I know that there were many others, too, who were wearing the same maker’s shoe. Whether it is the maker (of the virus) to be blamed or your toe (body), nobody knows.
When I caught the infection, I had high-grade fever for almost two weeks, became extremely weak and lost appetite soon after. The day my report came positive, my head was heavy. I caught a severe cold and lost my sense of smell and taste. I thought it was temporary and would go away, but to my shock and disbelief, even after more than two years, it lingers on. I stay alone away from my family. Cooking for myself in such a situation was all the more troublesome. Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding 120 beats per minute and my legs shivering. I found it difficult to somehow find my ground, literally.
Certain food items felt disgusting. The taste of several things, including capsicum, guava (one of my favourite fruits) and peanuts, felt like paint or turpentine. I couldn’t explain all this to my peers, thinking they would make fun of me. I used to enjoy working but now I was unable to give my hundred per cent at the workplace.
Eventually, when I visited PGI and discussed my symptoms with the doctor, he wrote on the prescription — c/o hyposmia (cacosmia), ageusia. I looked up these unpronounceable terms on the Internet and came to know that I was not the only one suffering from this problem. At least 10 per cent of all Covid patients were going through the same physical, mental or emotional turmoil globally after contracting the virus. The doctor prescribed a few anti-oxidants and multi-vitamins. “That’s it?” I asked in disbelief. He replied: “That’s all we can do.” It seemed even he had given up, for the doctors, too, were dealing with such a pandemic for the first time.
Is time the biggest healer? Let’s believe so. Hopefully, things will get better.