I’m not the sort who runs to the doctor for the sniffles.
Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t freak out any time I felt bad during the last two years.
I certainly took several Covid tests to rule that out. And I’ve been lucky so far to have every test be negative. That said, late last fall, I had a chest and sinus cold that I just couldn’t shake. Interestingly enough, the cold hit me just as the HVAC heating started running for much of the day. I would later learn that this timing had a lot to do with my not being able to shake that cold. I just felt lousy for weeks. Like my body was fighting off something tough. Of course, I took another Covid test and when it was negative, it was definitely time to go to the doctor. And while I was ready to get a prescription, I got an HVAC suggestion instead. The doctor was pretty certain that the furnace cranking up and dirty ductwork were the reason that cold just kept lingering. My immune system was already down from the cold and was now fighting off airborne contaminants attacking my respiratory system. So when I got home, I just did what the doctor told me to do and called the HVAC company. The ductwork cleaning and ductwork resealing took most of the morning but the HVAC professionals were great. Once they were done, I went a step further and replaced the cheap air filter with a HEPA filter. I felt like myself again within a couple of days once the HVAC air ducts were cleaned and resealed.