6 ms·

Throwaway due to worry about comment being linked back professionally. Early COVID case mid February. Took 5 weeks to recover but the acuity wasn’t too bad. Af

Throwaway due to worry about comment being linked back professionally. Early COVID case mid February. Took 5 weeks to recover but the acuity wasn’t too bad. After just never really felt the same. Assumed adderall “wasn’t working”. Couldn’t explain the lethargy or sharp uptick in anxiety and general inability to work. Luckily with the world it’s been easier to lay low, but the symptoms generally track even the muscle piece. Is there more research on this? Where does one get this “Fatigue Scale” test? The linked article suggests they tested at an osteopathic clinic but that doesn’t really make sense.

jupp0r 6y ago
Anecdotal evidence about cases like yours have made me really weary about getting infected since February. I wish there was more scientific investigation into how often there are long term consequences of Covid disease so the public could make more informed decisions. In any case, thanks for sharing and hope you get better soon.
- fossuser 6y ago
  As someone who deals with pretty intense anxiety often, it’s worth just waiting for more general data. Physical symptoms from anxiety are real and hard to separate from non-anxiety related symptoms. The current covid/election/general global craziness sets anxiety levels high. I haven’t caught covid, but if I had I imagine I’d be similarly freaking out over every anxious feeling via hypervigilance. None of this means that there aren’t real long term effects, but it’s worth being skeptical in context of anecdotes. You can find anxious people going down rabbit holes of vague symptoms for basically every possible disease. People are not able to adequately assess themselves.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- ljf 6y ago
  My wife has long covid, 6 months later and she's only recently able to look after our kids alone - she's just been too tired before. I've dipped in to the groups she's part of and my very rough guess from the numbers is that it is something like 1 in 1000 covid sufferers get long covid. That figure though could be totally out either way as the number of cases was unlikely to have been correctly reported back when she got ill, and the new long cases coming through now won't be 'long' for months yet.
mancerayder 6y ago
Did you exercise before or since? Have you noticed any difference in performance? Do you live in an area with a lot of sunshine in a low enough latitude or take vit D supplements before?
- throwawaytired 6y ago
  Yes to both. Exercise generally helps. Yes to vitamin D (there’s a great long vitamin PDF on COVID for like $15). Yes to sunshine. Trying to walk with a mask daily. Honestly the base hypothesis is that it’s the societal change, and not the n=1 study.
  - thu2111 6y ago
    You're walking outside with a mask? How much mask wearing are you doing? A mask isn't going to help your energy levels at all, and you don't need to use them, especially if you had it already. Try losing the masks for a few months except when forced and see if it helps?
  - mancerayder 6y ago
    Isn't lung damage one possibility? I imagine that it could both eventually heal and be visible on an x ray if that's the case? I'm only speculating based on some articles I've read.
prox 6y ago
Google “long covid” , there are also various Facebook groups dedicated to this phenomenon. Best wishes!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
timr 6y ago
"Couldn’t explain the lethargy or sharp uptick in anxiety and general inability to work." Not for nothing: all of these symptoms could also be caused by depression, which is not without precedent, considering that we've completely obliterated normal life in the last seven months. Anyway, you should seriously consider seeing a therapist. There are a lot of other people who are feeling depressed and anxious and distracted right now.
- throwawaytired 6y ago
  Not depressed. Have therapist. You’re likely correct. Psychological from social changes seems most likely thing.
gherkinnn 6y ago
I know a few people with similar symptoms. It is worrying. I personally feel like I have intermittent shortness of breath. Comes and goes every few days. It also goes away within 10-20min of exercise. Never had anything like this before. Interestingly enough, there has been little impact on actual performance. Anecdotal and so forth.
kyriakos 6y ago
I have people close to me who didn't get infected but feel that way just by being in lockdown. Not downplaying your post covid symptoms but you should consider the psychological factor as well.
- throwawaytired 6y ago
  100%. Maybe even the lack of weekends and general monotonous nature of life could be it.
  - 24gttghh 6y ago
    Cabin fever is a real thing.
  - verylittlemeat 6y ago
    I feel like everyone right now should be watching the 1995 movie Safe. It is THE movie about ominous psychosomatic illness. Julianne Moore is amazing in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_(1995_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_(1995_film) It starts off a little slow but I promise you will never forget it.
- subsubzero 6y ago
  This year has been the most stressful time probably since the World Wars for a majority of the world. Besides the dark cloud of covid permeating everything, (in the the US) We are also are dealing with widescale civil unrest unseen since the 1960s, maybe even more than back then. Unemployment which for a good portion of the year tracked close to the great depression of the 30's. To top it off on the west coast we have had fires that have been on a level not seen in modern times with toxic smoke preventing any outside activities and contributing to misery to millions for months now. Oh, its also an election year with one of the most divisive presidential candidates in US history. Its ok to feel a little worn down, these are crazy times.
- lend000 6y ago
  Doctors told patients that their Epstein Barr was psychosomatic for decades. I'm sure some percentage of people are developing similar symptoms as a non-viral consequence of lockdown. However, for me, my lifestyle didn't really change and I don't mind lockdown at all. I got sick quickly one day in mid-March, mostly recovered after a couple days, and then just never got all the way better. The only physical symptom I have to show for it are much larger dark circles then normal under my eyes. I can exercise hard and everything works, but I pay for it later with a week of worse fatigue afterwards. I can say with certainty my symptoms are related to whatever virus I came down with in March. One of many anecdotes for you.
postalrat 6y ago
I think a lot of people who didn't get covid are also experiencing more anxiety and lethargy than before. Maybe what you are experience is much more severe. But 2020 in general might be partly to blame for your symptoms.
- ta_alsotired 6y ago
  Prolonged fatigue following severe infections was common even before COVID: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome#Viral_and_other_infections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome#Viral... Ironically, one of the challenges as a CFS patient is communicating that your fatigue is abnormal. Try telling someone you have a disorder that makes you always feel tired and too many people respond that "Hey, I'm always tired too!". It gets old fast, so most patients just quit talking to other people about it. Trust me, post-viral fatigue is on a different level. The parent comment is likely feeling quarantine-related negative effects on top of the COVID recovery.
skmurphy 6y ago
re: Osteopathic clinic, in the original article they outline treatment as follows: "Manual treatment was provided to aid central lymphatic drainage, improve mechanics and reduce the inflammation of the spine and reduce the allostatic load by improving the sympathetic tone." This indicates they are doing some sort of massage or physical therapy to induce drainage. This would be in line with osteopathic therapy.
ta_alsotired 6y ago
Also a throwaway. I was hit by non-COVID pneumonia back around 2017 and haven't felt the same since. "Post-viral fatigue syndrome" was a real thing long before COVID. There's heavy overlap with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which for many people starts after an infection. I will warn you: The online forums and communities around post-viral fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome are nightmarishly bad. Don't expect to get any real information out of them. They tend to be more about support groups turned vent sessions for people who are frustrated with their condition. Personally, I've had decent success with a version of graded exercise therapy combined with psychiatric help. Ironically, these two interventions are despised by the online CFS community because people are afraid that seeking therapy or psychiatric help is an admission that their symptoms are purely psychological. It's not, and any good therapist will understand that. I've taken the position that my energy levels are diminished, my stress tolerance is reduced, and therefore I need to do everything in my power to minimize stressors in my life. Therapy is perfect for that, so use it to your advantage. As for graded exercise therapy: Pick a couple basic activities that are easily quantified. Something like walking a specific number of miles, doing a specific number of pushups, or other basic, repeatable tasks. Start an exercise routine with a very low number. Maybe 0.2 miles of walking, or doing 3 pushups in a day if you're really bad. Track your progress and slowly increase the amount over time, backing off immediately when you feel like you've over-exerted yourself. Keep your expectations realistic and resist the temptation to jump ahead of schedule if you're feeling particularly good. Finally, stay out of the online CFS / post-viral fatigue / chronic illness forums. They're nightmarishly cynical. The good posters have all left, leaving what feels like the "suffering olympics" as people compete to one-up each other on the severity of their illness. It doesn't help, so don't go there.
- zby 6y ago
  Have you totally gave up finding a good online patient community? Recently I have been thinking about this a lot: https://medium.com/@zby/rational-patient-community-6d3617dffcfe https://medium.com/@zby/rational-patient-community-6d3617dff... What is not there yet is an account on how a family member cured Hashimoto with diet, this is something I would totally dismiss if I read about it on the internet - but I trust her and her judgement. It is possible that it was just a coincidence, but she promised to write a detailed report.

jupp0r 6y ago

Anecdotal evidence about cases like yours have made me really weary about getting infected since February. I wish there was more scientific investigation into how often there are long term consequences of Covid disease so the public could make more informed decisions. In any case, thanks for sharing and hope you get better soon.

fossuser 6y ago
As someone who deals with pretty intense anxiety often, it’s worth just waiting for more general data. Physical symptoms from anxiety are real and hard to separate from non-anxiety related symptoms. The current covid/election/general global craziness sets anxiety levels high. I haven’t caught covid, but if I had I imagine I’d be similarly freaking out over every anxious feeling via hypervigilance. None of this means that there aren’t real long term effects, but it’s worth being skeptical in context of anecdotes. You can find anxious people going down rabbit holes of vague symptoms for basically every possible disease. People are not able to adequately assess themselves.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ljf 6y ago
My wife has long covid, 6 months later and she's only recently able to look after our kids alone - she's just been too tired before. I've dipped in to the groups she's part of and my very rough guess from the numbers is that it is something like 1 in 1000 covid sufferers get long covid. That figure though could be totally out either way as the number of cases was unlikely to have been correctly reported back when she got ill, and the new long cases coming through now won't be 'long' for months yet.

mancerayder 6y ago

Did you exercise before or since? Have you noticed any difference in performance? Do you live in an area with a lot of sunshine in a low enough latitude or take vit D supplements before?

throwawaytired 6y ago
Yes to both. Exercise generally helps. Yes to vitamin D (there’s a great long vitamin PDF on COVID for like $15). Yes to sunshine. Trying to walk with a mask daily. Honestly the base hypothesis is that it’s the societal change, and not the n=1 study.
- thu2111 6y ago
  You're walking outside with a mask? How much mask wearing are you doing? A mask isn't going to help your energy levels at all, and you don't need to use them, especially if you had it already. Try losing the masks for a few months except when forced and see if it helps?
- mancerayder 6y ago
  Isn't lung damage one possibility? I imagine that it could both eventually heal and be visible on an x ray if that's the case? I'm only speculating based on some articles I've read.

prox 6y ago

Google “long covid” , there are also various Facebook groups dedicated to this phenomenon. Best wishes!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

timr 6y ago

"Couldn’t explain the lethargy or sharp uptick in anxiety and general inability to work." Not for nothing: all of these symptoms could also be caused by depression, which is not without precedent, considering that we've completely obliterated normal life in the last seven months. Anyway, you should seriously consider seeing a therapist. There are a lot of other people who are feeling depressed and anxious and distracted right now.

throwawaytired 6y ago
Not depressed. Have therapist. You’re likely correct. Psychological from social changes seems most likely thing.

gherkinnn 6y ago

I know a few people with similar symptoms. It is worrying. I personally feel like I have intermittent shortness of breath. Comes and goes every few days. It also goes away within 10-20min of exercise. Never had anything like this before. Interestingly enough, there has been little impact on actual performance. Anecdotal and so forth.

kyriakos 6y ago

I have people close to me who didn't get infected but feel that way just by being in lockdown. Not downplaying your post covid symptoms but you should consider the psychological factor as well.

throwawaytired 6y ago
100%. Maybe even the lack of weekends and general monotonous nature of life could be it.
- 24gttghh 6y ago
  Cabin fever is a real thing.
- verylittlemeat 6y ago
  I feel like everyone right now should be watching the 1995 movie Safe. It is THE movie about ominous psychosomatic illness. Julianne Moore is amazing in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_(1995_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_(1995_film) It starts off a little slow but I promise you will never forget it.
subsubzero 6y ago
This year has been the most stressful time probably since the World Wars for a majority of the world. Besides the dark cloud of covid permeating everything, (in the the US) We are also are dealing with widescale civil unrest unseen since the 1960s, maybe even more than back then. Unemployment which for a good portion of the year tracked close to the great depression of the 30's. To top it off on the west coast we have had fires that have been on a level not seen in modern times with toxic smoke preventing any outside activities and contributing to misery to millions for months now. Oh, its also an election year with one of the most divisive presidential candidates in US history. Its ok to feel a little worn down, these are crazy times.
lend000 6y ago
Doctors told patients that their Epstein Barr was psychosomatic for decades. I'm sure some percentage of people are developing similar symptoms as a non-viral consequence of lockdown. However, for me, my lifestyle didn't really change and I don't mind lockdown at all. I got sick quickly one day in mid-March, mostly recovered after a couple days, and then just never got all the way better. The only physical symptom I have to show for it are much larger dark circles then normal under my eyes. I can exercise hard and everything works, but I pay for it later with a week of worse fatigue afterwards. I can say with certainty my symptoms are related to whatever virus I came down with in March. One of many anecdotes for you.

postalrat 6y ago

I think a lot of people who didn't get covid are also experiencing more anxiety and lethargy than before. Maybe what you are experience is much more severe. But 2020 in general might be partly to blame for your symptoms.

ta_alsotired 6y ago
Prolonged fatigue following severe infections was common even before COVID: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome#Viral_and_other_infections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome#Viral... Ironically, one of the challenges as a CFS patient is communicating that your fatigue is abnormal. Try telling someone you have a disorder that makes you always feel tired and too many people respond that "Hey, I'm always tired too!". It gets old fast, so most patients just quit talking to other people about it. Trust me, post-viral fatigue is on a different level. The parent comment is likely feeling quarantine-related negative effects on top of the COVID recovery.

skmurphy 6y ago

re: Osteopathic clinic, in the original article they outline treatment as follows: "Manual treatment was provided to aid central lymphatic drainage, improve mechanics and reduce the inflammation of the spine and reduce the allostatic load by improving the sympathetic tone." This indicates they are doing some sort of massage or physical therapy to induce drainage. This would be in line with osteopathic therapy.

ta_alsotired 6y ago

Also a throwaway. I was hit by non-COVID pneumonia back around 2017 and haven't felt the same since. "Post-viral fatigue syndrome" was a real thing long before COVID. There's heavy overlap with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which for many people starts after an infection. I will warn you: The online forums and communities around post-viral fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome are nightmarishly bad. Don't expect to get any real information out of them. They tend to be more about support groups turned vent sessions for people who are frustrated with their condition. Personally, I've had decent success with a version of graded exercise therapy combined with psychiatric help. Ironically, these two interventions are despised by the online CFS community because people are afraid that seeking therapy or psychiatric help is an admission that their symptoms are purely psychological. It's not, and any good therapist will understand that. I've taken the position that my energy levels are diminished, my stress tolerance is reduced, and therefore I need to do everything in my power to minimize stressors in my life. Therapy is perfect for that, so use it to your advantage. As for graded exercise therapy: Pick a couple basic activities that are easily quantified. Something like walking a specific number of miles, doing a specific number of pushups, or other basic, repeatable tasks. Start an exercise routine with a very low number. Maybe 0.2 miles of walking, or doing 3 pushups in a day if you're really bad. Track your progress and slowly increase the amount over time, backing off immediately when you feel like you've over-exerted yourself. Keep your expectations realistic and resist the temptation to jump ahead of schedule if you're feeling particularly good. Finally, stay out of the online CFS / post-viral fatigue / chronic illness forums. They're nightmarishly cynical. The good posters have all left, leaving what feels like the "suffering olympics" as people compete to one-up each other on the severity of their illness. It doesn't help, so don't go there.

zby 6y ago
Have you totally gave up finding a good online patient community? Recently I have been thinking about this a lot: https://medium.com/@zby/rational-patient-community-6d3617dffcfe https://medium.com/@zby/rational-patient-community-6d3617dff... What is not there yet is an account on how a family member cured Hashimoto with diet, this is something I would totally dismiss if I read about it on the internet - but I trust her and her judgement. It is possible that it was just a coincidence, but she promised to write a detailed report.