7 ms·

Another one here (Woman, 24 y.o.). Contracted COVID, had a terrible three-weeks of infection. Nine months later, I am having weekly heart palpitations, I'm cons

Another one here (Woman, 24 y.o.). Contracted COVID, had a terrible three-weeks of infection. Nine months later, I am having weekly heart palpitations, I'm constantly fatigued and fogged in the mind and my lung capacity is half what it used to be - I now require an inhaler to go on my runs. I know several women my age experiencing far worse. Long COVID should not be ignored.

jacquesm 5y ago
Ah yes, the heart thing. Forgot to mention that because it hasn't happened for a couple of months now but I would wake up at night every now and then with my heart going like I just ran a marathon. But that fortunately completely went away. As for lung capacity: I used to play saxophone pretty fanatically and I think that is one of the reasons I got through this with a relatively low amount of damage.
- mygoodaccount 5y ago
  > As for lung capacity: I used to play saxophone pretty fanatically and I think that is one of the reasons I got through this with a relatively low amount of damage. Funnily enough, I used to play the flute and sing before contracting COVID. With my lung capacity halved, my ability is nowhere near what it used to be. Long COVID has taken all my hobbies away from me: running, singing, hip-hop dancing. If anyone knows of any support groups relating to Long COVID, please let me know.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Gah that sucks, I really feel for you. But: you will recover. For the longest time I thought that I wouldn't and then bit by bit it got better. If you can find an exercise bike I would really recommend you find one, it is super motivating to see your distance creep up day-by-day as you regain your strength and wind.
  - fragmede 5y ago
    There’s are many Facebook groups, and a Slack. (No idea the overlap.) http://survivorcorps.com http://survivorcorps.com The particular FB group I'm in is called (creatively enough) "Long Covid Support Group", but a search there reveals there are many more. My email is in my profile if you want to connect further over this. I consider myself mostly healed by this point (infected March 2020) and can share my vitamin regime (its efficacy is anecdotal, my sample size is 2) but I still have lingering health issues over a year later.
  - loopz 5y ago
    Breathing exercises and meditation/yoga may help, both with heart and lungs. Worth a try along with long covid support/meetups.
    - disabled 5y ago
      Yep. I do breathing exercises daily. It helps with the dysautonomia (long covid causes dysautonomia) too. You may want to look into the Airofit Pro: https://www.airofit.com/ https://www.airofit.com/
      - loopz 5y ago
        One may also learn Ujjayi breath. It needs no technology and has other benefits.
  - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
    Have you tried postural drainage for your lungs? I ask because if you've lost half your lung capacity (and I expect a singer and flute player would know), then you must have some kind of junk in there. For those not familiar with the term: You position yourself with your head a foot lower than your hips (and your back straight). You hold that for 15 minutes or so. You let gravity pull the junk out of your lungs down to where you can cough it out. Warning: It's not fun. First, your head feels like it's going to explode from the lung pressure. Second, when a chunk comes out, oxygen starts hitting an area of your lungs for the first time in maybe months. That hurts. (Or so my daughter says. She had to do this.)
    - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
      That sounds like the kind of thing you should do on the advice of your doctor, rather than on the advice of a stranger on the Internet.
      - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
        Well, my daughter did it on the advice of a retired nurse (her grandmother).
      - waterhouse 5y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postural_drainage#Risks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postural_drainage#Risks "Postural drainage is considered safe and effective, but may cause some side effects. The procedure is discontinued if the patient complains of headache, discomfort, dizziness, palpitations,[3] fatigue, or dyspnea. Patients may be dyspnic after the various manuovers, since the head-down position increases the work of breathing, reduces tidal volume, and decreases functional residual capacity (FRC).[citation needed]"
  - Invictus0 5y ago
    We have a lively long covid discord group here: https://discord.gg/HcxrH7xZ https://discord.gg/HcxrH7xZ
- varjag 5y ago
  Sounds terrible. Did you (and u/mygoodaccount) have loss of smell among the symptoms? I recall reading somewhere that it correlates with protracted recovery.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    During the first three weeks, yes. But afterwards that came back to fairly normal levels quickly.
  - ModernMech 5y ago
    My sister had this. Even today (5 months after infection) she says some things taste and smell funny. She can't eat mint ice cream anymore because she says it tastes like cigarettes.
    - rutherblood 5y ago
      Can relate. Been 3 months since I recovered. Sense of smell has recovered definitely but since the past 2-3 weeks I've noticed it's still not fully there. A rare house plant blooming in the night which for everyone at home triggers a strong sweet fragrance which can be sensed even on the second floor, for me it was like a lingering placebo. Additionally, there is this weird stench that permeates everything I eat. I can't explain it, just a kind of smell I've never come across but now have to every other hour because it colors pretty much any earlier-pleasant-smelling thing
      - ModernMech 5y ago
        > Additionally, there is this weird stench that permeates everything I eat. I can't explain it, just a kind of smell I've never come across Yes, this is exactly what she describes. The closest she could get to describing it was "cigarettes" when I pressed her, but she really insisted should couldn't even characterize it.
        rutherblood 5y ago
        Is she having gastrointestinal problems too? Like digestion issues attimes, weird random pains in the abdomen, around the liver or stomach? I've been facing these since the last 2 months. Sometimes I wonder how much our sense of smell is connected to the gut microbiome.
lambdaba 5y ago
I hope this is taken the right way, but have you tried "vitamins" (broadly speaking)? Some I have seen with specific effects: Niacin, Black Seed Oil (Nigella Sativa), Magnesium megadoses, etc. etc. Don't dismiss these as "quack medicines", I've recovered from severe chronic illness thanks to some of these... I could expand if people ask, but really it's quite easy, especially for the HN crowd, to level-up rapidly on healing yourself or at least giving yourself the best chance to do so. The greatest concentrator of such info on the whole internet, is, as far as I can tell, https://twitter.com/grimhood https://twitter.com/grimhood - follow him and get a feel for the info he's spreading, he has very valuable information on all sorts of healing protocols. Lastly, one that will no doubt be most controversial, but also has promising anecdotes: Ivermectin. [edit] here come the downvotes, for those that do, note that downvotes, at least on HN, are not meant to express disagreement, they are meant for content that is objectionable for other reasons.
- sebmellen 5y ago
  I am not sure what I think of your comment, but I think it at least deserves discussion. I have used said supplements before. In fact, I have a close friend who is very enamored with supplements and has about 50 different pill bottles in his medicine drawer. Out of curiosity, I once spent two weeks taking about 25 pills a day at his recommendation, and I'm afraid they did not do very much for me — at least that I could noticeably discern. The only supplement/herbal medicine I've had success with is St. Johns Wort, but I've been strongly discouraged from using it by a psychiatrist who emphatically emphasized that an SSRI is a much safer and more controllable way to achieve the same effects if need be. Magnesium deficiency is relatively common, though I wonder if that isn't more of a dietary issue.
  - lambdaba 5y ago
    The experience you're describing doesn't disqualify supplements, you say you've taken "25 [random] pills", this is not what I'm advocating. There are various supplements, be it vitamins or plant extracts, that have definite medicinal effects. It should go without saying, really. For illustration, just go on pubmed and search for "nigella sativa" (black seed oil).
3327 5y ago
Thank the lab.
satysin 5y ago
I am having daily heart palpitations and they are almost unbearable now. Sometimes I wake up and feel fine almost all day but not a day has gone by in the past two months where I don't have some kind of chest discomfort around my sternum/xiphoid process. I have had a whole bunch of scans and everything is normal. I will be having an endoscopy next week to hopefully get to the bottom of it. I am 'hoping' it is something simple and obvious that they can treat. So far everything ends up being "well it's not $insertMedicalCondition so let's check for $insertSomeOtherMedicalCondition" :(
- fragmede 5y ago
  Have you managed to get medication (aka beta blockers) for the palpations? I am not a doctor but I strongly recommend getting a doctor to prescribe you some if you haven't already. What's been particularly frustrating with long covid is because it's so new, I've had to have awkward pushy conversations with doctors to get me treatment I deserve. You can't get high off beta blockers, which helps assuage my feelings of being an addict engaging in drug seeking behavior, simply trying to get my heart rate under control, but the medical industry has largely failed patients here. The only reprieve is that enough healthcare professionals also got sick, so the fact that there's nothing that shows up on scans of my heart isn't taken as fact that there's nothing wrong with it.
  - satysin 5y ago
    Last week my doctor prescribed me something called Stresam (aka Etifoxine). Apparently it is a lot like the benzo Lorazepam (Ativan) but without the whole benzo addiction problem. I had never heard of it nor know anyone on it before but apparently it is good. Too early for me to say if it is personally. I want to avoid any kind of addictive medication if possible.
- disabled 5y ago
  This sounds like dysautonomia. I have dysautonomia, which I had long before (probably) getting COVID-19. I have a rare form of dysautonomia. But, dysautonomia does happen, relatively frequently, as post-viral cases. The good news is that post-viral dysautonomia has high potential for improving and even (realistically) going away. Rest will be the best treatment. Check my profile if you want to email me or want help.
sethammons 5y ago
I had an awful cold or sickness about a year ago (including messed up taste and smell!) and since then I've developed heart racing, panic attacks, and working out is sooooo hard now. My strength is down, my cardio sucks, and just getting myself to work out is a chore. I can feel trouble breathing sometimes. My heart can race from sitting or walking up stairs. I was pretty dang fit and working out hard 5 days a week. Now getting 1-3 days in in a week is near impossible due to being tired. I tested negative for covid antibodies. I'm not sure about all the data on "post covid 19 syndrome" but I check a lot of boxes for it but didn't test positive. My wife is in a similar block. Just tossing some anecdata out there.
atatatat 5y ago
I (anecdotally) linked the heart heart thing to viral waste in heart valves, clearing which can be helped by wild blueberries (antioxidants, which yes, are real!).
hourislate 5y ago
Maybe you ought to take it easy and walk instead of running. Is it possible you might be damaging your lungs and not letting them heal?

jacquesm 5y ago

Ah yes, the heart thing. Forgot to mention that because it hasn't happened for a couple of months now but I would wake up at night every now and then with my heart going like I just ran a marathon. But that fortunately completely went away. As for lung capacity: I used to play saxophone pretty fanatically and I think that is one of the reasons I got through this with a relatively low amount of damage.

mygoodaccount 5y ago
> As for lung capacity: I used to play saxophone pretty fanatically and I think that is one of the reasons I got through this with a relatively low amount of damage. Funnily enough, I used to play the flute and sing before contracting COVID. With my lung capacity halved, my ability is nowhere near what it used to be. Long COVID has taken all my hobbies away from me: running, singing, hip-hop dancing. If anyone knows of any support groups relating to Long COVID, please let me know.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Gah that sucks, I really feel for you. But: you will recover. For the longest time I thought that I wouldn't and then bit by bit it got better. If you can find an exercise bike I would really recommend you find one, it is super motivating to see your distance creep up day-by-day as you regain your strength and wind.
- fragmede 5y ago
  There’s are many Facebook groups, and a Slack. (No idea the overlap.) http://survivorcorps.com http://survivorcorps.com The particular FB group I'm in is called (creatively enough) "Long Covid Support Group", but a search there reveals there are many more. My email is in my profile if you want to connect further over this. I consider myself mostly healed by this point (infected March 2020) and can share my vitamin regime (its efficacy is anecdotal, my sample size is 2) but I still have lingering health issues over a year later.
- loopz 5y ago
  Breathing exercises and meditation/yoga may help, both with heart and lungs. Worth a try along with long covid support/meetups.
  - disabled 5y ago
    Yep. I do breathing exercises daily. It helps with the dysautonomia (long covid causes dysautonomia) too. You may want to look into the Airofit Pro: https://www.airofit.com/ https://www.airofit.com/
    - loopz 5y ago
      One may also learn Ujjayi breath. It needs no technology and has other benefits.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  Have you tried postural drainage for your lungs? I ask because if you've lost half your lung capacity (and I expect a singer and flute player would know), then you must have some kind of junk in there. For those not familiar with the term: You position yourself with your head a foot lower than your hips (and your back straight). You hold that for 15 minutes or so. You let gravity pull the junk out of your lungs down to where you can cough it out. Warning: It's not fun. First, your head feels like it's going to explode from the lung pressure. Second, when a chunk comes out, oxygen starts hitting an area of your lungs for the first time in maybe months. That hurts. (Or so my daughter says. She had to do this.)
  - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
    That sounds like the kind of thing you should do on the advice of your doctor, rather than on the advice of a stranger on the Internet.
    - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
      Well, my daughter did it on the advice of a retired nurse (her grandmother).
    - waterhouse 5y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postural_drainage#Risks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postural_drainage#Risks "Postural drainage is considered safe and effective, but may cause some side effects. The procedure is discontinued if the patient complains of headache, discomfort, dizziness, palpitations,[3] fatigue, or dyspnea. Patients may be dyspnic after the various manuovers, since the head-down position increases the work of breathing, reduces tidal volume, and decreases functional residual capacity (FRC).[citation needed]"
- Invictus0 5y ago
  We have a lively long covid discord group here: https://discord.gg/HcxrH7xZ https://discord.gg/HcxrH7xZ
varjag 5y ago
Sounds terrible. Did you (and u/mygoodaccount) have loss of smell among the symptoms? I recall reading somewhere that it correlates with protracted recovery.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  During the first three weeks, yes. But afterwards that came back to fairly normal levels quickly.
- ModernMech 5y ago
  My sister had this. Even today (5 months after infection) she says some things taste and smell funny. She can't eat mint ice cream anymore because she says it tastes like cigarettes.
  - rutherblood 5y ago
    Can relate. Been 3 months since I recovered. Sense of smell has recovered definitely but since the past 2-3 weeks I've noticed it's still not fully there. A rare house plant blooming in the night which for everyone at home triggers a strong sweet fragrance which can be sensed even on the second floor, for me it was like a lingering placebo. Additionally, there is this weird stench that permeates everything I eat. I can't explain it, just a kind of smell I've never come across but now have to every other hour because it colors pretty much any earlier-pleasant-smelling thing
    - ModernMech 5y ago
      > Additionally, there is this weird stench that permeates everything I eat. I can't explain it, just a kind of smell I've never come across Yes, this is exactly what she describes. The closest she could get to describing it was "cigarettes" when I pressed her, but she really insisted should couldn't even characterize it.
      - rutherblood 5y ago
        Is she having gastrointestinal problems too? Like digestion issues attimes, weird random pains in the abdomen, around the liver or stomach? I've been facing these since the last 2 months. Sometimes I wonder how much our sense of smell is connected to the gut microbiome.

lambdaba 5y ago

I hope this is taken the right way, but have you tried "vitamins" (broadly speaking)? Some I have seen with specific effects: Niacin, Black Seed Oil (Nigella Sativa), Magnesium megadoses, etc. etc. Don't dismiss these as "quack medicines", I've recovered from severe chronic illness thanks to some of these... I could expand if people ask, but really it's quite easy, especially for the HN crowd, to level-up rapidly on healing yourself or at least giving yourself the best chance to do so. The greatest concentrator of such info on the whole internet, is, as far as I can tell, https://twitter.com/grimhood https://twitter.com/grimhood - follow him and get a feel for the info he's spreading, he has very valuable information on all sorts of healing protocols. Lastly, one that will no doubt be most controversial, but also has promising anecdotes: Ivermectin. [edit] here come the downvotes, for those that do, note that downvotes, at least on HN, are not meant to express disagreement, they are meant for content that is objectionable for other reasons.

sebmellen 5y ago
I am not sure what I think of your comment, but I think it at least deserves discussion. I have used said supplements before. In fact, I have a close friend who is very enamored with supplements and has about 50 different pill bottles in his medicine drawer. Out of curiosity, I once spent two weeks taking about 25 pills a day at his recommendation, and I'm afraid they did not do very much for me — at least that I could noticeably discern. The only supplement/herbal medicine I've had success with is St. Johns Wort, but I've been strongly discouraged from using it by a psychiatrist who emphatically emphasized that an SSRI is a much safer and more controllable way to achieve the same effects if need be. Magnesium deficiency is relatively common, though I wonder if that isn't more of a dietary issue.
- lambdaba 5y ago
  The experience you're describing doesn't disqualify supplements, you say you've taken "25 [random] pills", this is not what I'm advocating. There are various supplements, be it vitamins or plant extracts, that have definite medicinal effects. It should go without saying, really. For illustration, just go on pubmed and search for "nigella sativa" (black seed oil).

3327 5y ago

Thank the lab.

satysin 5y ago

I am having daily heart palpitations and they are almost unbearable now. Sometimes I wake up and feel fine almost all day but not a day has gone by in the past two months where I don't have some kind of chest discomfort around my sternum/xiphoid process. I have had a whole bunch of scans and everything is normal. I will be having an endoscopy next week to hopefully get to the bottom of it. I am 'hoping' it is something simple and obvious that they can treat. So far everything ends up being "well it's not $insertMedicalCondition so let's check for $insertSomeOtherMedicalCondition" :(

fragmede 5y ago
Have you managed to get medication (aka beta blockers) for the palpations? I am not a doctor but I strongly recommend getting a doctor to prescribe you some if you haven't already. What's been particularly frustrating with long covid is because it's so new, I've had to have awkward pushy conversations with doctors to get me treatment I deserve. You can't get high off beta blockers, which helps assuage my feelings of being an addict engaging in drug seeking behavior, simply trying to get my heart rate under control, but the medical industry has largely failed patients here. The only reprieve is that enough healthcare professionals also got sick, so the fact that there's nothing that shows up on scans of my heart isn't taken as fact that there's nothing wrong with it.
- satysin 5y ago
  Last week my doctor prescribed me something called Stresam (aka Etifoxine). Apparently it is a lot like the benzo Lorazepam (Ativan) but without the whole benzo addiction problem. I had never heard of it nor know anyone on it before but apparently it is good. Too early for me to say if it is personally. I want to avoid any kind of addictive medication if possible.
disabled 5y ago
This sounds like dysautonomia. I have dysautonomia, which I had long before (probably) getting COVID-19. I have a rare form of dysautonomia. But, dysautonomia does happen, relatively frequently, as post-viral cases. The good news is that post-viral dysautonomia has high potential for improving and even (realistically) going away. Rest will be the best treatment. Check my profile if you want to email me or want help.

sethammons 5y ago

I had an awful cold or sickness about a year ago (including messed up taste and smell!) and since then I've developed heart racing, panic attacks, and working out is sooooo hard now. My strength is down, my cardio sucks, and just getting myself to work out is a chore. I can feel trouble breathing sometimes. My heart can race from sitting or walking up stairs. I was pretty dang fit and working out hard 5 days a week. Now getting 1-3 days in in a week is near impossible due to being tired. I tested negative for covid antibodies. I'm not sure about all the data on "post covid 19 syndrome" but I check a lot of boxes for it but didn't test positive. My wife is in a similar block. Just tossing some anecdata out there.

atatatat 5y ago

I (anecdotally) linked the heart heart thing to viral waste in heart valves, clearing which can be helped by wild blueberries (antioxidants, which yes, are real!).

hourislate 5y ago

Maybe you ought to take it easy and walk instead of running. Is it possible you might be damaging your lungs and not letting them heal?