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I have been noticeably short of breath since getting a pretty bad case of Covid (hospitalized), and that was months ago. Even things like climbing stairs has b

I have been noticeably short of breath since getting a pretty bad case of Covid (hospitalized), and that was months ago. Even things like climbing stairs has become a chore. One top of that, I was experiencing syncope on standing which they sent me to a cardiologist for. I couldn't complete the treadmill test to anyone's satisfaction so now we have to explore this further. None of this existed prior to getting Covid, and it's far past the point of "it's all in my head". With the fainting on standing, I would literally drop to my knees as the world faded to black. I've never experienced anything like that in my life. The shortness of breath is just another one to add to a list of problems now. Note I was double-vaxxed when I caught Covid. I'll have to assume Omnicron although I have no actual data on that. It was a breakthrough case and I had a 104 fever, cough, and shortness of breath (that's why they admitted me). It's been downhill since then.

xxpor 5y ago
I really hope they figure out what's going on :\ Do you happen to know if your resting blood pressure has changed?
- nopenopenopeno 5y ago
  >I really hope they figure out what's going on :\ COVID-19
TylerE 5y ago
Lungs are no joke. I had a bad case of pneumonia that put me in the hospital for a couple days a few years back (early 30s at the time) - and it was year plus before my lungs were back to "normal"... I'm asthmatic so even my normal isn't that great. Was having to do nebulizer treatments basically every day for months.
hughrr 5y ago
Interesting. I didn't get hospitalized but I had what appeared to have been covid in April 2020. Before that I was running 10k quite happily but couldn't manage round the park for 2 months afterwards even though I just had a temperature and fatigue for a couple of weeks as symptoms. It took me 9 months to get over it completely.
- EMM_386 5y ago
  > It took me 9 months to get over it completely. How did you do it? Just slowly rebuild lung capacity? I need to do this ASAP now as if I speak for too long, I have to catch my breath. That is "no bueno".
  - hughrr 5y ago
    Mostly walking to start with and practicing breathing deeply and properly when doing it. This got faster and longer and I slowly pushed it daily. Then I started going hiking again after about 5 months. Then started running again after that. I have an Apple Watch which does a reasonable approximation of cardio fitness under VO2 so I could monitor progress. I'm no exercise expert but what appears to be important is keeping your heart rate above 120bpm for long periods of time. 2 years down the line I can do 40k walk / hilly hike without even being bothered. But I still have trouble doing a 10k run. 5k is doable easily.
    - lamontcg 5y ago
      > 5k is doable easily. I've never had COVID and I'm still working on this...
      - jahnu 5y ago
        I know what that is like. About 3 years ago I started running. I need to do something, anything, as sitting at a desk all day is not healthy. I did no sport and was mildly overweight and getting heavier. I'm was in my mid 40s and it was kinda getting important to get fit. Running is cheap and can be done any time I have time. So I started. I had to have music to make it not boring (still do but now mostly listen to podcasts). I hated running but disliked being unfit more. Started with 2k and walked some of it. I made a big effort to go out and do it whenever I had time, 3 times a week. I can't stress this enough, but how far and fast I ran was not nearly as important as getting in the habit. Even if it was cold or a little wet. Building the habit is the only important thing for the first 6 months. Even on holidays I would bring my shoes and shorts. After a couple of months 5k was easy. I bought a heart rate monitor as a reward for getting to 5k. This was brilliant! I started getting self competitive and learned that running at a speed which kept my heart rate under 140 was the best for training. Slowly over the next two years I was able to do longer and longer distances, lost weight, slept better and found running very enjoyable and a great de-stresser. Time for myself away from the usual pressure of life and it was good for me. I enjoyed discovering the place in a new way. I got to half marathons once a month. I couldn't really believe it. Signed up for a marathon and while training for that was actually hard work and the marathon itself was crazy hard, I managed it under 4h. Now this isn't a "look at me I'm great" story. The point is someone who couldn't run 5k at all can actually over a modest number of years get to marathon shape and enjoy it. Anyone (who doesn't have some condition) can do it. Running 5k three times a week is exceedingly good for your health and mental well being. The key for me at least is habit. Getting into the habit is the only truly hard thing. When it's cold, windy, whatever, get out there for at least 5 minutes.
NoImmatureAdHom 5y ago
You should consider that sequelae like this are characteristic of many forms of being very sick. It could be COVID specifically, but neither this article nor your experience establishes that causal link.
- outworlder 5y ago
  > neither this article nor your experience establishes that causal link. Nor do they disprove it. Someone that was healthy with no symptoms contracting a disease and, afterwards, displaying severe symptoms would, logically, require that the causal link be explored. It could have been a coincidence, but COVID is known to damage lungs and heart tissue.
  - NoImmatureAdHom 5y ago
    My worry isn't so much that it's a coincidence, it's that stuff like that can be a function of basically any form of being _really sick_. Which would change around how one would think about the situation. Is it really COVID-19 that's the thing we want to point to here, or anything that could make you really sick (COVID included)? It really depends on what your goals are, but I think it's an important distinction.
- EMM_386 5y ago
  > You should consider that sequelae like this are characteristic of many forms of being very sick. I didn't go from very healthy to very sick after a stay in the hospital with Covid for no reason. I don't honestly care if it establishes a "casual link", I wasn't passing out after standing up prior to Covid.
karmajunkie 5y ago
If i were in your shoes, I’d try to reach out to one of the groups researching long covid therapies. there is the beginnings of some research showing good results from existing drugs used for clotting disorders that may be easy for you to try under supervision. i’ll try to find some links when i’m back home later. good luck, and i’m sorry for what you’re going through.
- EMM_386 5y ago
  > If i were in your shoes, I’d try to reach out to one of the groups researching long covid therapies. Have a link? I'm in NJ. This isn't "talking up" my symptoms, it's real. I'd love to talk to anyone in this field.
  - randmeerkat 5y ago
    You could try John Hopkins, it’s a bit of a drive from NJ, but it should be doable. They have a whole team approach to dealing with long Covid and finding the right treatment for the individual. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/pact/ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/pact/
stevenicr 5y ago
Something that helped me alot... I wrote the date and times of activities that drained me - and the recovery time of rest before I felt average. This included phone conversations, which I found had about a 14 minute limit. It was helpful in communicating with other health professionals a little, but immensely helpful in seeing a couple weeks go by and my activities got longer / further, and the recovery time got shorter. This also helped with the feelings of dread and worry when in the middle of something, I felt complete exhaustion - knowing I could look at a clock and count on 2 minutes to go by and I would be mostly normal again.. Things like that had a huge impact for me. After some months, looking back on where things were, I feel that I am doing okay, and better than I was, even if I am not where I'd like to be.
jb1991 5y ago
How long between your second vaccination and when you had Covid? I assume you had no booster.
- EMM_386 5y ago
  > How long between your second vaccination and when you had Covid? I assume you had no booster. It was 8 months since last vaxx, and I was scheduled for a booster but Covid got me first. These booster shots don't seem to help much with Omnicron anyway, isn't Pfizer and others working on a new vaccine to target this strain?

xxpor 5y ago

I really hope they figure out what's going on :\ Do you happen to know if your resting blood pressure has changed?

nopenopenopeno 5y ago
>I really hope they figure out what's going on :\ COVID-19

TylerE 5y ago

Lungs are no joke. I had a bad case of pneumonia that put me in the hospital for a couple days a few years back (early 30s at the time) - and it was year plus before my lungs were back to "normal"... I'm asthmatic so even my normal isn't that great. Was having to do nebulizer treatments basically every day for months.

hughrr 5y ago

Interesting. I didn't get hospitalized but I had what appeared to have been covid in April 2020. Before that I was running 10k quite happily but couldn't manage round the park for 2 months afterwards even though I just had a temperature and fatigue for a couple of weeks as symptoms. It took me 9 months to get over it completely.

EMM_386 5y ago
> It took me 9 months to get over it completely. How did you do it? Just slowly rebuild lung capacity? I need to do this ASAP now as if I speak for too long, I have to catch my breath. That is "no bueno".
- hughrr 5y ago
  Mostly walking to start with and practicing breathing deeply and properly when doing it. This got faster and longer and I slowly pushed it daily. Then I started going hiking again after about 5 months. Then started running again after that. I have an Apple Watch which does a reasonable approximation of cardio fitness under VO2 so I could monitor progress. I'm no exercise expert but what appears to be important is keeping your heart rate above 120bpm for long periods of time. 2 years down the line I can do 40k walk / hilly hike without even being bothered. But I still have trouble doing a 10k run. 5k is doable easily.
  - lamontcg 5y ago
    > 5k is doable easily. I've never had COVID and I'm still working on this...
    - jahnu 5y ago
      I know what that is like. About 3 years ago I started running. I need to do something, anything, as sitting at a desk all day is not healthy. I did no sport and was mildly overweight and getting heavier. I'm was in my mid 40s and it was kinda getting important to get fit. Running is cheap and can be done any time I have time. So I started. I had to have music to make it not boring (still do but now mostly listen to podcasts). I hated running but disliked being unfit more. Started with 2k and walked some of it. I made a big effort to go out and do it whenever I had time, 3 times a week. I can't stress this enough, but how far and fast I ran was not nearly as important as getting in the habit. Even if it was cold or a little wet. Building the habit is the only important thing for the first 6 months. Even on holidays I would bring my shoes and shorts. After a couple of months 5k was easy. I bought a heart rate monitor as a reward for getting to 5k. This was brilliant! I started getting self competitive and learned that running at a speed which kept my heart rate under 140 was the best for training. Slowly over the next two years I was able to do longer and longer distances, lost weight, slept better and found running very enjoyable and a great de-stresser. Time for myself away from the usual pressure of life and it was good for me. I enjoyed discovering the place in a new way. I got to half marathons once a month. I couldn't really believe it. Signed up for a marathon and while training for that was actually hard work and the marathon itself was crazy hard, I managed it under 4h. Now this isn't a "look at me I'm great" story. The point is someone who couldn't run 5k at all can actually over a modest number of years get to marathon shape and enjoy it. Anyone (who doesn't have some condition) can do it. Running 5k three times a week is exceedingly good for your health and mental well being. The key for me at least is habit. Getting into the habit is the only truly hard thing. When it's cold, windy, whatever, get out there for at least 5 minutes.

NoImmatureAdHom 5y ago

You should consider that sequelae like this are characteristic of many forms of being very sick. It could be COVID specifically, but neither this article nor your experience establishes that causal link.

outworlder 5y ago
> neither this article nor your experience establishes that causal link. Nor do they disprove it. Someone that was healthy with no symptoms contracting a disease and, afterwards, displaying severe symptoms would, logically, require that the causal link be explored. It could have been a coincidence, but COVID is known to damage lungs and heart tissue.
- NoImmatureAdHom 5y ago
  My worry isn't so much that it's a coincidence, it's that stuff like that can be a function of basically any form of being _really sick_. Which would change around how one would think about the situation. Is it really COVID-19 that's the thing we want to point to here, or anything that could make you really sick (COVID included)? It really depends on what your goals are, but I think it's an important distinction.
EMM_386 5y ago
> You should consider that sequelae like this are characteristic of many forms of being very sick. I didn't go from very healthy to very sick after a stay in the hospital with Covid for no reason. I don't honestly care if it establishes a "casual link", I wasn't passing out after standing up prior to Covid.

karmajunkie 5y ago

If i were in your shoes, I’d try to reach out to one of the groups researching long covid therapies. there is the beginnings of some research showing good results from existing drugs used for clotting disorders that may be easy for you to try under supervision. i’ll try to find some links when i’m back home later. good luck, and i’m sorry for what you’re going through.

EMM_386 5y ago
> If i were in your shoes, I’d try to reach out to one of the groups researching long covid therapies. Have a link? I'm in NJ. This isn't "talking up" my symptoms, it's real. I'd love to talk to anyone in this field.
- randmeerkat 5y ago
  You could try John Hopkins, it’s a bit of a drive from NJ, but it should be doable. They have a whole team approach to dealing with long Covid and finding the right treatment for the individual. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/pact/ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/pact/

stevenicr 5y ago

Something that helped me alot... I wrote the date and times of activities that drained me - and the recovery time of rest before I felt average. This included phone conversations, which I found had about a 14 minute limit. It was helpful in communicating with other health professionals a little, but immensely helpful in seeing a couple weeks go by and my activities got longer / further, and the recovery time got shorter. This also helped with the feelings of dread and worry when in the middle of something, I felt complete exhaustion - knowing I could look at a clock and count on 2 minutes to go by and I would be mostly normal again.. Things like that had a huge impact for me. After some months, looking back on where things were, I feel that I am doing okay, and better than I was, even if I am not where I'd like to be.

jb1991 5y ago

How long between your second vaccination and when you had Covid? I assume you had no booster.

EMM_386 5y ago
> How long between your second vaccination and when you had Covid? I assume you had no booster. It was 8 months since last vaxx, and I was scheduled for a booster but Covid got me first. These booster shots don't seem to help much with Omnicron anyway, isn't Pfizer and others working on a new vaccine to target this strain?