Is this (medium-) long Covid? Anyone else here dealing with it?
April 5, 2022 7:59 AM Subscribe
I tested positive to Covid about a month ago along with my entire household (all triple vaccinated healthy adults). Had mild(ish) symptoms for a few days then gradually felt better. Tested negative after 10 days. Resumed my daily habit of walking 5 to 10 thousand steps, was feeling great again, no issues. Now, a month later, I feel sick with some similar symptoms, testing everyday and still negative. Doctor says it's the lingering effects of Covid and that he sees a lot of it. Has anyone here dealt with this? How? Please share your experiences and if you have any tips on how to recharge batteries post-infection that'd be very welcome. Thanks!
More details on my current main symptoms, which have been constant for the past week, with alternate intensity:
- fatigue: generally feel tired all day
- nausea: I eat normally, maybe a bit less than before, I don't throw up, I just have this constant feeling of nausea all day, like a bad taste that won't go away
- brain fog: uhhh let's not even go there, it's bad
- aches: while during the infection I had aches all over, now it's just my back and precisely between my shoulder blades especially in the mornings. I have some mild headaches too but tolerable.
I've been lucky to have no respiratory symptoms, not even during active infection period. I check my oxygen saturation levels every day they're fine and were fine during infection too. So I'm very aware I was lucky to have a light/mild form of Covid, but I thought I'd been lucky in avoiding long covid too (I was really feeling great after testing negative again) and it seems I have been prematurely optimistic...
Doctor recommended gradually increasing physical activity and eating lots of fruit and veggies for vitamin intake. I already take vitamin c and d and zinc. I'm not drinking alcohol - usually like a beer or two in the evening but uh just feel sick at the thought right now. I sleep fine and quite a lot actually so that's not a problem.
What else should I be doing? How do I gradually resume walking when I still feel like garbage?
Again, anything you can share will be greatly appreciated.
More details on my current main symptoms, which have been constant for the past week, with alternate intensity:
- fatigue: generally feel tired all day
- nausea: I eat normally, maybe a bit less than before, I don't throw up, I just have this constant feeling of nausea all day, like a bad taste that won't go away
- brain fog: uhhh let's not even go there, it's bad
- aches: while during the infection I had aches all over, now it's just my back and precisely between my shoulder blades especially in the mornings. I have some mild headaches too but tolerable.
I've been lucky to have no respiratory symptoms, not even during active infection period. I check my oxygen saturation levels every day they're fine and were fine during infection too. So I'm very aware I was lucky to have a light/mild form of Covid, but I thought I'd been lucky in avoiding long covid too (I was really feeling great after testing negative again) and it seems I have been prematurely optimistic...
Doctor recommended gradually increasing physical activity and eating lots of fruit and veggies for vitamin intake. I already take vitamin c and d and zinc. I'm not drinking alcohol - usually like a beer or two in the evening but uh just feel sick at the thought right now. I sleep fine and quite a lot actually so that's not a problem.
What else should I be doing? How do I gradually resume walking when I still feel like garbage?
Again, anything you can share will be greatly appreciated.
I had something similar - post booster covid at the beginning of Jan, took me a week to recover. Felt great for a few weeks and then in early Feb came down with something that felt just like my experience with covid in Jan, completely wiped me out. Consistent negative tests but went to the dr and ruled out strep, mono - she shrugged and said it's probably covid lingering in my system. Got back to feeling normal/energetic and then the same thing happened a month later in March, down for about a week with similar symptoms, for me the biggest one is fatigue. With the symptoms I have it's been hard to tell at this point if the reoccurrences were actually covid or whatever cold was going around that week. In both cases no one else in my household has been sick, and so even if it's not covid, I think I have a weakened immune system right now that makes me more susceptible to whatever's going around. I also think in both cases I'm getting hit hard because of under lying stress and the toll that takes on your body.
I don't have any advice, I'm just trying to be kind of myself if I feel more tired than usual, get back into exercising and taking care of myself, and really work on eliminating/redefining the stresses I have control over. I also felt great after I recovered in January and I try not to get discouraged that I might have some form of long covid.
posted by snowymorninblues at 8:28 AM on April 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't have any advice, I'm just trying to be kind of myself if I feel more tired than usual, get back into exercising and taking care of myself, and really work on eliminating/redefining the stresses I have control over. I also felt great after I recovered in January and I try not to get discouraged that I might have some form of long covid.
posted by snowymorninblues at 8:28 AM on April 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Doctor recommended gradually increasing physical activity
Ignore, ignore, ignore. Then ignore it again and possibly find another doctor.
Post-viral illness isn't like recovery from lack of conditioning - doing too much activity makes it worse. The key is pacing - basically, you find a level of activity that's low enough it doesn't kick off any symptoms - this might be frustratingly low (for some people it is literally lying almost motionless in bed all day; for me after 2 years of long covid it's working every day but doing no cardio exercise above a moderate walk, avoiding stress, getting good, long sleeps overnight etc).
That's sometimes referred to as 'staying within your energy envelope' and it's where you need to be for any kind of recovery to happen. Which, if it does, will happen absolutely at its own pace and will not, ever, be pushed or hastened by doing more activity.
Then, from time to time (like maybe once every few weeks), you try and increase your activity by a small amount, to find out whether your body can now cope with this increased activity, or whether it's still enough to push you into relapse. Rinse and repeat, for however long it takes.
The online book Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome helped me understand all this (as long covid is, I think, basically a form of ME/CFS).
posted by penguin pie at 8:36 AM on April 5, 2022 [41 favorites]
Ignore, ignore, ignore. Then ignore it again and possibly find another doctor.
Post-viral illness isn't like recovery from lack of conditioning - doing too much activity makes it worse. The key is pacing - basically, you find a level of activity that's low enough it doesn't kick off any symptoms - this might be frustratingly low (for some people it is literally lying almost motionless in bed all day; for me after 2 years of long covid it's working every day but doing no cardio exercise above a moderate walk, avoiding stress, getting good, long sleeps overnight etc).
That's sometimes referred to as 'staying within your energy envelope' and it's where you need to be for any kind of recovery to happen. Which, if it does, will happen absolutely at its own pace and will not, ever, be pushed or hastened by doing more activity.
Then, from time to time (like maybe once every few weeks), you try and increase your activity by a small amount, to find out whether your body can now cope with this increased activity, or whether it's still enough to push you into relapse. Rinse and repeat, for however long it takes.
The online book Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome helped me understand all this (as long covid is, I think, basically a form of ME/CFS).
posted by penguin pie at 8:36 AM on April 5, 2022 [41 favorites]
Not from personal experience, but to follow up on penguin pie's comment, I found this article helpful for learning about the intersection of ME/CFS and Long Covid: "I rested my way to recovery from long Covid. I urge others to do the same" by Fiona Lowenstein (June 2021).
posted by dreamyshade at 8:56 AM on April 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by dreamyshade at 8:56 AM on April 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
Also worthy of note for OP and snowymorninblues, who also mentions getting back into exercise: A key feature of post-viral illness is 'post-exertional malaise', whereby the effects of over-exertion are often delayed by one to three days. That can initially make it hard to see cause and effect. It also makes it difficult to know when to stop an activity, because you often feel fine while doing it, and two days later suddenly feel very ill. Trial and error is the only way to work out where your limits are. Diary keeping can help, noting activity and symptoms each day, especially if you also have brain fog and it's hard to remember what you did when.
And the malaise caused by overexertion isn't necessarily just fatigue, it can also be other symptoms - if I do too much, I basically get a recurrence of cold/flu like symptoms two days later, including swollen glands in my throat, sneezing, etc. That lasts a few days, and is accompanied by dense fatigue can last for several weeks.
posted by penguin pie at 9:22 AM on April 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
And the malaise caused by overexertion isn't necessarily just fatigue, it can also be other symptoms - if I do too much, I basically get a recurrence of cold/flu like symptoms two days later, including swollen glands in my throat, sneezing, etc. That lasts a few days, and is accompanied by dense fatigue can last for several weeks.
posted by penguin pie at 9:22 AM on April 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
Add an OTC iron supplement and see if that helps. Covid inflammation can change iron metabolism. Most doctors haven't quite figured this out yet but for my twice-infected family, iron has made a huge difference.
I don't want to weigh in on the exercise debate, but I will say that for me exercise helped dramatically with all my long covid and walking multiple miles alone wasn't sufficient. I had to get my heart rate high for an extended period of time using an exercise bike. Feel free to pm me if you need more info.
posted by luckdragon at 9:31 AM on April 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I don't want to weigh in on the exercise debate, but I will say that for me exercise helped dramatically with all my long covid and walking multiple miles alone wasn't sufficient. I had to get my heart rate high for an extended period of time using an exercise bike. Feel free to pm me if you need more info.
posted by luckdragon at 9:31 AM on April 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Scishow Long Covid This Scishow episode on long covid may offer some valuable insights. I thought the information on mast cells and antihistamines was really interesting, and also the information on blood markers.
posted by effluvia at 9:35 AM on April 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by effluvia at 9:35 AM on April 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
O.k. So, I've got good news and bad news, first the bad news:
The main cure is probably going to be time and rest. As in, Long haul COVID still has a very real effect on my life and I caught COVID March of 2020.
I can't stress enough Penguin pie's answer about exercise. I'll get into this a little more later, but don't listen to your regular Dr. they give advice for regular medical situations, this isn't one of those. To give you an example of how little activity and how slowly you add more, this what I got from my COVID specialist doctor. With all sorts of super stern "this is serious" language and facial expressions: I was told to start doing a 10 minute walk every day 2 months ago. It's now an 17 minute walk every day, I add a minute of walking every 1-2 weeks, and that's after 2 years of recovery. I wear a smart-watch to make sure my heart rate doesn't go above 120, which can (but doesn't always) happen if I go faster than a meander or go up more than one flight of stairs every 4-5 minutes.
I was told the reason you can't treat this like recovering from other illnesses is that COVID can blow up the little factories in your cells that convert oxygen to energy. These take a long time to rebuild and if you do too much, well then you've just damaged them again and now get to make up lost ground. The reason you need to go slow rebuilding is because it's not like the usual "overdoing it" where you can feel when you're getting to your limit. You might not know until the next day. Oh, and it's not just physical activity that can cause you to "over do it" mental work is totally work.
Either way, don't take advice about exercise from us, or your regular doctor. Go see a doctor that specializes in COVID recovery. Really, they exist now, and they know how to tell the difference between what sorts of things will help and what won't. Because the effects of COVID on everyone are very different, and some effects have solutions other than just "don't overdo it", and for some "don't overdo it" is like what makes life bearable.
The good news, I have some hints and tricks to help make life more manageable for you I'll start with the "doesn't need a Dr." bit:
- There may be some smells that help with brain fog, like vanilla and woody scented candles can really help get me through tough moments.
- For the love of God, if someone tells you to loose some weight, just mentally give them the finger and live your life. Seriously. F that noise.
- Join the Body Politic support group (link) I cannot stress how helpful it is to have that many other people going through all the weird and random shit you are also experiencing is. Like I've got the best and most supportive friends and family I can ask for, but they just don't GET it. plus they can recommend specialist doctors in your area.
- If it helps, it's 100% o.k. to frame this as an illness/injury you're managing rather than something you're recovering from. I know sometimes I get so incredibly frustrated I'm not feeling better yet that I want to just give up. But, while I'm not successful at recovery, I am doing a kick ass job at managing.
- Set aside 5-10 minutes every few days to just let yourself feel bad, this is a tough situation, and you're allowed to feel that, and if you don't let yourself process it a little at a time, you'll process it all at once, which can go very poorly.
- Oh yeah, speaking of feeling your feels, you might notice that you're REALLY on edge a lot. Like super duper grouchy and touchy. In my case, my body was doing weird adrenaline like surges and my brain was like "oh, crap, things are ramping up, there must be a reason." and finding something to be mad about. Just be aware that everything your body does automatically can be really screwed up right now, including your feelings. Learn to say "hey, I need a moment" and give yourself space to just be amped up without taking it out on people who have nothing to do with it.
- In general, it helps to develop a habit of checking in to see what the hell your body's doing now several times a day. I used a symptom tracker app called "Bearable" to develop the habit. Basically I just set it to remind me at however many times a day to stop and evaluate what was going on. Even just an alarm on your phone and writing it down on scrap paper would've worked, but I liked the the way bearable let me track things.
Now for a couple of things you'll want to consult with specialist before trying :
- Vitamin D helped a lot, but it's a BIG dose, like I had to get a prescription for it initially.
- There's a chance you've got sleep apnea now if you didn't before. Treating that can help.
- It really did help to go through all the tests to know that even though _____ was super scary in the moment, it wasn't actively dangerous.
posted by Gygesringtone at 10:06 AM on April 5, 2022 [28 favorites]
The main cure is probably going to be time and rest. As in, Long haul COVID still has a very real effect on my life and I caught COVID March of 2020.
I can't stress enough Penguin pie's answer about exercise. I'll get into this a little more later, but don't listen to your regular Dr. they give advice for regular medical situations, this isn't one of those. To give you an example of how little activity and how slowly you add more, this what I got from my COVID specialist doctor. With all sorts of super stern "this is serious" language and facial expressions: I was told to start doing a 10 minute walk every day 2 months ago. It's now an 17 minute walk every day, I add a minute of walking every 1-2 weeks, and that's after 2 years of recovery. I wear a smart-watch to make sure my heart rate doesn't go above 120, which can (but doesn't always) happen if I go faster than a meander or go up more than one flight of stairs every 4-5 minutes.
I was told the reason you can't treat this like recovering from other illnesses is that COVID can blow up the little factories in your cells that convert oxygen to energy. These take a long time to rebuild and if you do too much, well then you've just damaged them again and now get to make up lost ground. The reason you need to go slow rebuilding is because it's not like the usual "overdoing it" where you can feel when you're getting to your limit. You might not know until the next day. Oh, and it's not just physical activity that can cause you to "over do it" mental work is totally work.
Either way, don't take advice about exercise from us, or your regular doctor. Go see a doctor that specializes in COVID recovery. Really, they exist now, and they know how to tell the difference between what sorts of things will help and what won't. Because the effects of COVID on everyone are very different, and some effects have solutions other than just "don't overdo it", and for some "don't overdo it" is like what makes life bearable.
The good news, I have some hints and tricks to help make life more manageable for you I'll start with the "doesn't need a Dr." bit:
- There may be some smells that help with brain fog, like vanilla and woody scented candles can really help get me through tough moments.
- For the love of God, if someone tells you to loose some weight, just mentally give them the finger and live your life. Seriously. F that noise.
- Join the Body Politic support group (link) I cannot stress how helpful it is to have that many other people going through all the weird and random shit you are also experiencing is. Like I've got the best and most supportive friends and family I can ask for, but they just don't GET it. plus they can recommend specialist doctors in your area.
- If it helps, it's 100% o.k. to frame this as an illness/injury you're managing rather than something you're recovering from. I know sometimes I get so incredibly frustrated I'm not feeling better yet that I want to just give up. But, while I'm not successful at recovery, I am doing a kick ass job at managing.
- Set aside 5-10 minutes every few days to just let yourself feel bad, this is a tough situation, and you're allowed to feel that, and if you don't let yourself process it a little at a time, you'll process it all at once, which can go very poorly.
- Oh yeah, speaking of feeling your feels, you might notice that you're REALLY on edge a lot. Like super duper grouchy and touchy. In my case, my body was doing weird adrenaline like surges and my brain was like "oh, crap, things are ramping up, there must be a reason." and finding something to be mad about. Just be aware that everything your body does automatically can be really screwed up right now, including your feelings. Learn to say "hey, I need a moment" and give yourself space to just be amped up without taking it out on people who have nothing to do with it.
- In general, it helps to develop a habit of checking in to see what the hell your body's doing now several times a day. I used a symptom tracker app called "Bearable" to develop the habit. Basically I just set it to remind me at however many times a day to stop and evaluate what was going on. Even just an alarm on your phone and writing it down on scrap paper would've worked, but I liked the the way bearable let me track things.
Now for a couple of things you'll want to consult with specialist before trying :
- Vitamin D helped a lot, but it's a BIG dose, like I had to get a prescription for it initially.
- There's a chance you've got sleep apnea now if you didn't before. Treating that can help.
- It really did help to go through all the tests to know that even though _____ was super scary in the moment, it wasn't actively dangerous.
posted by Gygesringtone at 10:06 AM on April 5, 2022 [28 favorites]
Oh, and one more thing. You will get better, eventually. my current life would've been physically impossible for me a year ago. Seriously, you will feel better than you are now, it's just a long road to get there. I know that patience is probably the hardest thing to have right now, but you've got this.
posted by Gygesringtone at 10:15 AM on April 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Gygesringtone at 10:15 AM on April 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
Oh! I almost forgot, but anecdotally, drinking a lot of water seems to help with the adrenaline spikes on days when I'm feeling generally fatigued or stressed, and help keeps my heart rate lower while I'm sleeping. No idea what's going on there, but I know I'm not the only one that finds it helpful.
posted by Gygesringtone at 8:21 AM on April 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Gygesringtone at 8:21 AM on April 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for all the answers, reading through them and the links has been very helpful. I guess I was lucky because by now all the fatigue and lingering symptoms are thankfully gone! Fingers crossed.
posted by bitteschoen at 2:13 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bitteschoen at 2:13 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Brain fog, fatigue, upset stomach, headache but no respiratory symptoms. We're in South Africa.
Doctor said it was probably after effects of Covid but didn't really have any advice about how to deal with it.
He's gradually got better, although it seems the "things smell weird" symptom sometimes recurs.
posted by Zumbador at 8:13 AM on April 5, 2022 [1 favorite]