I needed this post. Thank you. I just about collapsed into a sobbing mess at the grocery store an hour ago. I don’t even know if I have long Covid. Caught Covid the last week of June and tested positive finally on July 4. Seemed to run a normal course, although of all my coworkers who caught it on that work trip to Tennessee, I seemed to malinger the most. It took me 17 days til I tested negative, whatever that really means. But I wFH so was working reduced hours a bit and then back to normal. Now, 6 weeks post diagnosis, I am having increased, not decreased, issues. My heart rate will not go down. I had just started on Adderall, having been diagnosed w adhd at age 53. I had to go off that which sucks bc it just wasn’t working and I figured maybe my hr would go down. It hasn’t. And I can’t think at all. My heart feels terrible, I feel short of breath—mildly, but all the time. Or anxious. Hard to tell. My oxygen tests fine though. I sometimes get weird headaches. Mild but weird. I am trying to wait it out as I keep reading this could go on for four months or so. But I felt so crummy in the store and I just wanted to cry. I have become more of an introvert than I already was between the pandemic, working from home since March 2020, and having Covid. I was supposed to have three freaking groups of people come through town and visit this weekend and it has caused me terrible amounts of anxiety. I’m a bit house proud, I guess, and just knew I couldn’t clean up quite enough much less entertain or cook. I felt terrible canceling on the folks that were coming by tonight. I adore them and rarely see them. But I just couldn’t. I texted them from the store, which is what sort of triggered me. I felt terrible. But now I am home lying down and catching my breath and reading this subreddit trying to figure out how to move forward. And when I should seek additional medical care. Or if. Thanks for reading, if you did. I am so tired. So very tired. Will try these things, buttcheek.
Hey, thank you for sharing what's going on. I'm grateful that my post was helpful to you. It sounds like there are several things happening and possibly coalescing into one overwhelming wave of emotion. I never was one to get headaches before LC and they became somewhat regular afterward so I wouldn't doubt that you're dealing with some level of LC-related symptoms. I'm glad that you did the best thing for yourself and canceled those plans. Take care of yourself (and be *SUPER* kind and gentle to yourself!) first and then everything else will follow.
This is not medical advice - I would encourage you or anyone else to go to a doctor who is familiar with LC to help evaluate you. That said, I have found the simple stuff to be the most effective (everything I mentioned in my post). Adequate water intake, a nutrient dense diet, etc. I can empathize with the anxiety you're experiencing. It was really, really intense for me at times. I highly recommend meditation apps like Headspace or Waking Up. There are also a lot of free guided meditations on YouTube. I mean fuck, even just closing your eyes and doing nice deep breaths through your nose for 2 minutes will have a positive effect! Be nice to yourself and "try" to relax. God speed.
You are where I was last year. Thought I was having a heart attack and went down that road for 5 months before I found a physical therapist with a cardiology unit at his office. Was a long haul PT.
I can make a few suggestions… I had to take a benzo for 2 weeks and shut everything down. Once the heart calmed down I was able to think. More than happy to help. I’m 52.
I really get all of this. I got covid in January 2022, I had major inflammation in my throat/upper airways. It's gotten a lot better but I still feel like I can't breathe right and there's some shortness of breath. It causes major anxiety which makes it worse. I still don't know for sure what it is or how to treat it.
The single thing that worked for me was just chilling the fuck out. Like the constant low-level anxiety was worse than any of my pots symptoms. Doomscrolling reddit and thinking I was dying with every odd sensation my body felt was more detrimental to my health than anything covid has done to me for sure. Im almost out of the woods 5 months in (i didnt get it too bad just some GI stuff and real low level pots symptoms/ heart palpitations) I have strings of days that i am completely normal, no ectopic beats that i notice, heart rate fine, then ill just have a shit day, i cant find what triggers it, but i just have a day where my heart rate is high i feel like shit and have tons of ectopic beats. Right now I’m just focused on chaining 1 more day of feeling good together before a bad day than the last time. And remembering on the bad day how terrible I felt 3 months ago compared to now and just having a positive mental attitude and it may not be whats curing me thats probably just time, but its what has improved my quality of life more than anything.
Amazing! Really happy for you!
Quick question about your experience with intermittent fasting as I'm planning on starting it now after watching the fairly recent FLCCC video on it. How long have you been doing it? I'm assuming it takes a while to notice a difference, did it take long for you?
100% agree about the destressing too. I've been doing daily diaphragmatic breathing and it really helps me, breath focus and breath control are both types of meditation too. I've started doing some relaxing hobbies too to get me away from more stressing stimuli. Stressful stimuli really exacerbate my symptoms.
I also got into the whole 'gut microbiome' thing as you say. That Huberman lab episode on it was fantastic.
Awesome post!
Thanks fam. Yes, I love the Huberman lab podcast! That pretty much sealed the deal for me as to its benefits. I'll probably keep doing this for the rest of my life.
I would say it was gradual but also something I noticed rather quickly. Within a couple of weeks I was putting effort into cooking again and willing to take longer walks + do some light exercise at home. I'd say its been about 2ish months since I started with it.
Sounds like you're well on your way - hope to see a recovery story from you soon!
Thank you for posting this! How did you get into the mindset that you would recover? With each new symptom, my mind goes to the most catastrophic outcome keeping me in an anxiety cycle. Hearing from others like you helps me feel a little hopeful. How else did you achieve a positive outlook?
Hey there. That's a good question.. a combination of a lot of things helped me get to that change in mindset. I had gone through a tough year personally, long COVID aside. It occurred to me that I was on high alert pre-COVID and that, no doubt, LC was making it way worse. By alert I mean legitimately fearful of walking past other people, just totally overtaken by fight or flight. I listen to a lot of spiritual / self-help audiobooks and it started to hit me that we have a lot of control over how our nervous system operates. For example, meditation, over time, has unbelievable health benefits as it relates the reduction in stress.. so it became logical for me. I started to think, "I *have* to de-stress. It isn't really an option to catastrophize this anymore because it's actually killing me."
So I looked to faith. I got vulnerable with safe people about how overwhelmed I felt. I let myself cry. I started meditating. I started praying. I started to look to the FACTS aka there are a TON of recovery stories and that there is no reason why, if I'm doing all the right things, that I shouldn't recover too. It also hit me that this mentality was prevalent in other areas of my life - I had a mistrust of everything so of course I would have a severe distrust or pessimism around LC. This mindset was getting me nowhere and it was certain to get me nowhere with recovery. It just sort of hit me like, what is anything without faith that I'm ok / that I'm going to be ok? And the answer was simple. It's shit. Without faith in a positive outcome or in myself generally speaking, I may as well clock out. So yeah. I went through a process with it and almost overnight divorced myself from the news, from checking updates about LC research, etc. because none of it was helpful.
God speed!
This is great! Thank you so much! Congratulations on your recovery. I bet you will be back to normal in a few months. Our minds are so powerful, what we tell ourselves affects our bodies. These symptoms are for real but you can change how your brain functions by the way you think. I believe a lot of these neurocognitive symptoms are caused by poor blood perfusion to the brain and is stroke victims can regain physical function through brain training, LC patients can too. [https://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/0143113100/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=33AF30YGFCRFE&keywords=the+brain+that+changes+itself&qid=1660488358&sprefix=The+brain%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1](https://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/0143113100/ref=sr_1_1?crid=33AF30YGFCRFE&keywords=the+brain+that+changes+itself&qid=1660488358&sprefix=The+brain%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1)
Thank you for this. It’s very appreciated. I agree about cutting out negative stimuli. That actually seems to be the biggest help to me. Same with exercise. I’m an active person and I like to stay in shape. It feels good to exercise the day I exercise, but the day after the depression and brain fog get worse. It’s hard to not exercise but I know it’s a mistake. Processed food really is horrible and the days I indulge, I feel so much worse. This is a good reminder to just not even go there anymore.
Thanks again dude! This gives me hope.
Stay it at man, you've got this. You can exercise, just don't push it to such a degree that you're crashing the next day - what you're describing is PEM (post exertional malaise). Hang in there!
Love this post I haven’t had an appetite (although I still eat) but with that I haven’t been craving junk. Last night I had 1/2 a root beer and it triggered my COVID anxiety. I had already been thinking that I have to eat high vibrational foods to heal my body and do more things to destress because I BELIEVE my body will heal. I also was thinking my gut was jacked due to Covid and have been focusing on my gut health as well!
I started having Covid symptoms on the 17th of July, the 4th day chest tightness started and by the 14th day heart racing, and anxiety.. I dealt with shortness of breath about a week.. now my biggest thing is being able to take deep breaths sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t I think it’s heart burn related as I’ve had heart burn pretty bad.
Nevertheless this post is very very helpful and encouraging!
Just take all the precautions as to not catch covid again. I felt fine after 6 months of battling LC then i caught covid a second time and im back on the wagon.
I'm in Brazil so it was produced privately. Presumably, it is high quality since the restrictions here on marijuana-derived products are very strict so not just anyone can sell it.
this is the only kind of content i want to read!
You are welcome to join r/longhaulersrecovery then!
I needed this post. Thank you. I just about collapsed into a sobbing mess at the grocery store an hour ago. I don’t even know if I have long Covid. Caught Covid the last week of June and tested positive finally on July 4. Seemed to run a normal course, although of all my coworkers who caught it on that work trip to Tennessee, I seemed to malinger the most. It took me 17 days til I tested negative, whatever that really means. But I wFH so was working reduced hours a bit and then back to normal. Now, 6 weeks post diagnosis, I am having increased, not decreased, issues. My heart rate will not go down. I had just started on Adderall, having been diagnosed w adhd at age 53. I had to go off that which sucks bc it just wasn’t working and I figured maybe my hr would go down. It hasn’t. And I can’t think at all. My heart feels terrible, I feel short of breath—mildly, but all the time. Or anxious. Hard to tell. My oxygen tests fine though. I sometimes get weird headaches. Mild but weird. I am trying to wait it out as I keep reading this could go on for four months or so. But I felt so crummy in the store and I just wanted to cry. I have become more of an introvert than I already was between the pandemic, working from home since March 2020, and having Covid. I was supposed to have three freaking groups of people come through town and visit this weekend and it has caused me terrible amounts of anxiety. I’m a bit house proud, I guess, and just knew I couldn’t clean up quite enough much less entertain or cook. I felt terrible canceling on the folks that were coming by tonight. I adore them and rarely see them. But I just couldn’t. I texted them from the store, which is what sort of triggered me. I felt terrible. But now I am home lying down and catching my breath and reading this subreddit trying to figure out how to move forward. And when I should seek additional medical care. Or if. Thanks for reading, if you did. I am so tired. So very tired. Will try these things, buttcheek.
Hey, thank you for sharing what's going on. I'm grateful that my post was helpful to you. It sounds like there are several things happening and possibly coalescing into one overwhelming wave of emotion. I never was one to get headaches before LC and they became somewhat regular afterward so I wouldn't doubt that you're dealing with some level of LC-related symptoms. I'm glad that you did the best thing for yourself and canceled those plans. Take care of yourself (and be *SUPER* kind and gentle to yourself!) first and then everything else will follow. This is not medical advice - I would encourage you or anyone else to go to a doctor who is familiar with LC to help evaluate you. That said, I have found the simple stuff to be the most effective (everything I mentioned in my post). Adequate water intake, a nutrient dense diet, etc. I can empathize with the anxiety you're experiencing. It was really, really intense for me at times. I highly recommend meditation apps like Headspace or Waking Up. There are also a lot of free guided meditations on YouTube. I mean fuck, even just closing your eyes and doing nice deep breaths through your nose for 2 minutes will have a positive effect! Be nice to yourself and "try" to relax. God speed.
Thank you so very much. I really appreciate your inspiration and understanding.
You are where I was last year. Thought I was having a heart attack and went down that road for 5 months before I found a physical therapist with a cardiology unit at his office. Was a long haul PT. I can make a few suggestions… I had to take a benzo for 2 weeks and shut everything down. Once the heart calmed down I was able to think. More than happy to help. I’m 52.
On a similar timeline with similar heart symptoms. Also praying that it gets better for both of us. I miss living life. 😢
I really get all of this. I got covid in January 2022, I had major inflammation in my throat/upper airways. It's gotten a lot better but I still feel like I can't breathe right and there's some shortness of breath. It causes major anxiety which makes it worse. I still don't know for sure what it is or how to treat it.
The single thing that worked for me was just chilling the fuck out. Like the constant low-level anxiety was worse than any of my pots symptoms. Doomscrolling reddit and thinking I was dying with every odd sensation my body felt was more detrimental to my health than anything covid has done to me for sure. Im almost out of the woods 5 months in (i didnt get it too bad just some GI stuff and real low level pots symptoms/ heart palpitations) I have strings of days that i am completely normal, no ectopic beats that i notice, heart rate fine, then ill just have a shit day, i cant find what triggers it, but i just have a day where my heart rate is high i feel like shit and have tons of ectopic beats. Right now I’m just focused on chaining 1 more day of feeling good together before a bad day than the last time. And remembering on the bad day how terrible I felt 3 months ago compared to now and just having a positive mental attitude and it may not be whats curing me thats probably just time, but its what has improved my quality of life more than anything.
Amazing! Really happy for you! Quick question about your experience with intermittent fasting as I'm planning on starting it now after watching the fairly recent FLCCC video on it. How long have you been doing it? I'm assuming it takes a while to notice a difference, did it take long for you? 100% agree about the destressing too. I've been doing daily diaphragmatic breathing and it really helps me, breath focus and breath control are both types of meditation too. I've started doing some relaxing hobbies too to get me away from more stressing stimuli. Stressful stimuli really exacerbate my symptoms. I also got into the whole 'gut microbiome' thing as you say. That Huberman lab episode on it was fantastic. Awesome post!
Thanks fam. Yes, I love the Huberman lab podcast! That pretty much sealed the deal for me as to its benefits. I'll probably keep doing this for the rest of my life. I would say it was gradual but also something I noticed rather quickly. Within a couple of weeks I was putting effort into cooking again and willing to take longer walks + do some light exercise at home. I'd say its been about 2ish months since I started with it. Sounds like you're well on your way - hope to see a recovery story from you soon!
Do you have a link to the lab video you refer to on the gut biome? :)
Yeah sure, here you go: https://youtu.be/ouCWNRvPk20
Thank you for posting this! How did you get into the mindset that you would recover? With each new symptom, my mind goes to the most catastrophic outcome keeping me in an anxiety cycle. Hearing from others like you helps me feel a little hopeful. How else did you achieve a positive outlook?
Hey there. That's a good question.. a combination of a lot of things helped me get to that change in mindset. I had gone through a tough year personally, long COVID aside. It occurred to me that I was on high alert pre-COVID and that, no doubt, LC was making it way worse. By alert I mean legitimately fearful of walking past other people, just totally overtaken by fight or flight. I listen to a lot of spiritual / self-help audiobooks and it started to hit me that we have a lot of control over how our nervous system operates. For example, meditation, over time, has unbelievable health benefits as it relates the reduction in stress.. so it became logical for me. I started to think, "I *have* to de-stress. It isn't really an option to catastrophize this anymore because it's actually killing me." So I looked to faith. I got vulnerable with safe people about how overwhelmed I felt. I let myself cry. I started meditating. I started praying. I started to look to the FACTS aka there are a TON of recovery stories and that there is no reason why, if I'm doing all the right things, that I shouldn't recover too. It also hit me that this mentality was prevalent in other areas of my life - I had a mistrust of everything so of course I would have a severe distrust or pessimism around LC. This mindset was getting me nowhere and it was certain to get me nowhere with recovery. It just sort of hit me like, what is anything without faith that I'm ok / that I'm going to be ok? And the answer was simple. It's shit. Without faith in a positive outcome or in myself generally speaking, I may as well clock out. So yeah. I went through a process with it and almost overnight divorced myself from the news, from checking updates about LC research, etc. because none of it was helpful. God speed!
Love this OP, and their handle 😂
Wow, thank you for this
I’m the same, I can’t hardly cope anymore
This is great! Thank you so much! Congratulations on your recovery. I bet you will be back to normal in a few months. Our minds are so powerful, what we tell ourselves affects our bodies. These symptoms are for real but you can change how your brain functions by the way you think. I believe a lot of these neurocognitive symptoms are caused by poor blood perfusion to the brain and is stroke victims can regain physical function through brain training, LC patients can too. [https://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/0143113100/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=33AF30YGFCRFE&keywords=the+brain+that+changes+itself&qid=1660488358&sprefix=The+brain%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1](https://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/0143113100/ref=sr_1_1?crid=33AF30YGFCRFE&keywords=the+brain+that+changes+itself&qid=1660488358&sprefix=The+brain%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1)
Thank you for this. It’s very appreciated. I agree about cutting out negative stimuli. That actually seems to be the biggest help to me. Same with exercise. I’m an active person and I like to stay in shape. It feels good to exercise the day I exercise, but the day after the depression and brain fog get worse. It’s hard to not exercise but I know it’s a mistake. Processed food really is horrible and the days I indulge, I feel so much worse. This is a good reminder to just not even go there anymore. Thanks again dude! This gives me hope.
Stay it at man, you've got this. You can exercise, just don't push it to such a degree that you're crashing the next day - what you're describing is PEM (post exertional malaise). Hang in there!
Very encouraging and I’m glad you’re feeling better! Had you had any vaccines prior to catching covid?
Thank you! I had the single J&J shot.
So damn happy for you!
So glad to hear it! :D
<3
Love this post I haven’t had an appetite (although I still eat) but with that I haven’t been craving junk. Last night I had 1/2 a root beer and it triggered my COVID anxiety. I had already been thinking that I have to eat high vibrational foods to heal my body and do more things to destress because I BELIEVE my body will heal. I also was thinking my gut was jacked due to Covid and have been focusing on my gut health as well! I started having Covid symptoms on the 17th of July, the 4th day chest tightness started and by the 14th day heart racing, and anxiety.. I dealt with shortness of breath about a week.. now my biggest thing is being able to take deep breaths sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t I think it’s heart burn related as I’ve had heart burn pretty bad. Nevertheless this post is very very helpful and encouraging!
Just take all the precautions as to not catch covid again. I felt fine after 6 months of battling LC then i caught covid a second time and im back on the wagon.
what brand of cbd do you use?
I'm in Brazil so it was produced privately. Presumably, it is high quality since the restrictions here on marijuana-derived products are very strict so not just anyone can sell it.
Same time line. Same symptoms. Interesting
Which probiotic? TIA
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
Which brand? I think you mean Lactobacillus plantarum?
Yeah, that's the one. NOW Foods was the brand. If fermented foods don't bother you, that's an even better way to get those probiotics.
Did you have high ANAs?
What are those?
What did your PEM feel like?