Long COVID brain fog, anxiety and depression, unable to work; ketamine helped then relapse
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Moderate (mostly housebound)
- Ill before improving or writing
- 4 months
- Last post
- Nov 2022
In their words
- Condition: Long COVID
Since I got LH back in May
In context ↗ - At worst: Moderate
I basically can’t function much between 9-4ish each day
In context ↗ - Now: Relapsed
the first one killed the fight of flight entirely for a bit over two weeks for me and I was out and about living a normal life for a bit
In context ↗ - Began after: COVID
post-COVID most significantly manifested as significantly worse depression
Read from 8 of their posts and comments; links to the 5 this page draws on
Summary
Ridge 39493 developed long COVID in May 2022 with severe depression, anxiety, dissociative episodes, brain fog and dysautonomia, and could not work. A first IV ketamine infusion in August ended the fight-or-flight response and gave about two weeks of near-normal life; a second helped half as much. A booster may have worsened anxiety, and by November mornings were still debilitating, easing by evening. Denied disability and Medicaid; had to cancel an infusion.
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What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- antidepressants / psychiatric meds · Much worse
antidepressants have basically all made it much worse
In context ↗ - propranolol · Helped
propranolol prevented them from turning to panic attacks but did little for the anxiety/general fight or flight
In context ↗ - IV Ketamine infusion · Helped a lot
the first one killed the fight of flight entirely for a bit over two weeks for me and I was out and about living a normal life for a bit
In context ↗ - bivalent booster · Worse
I got mine and had a worsening of symptoms (anxiety especially) the day after that I’m still dealing with, but I’m not 200% sure it was the booster
In context ↗ - SGB (Stellate Ganglion Block) injection · Not said
Just had the SGB yesterday. Super easy procedure ... Been tricky for me to say if I’ve had any improvement
In context ↗
Approaches: Other drugs and medicines
Their path
How ill they were on the ME/CFS severity scale, estimated from what they describe at each point, with time counted from when the illness began. Hover or tap a point. Dates are when they posted. What the levels mean.
Show as a table
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | Long COVID onsetSince I got LH back in MayIn context ↗ | Moderate | |
| 2022-08-22 | First IV ketamine infusion; fight-or-flight gone for over two weeksthe first one killed the fight of flight entirely for a bit over two weeks for me and I was out and about living a normal life for a bitIn context ↗ | Near normal | Ketamine |
| 2022-09-11 | Bivalent COVID booster worsened anxietyI got mine and had a worsening of symptoms (anxiety especially) the day after that I’m still dealing withIn context ↗ | Mild | |
| 2022-09-17 | Second ketamine infusion, about half the effect of the firstSecond infusion I got a couple days ago and it hasn’t worked quite as well- I’d say more like a halfway of what the first one did, where it’s more under control but it still definitely happensIn context ↗ | Mild | Ketamine |
| 2022-09-27 | Stellate ganglion block injection, anxiety manageableBeen tricky for me to say if I’ve had any improvement since I had a ketamine infusion a week and a half ago and I think that’s still helping ... have had some anxiety today but it’s been manageableIn context ↗ | Mild | Stellate ganglion block |
| 2022-11-05 | Still symptomatic with a diurnal pattern; no improvement from circadian optionsmy symptoms (severe depression, anxiety, fatigue, etc.) are debilitatingly bad when I wake up ... I basically can’t function much between 9-4ish each dayIn context ↗ | Mild |
Adverse events
- Ketamine“Had intense nausea for an hour after the infusion. Headache rest of day but kept going down slowly and was overall tolerable.” In context ↗ Side effects
- Antidepressants (unspecified)“any psychiatric meds I’ve taken have made everything worse” In context ↗ Made symptoms worse
- COVID vaccination as treatment“I got mine and had a worsening of symptoms (anxiety especially) the day after that I’m still dealing with” In context ↗ Made symptoms worse
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Anxiety & low mood
post-COVID most significantly manifested as significantly worse depression (with intense dissociative episodes) and frequent panic/anxiety attacks
In context ↗ - Brain fog
I would still have lots of anxiety, brain fog, memory issues, agoraphobia
In context ↗ - POTS & dysautonomia
Got diagnosed with Dysautonomia and am going to a cardiologist later this week to talk about POTS.
In context ↗
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