Long COVID with brain fog and 14-16 hours sleep, much better with pacing and walks
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Moderate (mostly housebound)
- Ill before improving or writing
- 1 year
- Last post
- Jan 2024
In their words
- Condition: Long COVID
I got it again at Christmas 2022 (yet another Christmas self-isolated sucked, I can't lie). However, this time, I pulled the short straw and didn't recover like usual.
In context ↗ - At worst: Moderate
Now I was reduced to needing 14-16hrs of sleep per day (with frequent naps during the waking hours), barely being able to run up the stairs w/o getting out of breath, taking many days off work
In context ↗ - Now: Much better
I can jog lightly and go to the gym (though I can't do much without feeling like death).
In context ↗ - Began after: COVID
I got it again at Christmas 2022 ... this time, I pulled the short straw and didn't recover like usual.
In context ↗
Read from 1 of their posts and comments; links to the one this page draws on
Summary
After their third COVID infection, at Christmas 2022, they developed long COVID: for two months they needed 14-16 hours of sleep a day, had brain fog and could barely climb the stairs. They quit intense gym sessions for daily walks, naps and pacing, and cut back on news and social media, which they credit with slow improvement. A year on they worked from home, jogged lightly and still overslept; repeated gym visits set them back for days or weeks.
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What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- quit going to the gym and other types of intense exercise and focused on making daily walks · Helped
I quit going to the gym and other types of intense exercise and focused on making daily walks a part of my new exercise routine
In context ↗ - letting myself nap a lot · Helped
having the discipline to go to bed and sleep instead of sitting on the sofa ... made a difference
In context ↗ - meditation · Helped
I highly recommend journalling, meditation and something to look forward to when you wake up
In context ↗ - online support network · No change
a therapist who invited me to an online support network (which was a nice idea, but useless)
In context ↗ - taking a huge step back from social media and long-covid news · Not said
I took a *huge* step back from social media last year
In context ↗ - vit. d3 w/ k2 · Not said
I've started taking vit. d3 w/ k2 because I don't get as much sunlight due to less outdoor activity
In context ↗
Approaches: CBT & mindset · Mind-body practices · Pacing · Radical rest
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. The chart starts 2 months after onset: the story doesn’t say how ill they were before that. 1 step has no time and sits in story order between the steps around it. 1 step says too little to place on the scale and is only in the table. Dates are when they posted. What the levels mean.
Show as a table
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas 2022 | third COVID infection; did not recover as usualI got it again at Christmas 2022 ... this time, I pulled the short straw and didn't recover like usual.In context ↗ | Not stated | |
| two months into long COVID (early 2023) | worst of the long COVID symptomsNow I was reduced to needing 14-16hrs of sleep per day ... spending most of the time in a mental coma unable to focus on anything.In context ↗ | Moderate | |
| during the first year | quit intense gym work, walked daily, napped, accepted the illness; slow improvementAfter a bit of acceptance, stressing less over how little I could accomplish and being fairer to myself, I started to see improvements in my health and mood, slowly but surely.In context ↗ | Mild | Pacing and the energy envelope |
| 4 days before January 2024 | crashed after a gym workoutAs I write this I'm feeling the effects of a workout I did 4 days ago hit me with a lingering languidity.In context ↗ | Moderate | |
| January 2024 | one year on: working from home, light jogging and gym, still oversleepingI can jog lightly and go to the gym (though I can't do much without feeling like death).In context ↗ | Mild |
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Brain fog
Brain fog is a lot less - some days it is barely noticeable
In context ↗ - Post-exertional malaise
gone to the gym (or something similar) and ended up taking days or weeks to recover again
In context ↗ - Breathlessness
barely being able to run up the stairs w/o getting out of breath
In context ↗ - Heart symptoms & palpitations
I also had constant pain in my chest (which I still have now - hoping to see an MSK specialist soon)
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
One thing that exacerbated my condition more than anything else was the low mood: depressive spirals, doom-ridden thoughts, and lack of drive.
In context ↗
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