Long COVID at nine weeks with head pressure and sleepless nights, still no improvement
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Not stated
- Ill for
- 2 months
- Last post
- Nov 2021
In their words
- Condition: Long COVID
I’m also still kinda new on the long haul timeline at 9 weeks
In context ↗ - Now: No benefit
I am back in a bad place after coming off Amitriptyline.
In context ↗ - Began after: COVID
before this presumed long covid stuff started
Read from 8 of their posts and comments; links to the 7 this page draws on
Summary
Quail 52682 was nine weeks into long COVID in October 2021. Earlier, sleep was broken at three to five hours, and they had constant head pressure with shooting pain and depression. Amitriptyline 20 mg eased headaches and sleep but left them too drowsy to function, and coming off it put them back in a bad place. By November sleep had worsened, with nights of no sleep at all; eating shot their heart rate into the 120s, and they were seeing a naturopath and psychiatrist.
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What they tried
Their words about each treatment
- Amitriptyline · Helped
I was put on Amitriptyline 20mg for headaches and other neuro symptoms. It had the additional benefit of helping with sleep.
In context ↗ - blood patch · Not said
Plus a blood patch after a lumbar puncture.
In context ↗ - physical therapy · Not said
I experience it less now, but still feel tightness at the base of my skull and am seeing physical therapy about that.
In context ↗
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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2021 | Long COVID beganI’m also still kinda new on the long haul timeline at 9 weeksIn context ↗ | Not stated | |
| September–October 2021 | Constant head pressure with shooting nerve pain; only 3-5 broken hours of sleepIt was pretty constant the first two months.In context ↗ | Moderate | |
| October 2021 | Sleep and headaches eased on amitriptyline but mornings were brutalIt had the additional benefit of helping with sleep.In context ↗ | Mild | Amitriptyline (Elavil) |
| 2021-10-21 | Came off amitriptyline and fell back into a bad placeI am back in a bad place after coming off Amitriptyline.In context ↗ | Moderate | |
| 2021-11-12 | Off amitriptyline, sleep worsening with nights of no sleep at allI’ve had two nights this week where I haven’t slept at all.In context ↗ | Moderate |
Adverse events
- Amitriptyline (Elavil)“it was causing daytime sleepiness (mornings were brutal)” In context ↗ Side effects
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Sleep problems
The first month, month and a half, I could hardly sleep. Maybe 3-5 hours, totally broken.
In context ↗ - Headaches & migraine
One of my earlier LC symptoms— head pressure and the shooting pain (likely occipital nerves).
In context ↗ - Heart symptoms & palpitations
Eating will shoot my heart up into the 120s
In context ↗ - POTS & dysautonomia
Eating will shoot my heart up into the 120s, and laying down will slowly get me down to 95, then 85
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
Turns out it was helping my headaches and apparently depression much more than I knew.
In context ↗