Long COVID with PEM and brain symptoms, somewhat better after resigning and radical rest
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Mild (working or studying, with limits)
- Ill before improving or writing
- 8 months
- Last post
- Feb 2024
In their words
- Condition: Long COVID
PEM, fatigue, etc.
In context ↗ - At worst: Mild
Just quit my job after 6 months of barely keeping it together
In context ↗ - Now: Somewhat better
Almost all of my symptoms have subsided since. ... I'm still sick, the ED just went away lmao
- Began after: COVID
I'm 8 months deep now.
Read from 23 of their posts and comments; links to the 14 this page draws on
Summary
He has been ill for about eight months; the first seven were hell, and he spent the first six barely keeping it together at his butcher job, with PEM, brain symptoms, a racing heart, chest tightness and anxiety. After resigning and resting radically for about three weeks, almost all his symptoms subsided and he felt better than usual, though he still called himself sick. A trial of Wellbutrin was hard; adding buspar initially helped, then suddenly made symptoms feel magnified and intolerable; he used hydroxyzine for fear, sleep and brain symptoms.
Ask Miruvor AI
What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- prozac · Worse
Tried to go back onto prozac in the beginning and it didn't take well.
In context ↗ - baby aspirin · Helped
Ibuprofen or aspirin have helped me in this regard
In context ↗ - fasting · No change
In my experience the fasting and extreme diet changes don't work
In context ↗ - extreme diet changes (removing bread) · No change
If fasting and removing bread and thinking positive works I'd been cured 8 months ago.
In context ↗ - Hydroxyzine (atarax) · Helped
Hydroxyzine helps an awful lot too, and it calms a lot of the anxiety issues for the day, and it helps with sleep.
In context ↗ - radically doing nothing · Helped a lot
Almost all of my symptoms have subsided since. ... I've felt better than usual after about 3 weeks of radically doing nothing.
In context ↗ - Wellbutrin · Worse
I'm 3 days in and it's getting kind of hard. ... It messed my sleep up last night too.
In context ↗ - buspar · Worse
Things suddenly got worse after buspar. Became intolerable. Symptoms felt magnified.
In context ↗ - time · Helped
Other than that time and rest.
In context ↗
Approaches: 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. Dates are when they posted. What the levels mean.
Show as a table
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 (approx., 8 months before Feb 2024) | became ill and kept working as a butcherThe first 7 months have been hellIn context ↗ | Mild | |
| 2024-01-18 | quit his butcher job and began to feel a little betterJust quit my job after 6 months of barely keeping it together, I already feel myself getting a little better.In context ↗ | Mild | |
| 2024-02-03 | almost all symptoms subsided after three weeks of radical restAlmost all of my symptoms have subsided since. And I've felt better than usual after about 3 weeks of radically doing nothing.In context ↗ | Mild | Radical rest |
| 2024-02-18 | symptoms magnified after buspar was addedThings suddenly got worse after buspar. Became intolerable. Symptoms felt magnified.In context ↗ | Mild |
Adverse events
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)“Tried to go back onto prozac in the beginning and it didn't take well.” In context ↗ Side effects
- Bupropion (Wellbutrin)“It messed my sleep up last night too.” In context ↗ Insomnia from treatment
- Bupropion (Wellbutrin)“Well I just felt myself getting quite sick feeling, and my emotions are all over the place. Currently sitting and crying in my van. Kinda feels like a mini panic.” In context ↗ Mood or psychiatric effects
- Buspirone (Buspar)“Things suddenly got worse after buspar. Became intolerable. Symptoms felt magnified.” In context ↗ Made symptoms worse
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Post-exertional malaise
Yeah sometimes the PEM will make me feel like I'm withdrawing from prozac again.
In context ↗ - Brain fog
Whenever symptoms have gotten nasty hydroxyzine has helped take the edge of the brain.
In context ↗ - Sleep problems
Hydroxyzine(atarax) helps me sleep when I get stuck.
In context ↗ - Heart symptoms & palpitations
Now my highest is only 120 sometimes. And that's if I walk around a lot.
In context ↗ - Pain & fibromyalgia
the chest pains and tightness have gone away from me for the most part
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
Hydroxyzine helps an awful lot too, and it calms a lot of the anxiety issues for the day
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
my emotions are all over the place. Currently sitting and crying in my van. Kinda feels like a mini panic.
In context ↗
Ask Miruvor AI
Similar stories
-
Bedridden with long COVID for three years, now nearly back to normal with time and pacing
Caught COVID in December 2019, before lockdown, and was mostly bedridden for three years as symptoms worsened. From year three she improved slowly, crediting time, rest, pacing, a gradual walking programme, daily antihistamines and gabapentin. A 2023…
-
Housebound with long COVID, now much better and back at work after rest and acupuncture
An Australian academic in their forties got long COVID in May 2024 after a third infection: brain fog first, then crippling fatigue that left them housebound and crashing daily for months. Rest, time and treatments including acupuncture greatly improved…
-
Not enough detail to draw a path
Often bedridden with long COVID, pacing helped, then stress and reinfection brought relapse
She developed long COVID in December 2020 and spent six years often bedridden with PEM, brain fog, air hunger, POTS and loss of smell, plus heavy uterine bleeding needing transfusions and a hysterectomy. By summer 2026 she was swimming and walking laps in…
-
Long COVID too faint to walk or drive, now good most days at about 80-85%
A woman who fell ill with long COVID in August 2023 was too faint to walk around much or drive, with brain fog, breathlessness and anxiety. Quitting her job and resting six months, plus supplements, brought her to about 90% by mid-2024, but a January 2025…