Housebound with long COVID and off work, now recovered after maraviroc and statins
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Moderate (mostly housebound)
- Ill before improving or writing
- 13 months
- Last post
- Oct 2026
In their words
- Condition: Long COVID
found myself dealing with long covid from May 2022 onwards
In context ↗ - At worst: Moderate
I had to take time off from my job, abdicate on my share of childcare duties, and generally lie around all day
In context ↗ - Now: Recovered
Yep! Living normal life :)
In context ↗ - Began after: COVID
I came down with COVID in April 2022, and after an illusory recovery I leapt back into life, "overdid it" and found myself dealing with long covid from May 2022 onwards.
Read from 56 of their posts and comments; links to the 18 this page draws on
Summary
A man in his late 30s caught COVID in April 2022 and developed long COVID with fatigue attacks, brain fog and leg weakness; the fatigue left him housebound and off work. From July 2022 he took maraviroc, pravastatin, clopidogrel and famciclovir through a long COVID startup, and his attacks became shorter and milder; he returned to work. He credited maraviroc and statins most and was fully recovered by July 2023, holding through two later reinfections.
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What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- exercise · Helped a lot
I gradually increased my exercise from going on walks to going on longer walks
In context ↗ - resting and living within a smaller energy budget · Helped
I had to accept that I had to live within a smaller energy budget
In context ↗ - antiviral (famciclovir) · No change
Antivirals didn’t seem to do anything for me.
In context ↗ - pravastatin (statins) · Helped a lot
Since the maraviroc + statins reversed my decline and set me back on an upward trajectory
In context ↗ - maraviroc · Helped a lot
Helped a ton for me, gave me my life back after 2 months on it.
In context ↗ - clopidogrel · Helped
On pravistatin, clopidogrel, and maraviroc.
In context ↗ - fluvoxamine (Luvox) · Helped
have been doing much better since going on fluvoxamine
In context ↗ - cipro · Much worse
Happened to me too after a terrible reaction to cipro
In context ↗ - Gupta program · Helped
The Gupta program was helpful here
In context ↗ - time · Helped
Part of the acceptance work was accepting that this was going to be a long process with ups and downs and it sure was.
In context ↗ - vitamin D · Not said
I don't know if they helped
In context ↗ - paxlovid · Not said
I got a reinfection and it did not have any effect on my recovery (I took paxlovid and metformin)
In context ↗
Approaches: Anticoagulants · Antivirals · Brain retraining · Pacing · Statins
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2022 | Mild COVID-19; sore throat and headache for several daysGot hit with COVID beginning of April '22 (super mild, didn't even get a fever, just a sore throat and headache).In context ↗ | Mild | |
| May 2022 | Fatigue and brain fog returned two weeks after the infection, in intermittent attacksThe fatigue came back after 2 weeks, with some brain fogIn context ↗ | Mild | |
| June-July 2022 | Debilitating fatigue attacks; off work, gave up childcare, lay around all dayI had to take time off from my job, abdicate on my share of childcare duties, and generally lie around all day being miserable.In context ↗ | Moderate | |
| 2022-08-13 | Two weeks on maraviroc, pravastatin and clopidogrel; fatigue attacks less intense, shorter and less frequentmy acute fatigue attacks have gotten lesser in intensity and shorter in duration. I’ve even had some days with no fatigue attacks at all.In context ↗ | Moderate | Maraviroc (Selzentry) |
| 2022-08-23 | Able to resume job and childcare duties; only a few mild fatigue burstsI am now well enough to resume my job and my share of childcare duties.In context ↗ | Mild | Maraviroc (Selzentry) |
| 2022-09-09 | Brief regression with an acute fatigue attack, rebounded quicklyI had a bit of a regression 10 days ago (got acute fatigue attack) but rebounded quicklyIn context ↗ | Mild | |
| 2022-12-31 | Energy envelope expanded; can do everything except exerciseI can now do everything except exercise, that is the final frontier for 2023!In context ↗ | Near normal | Maraviroc (Selzentry) |
| 2023-04-28 | Eased back into barre classes and reached about 99%Now I’m like 99%In context ↗ | Near normal | |
| 2023-07-18 | Back at HIIT classes without PEM; every part of his life backI now have every part of my life back that long COVID had taken from me.In context ↗ | Recovered | Maraviroc (Selzentry) |
| 2026-03-19 | Living normal life with two kids, going to the gym regularly, no relapse after reinfectionsBack to life now, got 2 kids and going to the gym regularly!In context ↗ | Recovered |
Adverse events
- Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)“Bad reaction to cipro (getting “floxed” as they call it). 2 years of pain, misery. ... I was dealing with painful side effects for 2 years after taking 2 pills” Side effects
- Graded rehab and self-made programmes“I think I overdid it, and it's caused me to develop weakness in my limbs. Now they feel funny to walk on and just not normal” In context ↗ Made symptoms worse
- Pravastatin (Pravachol)“Felt worse for a couple days (pain in head and chest)” In context ↗ Side effects
- Pravastatin (Pravachol)“I stopped them after like 2 months when my liver was giving off warning signs” In context ↗ Liver or kidney problems
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Brain fog
Brain fog went away 100% and the fatigue went away like 80%
In context ↗ - Muscle weakness
I have a weird weakness in my legs
In context ↗ - Post-exertional malaise
when I do get PEM it is milder and shorter in duration
In context ↗ - Heart symptoms & palpitations
My resting HR is fine but spikes quickly and quads start burning when climbing NYC subway stairs.
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
This triggered my latent health anxiety and I’ve been struggling with severe anxiety and depression as a result.
In context ↗ - Headaches & migraine
long COVID really tamped down on the occasional vestibular migraines I used to get!
In context ↗
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