Long Covid symptoms

[dogshome]

I'm posting this on here because I believe the people who read it are probably a similar age to me, are calm, thoughtful and not over-reactive  8-)

My wife and I both had the disease back in February/early March. I had glass in the throat feeling, temperature, back pain and typical flu symptoms. Put me in bed for a couple of days. My wife just thought she had a cold and could not smell anything. Even plastics on a bonfire which really stank. She has had antibody tests twice and is giving blood to the hospital to help others.

Some weeks after felling better, I got a rattly cough that would not go away. It took about 8 weeks or more. Then sinus trouble and pretty bad headaches. Then large and painful cold sores up in the nose. These symptoms took maybe another 4 weeks to go.

So a couple of weeks ago my wife suddenly felt dizzy and was diagnosed with inner ear infection 'virus'. It took about 7 days or more before she was completely right.

Last Tuesday I woke up about 1am and my eyes were continuously moving right, then flicking back. This lasted about 2 hours and was accompanied by severe loss of balance which lasted about 8 hours. My speech was also difficult, not slurred but took complete concentration to get words out. I sounded like Captain Kirks worst impressionist. Next day, felt much better at first, but a bit wobbly towards the end of the day.

Today I'm almost normal, but watching the dog hurtling around whilst bent over had me clinging to the fence for a bit!

The paramedics and young doctor at the hospital ignored me when I told them it was an inner ear problem (vestibular) and one of our dogs had had it. No I wasn't having a stroke or heart attack, I am completely calm because I know what it is and it will go in a few days. Of course, they don't believe you and when the young doc felt my (hereditary) irregular heart beat I got full ECG and brain scan.... Grrr.....

Anyhow, doc next day recognised it, shook my head from side to side and noticed my eyes were not catching up properly.

So.... :-/

I feel strongly that these strange things are all hang-ons from Covid. Like malaria or glandular fever, it stays about for a bit. I've never had inner ear trouble or sinus swelling like that or rattly, lingering cough.

Hopefully that is it, there can't be many more places in my body for it to have a go at?

Any thoughts or comments?

[Justin B.]

Dog - I sincerely hope that you get over these lingering issues quickly.  What I have read indicates this nasty bug affects people differently and some effects linger for quite a while.  We will keep you and your wifein our prayers.

[dogshome]

Thanks Justin and thank you for keeping the site fresh. I know how much is involved in something seemingly simple.

[dogshome]

Some weeks later, I'm back to normal. Vertigo now seems to be a recognised symptom (which is what we had). It's nice to get back on the bike, which I now notice uses a lot less 'balancing' brain cells than walking. I don't think we realise how our brains are continuously processing these 'simple' tasks until they stop working normally. Having to focus on staying upright didn't leave a lot left for speaking or much else. CPU maxed out on one thread.

My greyhounds can be maxed out after an hour at a dog show. Clyde needs all 10 braincells to process everything he is seeing, smelling, feeling etc and needs a good nap afterwards (more than the usual 400 winks). He's more tired after that than several hours walking out on the fields.

[DeeG]

I got it in November. Spouse got it a couple days after me. No fever, no chest pain, no difficulty breathing, no loss of taste or smell for either of us. Just a bit of a cough and flat out exhaustion. And no appetite. Which was a good thing, since I was too danged tired to cook. I thought I would be able to work on a quilt for one of the grandkids, but there as zero motivation. So I spent a lot of time watching Netflix and playing Fortnite. 

Cough started on Nov 9th, tested on the 11th, results came back on the 14th.  Back to work on the 23rd. Worked 9 days in a row and then I had vacation (all of December). Really happy I had that vacation time, those 9 days just about killed me.

Spouse is 70 years old, he had a bit more of an issue recovering.  But, he is back to spending an hour on the stationary bike, and doing time on the rowing machine and swinging kettle bells. He still whines about how tired he is, though.

I must be doing better. I spent this month tearing out a wall in my office, ripping up carpet and installing hardwood floors.  No lingering effects, an occasional coughing fit, and a lot less energy than I had before.

[dogshome]

I'm glad you are over it. Go antibodies!   

[Justin B.]

Dee - fantastic!  Very glad you and Dog got through it.

[DeeG]

Yup, we are happy that it wasn't worse. Now the dilemma. 

I can get the vaccine whenever I want. Do I get it and still have to live my life in a mask, or do I not get it, and still have to live my life in a mask?

The vaccine does not make you immune, but it 'might' lessen symptoms if you do get it (or get it again).  And from what I understand, much like the antibodies you have after you recover, the effects of the vaccine start to fade after a few months. ~sigh~

[dogshome]

Risk of taking jab? Very low. 2.3 million jabbed in uk to date, so I'll make that extremely low.
Rick of catching another covid variant without having had any type before? Almost certain.
Risk of another variant having had one already? Guess medium.
Risk of death or debilitating symptoms if got covid? Higher age? High.

Like MMR jab, there is no sensible reason not to have it. Since this is a biking forum, why ride without a hemet? My wife has been giving plasma (had 1st gen covid) and has been offered the jab. She asked what I thought? Do I love my wife? What do you think my answer is? Same as when I am offered it.

Remember you are also protecting those around you by having it. Friends, family, neighbour.......

[marcmax]

I have spent most of my adult life in the IT industry. I retired from IBM and since then I have been doing contract work ever since. About 6 months ago I was permanently hired as the IT Director (read that as one man department) for a healthcare clinic a few towns over from where I live. Not a huge population but still more people than the small town I live in.

Being a one man shop anything with a plug seems to fall under my domain. Needless to say I am in every area of the clinic. Of the 40 people working here, almost 20 have tested positive at one time or another. Most with mild to moderate symptoms but three had severe symptoms. I have seen patients that came here, where sent to the hospital and didn't make it.

I haven't slept much in the last several months, always waking up from bad nightmares, etc. When they offered the vaccine I was first in line. The day it became available I was about the fifth person in the state to get stuck. I have since had the second shot and I don't feel any different except it feels like the weight of the world is off my shoulders. I can sleep through the night again. Even though I realize I am not immune I now feel I have a fighting chance.

If you have the opportunity take the shot!

[dogshome]

 

[DeeG]

Since I like to travel, and I have a sneaky feeling that having the vaccine just might be a requirement for some countries, I got the 'jab' on the 14th.  And you're right, Dogshome, why not? I made sure all my vaccines were up to date before my fist trip to SE Asia. Why? because I didn't want to catch something. This really is no different, is it?

Took all of 8 minutes, start to finish.  Our county health district is doing drive through vaccinations, so that's really convenient. Set up both appointments on line through Eventbrite, and then they provide a link so you can download the paperwork to fill out. With that is about 4  pages of FAQ's about the vaccine (Moderna). I had already done hours of reading via Modernas site, so it was nothing new. OK, I made an attempt to read and understand what was on Modernas site.  Obviously geared towards those with a medical/scientific background, I spent a lot of time looking up "big words'. hahaha

Drive to the fire station, present paperwork and ID to first person, who confirms that its really you, and explains the process, asks if you have any questions. Drive to the entrance of the bay (where they normally park the fire trucks), good looking, hunky firedude takes my temp, goes over the paperwork again. Drive into the bay, nurse swabs then jabs (never even felt it). Hands me 'the card' and tells me not to forget to show up to my next appointment.  Drive out of the bay, park at end of the driveway. EMT comes over, asks me how I'm doing, and says he'll be back in a couple minutes. he goes to three other vehicles then comes back to mine, confirms that I'm OK and if I need to, I can drive around to the parking lot for a bit. And then he asks the most important question: Do I want a sticker. Well of course!! No sticker, than it didn't happen, did it? Got my sticker and went on my way.

No reaction, nothing.  I did have a slight fever for about 3 hours on Saturday, but that was it. 

I keep waiting for that third eye or perhaps a tail, or maybe even suddenly be conversant in Chinese or Russian. I'm mildly disappointed that I have no superpowers (like Spiderman). Maybe after the second shot?

 

[dogshome]

   

Here in the UK we have 0ver 200 jabs per minute. To achieve this where I am, they are doing a moving drive through - one simply moons through the open window and catches a dart (missing the bullseye one hopes) and the job is done 

[nhmaf]

I guess to  carry on with this thread I will share my experience (so far) - it is still playing out as I first felt a sympton (headache and dizzziness) late on Friday.  By Sunday morn, I had all of the symptoms in common between covid and the flu - headache, congestion, sore threat, fever, chills, muscle aches, mysterious pains appearing and disappearing in random parts of the body, coughing, etc.  Couldn't get in for a test on Sunday - they were booked solid, but I got in on Monday and was screened for covid, flu, and strep.  Covid was the winner.   I am *hoping* that I don't have the long lingering symptoms which a number of folks seems to be suffering, but I guess only time will tell.   I still have my senses of taste and smell, but some friends who contracted the disease say they didn't lose theirs until a week or more into it.    As I am in mid-50s and not in a high risk group, my turn for vaccination isn't coming until April or May if they keep to the schedule.   I presume that I will get whatever vaccination they are offering at that time - with the spreading of the various mutations, we may need all the luck we can get to try to avoid a second infection from one of these other variants.

Though I've had it worse than some, I am also very grateful that I've had it much better than others with this crazy virus.   I don't know what this summer may bring for motorcycle rally chances, but I feel that even if they are "on" things will be significantly subdued over what they were in years past.

Do your best to stay healthy, my friends!   Ultimately, as I was telling someone just before I contracted it, even though we are being careful and following protocols, eventually, that statistics are going to catch up with pretty much all of us given enough time.

[Justin B.]

Damn, Mike, we will pray for you.  From everything I've read dosing up with Vit D3, Zinc, Vit C, and Quercetin can help reduce the severity and duration.  My Doctor also recommends Elderberry.  I have also read some studies stating that nebulized food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide is also good.

We have taken the five supplements mentioned as a preventive since last March and I haven't even had a cold since then.  I suppose that could also be due to "social distancing" but the wife goes to Wally-World and Kroger 2-3 times per week.