Feeling shattered after virus

I'm old but I'd say take a tonic. Take one with the complete range of vitamin B there are 8 types of B and you need them all. Floradix without iron suits me as the iron gives me tummy discomfort.

Take high dose for two weeks alongside vitamin c and a small glass of orange juice.

And rest. You are in post viral recovery and your body needs to mend.

All you can do is listen to your body and rest as much as you can.

As @existentialpain says, rest as much as you can and keep up your fluids. I find fruit or herbal tea effective when I’m recovering from a virus. If you’ve got this Bank Holiday weekend off, tell your family that you need to rest and don’t rush around after them!

Not everything is about covid. Glandular fever is well known for taking a very long time to recover from too.

Unfortunately not a given depending on when you took the test. But also post viral fatigue has been around longer then covid too.

Your best booking to see your GP and getting a blood test. Whilst post viral fatigue and auto immune conditions are rarely determined by a blood test (with exception of thyroid conditions) you do need to have other things ruled out. Some viruses can leave b12 low for instance.

It happened to me after flu. Any horrible virus can linger and cause persistent and/ or fluctuating symptoms.

Listen to your body and rest.

Yes this is common after covid. I had regular fevers for months along with loads of other symptoms and fatigue which would hit me like a train.

Listen to your body and rest if you have sick leave allowance use it and get signed off by the GP.
You cannot push through it trust me lots have tried and failed.

Yes, it's common, especially after Covid.
People are telling you their experiences of this on your thread. And giving you some good advice.

Meant to attach...

Ventilate by opening windows, and wear a respirator in crowded places. Unpopular now, but that's how to reduce risk of air-borne infections.

3M Aura fit most people.



Post viral fatigue can be brutal.

But be aware. If you feel you are steadily getting worse, you need to go to your GP. Autoimmune conditions can be triggered by a heavy viral load. These don't just go away.

Rest rest and rest, pace activities, focus on getting good sleep and eating healthily. If it doesn't improve in a few weeks see your GP.

This has happened to me twice once after covid once after another bug. Both times it was going away on a trip that really helped me pick up. Makes me think of Victorian doctors recommending a "change of air!"

I don't think it's all psychological either. I don't know how it worked to cue my body that the illness was gone but that's what it felt like happened.

As long as it takes.

Rest. I know it's tedious and frustrating, but cancel everything you can and rest. Ideally take time off work but if not at least cancel everything else. Your body is telling you to rest !

Feeling emotional or even depressed is also extremely common after a nasty virus. It can be connected to the inflammatory response as well as reacting to the unpleasantness of being ill/tired.

Very effective tip for not catching something else while you're still run down (or in general): wear a FFP2 or FFP3 respirator, especially in crowded places. (Not surgical masks- those are only good for protecting others from you.) I appreciate this only works for people outside your household and your partner/kids may still bring viruses in, however the risk reduction is significant.

The respirators are fairly easy to find and not that expensive, Boots has an own-brand FFP2 for example. Make sure they fit your face, as in not too loose, and that you don't touch the surface when you take it off, just the straps. They are single-use in theory but they should be good for about 8-10 hours of total wear, e.g. a series of shorter uses.

I'm 3 years in to long covid and everyday deal with fatigue and symptoms. The best advice I can give is try to avoid ending up like me if you can. Rest rest and rest some more.
Have lots of high vitamin vegetables, start taking magnesium and b complexes and keep fluids up. You cannot push through post viral fatigue or long covid it does the exact opposite and will make you worse.

Strip everything back the the bare minimum that you have to do get your partner or family to do other tasks in the short term. Try and reduce high energy activities this isn't just working but reading, screens etc.

Try and pace your day so rest breaks after 20 minutes of at least 10 minutes.

Last summer I has bronchitis followed shortly afterwards by sinusitis.

I felt like I’d been run over - I’m not the most ‘well’ generally but Jesus - never felt so bad in my life.

Sometimes viruses completely wipe you. I needed a full 3 days in bed to get over it and was weak for a good three weeks afterwards.

rest and look after yourself.

You’re still ill. This isn’t recovery yet. You have to take this really seriously and get help with everything that you can. Otherwise it just gets worse and keeps you ill for longer. Long Covid seems to flourish and take hold in knackered, stressed, overworked women in my experience and that of many women I know unfortunately.

I feel exactly the same after covid. I'm 3 weeks in and I do feel like I'm getting better just extremely extremely slowly and am feeling generally so wiped out. I carried on working from home when I was ill with it but thinking I should have probably taken some time off instead