Covid lingering symptoms/Long Covid support thread

[Piggywaspushed]

Hello

As agreed with a few on the double vaxxed and feeling ugh thread, I am starting a supportive thread for those still suffering delta related symptoms. I don't want to tread on any toes as am aware there is a longstanding thread but some of us are newer to this horrible business.

I'll kick off : tested positive on 6 August. Initial symptoms were nausea, anxiety and impending doom, followed by short lived cough and then vomiting and nausea. Seen in A and E around Day 6 and then admitted to hospital on Day 14 with a flare up of gastric symptoms. Now in endless cycle of fatigue, night sweats, broken sleep and nausea with twitching jelly legs. I have missed out on every planned event for my summer holiday and very frustrated and sad. Had my second jab 16th May.

Come and join me for general moral support, kind words, anxious moments.

It does seem like Delta, while the same disease, has a few different symptoms.
@cakeflower I have the fuzzy dizzy head. Feel like I have a goldfish bowl on my head.
My sense of taste is getting better, smell not so much. Currently chomping some very tart citrus sweets.
Still got jelly legs and ridiculously out of breath after 5 minutes " activity ". I had a lot of palpitations when I was at worst and they've come back at night so sleep interrupted even more.
Has anyone else had slightly numb feet? My feet feel cold all the time.

My smell isn't back and my taste is slowly coming back. I can taste very strong flavours only. Struggling with the loss of senses as I don't really want to eat much.
@CatAlice Yes to numb and cold feet. Had to find my fluffy bed socks which had been shoved to the back of a drawer at the start of summer!

@CatAlice

It does seem like Delta, while the same disease, has a few different symptoms. *@cakeflower* I have the fuzzy dizzy head. Feel like I have a goldfish bowl on my head. My sense of taste is getting better, smell not so much. Currently chomping some very tart citrus sweets. Still got jelly legs and ridiculously out of breath after 5 minutes " activity ". I had a lot of palpitations when I was at worst and they've come back at night so sleep interrupted even more. Has anyone else had slightly numb feet? My feet feel cold all the time.

Sorry to hear how you've been feeling. My 19 year old son tested positive early July and had only mild symptoms. However ever since then he's just felt "weird". He describes it as feeling like he's in a glass bubble that he just wants smashing, so I was interested to hear your similar description of how you feel. He's struggling to focus and concentrate and just feels "out of it". How long have you felt like this? Is there anything you have found that helps? It's so difficult to know what to say. He is going to see the GP next week to check his ears as he has a history of ear problems, grommet etc and I know this could be related but the fact that it coincides with a Covid infection makes me suspect lingering Covid symptoms. Hope you feel much better soon

I ate fried egg on toast today which was OK. Put ketchup on it for a bit of added flavour. It tasted rank. Note to self.

Glad for threads like these otherwise after 10 days or so we would all expect to be back to normal and worry when we are not. We don’t seem to want to eat the usual food but I guess some food is better than no food, for the time being anyway. Like others I don’t like to say I’m better as yesterday was my worst day so far and today my best. So weird it can change that quick!

With me it's a permanent headache....it just won't go.
Paracetamol and ibuprofen clear it but it pings back with a vengeance....and I wake up with it too

Yes I've had that. Going to bed and then waking up still with a headache sucks.

@Piggywaspushed

Yes I've had that. Going to bed and then waking up still with a headache sucks.

How long did it last? I'm 6/7 weeks post Covid now and it's miserable!

Positive test on the 14th of August here, and just want to know when will it end! Can very much relate to those who are good one day and not the next, it’s so frustrating. Also having headaches. Which aren’t the most painful headaches but still stop me doing anything. Am also 14 weeks pregnant, hoping to get another scan soon to check everything is ok. Glad to read about people experiencing similar!

hippy, I am afraid you are further down the line than me so I couldn't say! I am in about week 4.

Another restless night last night . Indigestion whenever I do eat something doesn't help. That'll be the ketchup. I also stupidly keep forgetting to drink water. Normally, I drink very little and am trying to improve this. Hard to break bad habits.

It's becoming quite a mental thing to me to go out of the house. I know I need to get food in, but as I don't want to eat it, the momentum isn't there at all. I have jeans to return to Next . It all just feels too much.

Been signed off work today and tomorrow but actually that doesn't help much as the full onslaught (teacher) begins on Monday. Unless one is a teacher , it is often hard to appreciate that being off work is as hard as being there as well, as you still have to set work that kids will actually do, and cope with the fall out on return.

I think I need to source some whale music!

Oh maisie must be so tough to be pregnant as well.

Morning!
Wish me luck, I'm back to work today. I work in a bank, but I'm not customer facing today so I'm hoping I can have a relatively easy day.
@Herecomethedaffodils The description that your son has said is how I feel. Weird and like I need to smash my way out of a glass bubble.
Rubbish nights sleep. Couple of night sweats and a bad dream.
A permanent headache seems to be starting for me too. Smell and taste same as yesterday.
Hope everyone has a good day.

Good luck going back to work @Itis6oclocksomewhere!

I’m still having mild intermittent headaches too. Some days none, then back again.

Sorry to hear about your son @Herecomethedaffodils. For me the fuzzy/dizzy head feeling isn’t accompanied by feeling mentally out of it, but I do feel like there’s a bowl over my head or something - like my head is swollen, maybe inflamed. It’s so hard to describe. Thankfully it’s not bad enough to stop me doing any activities but it’s not the way I normally feel. Is it worse on moving for your son? It is for me and that makes me wonder if it’s ear related. I’ve seen a vestibular physiotherapist in the past who fixed my vertigo so if mine doesn’t get better I’m going to ask her if she has any advice.

I have felt not quite right now for nearly a month (including the first week of feeling very unwell with covid). I’m early 40s, normally healthy and used to just snapping back to strength after a cold. It feels so surreal and I’m just praying to get back to normal soon. My GP did tell me covid recovery often comes in waves and each wave symptoms return but more mildly.

Today's 'ugh this tastes like crap' is strawberry jam. Perhaps I need to avoid red food....

Herecomethedaffodils Your poor DS. That young people of 19 can have long lingering symptoms is shocking. I am old and have all kinds of underlying health conditions so kind of used to my body not working properly. There are different kinds of dizziness and certainly ear problems can cause them, but I don't believe my problem is ear related, though I know that's the first thing HCP would suggest. I have a tendency to low blood pressure but I don't think it's that. The glass bubble is an accurate description of how my head feels. I haven't found much that helps but I am better in the morning than later in the day. I hope your son gets somewhere at the GP.

Slightly less short of breath, legs still not connected to body. One odd thing is that my usual chronic allergy type cough has gone. DH has commented several times that he hasn't heard me cough. I wonder if my lungs are just bunged up somehow.

I hadn't had any alcohol since this started and poured a small glass of wine last night. BLEUGH. Now that's cruel.

Yes, no alcohol for me since 3rd August which was my wedding anniversary.It tasted funny then, to be honest.

I've been ill since July with nausea, diarrhoea, headaches, high fever upto 40°C, then I seemed to be getting better and in August symptoms restarted also then with lack of appetite, chills, sweats esp. at night, and just feeling generally awful/flu-ey. (On top of the nausea and diarrhoea, high fever, etc).
Not much of a cough until the 3rd week of August and then it was very chesty, so was prescribed antibiotics.
I've also developed mild, persistent chest pain and breathlessness on talking and moving around and really tired since the 26th.

My GP is 99% certain I had covid last year in April but my symptoms were more classic with persistent cough, high fever, chest pain and severe breathlessness, chills, then after 2nd week diarrhoea and nausea. Severe fatigue.

I'm immunosuppressed due to drugs I take and had both AZ jabs by April this year.

I kept testing negative in July and through August (LFTs) then my dd came down with exact same symptoms on 19th and tested positive whilst I was still negative. (PCR).
My sense of smell and taste went on 25th and I tested positive for covid with a PCR at the start of this week (30th).

Don't really know what's going on.

I'm not as bad as I was last year and I was ill for about 4-5 months in total, although my energy levels have never really recovered and I seem to be almost constantly ill with one bug or another since then.

I definitely think more research is needed into whether these tests catch all cases, etc, and the after effects.

Gosh, that is odd that you weren't testing positive. Sounds like you have had a torrid time. Poor you.

I reacted really badly/ strongly to my 1st jab..40°C fever, headache, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, chills, etc. 2nd one just a headache and sore arm, so I thought it meant I'd be strongly covered.

Just over 4 weeks post lft here, feel more or less ok most of the time, but over did it last couple of days and I'm back to aching, shakey legs. i'm off today but am supposed to be working the next four days, I'm on my feet all day and am dreading it.

Hi I received my positive test on 18/08 and I didn’t feel too bad - sore throat, warm feeling in lungs, body aches, sinus pain which by day 7 or so had pretty much gone. On day 11 I went back to work.

The following evening (Tues) I felt like death-throat like sandpaper, nausea, full on burning lungs and crushing fatigue. This lasted 24hrs and luckily the burning lungs has subsided but if I do anything including doing my DD’s hair I feel dizzy and lightheaded with jelly limbs

I’m 45, female, slim and fit, double jabbed.

Hi, positive PCR on 2nd August, major freak out as I'm classed as vulnerable. I seemed to skate over most of the side effects through the isolation. Terrible tiredness, oxygen levels sometimes dipping but always coming back up ok and my half lungs did bloody fabulously. Thank you Pfizer jabs, jan/March.

I went back to work, 3 night shifts and 2 long days. Came home Friday night and I've been in bed ever since. If I had the energy I'd be pissed off. Terrible stomach cramps, sickness spiking temperatures, a burning feeling on skin on the top of my feet and back which is just weird and a tiredness that I've never felt before.

Thank you for everything you've all shared as I was beginning to think I was going mad.

@Itis6oclocksomewhere I hope work was ok for you today. Was it a good distraction or something that is just extra tricky when not feeling 100%? Rest well this evening if you can.
@cakeflower Thank you for your concern. I'm not aware that moving around makes things worse for my son but if it does in tour case, then ears would definitely be worth investigating. Like you, my son is young, active and otherwise heathy so I think it's such a frustrating situation, to just not feel right. I hope you notice some improvements soon.
@CatAlice thank you. How strange that your cough seems to have gone, but hey that's a positive in an otherwise rubbish situation. What a shame you couldn't even enjoy a medicinal glass of wine!! I'll be sure to update once he's seen the GP and had his ears checked too. Take care

Thank you @cakeflower and @Herecomethedaffodils
The morning was ok, but the afternoon was hard. I'm really pleased I got a lift to work as I wouldn't have been safe to drive home.
Got home and had to lay down. Now debating whether I'll make it in tomorrow.

Really interesting to see how everyone is getting on with this day by day.

Just realised that I said I was double vaxxed with AZ but forgot to add that I reacted really badly to both jabs. When I tested positive for Covid I thought that might mean I'd get off lightly! How wrong I was

Morning.

Re the jabs. I would really like to understand why it seemed not to offer me much protection (second jab was at the end of May so even if we accept it wears off , mine shouldn't have) without having people on any other thread making me sound like some mad anti vax conspiracy theorist, which I am most certainly not!

I have some basic understanding of seroconversion (building up antibodies after illness/vaccination I think) but really can't find anything very clear on how those reinfected/infected who have been vaccinated still get quite strong symptoms. I know that many believe we would have been even sicker without jabs (not all that comforting!) but I can't find any actual readable science on that, other than them looking at hospitalisation/death numbers, and also have found a bit about vaccine 'escape'. I guess at some point, they'll do some research based on these people they are now gathering antibody research from. I am good at distracting myself with nerdy academic thoughts so this keeps me occupied , rather than excessive self pity, but I also like to understand things and feel a little out of control if I don't...

There was also some interesting research came out on Long Covid yesterday.

Good night's sleep last night. Today, therefore, legs are aching. Still only eating beige food. I have a terrible diet anyway in normal times but am conscious about lack of protein/iron/ vitamins going in me. And toast still tastes really nasty.