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A Personal Update on Long-Haul COVID
Related: chronic viral sequelae, COVID medications, ethics in medicine, gears of the machine, SARS-CoV-2 aka COVID-19 aka Coronavirus
re: Long-Haul COVID
Since blood clotting may be the root cause of Long COVID syndrome, I do have to wonder pretty hard at the assertions in the research paper on vaccines for children. If that connection with the vaccine pans out, then what is happening is just criminal (with children at least).
Anyway, this is a personal update. I’m offering it because there are people out there who really do have real Long-Haul COVID*, and I hope it will give hope to those in which it is dragging on—do not give up! Mind and body are a real thing. Eat well, rest, exercise lightly, get sunlight and fresh air and most of all keep a positive attitude.
Any virus can cause major changes in the stasis of the microbiome and virome of the body that can take a long time to fix. Hence I call it chronic viral sequelae.
* The prevalance of Long COVID could be greatly exaggerated, but it is a 'thing'. My guesstimate is 5%.
18 months, maybe it’s over?
I’ve been trying to break out of an 18-month dead zone in my life since my initial infection. A big hunk of life was out of reach. I rate the experience as worse than my 2018 concussion/mTBI, which was no small matter. I say worse from Long COVID, in part because of the incapacitating issues (fatigue, brain fog, pain) and in part because of the psychological challenge of dealing with something having no clear path forward or end date, and for which all doctors proved clueless.
I had some inklings of breaking-out of things back in late July, and then Ivermectin literally laid me on the floor for five days (anyone who claims no side effects from Ivermectin is lucky or typical, or foolish) and then another 6-week so-so period.
But around late September, things began to turn up. The first signs were my ability to (slowly) do two fairly rigorous hikes three days apart on my last mountain trip, and carrying my extra 20 pounds of adipose and 20 pounds of camera gear—a full pack by most standards—and seeing good recovery, with only a day of rest needed after. Then coming home and moving 12 yards of compost into the backyard in 64 wheelbarrow loads, then doing it again 2 days later. And other demanding yard work. A few down days followed, but then feeling pretty good again within a week.
Now here it is late October 2021, and this past week, I have done six baseline bike rides in 7 days (albeit low power levels), as well as weight lifting 2 days (including Olympic-bar squats). I feel like an overweight and winter-condition version of myself, but I finally feel pretty normal. Well, highly disrupted sleep has been an issue, but oddly enough that seems to be associated with the improvements and I’ve been able to shrug it off. Go figure. It’s as if some master controller dials are all trying to synchronize up various brain and body systems.
Each of these up-cycles has been better than the last. Is this one the ticket? I cannot say yet, and my main risk is going at things too hard, in my zeal to return to my normal life.
So... if you yourself are still stuck in the dead zone of Long-Haul COVID, stay positive and give yourself time. It might take 7 months (as with a friend), it might take 18 months, but you surely will emerge out of it!
UPDATE, April 2022: after 10 days back in March where I suddenly got some strength back for ~10 days, I then plunged back into the same chronic weakness. With blood tests looking all normal, it’s down to less common tests. Doctors are no help—gotta figure this out on my own, with some "volunteer" help, from a few doctors out there that have some ideas to look into. Maybe it is just Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and my life as I knew it is forever gone?
