Covid & Fatigue

It's been a little over 2 months since I caught Covid. I've stopped counting the weeks and just counting down towards 19th September which marks 3 months and is when my GP can refer me on to a waiting list for a long Covid clinic and possibly some help. For the time being I'm just on my own trying to figure things out.

Fatigue

I'm starting to understand a little more that despite still having quite a few physical symptoms the main issue I'm having is with fatigue. I'm still finding the words to try and describe it but I used to think fatigue just meant you were really tired, maybe even really tired all the time but it's way more complicated than that.

Fatigue is more like you have a very finite (and smaller) amount of energy and everything you do takes away from that. And I do mean everything, how I sit and hold my legs effects how I can then walk. Going up and down the stairs can take a lot out of me so I try to limit that.

Also, if you run the energy down too low it takes far longer to charge back up. Last week I drove for the first time in 2 months. It was 3 journeys that totalled just over an hour and were spread over 3.5 hours. By the end I needed to go straight to bed (at lunch time) and it took me 3 days to get back to my usual low energy self. They were work days and I managed 3.5 hours of work spread across those 3 days. Today I spent 20 minutes putting some filler on the wall. By the end I had a temperature, throbbing headache, was dizzy and completely drained. It took me 5 hours to recover enough to start writing this which I had been putting off for a while already.

With Covid as well as the energy issues when I'm more fatigued the physical symptoms usually worsen and I'll get some extra ones too. The benefit of this is when things start to flair up I know I need to slow down or risk suffering for days or weeks. Without them I could easily think I'm just tired and keep plugging away like usual.

Current symptoms

• Fatigue
• Neurological issues (Brain fog, Concentration issues, Sensory processing (light and sound can overwhelm me), Unable to think as clearly/fast)
• Circulation issues
• Weak left arm and grip
• GI/stomach issues
• Sore eyes/weaker vision
• Constant ringing in my ears

Those are the main ones that affect my day to day the most. Other things will flair up randomly or aren't too much of an issue such as chest pain, struggle breathing, bad headaches, dizziness, nausea, rashes, dry/itchy skin, strange nerve impules and random muscle twitches.

These symptoms are pretty much unchanged over the last month or so. Their severity and impact can vary but nothing has really gotten better in that time, if anything I feel like I've been struggling more over the past 2 weeks but it can be pretty hard to tell.

Exercise

So that 3.5 mile walk I had said was helpful, I was wrong and it was too much. I had the weird circulation issues and pain and swelling to my left hand and then it took me several days to recover with super heavy legs. That 3.5 mile walk with breaks was basically having a similar effect on me that running a marathon used to. I still want to exercise but I haven't found the right level yet and have taken a break to try and concentrate on work a bit more.

Work

Work is kind of up and down. I have some good days and had about 90 minutes 2 weeks ago where I felt like I was almost working as normal. Overall I think my work has been improving but I haven't been able to do more than 20 total hours in a week and the last 2 weeks that has gone down a bit. It's almost like working better and thinking more is taking more out of me. I'm probably managing to get more work done in less time though and have found I need to limit myself to working a maximum of 90 minutes before a decent break but sometimes I only manage 15.

Summary

I don't really feel like I can say the last few weeks have been good or bad. They've been tough but I've learnt a bit more. Now it's just a case of trying to learn the best way I can manage myself, do what I can to help myself (good nutrition when I can eat, vitamins and supplements, rest) and hopefully slowly improve. Maybe once I eventually get some help from the long Covid clinic there will be other things too but I'll do what I can to improve on my own first. Who knows, maybe I'll just wake up tomorrow cured.