Does anyone else feel like exercising makes your symptoms worse?

I found that i had to increase my exercise Very slowly or it would make things worse. As I slowly increased though, things got better

Everyone is different, but PEM keeps me from exercising and even engaging in "normal" daily activities that require any physical exertion. Pacing, staying prone in bed and working on my laptop as much as possible instead of sitting upright at my PC help. I plan for any "activities" outside the house (e.g., physical therapy) ; doing no more than one/day and space them apart to rest and recover. Thanks for sharing!

Major concern with Long COVID.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/01/09/1223077307/long-covid-exercise-post-exertional-malaise-mitochondria#:~:text=The%20tissue%20samples%20from%20long,every%20parameter%20that%20we%20measure.%22
Take it slow and pace.

Same thing! Exercise on NuStep helps my breathing and oxygen level but the next day I am completely wiped out!

Pulmonary therapy started me at 40 minutes on exercise equipment plus weights. It was too much ..too fast. Next day I was wiped out! My next plan is to start at maybe 10 min and work my way up gradually. Hope that will work😊

Mayo Clinic teaches moderation, one way they explain it is "imagine you are an injured athlete, you can't just go back to the level of performance prior to injury". My Mayo plan has me limited to 10 minutes on the elliptical focused on leg strength and not aerobic strength. Where once I was aerobic (elliptical + resistance) for 45 minutes 6X per week, I am now 12 minutes every other day and working my way slowly back up. When I bump against Exercise Intolerance or PEM I adjust.

I crashed this morning and I never have felt anything like this. Legs feel like lead and I have to walk so slow. I know today I will need to focus on resting. I don’t know what to do. Can someone tell me what they do when they have to rest? I feel some relief if I just sit on my bed and read.

I get Propel powdered drink, it's by crystal light and Kool-Aid powder mixes in the grocery store, I mix and drink 2 glasses of this for some electrolytes, get down ~10 glasses of water and eat simple carbs-noodles, rice, oatmeal- and do NOTHING except lay on the couch most of the day (there is a lot of Law & Order out there) I feel a little better by late afternoon. I usually am better the next day and want to charge out there and make up for lost time, it is really hard to convince myself to stay quiet (like a dog straining at the end of the leash) but if I do that I am back where I started. The following day I may do easy things where I can be up and around in the house-simple paper work, laundry, easy weed pulling, maybe grocery shop-where I am moving around, nothing strenuous physically or mentally, for an hour at a time with resting 15-30 minutes in between. Then, the 2nd day, do at it. Keep a diary and see how the crashes relate to high stress, long periods of complex concentration/thinking, physical exertion, life events, long periods of time on your feet. I found out what my triggers are and manage my time better, starting with 2 hours a day of physical activity and 2 hours of deep thinking and slowly increased my time from there. Look up the 2003 essay "The Spoon Theory", by Christine Miserandino. It was profound for me and made a huge difference.

Look up long Covid /PEM. It is very real. I went thru the same issues you describe . Not every doctor knows about it, but it is now being more widely accepted.
It is not logical, but exercise actually makes your symptoms worse. I learned it the hard way, because it made no sense to me. Post Exertional Malaise.

Yes, I run and jog then this week down for 2 days and feel soo I'll. I have been running since I was 15 and with Long COVID it's so depressing.