4+ years, and counting, LC since onset 9/11/2020...
My “Bag-O-Symptoms, as I have come to describe them:
“Every day is a new day. It’s like drawing the lottery out of my Bag-o-Symptoms to see which will ail me and to what degree. They all just wax and wane throughout my days.” (Kind of along the lines of Forest Gump’s Box of Chocolates)
-Initial Symptom Onset 9/11/2020 (after asymptomatic acute COVID infection.
-Chest Pressure: Elephant sitting on my chest
-Heart Racing/Palpitations: Jack LaLanne is inside my chest doing calisthenics
-Cognitive Issues: Getting lost in - trying to navigate through - the Brain Fog Forest (At about a month in - early 10/2020 - before I knew “Brain Fog” was a thing, my journal entry described … “Brain is in a fog - very hard to focus.”
[Entry in late 10/2020:
I’m really thinking the “brain fog” thing is a real thing. My therapist said that last week she didn’t want to freak me out, but she noticed I was missing words when I was talking to her. She knew the thoughts were there, but when I tried to put them into sentences, I missed saying some words.]
-“Crushing” Fatigue - must sit or lie down for a “Pass Out Nap”
-SOB: Feels like my lungs are wrapped in cheese cloth
-Chest Pain: Radiating gripping pain
-Nausea, followed by Full Body Flush and Heart Rate Spike (as high as 200+) with no apparent trigger (often while sitting and/or little to no exertion) … I call “Episodes”
I have learned to appreciate others whose care and concern for me is amazing. (This from someone whose catchphrase has always been, “I can do it myself.” Well, I can’t. 🤔)
Besides listening to and responding to my body on a minute-by-minute basis, I really have not yet found what helps. I've adapted and discovered what accommodates me in my current limitations. But, I continue to pursue treatment; take care of me; am resting in the arms and love of God, where all fear/desperation has been utterly cast out.
After the first several weeks of WTH???, ER visits, doctor visits with no POSITIVE COVID tests and all diagnostics coming back within NORMAL range, my fears of LC being terminal were abated. No fear.
So, yes, everyday is a new day with any range and severity of symptoms.
Now 63 years old. Although they all pop their heads up now and then to some degree, my primary symptoms are severe brain fog and imbalance/dizziness. With the assistance of an attorney with a track history of victory in LC SSDI (Federal Disability) claims, I filed for disability and was approved in less than 5 months.
It’s been a bumpy ride, but all is good.
Blessings to all!
Your heart symptoms - chest pain, chest pressure, shortness of breath, nausea, heart racing - all sounds like symptoms of coronary spasms. Do you have a Mayo cardiologist? Is highly recommend it. Even if - especially if - you've had an angiogram that showed no blocked arteries, spasms may be cutting off oxygen to your heart. And many cardiologists (and especially ER docs) aren't familiar with ANOCA (Angina with Non-Obstructed Coronary Arteries). Might be worth talking to your doctor about . . .