Is there anything that helps with fatigue?

in reply to @raspy
I'm trying to increase exercise too; pacing is very difficult to figure out but I know I feel better when I push a bit (mostly walking and stairs.) LC since March of '23, mostly fatigue and brain fog; I'm also a patient at LC Clinic at NWMH in Chicago. Dr. Karolnik presribed Amantadine, but I'm hesitant to take it bc I'm very sensitive to meds. You mentioned side effects... how it it working for you, and how are you feeling? I wish you the best... I'm in your age group and was also very active until this and finding it hard to adjust to this snail's pace life we must live in order to avoid that nasty PEM. I hope you're getting some good results...

My long journey started 4 yeras ago. the first 6 months I was really confined to a chair. I was shaking/vibrating and the fatigue was terrible. I have been gradually getting better over those years, but still have fatigue and if I overdo, I still vibrate and have brain fog.
I couldn't tolerate LDN. My doctor asked if I would like to try Modafinil.
I take 50 mg in the morning and it has helped immensely! I seem to have more energy and motivation. I feel so much better. I have found that I still have to be careful to not overdo, but I am making a lot of progress.
This is a controlled medicine and I'm sure taken in larger quantities it could be habit forming.
It can also be expensive. I go to Walgreens and they have some sort of discount program where the cost is reasonable.
LC has been life changing and I don't think I will ever be back to "my old self", but things have gotten better.
Wishing you all healing and patience. Dwell on what you CAN do!

For my body, LDN works. It does take a doctor who understands that low dose naltrexone has been proven to help most long haulers and they will have to write you a prescription. You start at a very low dose and slowly titrate up to the max dose for you. Some people find enough improvement at .25 or .5 mg a day, other stop at 4.5 mg and some like me use 5 or 6 mg. I titrated up to 4.5 in about three months starting at 1.5 mg and increasing 1.5 mg every month.

Initially, the 1.5 mg dose made me very sleepy so I moved it to nighttime. A few weeks later, the 1.5 nighttime dose gave me insomnia so now I take it first thing in the morning and have no more morning sleepiness from it. It also gave me quite trippy dreams for the first few weeks - not nightmares but quite vivid and weird. I do get a burst of energy from it about 3-4 hours after I take it which allows me to get more done in a day...though I still have to pace, For me after titrating up to 4.5 mg, I have about 3-4 more productive hours a day but still have to rest late afternoon until it is time to make dinner. I now find I do even better on 5mg a day and as a side benefit, it helps with the pain from inflammation. At least I am no longer in bed 6-7 hours a day,

I get the LDN compounded at a local compounding pharmacy into a liquid that has little to no taste. It is formulated at 1 mg per milliliter which made it easy for me to increase or decrease the dose as needed. Some have it formulated into pill form and others are taking the full dose 50 mg pills and disintegrating them into sterile water with their doctors permission. Whatever you do, be prepared for no quick fix and some trial and error as you find the dose for your body.

@saraz Abilify has helped a little with fatigue. I also take 4.5 mg of LDN. I, going to see you if the doc will increase to 5 mg. I still deal with fatigue and PEM but it's a little better.

I started taking Wellbutrin 300mg and it definitely gives me more energy. However, I still get that exhausted feeling inside when I do too much. I find it very difficult to scale back my activity so much. I feel like I'm doing 5-10% of what I used to be able to do.

@donnastefan completely agree, very frustrating I'm sorry

I tried this after reading the article. I have been relieved of the brain fog and fatigue. Still dealing with other things, but this worked for me. Here is the article.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9395797/