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Has anyone else experienced anxiety after getting Covid?
Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 | Last Active: Apr 7, 2023 | Replies (66)Comment receiving replies
I got Covid in late January 2022 and about 6 weeks later developed severe anxiety. My Dr prescribed Sertraline (Zoloft). I started at 25mg/day for 2 weeks, then increased to 50mg/day. After three months, I felt my anxiety levels had reduced, so I started tapering off the Sertraline by reducing the dosage to 25mg/day for ten days. It's been one month now, and my anxiety seems back to normal. However, I'm still suffering with sleeping problems that started out suddenly as severe insomnia. I began taking Trazadone to help, 50-100 mg/night. It helped me fall asleep but I woke up every 2 hrs while on it. After three months, I began to tapering off. Now I only take it 1/4 to 1/2 of a 50mg pill as needed (1-2 nights a week). However, I am still waking up every 1.5 to 2 hrs every night, so am still not getting restful sleep. I saw a Dr specializing in sleep issues and her only solution was putting me on hypnotic drugs (like Ambien) which I didn't want to take. I am seeing a different sleep Dr this week but expect he will just push drugs also.
Replies to "I got Covid in late January 2022 and about 6 weeks later developed severe anxiety. My..."
Hello, I too am taking trazadone and I too am waking up every 2hours. I kind of actually want to ask for Ambien or another hypnotic because traz loses its effectiveness pretty fast, don't you think. But I do understand that one can become dependent(yes I worry about that too).
My doctor is referring me to a sleep doctor by next month, will probably want to, like you, put me on Ambien. What other choices are out there, really. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I am 85 and have had covid symptoms since October 2021. Sleeplessness, uti's, constipation, feel like a zombi when I get out of bed and it takes me awhile to get somewhat normal. Because I wasn't sleeping, I went to see a nerve doctor thinking it as neuropathy. The nerve doctor told me it was restless leg syndrome and put me on 100 mg of Gabepentin and told me to increase it little by little up to 3 times. I was taking 3 pills a night and slept all the way through the night. But then sleepy all morning till noon and not myself. Now I have cut it to one pill and not getting a good sleep. I want to stop Gabepentin totally but its like my body is tense, nervous inside, and not relaxed at all when I am in bed. I even bought a new mattress but that wasn't it. I have nothing to be anxious about. Since I was in the hospital approx. 1 month. I couldn't sleep in the hospital but I thought it was because I wasn't 'in my own bed.
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Have you tried other non medication remedies to help your sleep? Meditation, massage, exercise, acupuncture? I was told that anxiety can run in the background without us realizing it - like open tabs on a computer - do you think that could be contributing still? I found body scan meditations or progressive muscle relaxation helpful at night to make me more relaxed. I don't suffer from insomnia - actually the opposite where I want to sleep like 12 hrs a night and never feel rested - but imagine it's very difficult to experience. I've also heard that certain vitamin and minerals can impact sleep - like magnesium. May be worth asking for labs to see if you're deficient in anything, if you haven't yet? Hope you find some relief.