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Increasing anger, impatience, grumpiness and brain fog after 2.5 years

Posted by jazzygirl5 @jazzygirl5, Oct 4, 2022

Hi fellow covid kids

Anyone dealing with long covid (over 2 years only please) that are having increasing anger, more shortness of breath, impatience, brain fog, grumpiness, worse lack of smell issues and increased fatigue? I caught covid the end of 2/20, before vaccines and treatments. I won’t go into the months/years of hell I’ve been through but I was very sick and ended up 6 months later with pneumonia and had to get a new pacemaker a year ago because of chest pain and palpitations which seemed to fix that.
Besides the physical long covid symptoms I have which keep me pretty much home, the psychological ones are getting quite distressing and worse. I feel like I will be brain dead sooner than later. I think I may have had a repeat covid infection in the spring because I got pretty sick again but nowhere as bad. Since then, all my brain and personality issues have gotten much worse and quiet perplexing. I don’t care if I see anyone, I say things to people in annoyance and my patience is nil. It’s getting harder and harder to concentrate and my Drs know all these things but of course, there’s no cure. I’m 67 and afraid I’ll lose it and be in the crazy house or demented before I know it. I can laugh it off sitting here alone on my couch but I have little desire to socialize. I can be ok with all of this if I knew it would get better. I’m sure most of us are going day by day to get by but not knowing if you’ll get better is not my idea of the rest of my life. Yes, I have a therapist, a psychiatrist, a pulmonologist and a decent PCP so I’m all set in that department. I’m angry that I’m not over this after 32 months. BTW, I’ve had a neuropsych evaluation too.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.

denglish19 | @denglish19 | Nov 12, 2022
In reply to @lbyrd02 "Sue I'm more of a professional and like to solve problems rather than ignore them but..." + (show)
@lbyrd02

Sue I'm more of a professional and like to solve problems rather than ignore them but the medical profession is sticking their head in the sand on this one. They shut down testing, they ignore treatment for long covid, you can't get an appointment for months and even then, you must have a referral from your primary care physician even though my insurance doesn't require it, and the only treatment they will prescribe is wait and it will go away if you don't think about it.

I would think that if you had gastric symptoms such as the nasal drips, covid tongue, gas pains, nausea, cramps and diarrhea one would flush the intestines as though you were prepping for a colonoscopy and resupply with probiotics - that might cost $100 and provide some help. Why not do a colonoscopy and compare it to your last one (They do film them) to see if there is any deuteriation since the last one or even take a stool sample to see if the virus still remains in your system. No not a single attempt to document, investigate or provide any relief - something is not smelling right in Denmark.

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Well, it's possible they are refusing treatment because they don't actually have answers. I spoke to the Covid nurse AT MAYO when I had debilitating long-haul symptoms in the spring (2022), and that nurse told me they really didn't know how to treat it. Basically if brain fog is your primary concern, they'll send you to a neurologist. If dizziness and heart palpitations are your worst symptom, they'll send you to cardio. If it's depression and anxiety, you get a mental health appointment. But NONE OF THIS actually treats and fixes the root cause of the actual problem. It's because western medicine piece meals the whole body, rather than treating the system as one holistic unit, so it's no surprise that answers aren't forthcoming.

But many people have healed their symptoms completely, with the help of holistic type practitioners, chiropractors, functional medicine specialists etc. It's not a big confounding mystery and lots of people are getting results by eating a certain diet, supplementing heavily, and resetting the nervous system in various ways. It certainly worked for me.

REPLY
1 reply
artist66 | @artist66 | Nov 12, 2022
In reply to @orlanda "I hear you! You are getting better and YOU WILL IMPROVE! I assume you have seen..." + (show)
@orlanda

I hear you! You are getting better and YOU WILL IMPROVE! I assume you have seen a neurologist. This is important that we all get an assessment with whatever symptoms we have.
YOUR CREATIVITY MUST NOT SUFFER!!! GET BACK TO PAINTING. The different paints you use may cause a reaction, initially like sneezing, dry cough. So start with colored pencils. Use your sketching pencil and pad to draw. To start may I suggest just using color and let it flow freely--make abstract compositions. It is fun to do to get your brain re-attuned to your painting. This reattunement may take 2 or 3 months or as long as it takes----give the brain a chance to connect back to your creative self. YOU CAN DO THIS!! I HAVE FAITH IN YOU!!!

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Thank you. I will try.

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orlanda | @orlanda | Nov 12, 2022
In reply to @denglish19 "Orlanda, this is excellent and supportive advice. I just want to mention, as far as diet..." + (show)
@denglish19

Orlanda, this is excellent and supportive advice. I just want to mention, as far as diet goes, that it's really important that long-haulers eat anti-inflammatory AND low histamine. I already ate pretty anti-inflammatory in general (no dairy, NO sugar, lean meats, lots of veggies) but the low histamine foods are VERY specific. For instance, avocado is high in histamine and my symptoms slightly returned when I ate too much avocado one week. Tomatoes are also high in histamine. That was surprising to me! and a great reminder for me that even though my symptoms are now 90% gone -- as long as I stay in balance -- they can come back quickly by eating the wrong things.

So, along with reducing inflammation and histamine levels in the body through diet, taking histamine blockers for a short period of time also helps. For instance, Pepcid AC (H2 blocker) as well as Claritin (H1 blocker) daily.

Those who follow the MCAS protocol often see very good results as well, because MCAS treatment is also all about reducing histamine and inflammation in the body. I've shared a few links below. All the best to you!
https://hoffmancentre.com/treatments/mcas/
https://hoffmancentre.com/treatments-for-lowering-histamine-and-reducing-mcas-symptoms/

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Hi --very good advice. We could look at food as our 'medicine' Reducing inflammation is one of our major tasks. Cutting out as much added sugar as we can, and restoring normal flora to the gut is a major aim. You are doing well and more power to you!!

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ericy210 | @ericy210 | Nov 13, 2022

I hear you and empathize. My dog made a big poop this afternoon and I saw he feels all better now. I wonder if I’ll ever feel all better. My dad died after an unexpected bout with cancer. Never got all better. Sorry, just venting. I just want a normal brain I can trust.
I feel like a drink a huge bottle of vodka in the morning and all day- not sure what I’m remembering or if I can trust my brain. Someday…

REPLY
lbyrd02 | @lbyrd02 | Nov 14, 2022
In reply to @denglish19 "Well, it's possible they are refusing treatment because they don't actually have answers. I spoke to..." + (show)
@denglish19

Well, it's possible they are refusing treatment because they don't actually have answers. I spoke to the Covid nurse AT MAYO when I had debilitating long-haul symptoms in the spring (2022), and that nurse told me they really didn't know how to treat it. Basically if brain fog is your primary concern, they'll send you to a neurologist. If dizziness and heart palpitations are your worst symptom, they'll send you to cardio. If it's depression and anxiety, you get a mental health appointment. But NONE OF THIS actually treats and fixes the root cause of the actual problem. It's because western medicine piece meals the whole body, rather than treating the system as one holistic unit, so it's no surprise that answers aren't forthcoming.

But many people have healed their symptoms completely, with the help of holistic type practitioners, chiropractors, functional medicine specialists etc. It's not a big confounding mystery and lots of people are getting results by eating a certain diet, supplementing heavily, and resetting the nervous system in various ways. It certainly worked for me.

Jump to this post

I'm not so sure it's the mystery of the cure rather than the insurance companies not wanting to pay for the diagnosis. By now all know there are diagnostic methods to determine if you have long covid. Protein (blood test) analysis, Fluid examination for my hip pain in the replaced hip and MRI, CT Scans. But they don't want to relate long covid symptoms to long covid. It's cheaper (For the insurance company) to dismiss it and wait for the elderly diseases to blame it on. Just because it's an instant onslaught - that doesn't mean we can't wait around a year or two and blame it (Brain Fog) on dementia, or (my bone disease) on arthritis or my neurotherapy on type 2 diabetes, ..... I believe they have the answers on the diagnostic phase - they don't want to tie it to COVID as that is a huge cost liability to both insurance and pharmaceutical that both would like to pass on to Medicare and hopefully, we will die before it becomes evident that long covid is real.

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davej | @davej | Nov 15, 2022

Just read the description and a woman freind described some of these same symptoms. She had a physical and asked about her thyroid so doctors did a test found out it was out of whack put her on a drug and she said what a difference that made.

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