Exacerbated anxiety and depression, brain fog: Long Covid

Before Covid I was on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds that have well for me for years. Now I’ve added meds from my long Covid neurologists and I’m not quite sure who the “real me” is anymore.

What exactly did they prescribe? And were you feeling poorly which led you to see neurology? I saw one too. They did a range of tests, said everything was fine, and that everyone is coming in with the same symptoms, like me, and there is nothing they can do. Its terrible. They said to "optimize" everything. Eat an "optimal" diet. Get "optimal" sleep. Great. Thanks.

I got Covid in Oct.’22 and was very very sick for 3months . Asthma was worse and got put on nebulizer meds for that in Jan. - fortunately both my asthma specialist and primary care doctor said I had long Covid. The worst was the mental and emotional aspects. I honestly wanted to die at one point… fighting my way back to a new life now. I’m over 71 and go to low stress water exercise 2x a week and that helps. I spend a lot of time resting. No psychotropic meds but sleep meds so I can rest at night at least 8 hours. Take it easy… it will pass but keep your spirits up and try to get outside once a day. Bare feet on the ground for a bit if you can. Glad you are seeking support. You are not alone or crazy or anything other than having your normal response to an abnormal virus. Keep checking out this site. We’ll all be better sometime down the road

Let me validate you first of all. You are not crazy. your
symptoms are real. Tremendous amount of research has finally begun to address all. The brain has been under attack from fighting this virus such a long time. Incoming messages from all of your senses are scrambled up , and overwhelming your normal thought processes,
& coping strategies aren't capable under this onslaught. "Central Sensitization". Look it up online....even Youtube.

In my experience, it’s taken some trial and error on what meds help and at what level. I’d increase dosage with my doctors advice. If it doesn’t work, I wean off it and try something new. Covid threw a wrench in my thinking, so we had to revisit depression/anxiety meds to work along with Covid memory-assisting meds. Be patient. It takes time. Brain chemistry is complex and differs greatly among people. See a good doc.

I’ve had long covid since July 2022, but it wasn’t until I saw a second rheumatologist in Jan. 2023 that all of my horrible symptoms finally got diagnosed as long covid. So my advice is to see a rheumatologist — they are really the only doctors that are good problem solvers anyways so it makes sense.
I definitely believe your issues could be long covid related. My son has suffered from anxiety and depression off and on for several years. He got covid on the exact same day as me, but our early and long haul symptoms have been wildly different — for me, it attacked my knees and gave me widespread pain that has lasted for months, for him his very first symptoms were severe anxiety and panic attacks that were way above normal and seemingly out of nowhere at the time, and his depression and anxiety have been especially bad ever since.
My personal theory is that covid attacks people wherever they’re weakest and/or makes existing problems 10x worse.
What’s helped me most is adopting a low histamine diet (absolutely no sugar, gluten, dairy (except goat cheese), caffeine, or alcohol. I wish my son would try it as well but he won’t (he’s 22 so there’s only so much I can do).
I will warn you that my family learned the hard way that Effexor is notorious for being really horrible to come off of if/when you do… My son took a low dosage of that one for just a few months when he was first diagnosed with depression several years ago, and when we tapered him off of it, he had horrible episodes of severe vertigo and hallucinations. You must taper off of that one very slowly and incrementally, like actually cutting the little tablets into fourths and spreading the taper out over a couple weeks at least—just so you know.

I agree that eliminating gluten, sugar, white rice and flours have helped with the everyday bloating I was dealing with. Unfortunately I’ve only lost about 3 pounds over 3 weeks.

I agree that Covid attacked areas of my body where I’d had prior illnesses or weaknesses. I had just gotten over a bad UTI when I tested positive for Covid. During active Covid I experienced urgency, frequency, and feeling as though someone turned the faucet on and it wasn’t me as I walked to the bathroom🤪I have since been diagnosed with overactive bladder and take medication daily which helps. I’ve also been diagnosed with lymphedema of the lower extremities. I’ve had varicose/spider veins for years, so I’d say my legs are the weaker part of my body. 3 weeks after testing positive for Covid, I started having constant swelling in my feet and ankles. A few weeks later it travelled up my legs to include my calves, which became hard as rocks, I’m 71 and don’t work out🤪When it reached my knees it affected my mobility. Icing, and elevating had no effect on the swelling. I diagnosed myself with lymphedema after researching online. In August 2022 I went to my primary care doc who confirmed my unofficial diagnosis. She referred me to Space Coast Lymphedema Clinic. They were a Godsend to me.

It seems as though the SNRIs are hard to come off of. I mentioned my experience with Cymbalta and it might be true that I'm still dealing with the effects of discontinuation syndrome. I did start Effexor which is in same class but who knows. I'm trying not to wrack my brain to figure everything out but my head just spins when I'm not feeling ok, which probably makes things worse, and round and round it goes.

Thank you for writing this. You have no idea how much of all these symptoms ive had. Depression and anxiety and panic attacks on the daily. I was a very active person before and now i need to remind myself im not crazy and that its not all in my.head because everyone around me except.my girlfriend say im fine to get over it already.