Is anyone unable to stand in one spot without getting exhausted?

Posted by m @mh10, Mar 26, 2023

Since post Covid, one of my horrible symptoms is I cannot stand in one place more than a minute (sometimes less-it varies on the day) without feeling EXTREME fatigue in my body/legs, short of breath, dizzy. It’s impossible for me to do without hurrying and laying or sitting down. Weird thing is that I can walk but as soon as I stop walking and am still in one spot, I feel like I’m dying.
Has anyone experienced this?

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Exact same with me. I can walk to an elevator but then not be able to stand to wait for the elevator to arrive. I can walk to my doctors appointments but I cannot stop at the reception desk to check in without needing to sit down. During crashes, it is worse and without much walking before standing, like just going into the kitchen and standing at the counter.
I have been able to check my blood pressure a couple of times during these events and it was very low (~60/50), but since changing BP meds I am no longer seeing these low readings during these events. (I never had high blood pressure before Covid, and when I briefly went off the medication I had fewer, if any, of these standing-lightheadedness episodes.
Interestingly, one of these episodes happened when I went to my first electrophysiology appointments for possible POTS (I was not diagnosed with POTS). So during the multiple standing/sitting BP readings for POTS testing, I was having very low BP when sitting (because it was immediately after my standing-lightheadedness episode at the check in desk). As my lightheadedness was recovering, my BP was going up, so during the POTS test it showed my BP increasing while I was standing. The nurse said, “This is crazy!”
Ultimately, I have never received any medical explanation for this standing-lightheadedness, nor has there ever been much of any concern from all my many medical providers. I am grateful to hear that others are having this exact same experience and that it’s not just me - maybe it will one day get some traction in the medical field.
Another thing: I had occasional bouts of this and other Long Covid symptoms prior to Covid. Very mild and only lasting a day or two, a couple of times a year. This started happening approximately after a bad case of the flu in February 2011. So, I believe this supports some sort of post-viral condition and/or a reactivation of something dormant.

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My child has POTS and it appeared after a viral infection. One of the key symptoms of POTS (a form of dysautonomia) is feeling very unwell standing. Have you spoken to a doctor about being screened for this? There are measures and medications that can help with these symptoms.

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@anneb22

Exact same with me. I can walk to an elevator but then not be able to stand to wait for the elevator to arrive. I can walk to my doctors appointments but I cannot stop at the reception desk to check in without needing to sit down. During crashes, it is worse and without much walking before standing, like just going into the kitchen and standing at the counter.
I have been able to check my blood pressure a couple of times during these events and it was very low (~60/50), but since changing BP meds I am no longer seeing these low readings during these events. (I never had high blood pressure before Covid, and when I briefly went off the medication I had fewer, if any, of these standing-lightheadedness episodes.
Interestingly, one of these episodes happened when I went to my first electrophysiology appointments for possible POTS (I was not diagnosed with POTS). So during the multiple standing/sitting BP readings for POTS testing, I was having very low BP when sitting (because it was immediately after my standing-lightheadedness episode at the check in desk). As my lightheadedness was recovering, my BP was going up, so during the POTS test it showed my BP increasing while I was standing. The nurse said, “This is crazy!”
Ultimately, I have never received any medical explanation for this standing-lightheadedness, nor has there ever been much of any concern from all my many medical providers. I am grateful to hear that others are having this exact same experience and that it’s not just me - maybe it will one day get some traction in the medical field.
Another thing: I had occasional bouts of this and other Long Covid symptoms prior to Covid. Very mild and only lasting a day or two, a couple of times a year. This started happening approximately after a bad case of the flu in February 2011. So, I believe this supports some sort of post-viral condition and/or a reactivation of something dormant.

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Oh my gosh, someone with the exact thing as me! I was beginning to think I was going nuts because nobody had the exact same thing while stopping and standing. I try to explain this to the doctors and I really don’t think they’re taking me serious, but this is really disrupting my daily activities. I’m stuck on the couch for six weeks now. I cannot do anything. I tried going to the grocery store yesterday, and I had to cut it short and there was nobody in line in front of me, but I had such a hard time putting the groceries on the counter because I was standing still.
I do go for the tilt table test to see if this is POTS next week, so I guess I will find out then.
And also the same as you it sounds like - all my post Covid symptoms are things I’ve experienced every now and then for a short period of time for years now, but now I have it all at the same time and constant and severe. I tried to explain that to the doctors also but I really don’t think they listen. I need a good doctor that has experience and this, but I can’t seem to find one.

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@autoimmunesearch

My child has POTS and it appeared after a viral infection. One of the key symptoms of POTS (a form of dysautonomia) is feeling very unwell standing. Have you spoken to a doctor about being screened for this? There are measures and medications that can help with these symptoms.

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I do go for a tilt table test next week to find out if this is POTS. Whatever it is, I need them to find out because I need some kind of relief so I can get on with my life.

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@mh10

Oh my gosh, someone with the exact thing as me! I was beginning to think I was going nuts because nobody had the exact same thing while stopping and standing. I try to explain this to the doctors and I really don’t think they’re taking me serious, but this is really disrupting my daily activities. I’m stuck on the couch for six weeks now. I cannot do anything. I tried going to the grocery store yesterday, and I had to cut it short and there was nobody in line in front of me, but I had such a hard time putting the groceries on the counter because I was standing still.
I do go for the tilt table test to see if this is POTS next week, so I guess I will find out then.
And also the same as you it sounds like - all my post Covid symptoms are things I’ve experienced every now and then for a short period of time for years now, but now I have it all at the same time and constant and severe. I tried to explain that to the doctors also but I really don’t think they listen. I need a good doctor that has experience and this, but I can’t seem to find one.

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When I grocery shop I try to pace myself with the constant thought of the ordeal of checking out. I do self-checkout so that helps with not standing still, but when the register needs employee input I wonder if I can last just standing there. It’s so weird. I was at the Apple Store once. Something in the check out process took way longer than it should have and I looked for one of the few stools they have in the store, but I was out of luck. I ended up sitting on the floor and scooting under the display counter to get out of the walk aisle :-/
Pre Covid, with these mild, infrequent episodes of fatigue, low-grade fever and standing-lightheadedness, I thought maybe I had some sort of parasite similar to malaria (an intermittent and remittent fever caused by a protozoan parasite that invades the red blood cells), since I had done quite a bit of traveling in Africa, but I wasn’t able to find anything from my research. I am going to see a specialist in integrative medicine next month.
Another thing unique to me that I wonder if it’s contributing: I’ve always had a very low body temperature - like 96.8 degrees. So, if my temperature goes up to 97.9 degrees or higher, I feel feverish. (Post Covid my “normal” temperature is no longer quite so low. I don’t know if this is a new change like the elevated blood pressure, or if I’ve been constantly running a low-grade fever for over three years.)

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@anneb22

When I grocery shop I try to pace myself with the constant thought of the ordeal of checking out. I do self-checkout so that helps with not standing still, but when the register needs employee input I wonder if I can last just standing there. It’s so weird. I was at the Apple Store once. Something in the check out process took way longer than it should have and I looked for one of the few stools they have in the store, but I was out of luck. I ended up sitting on the floor and scooting under the display counter to get out of the walk aisle :-/
Pre Covid, with these mild, infrequent episodes of fatigue, low-grade fever and standing-lightheadedness, I thought maybe I had some sort of parasite similar to malaria (an intermittent and remittent fever caused by a protozoan parasite that invades the red blood cells), since I had done quite a bit of traveling in Africa, but I wasn’t able to find anything from my research. I am going to see a specialist in integrative medicine next month.
Another thing unique to me that I wonder if it’s contributing: I’ve always had a very low body temperature - like 96.8 degrees. So, if my temperature goes up to 97.9 degrees or higher, I feel feverish. (Post Covid my “normal” temperature is no longer quite so low. I don’t know if this is a new change like the elevated blood pressure, or if I’ve been constantly running a low-grade fever for over three years.)

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Yes, same here with the temperature, mine has always been on the low side 96.something, now it’s higher – today was 98.7. Same with my blood pressure, I have always had normal blood pressure but on the lower side of normal and when this post Covid started if I was sitting down and feeling dizzy and weak, I would take my blood pressure and it will be low blood pressure, but when I stood up it would become high blood pressure.
When I first started experiencing my symptoms that came and went was around 2015 and I went to my endocrinologist, thinking I was hypo thyroid because along with this fatigue, and everything came weight gain that was unexplained because I don’t bad. He did so many test, and could not find out what was wrong, and he asked if I was recently out of the country but I was not. Now with this post Covid, I am getting unexplained weight gain again, if anything I should have lost so much weight because I hardly eat especially during Covid. I lived off couple saltine crackers and maybe some soup or low carb toast and there’s no way I should be gaining weight from that.
This is so frustrating. 😩

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@mh10

Just the other day I was telling my husband I may have to bring up the small step ladder that we have to keep in the kitchen so I can sit on it if I need to cook some thing because right now I can’t even stand in one spot to fry up hamburger. 😩

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I am sorry you are experiencing this. That is exactly how I feel. The exhaustion is real. I keep trying to deny it but it is not like anything I have ever experienced before.

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@bettyjackson

MayoClinic therapist put me on this routine to help my fatigue :
Set a timer for 1hr. When it signals,you take a 5min "timeout"... go into a quiet place ((sometimes I go into the bathroom , close the door), close my eyes, clear thoughts. Then resume activity. Reset timer.
At midmorning, noon, mid-afternoon the timeout is 20min break. Sometimes I need to use eye mask and earplugs. Whatever works!!!
The brain craves rest. Needs it to regroup and heal the frenzied message system.
Try anything!!!

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This is such great advice thank you so much for sharing it. I hope you feel better soon.

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@law59

Hi @mh10. Know the frustration and as one group member shared she is taken seriously because her doctor has long haul covid. I literally have stool at my stovetop as I never know if I need for quick tea kettle, dishes and find refrigerator can be worse if needing to stand and take out/put away and I try to never shower same day of grocery purchase🙃. Hang in there and just keep trying different things like gently rocking side to side to figure out how to prevent these daunting symptoms🌈

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I have a stool in my kitchen too. I hope you feel better soon and thank you for sharing your experience with Covid.

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Yes, I experienced this greatly in the beginning. It persisted until I was diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension- my blood pressure dropped very low when I was standing. I was treated with salt/fluids and a non prescription stimulant, low dose aspirin+ told not to stand for long periods. Treatment for inflammation, etc and recovery allowed me to build up stamina so my blood pressure doesn't drop down like it did. I also received a small course of steroids which greatly reduced all inflammation and brought about multiple symptom relief. My heart rate didn't accelerate with this but with this problem of dropping blood pressure when standing, it can be a certain medical scenario that often occurs post Covid. Check all your vital signs at home.

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