← Return to Long haul Covid tremors and muscle spasms

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@maarten

My father, 65 and a former ENT doctor, used to be the most athletic man you could think of. He was abnormally fit, muscular and healthy. But he has a similar path as jlloyd78731 describes below.

- progressive muscle weakness
- fasciculations in legs and arms
- polyneuropathi
- extremely fatigued
- in the beginning of his symptoms also other weird complaints like rhythm disorders, insomnia, stomach problems, etc This has now diminished

So ALS-like symptoms Been through the whole medical mill, EMGs done etc. Doctors say it's unlikely he has ALS. Can hardly walk or function. Cutting the hedge in the garden, for example, is already too heavy, can't lift the hedge trimmer anymore. On the verge of becoming 'disabled', which he will not accept and will not live through. As a doctor himself, he no longer has any faith at all in improvement or recovery.

What I am very curious about, we mainly read here people who, like me now, describe these symptoms, but are there any cases where people have recovered from this, improved or stayed the same? Or uberhaupt more known how this 'ends'? And then specifically those with similar neuro/muscle complaints? Or any other tips?

The very last thing I want is to lose my father of course

jlloyd78731 | @jlloyd78731 | Jan 2 9:28pm
I've had 2 moderna shots and a booster in March 2022. I got covid in mid-June 2022. Mid-July I was feeling slightly weak. I took 1000mcg of B12 once a day. Late September 2022 I started getting muscle twitches. My Dr. referred me to a Neuromuscular Dr who did an EMG test. He did the test 3 days before I got another virus…not sure what kind. He said 95% chance I have ALS. After getting the 2nd virus I was more fatigued and weak. I'm scheduling a 2nd opinion. I'm also looking for a post-covid clinic. I've known 10+ people with similar symptoms. Some last longer like me at 64yrs… some younger people get over it sooner. I hope the Dr is wrong with the ALS diagnosis.

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Replies to "My father, 65 and a former ENT doctor, used to be the most athletic man you..."

I was 64 when I contracted Covid in NYC in Feb. 2021. My 1st symptom, that got me tested, was a racing heart which normally was 50bpm even though I was sedentary. I was given Bamlanivimab monoclonal antibody infusion treatment 5 days after diagnosis. My internal vibrations began that night feeling like subways rumbling through my veins, fast, starting with my lower legs. At first, they lasted about an hour, but progressed, usually starting with numbness in my feet and working their way up my body, lasting longer and longer until sometimes they lasted 24 hours. It felt like they were wearing my body out. I saw every possible doctor and had a battery of tests, including EMGs and imaging. Nothing was abnormal except non specific hyperintensities in my supratentorial subcortical white matter and micro-hemmoraging of my brain and ground glass opacities in my lungs. The lungs cleared post Covid. The “tremors” weren’t visible outwardly. While I actively had Covid, they gave me so much anxiety it felt like I was on adrenaline or like my body was running a race, but I was at rest. Some days I did 10 paintings a day. Sometimes, I picked the paint off of the walls and ceiling in all 4 rooms of my apt. I felt a strong compulsion to do something to stop the tremors. The tremors could be brought on by loud noises or being surprised or feeling emotional (hearing a love song, a sad story of the news, a movie, a painting that evoked emotion), a phone waking me while I was sleeping, etc. I had to stop watching TV, turn my ringers off, and do everything I could to not feel emotion. I met someone with similar issues that got treatment for CSS by Dr. Sletten at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Florida, for Covid leaving him with a hypersensitivity disorder. I had lots of gastro and throat problems. I lost 5 dress sizes and had severe muscle wasting and often painful cramping, especially inside the creases of my elbows. Every possible pain and muscle relating/ anti-anxiety medication was tried, including medical marijuana. Nothing helped except the medical marijuana lozenges helped my appetite and sleep which was a problem. It helped me gain my weight back along with eating pints of Hagen Daz ice cream. An infectious disease director told me to take speedy walks which helped to mask the sensations and make the episodes wear off faster. Gaining my weight back and walks solved the muscle wasting. They had dissipated a lot after a year,….until I got Covid again in Dec. 2021. Then it started over again. I had intense headaches especially behind my right eye and eye socket and electric like shocks from my right eye socket wrapping around the back of my head. I’d also feel them in my legs. I saw long Covid eye specialist Mark Dinkin at Weill Cornell and long neuro Covid clinic at Northwestern, which took a year to get the appointment. They were learning from me, assuring me I wasn’t alone, but didn’t have answers. The tremor episodes lessened, but I developed episodes of falling over feeling like I was going to pass out. Sometimes I felt it laying down. On 5/21/23, I lost feeling in my left hand, arm, and left chin and lower lip for a few seconds. It felt like novacaine. I was diagnosed with TIA, but imaging showed nothing new. An MRA of my brain showed a new 5mm brain aneurysm in the left central artery. Transthoracic echo showed two new heart aneurysms. I don’t know if these are related to my tremors, but I suspect they are because I felt like the toll the vibrations took were wearing out my heart and injuring my brain. I often would get tiny micro blood clots in my left nostril and more recently a small amount of bright red blood from my nose. My occupation used to be researcher, but I can’t work because I was left with severe cognitive decline especially of my executive function after the 1st bout of Covid. After the 2nd bout, I could no longer take notes. They are fragmented. My blood pressure is often hard to control. I was given 2.5 mg of Amlodipine a few days ago that sent me into a full blown attack of the vibrations, worse than any episode to date!!!! They started with the numbness in my toes, moving up to my brain. The compulsion to pick the paint off the walls was back, but more intense than ever. A feeling of ravenous mess took over and I ran to the refrigerator grabbing anything to try to satiate myself or make it stop! Luckily, it only lasted an hour, but I swear that there is a connection between the way Amlodipine works and the tremors! Otherwise, I don’t get the tremors as often as I used to. I’m 5’8 and weight 248 lbs. Each episode of tremors/pain/symptoms is very scary for me and makes me feel hopeless and lose faith in the medical profession, but I self talk a lot, telling myself to not worry, but live each moment to the fullest now and try to enjoy whatever time I can, but life is not promised to any of us. That helps. I feel for everyone with these tremors.