Circadian rhythm issues?

Posted by acnickel1 @acnickel1, Apr 22, 2023

I had active Covid over the holidays of ‘22/‘23. I’ve had a myriad of issues since then but one of my most life-disrupting issues has been what I feel is a circadian rhythm disruption. Pre-Covid, I used to go to sleep at 10pm and wake up around 7am reliably without using an alarm. Now I fall asleep by 11pm but i will sleep till 2-3pm the next day and still feel sleepy and barely able to function until 5-6pm. Then I make dinner and such and exhaust myself in a short time doing these few things.
This has made working nearly impossible. I went from full time at home work to a part time home job I can barely do. The past 2 weeks I’ve been trying to force myself awake at 7-8am and the sleepiness is awful. I feel like I’ve been awake for days and desperate for sleep but around 5pm it switches to a more awake feeling until 10-11pm.
So, essentially, I feel exhausted and half-asleep until 5pm no matter when I actually wake up. I wonder if that could be a hormonal change due to Covid, like, I don’t get the cortisol awakening until evening but the melatonin release happens on schedule.
No amount of coffee helps either.

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ronag | @ronag | Apr 23, 2023

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Having experienced long covid for over a year now, my advice would be to listen to your body and rest when needed, even if it's an insane amount of time. Is there a long covid clinic near you?

rosebear2424 | @rosebear2424 | Apr 23, 2023

There are quite a few people who have had issues either not being able to sleep, sleeping a lot, and sleep routines completely discombobulated. This is my third round of covid on top of long covid, and either I only sleep about 3 hours then wake, can’t go back to sleep for several hours, then back again for 3 hours of sleep (rinse repeat). Alternately, I sleep 18 hours.. no in between. it sucks. I’ve learned not to fight it. If I’m dead tired and can sleep, I do. I try to keep things as regular as possible, but sometimes my body forces me to rest. Sounds like yours is too. Be patient with your body. Be grateful for what you can do, and celebrate the Little accomplishments. For example: if you are able to work for 2 hours that’s great. Also, try not to compare pre covid you with post covid you. You will get stronger. It might be slowly, but you will.