How are the super long-haulers doing 3 to 4 years out?
I came down with COVID March 31 2020 and have had long-COVID ever since. Moderate fatigue, lung irritation and trouble breathing, some brain fog, and crashes of 2 to 3 weeks where I feel extremely fatigued and ill are my main issues. Plus other systemic things...heart rate not coming down after strenuous exercise, responding too strongly/not properly to vaccines (COVID or otherwise), etc. I would say I'm lucky in that I can still work full time 75% of the time, and I am still able to push myself to do activities I enjoy like hiking, walking, travel, so really I don't have it as bad as some people. But it still disrupts life quite a bit.
Each year I get a little better...the crashes don't last as long, some of the systemic things have gone away (like nearly passing out in hot temps), and I've gotten a tiny bit of energy back. The thing that helped me most was a stellate ganglion block, which has gotten rid of most my lung symptoms and I no longer need any inhalers (I still take Quercetin antihistamine supplement for lung irritation - can't quite go off that altogether). This January, I was starting to have some days where I felt normal. I could actually wake up feeling refreshed sometimes, I could do more physical activity without over-tiring, and I wasn't getting sick either with a virus or with a crash.
But now I feel like I've slid back a whole year or more. My fatigue is worse and more frequent. Over the past 2.5 months, I've had a total of 5 viruses or crashes making me sick and I feel like I am starting a crash today because I'm so tired I can barely get through the day. Haven't been sick this frequently for a couple years now. I'm in my 30s and feeling so frustrated that 4+ years of the prime of my life I've had to hold back on normal activities, miss so much work, and feel so listless. Also, I have thankfully only had COVID just the one time.
I am wondering how the other "long long-COVID" people who've had it 3 or 4+ years are doing physically and emotionally? Have you gotten any better? What is still hard? What has helped the most?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.
I've been at it since June '22. Same exact symptoms: headaches between eyebrow region/ bridge of nose, fullness/pressure/inability to clear my ears (eustachian tube dysfunction), and intermittent tinnitus. It has not gone away in almost 3 years- not one day. Have seen numerous providers. Finally getting into Emory's long Covid clinic and Dr. Alex Truong in 3 weeks. I've managed okay until this spring's pollen outbreak which was horrendous. I have to admit, this is really wearing me down.
Thank you 🙏🏽