Has anyone else experienced anxiety after getting Covid?

Posted by da69 @da69, Aug 7, 2022

I never had anxiety prior to getting Covid...Now i am on klonopin as needed and buspar
10mg 3 times a day.
Has anyone else experienced anxiety after getting Covid?
Does it ever go away...im approx a yr and a half and still have bad anxiety that comes and goes out of nowhere.
Thank.you

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@southam97

I'm sorry I couldn't find how to PM you from here, I have another breathe practice for anxiety as well, if you PM me with your details to reply further

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@southam97, I appreciate your posting your exercises here for all to benefit rather than by private messaging. Thank you!

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my pleasure1 hope you're feeling better

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@poppy67

Hi, just read your post. I noted it is dated Aug 2022. I’m wondering how you are doing now? Have you found anything additional since writing this that has helped? I identify with your feelings. I have suffered with Long Covid symptoms for quite some time. They get better but then return. However I am seeing slow improvement. I developed panic attacks at night after never experiencing one in my life. I take Trazadone for sleep but it has caused weight gain. . I intend to check out some apps. Thanks for your suggestions. I used to think the anxiety was from the worry about the symptoms themselves and I do think that’s part of it. I’ve lost a lot of hair. How can you not feel anxiety from finding a handful in your hand when you shampoo? Same with The weight gain! And There are just so many awful physical symptoms that cause pain, fatigue and constant discomfort,etc.. Then there are the psychological symptoms as well. However, I’ve come to believe at least part of the anxiety has developed as a true medical condition. I can just “feel” something going on in my body. Things just feel “off” , so to speak. It’s hard to explain. I just do not feel like myself since Covid. Sometimes I feel like a different person than the one I was for 65 years. I’ve had the anxiety that most of us go through while raising children, losing a parent, having a teaching career, being diagnosed with serious illness and coping with life’s struggles. However “this anxiety” is different. I wish you the best of luck and will be thinking of you!

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This is spot on and I’m curious if this has prevented you from working. I’m dealing with short term disability but finding the insurance companies think you’re cured in a couple months - not understanding it comes and goes and additional issues arise. I’ve had medically documented organ damage including my lungs, brain, and heart as well as the chronic fatigue and brain fog/focus issues and anxiety which progressed to depression. I contracted Covid April 2022 - so it’s only been 10 months and I fear it may continue quite some time. I ultimately took a medical leave early November 2022. The harder I tried to return to normal exercise and work demands, the worse my symptoms became. I’m now in PT and practicing “energy conservation” as well as on various vitamin supplements, anti depressants and low dose Naltrexone (4.5 mg) for pain.

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I’m so very sorry you are going thru this!

I am also experiencing extreme fatigue, shakes, unbearable anxiety in waves that seemed to take shape after Covid in December ‘23. My Covid was relatively mild so I expected to return to normal life.

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I had covid May 2022, and had long covid symptoms for 6 months after. My anxiety was horrific, which was followed by depression. I tried to take antidepressants but had a very bad reaction . The only thing that seemed to help was a magnesium supplement, and when I was able to build up my strength again, low impact exercise, and time.

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Yes. My anxiety and depression has been almost unbearable at times. No meds seem to help since I first got Covid in 2020.

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@dawna1266

Yes. My anxiety and depression has been almost unbearable at times. No meds seem to help since I first got Covid in 2020.

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For what it's worth (and I'm not sure if this relates to your situation), I found that accepting that my constant anxiety was a symptom of long covid (rather than something in my real life) helped me cope. Early on, I kept latching on to something in my current (or earlier) life that would explain what I was feeling. I realized that I was searching for an explanation, rather than realizing that long covid created a subjective experience unrelated to objective reality.

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Yes! Like you, never experienced anxiety before. Now it rules my life.

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@kelloggma

This is spot on and I’m curious if this has prevented you from working. I’m dealing with short term disability but finding the insurance companies think you’re cured in a couple months - not understanding it comes and goes and additional issues arise. I’ve had medically documented organ damage including my lungs, brain, and heart as well as the chronic fatigue and brain fog/focus issues and anxiety which progressed to depression. I contracted Covid April 2022 - so it’s only been 10 months and I fear it may continue quite some time. I ultimately took a medical leave early November 2022. The harder I tried to return to normal exercise and work demands, the worse my symptoms became. I’m now in PT and practicing “energy conservation” as well as on various vitamin supplements, anti depressants and low dose Naltrexone (4.5 mg) for pain.

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I just now read your post. I am still dealing with the same. I hope you are doing better.
Today was the worst bout of anxiety I’ve ever experienced. I have never experienced such a terrible panic attack. I never had one until long Covid. I wonder if anyone has found anything to help this on -going anxiety. I don’t want to get hooked on a benzodiazepine.
But I came very close to going to the ER tonight. I have a knee procedure scheduled for tomorrow. I don’t want to cancel and then have wait for another appointment. I’m trying to get through it all. Sometimes the only thing that helps me is to get through the worst of it, then get online with the mayo.org group when I can sit at my computer. It’s true that it helps to know others understand what you’re going through. I am truly thankful for the people I’ve “met” here. God Bless you all.

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@kelloggma

This is spot on and I’m curious if this has prevented you from working. I’m dealing with short term disability but finding the insurance companies think you’re cured in a couple months - not understanding it comes and goes and additional issues arise. I’ve had medically documented organ damage including my lungs, brain, and heart as well as the chronic fatigue and brain fog/focus issues and anxiety which progressed to depression. I contracted Covid April 2022 - so it’s only been 10 months and I fear it may continue quite some time. I ultimately took a medical leave early November 2022. The harder I tried to return to normal exercise and work demands, the worse my symptoms became. I’m now in PT and practicing “energy conservation” as well as on various vitamin supplements, anti depressants and low dose Naltrexone (4.5 mg) for pain.

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Forgot to answer your question about working. I was an elementary and K-teacher and retired several years ago. I am 67. Even if I had not retired I do not feel I could teach after having Covid and now experiencing long-Covid. Aside from the physical symptoms, I think the anxiety and fatigue I have would be too much. I always wanted to give my children the best I could. I doubt I’d be able to do that now. You may be younger and feel less of these symptoms now.
Dealing with Insurance companies makes things worse. I wish they’d catch up with the times.
I do hope you are feeling better. Let us hear how you are doing.

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