Post Covid buzzing, tremors and possible fix
Hello everyone. This is my first post and I wanted to share my experience in hopes it can possibly help someone else.
September of 2023 I was traveling in Europe with my wife and got covid for the first time. At first it was really mild just a tickle in the back of my throat and then I started getting fever/chills at night and then the fatigue set in. Nothing terrible. On the 5th day though I lost my sense of smell 100%. You could put a stick of deodorant in front of me and I couldn't smell it in the slightest. The next day though I had all my energy back however It took 3 weeks but I got my sense of smell back.
I thought I was all clear, then around the end of December I felt my vision start to decline and I started getting a buzzing feeling in my left foot. It was not an external tremor, but it felt like it was. At first I thought something was vibrating on the bed! Quickly realized it was just my left foot. Within 2 weeks I thought I had Parkinson's as it had traveled up the left side of my body and spread to the right side as well. I then started getting really bad external tremors at night whenever I tried to sleep they would start up and wake me up. It was like torture and slept only 15 minutes for 3 days in a row. I saw other people post that they got diagnosed with Parkinson's after covid and I thought for sure I had it as well. I also thought as fast as it was progressing I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to be able to function by the end of January. And am a little ashamed to admit but I was thinking of self termination. I should also mention I was having "cog wheel" action tremors when moving my arms etc they were jerky. And walking also felt weird. I would say like poor balance, but it felt just off.
I normally never take any ibuprofen or sleep aids or anything, but we had some nyquil in the cupboard that was several years old and decided to take it to see if I could sleep. It did help some and I took 3 days off from work and started doing more research.
I have always known B-vitamins are good for the nervous systems so started taking some. I normally just try to get low doses from a multi and get the rest from foods. I have had problems with "high" dose b vitamins causing insomnia however since I couldn't really sleep much anyway I started to take some more than normal. (BTW I am 44 years old and eat very healthy, don't drink or smoke and work out regularly)
I tried several supplements, but will leave most of that out since I didn't get improvement. I will list what did work for me through trial and error.
So long story short I have had tremendous success with 3 different supplements and wanted to share this. They are made by Life Extension ( you can probably use other brands, I just used them as I have had good luck with them in the past and I feel they are good quality).
1. Life Extension BioActive Complete B-Complex
2. Life Extension Methyl-Cobalamin (500 mcg) chewable
3. Life Extension Mega Benfotiamine, 250 mg
I took 1 of each in the morning first thing. It took me a while before I could take it every day because I was worried about it triggering worse insomnia however I did start to see small improvements fairly quickly and then about 3 weeks ago when I started taking them every day I am now about 90% normal (May 7th 2024 is the day I am writing this). My vision is back to normal. My internal buzzing/tremors are gone or just barely notice any at times where before it felt like my body was vibrating 24-7. Also haven't had any external tremors at night for over a week and they were improving a lot prior.
Looking back, my gut feeling is covid caused a severe b12 deficiency or increased demand to repair/recover from the damage it caused. I needed the complex and also the benfotiamine for it to all work together though and recommend not skipping the other 2.
I am probably forgetting some things but wanted to get this out in hopes maybe other people will try this and hopefully see the same improvements I did. If you think of any questions please feel free to ask.
This also gets me concerned and sad for many people that get diagnosed with Parkinson's, external tremor, MS etc. Then go that route with no improvements when possibly some of them just have a deficiency that can be corrected.
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.