“i ain’t nothing but tired / man i’m just tired and bored with myself / hey there baby”

[larryhammer]

So five months ago, graydon commented on a Covid recovery post:

Four to six months from now would not be an inappropriate time to have some calendar notations about "if you feel like hammered snail snot for no particular reason, it's time to get your everything checked".

And, well, yeah. Still get fatigued if I do anything more strenuous than walk about at a relaxed pace, including heavier lifting or bustling around, let alone strenuous exercise. I can feel my limit coming on, and if I don’t rest, I’ll bonk into a wall and have to rest because suddenly no more energy—out of spoons.

No other symptoms of Long Covid—even most of the brain fog lifted within a month or two. The fatigue does mess with my memory—missing memories are strongly correlated with how tired/stressed I was at the time. Brain is definitely thinking better, though, than during the sleep deprivation of the first year(s) of parenthood. Per doctor’s tests, no markers for any other damage, including cardiac. So in some ways, very lucky. It’s still uggghhh.

My doctor, though, has nothing to offer but don’t push and slowly heal. (Well, aside from an extremely speculative suggestion of a diabetes control drug that she admits there’s not even anecdata on yet.)

So it goes.

---L.

Subject quote from Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen.

Comments

[graydon]

Couple-several things.

The "post-viral syndrome" literature is full of the phrase "profound rest". There's a reason for that; it has been seriously advanced that the reason the various chronic fatigue syndromes are so strongly correlated with gender is that women are, by and large, not permitted rest.

There's some evidence that acute COVID causes capillary loss, up to about 40% of the total. These take a long time to grow back and may explain a lot of the fatigue due to logistically constrained tissues.

Even the sort of person who has extensive daily training data are finding that COVID physical recovery is a minimum of six months.

But lack of signs of other issues is good! May it long continue!

(I walked about 3km yesterday. It wiped me out. Hopefully this is nigh-all consequences of a lack of exercise rather than an indication of capacity.)

[larryhammer]

Yeah, I've been reading up on this.

I did, earlier this summer, spend a couple days walking a few km a day during a Toronto visit. They tired me but didn't wipe me out, which gave me great hope. When I'm not otherwise tired by other reasons, a 1km walk is fine, but I haven't been pushing for more yet.

[thistleingrey]

nothing to offer but don't push

That's huge, honestly, as doctor recommendations go. Glad your doctor is on your team.

[larryhammer]

It is. I deliberately chose a DO who came rec'd by trusted peeps. (Who is, grumpity grump, leaving the practice -- third doc to depart on me in two years.)

[oracne]

YAY no other scary markers. Definitely get as much rest as possible. Anecdotally, it seems to help people.

[larryhammer]

*nod*

[graydon]

but I haven't been pushing for more yet.

Seems entirely prudent!

[sartorias]

rest and recovery sounds good.

[larryhammer]

Resting always sounds good, these days.

[thistleingrey]

Ah, that's hard--though best wishes to the doctor, too.

[stdesjardins]

I had a serious lack of stamina the first month post-COVID, and after that my range expanded considerably, but I still need a bit more rest after a lengthy walk than I used to. (I have been trying not to push myself, and I don't think I am overdoing it, but it's so hard to judge what's a healthy level of exertion.)

[larryhammer]

It is. There's a certain ... internal dragginess, for lack of a better description, that I associate with running close to the fatigue wall, separate from other tiredness, but ... maybe it isn't? I dunno. It's hard.

[stdesjardins]

Yeah, I have had that feeling, most recently when I got the latest booster, and I don't try to push through it.

[marjorie1170]

Sorry to hear about the post-Covid fatigue, though glad there aren't other symptoms. It does seem like slow improvement is the key. May you slowly heal.

[larryhammer]

Indeed.