COVID recovery thread

secretsam

Clue is in the title: those who've come out the other side, how has it been and sre you experiencing ongoing symptoms?

I am currently six weeks post-diagnosis, still suffering symptoms. Asthma doesn't help!

elbowloh

Not me, but both in laws (78 and 72) got it over Christmas, with MIL in hospital from 24th to 27th December. Both appear to be pretty much ok now, which is unexpected as MIL has many underlying health conditions and is on immunosuppressants.

secretsam

elbowloh said:

Not me, but both in laws (78 and 72) got it over Christmas, with MIL in hospital from 24th to 27th December. Both appear to be pretty much ok now, which is unexpected as MIL has many underlying health conditions and is on immunosuppressants.

Best wishes to them. I was luckily well enough to manage at home, but I am not afraid to admit to some dark moments.

sungod

not personally, but a colleague and his wife were flattened by it early in the first wave, his wife was bed-ridden for several days, kids had mild symptoms, but they all came out of it ok, both in their early 50s

fwiw i read this article about longer term issues, seems to reinforce some earlier ideas about what's going on...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/health/coronavirus-antibodies-immunity.html

it says it might be as many as one in three experience some long term effects, if correct that's an awful lot of people

you may need to register to read it, but i think they turned off the paywall on coronavirus-related articles

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I had ~8 weeks of extreme fatigue; sore rib patches that moved almost daily; general chest tightness; muscle ache etc. after getting initial mild symptoms late March 2020, before I could start doing regular Z4+ heart/power intervals, to try and regain the fitness losses through June and July. Initially in April I tried to "blast" up local hills in times quite respectable compared to previous efforts, but I was then wrecked for 4/5 days instead of being able to do something similar ~48 hours later.

Then had non-Covid complications from late July to late August, as a result of a golf ball sized abscess that appeared on my back that was lanced within hours of contacting my GP. These have to heal from the inside out, so had to knock Z4+ efforts on the head again.

Felt relatively good through most of September, but then started to feel similar to March near end of month, knocked z4+ efforts on the head again until early November.

Since November, I've had steady fitness progress, I can do the odd back-to-back days of interval training but the fatigue catches up with me much more than a year ago. This time last year I was doing approx 8-15 hours cycling per weeek, since Covid doing 7 hours week in week out has been a struggle, the ~18 hours I did between Xmas Eve and New Years Eve was by far my most saddle time since Covid over eight days and it left me quite fatigued through early January.

I'm cautiously optimistic about how 2021 will pan out in terms of my fitness post-Covid, my FTP is very similar to mid 2020 now having made gains of ~10% since November. But beside one turbo ride of just over 3 hours last month I've no real idea of where my endurance stamina is, the last 100Km+ ride I did outdoors was mid September around The Mendips.

My better half has had to deal with more serious Covid complications than I, she had months of breathing difficulties back in March 2020 and again in November, at its worst simply going from the sofa to make a cup of tea left her panting. Even now a short walk around the block and then back up our flat's stairs from the front door leaves her far more shattered than it should. She has had her first vaccine jab, so hopefully there will be no more relapses this year at least and hopefully she can safely return to work by around Easter after her second jab.

david37

your endurance will be low Nobody but try not to get too stressed about it, gradually work back and it will come. I had a 6 months off courtesy of covid, no turbos or anything.

A couple of months of weak short rides occaisionally and i started training. FTP test from 310 to 195, so i didnt expect much.

Im up to 3 - 5 hours twice a week at z1/2 plus a couple of sweetspot turbos and one max or underover sessions a week already and its only january so steady as she goes.

I havent done an FTP test recently but ive been guestimating an improvement and moving my target zones up accordingly. I expect when i test again Illl be prob late 200s. Ill build the rest back from April.

Back in full swing by summer

what im trying to say is that go steady and youll be back in time for summer.

ddraver

I had it before it was cool, laid me low for three days but after than started coming out of it after 3 days and by a week was fine.

Ma & Pa raver (mid 60s) caught it before Christmas. Both were bad for 3 or 4 days, Ma like me then recovered fairly quickly. Pa was much improved after 3 days but took 2 or 3 weeks to get fully back to normal.

briantrumpet

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've two friends with heart problems from long covid from infections back in March, both in their forties. One in particular still has to spend a lot of time in bed, as her blood pressure is so low that if she stands up she's likely to faint. Tests aren't showing up why. She's amazingly resilient, considering how it's impacted on her life.

kingstongraham

Had it mid March. Two weeks in bed with extreme fatigue, occasional fever, sinus headache.

Tried a bit of a turbo in May, was too much, have had a go every now and then, but lungs still not feeling back at full capacity so no real cycling since March.

Latest advice from the doc is that there seems to be some relationship in some people with histamine response, so am taking double dose antihistamines to deal with an allergic reaction that seems to be constant rather than only sometimes previously. Breathing a bit better now thank god, hope it comes back soon.

Other than that, nothing incapacitating, just more tired. Been back at work from home since April.

kingstongraham

My advice is always do less than you think you can when on your way through it, and keep your fingers crossed.

briantrumpet

kingstongraham said:

My advice is always do less than you think you can when on your way through it, and keep your fingers crossed.

Must be really hard for anyone who's used to regular exercise and gets a buzz from it. I hate missing even a day.

brundonbianchi

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Re infections have happened, particularly in Brazil and South Africa. If you’ve come through it, you’ve actually come through one time, it’s almost certainly not going to be the only time that some people will get it. It will be interesting ( from a scientific stand point anyway ) to see how any re infections behave.

kingstongraham

If you've nothing helpful to contribute, this might be one to sit out.

ddraver

Not to give BB's posts any credibility whatsoever but since having it I have also been in situations where everyone else in a group I was part of has caught it but I have not felt anything very much (not always easy to tell) and in one case, tested negative so it does seem that once you've had it you're ok

(Caveats about carrying it to others etc)

secretsam

kingstongraham said:

If you've nothing helpful to contribute, this might be one to sit out.

Did I miss something???

bompington

briantrumpet said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've two friends with heart problems from long covid from infections back in March, both in their forties. One in particular still has to spend a lot of time in bed, as her blood pressure is so low that if she stands up she's likely to faint. Tests aren't showing up why. She's amazingly resilient, considering how it's impacted on her life.

I've had two friends with heart problems... drop dead.

One was 30, one 55, both had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. One tested positive weeks beforehand, one was never tested. In neither case, of course, could it be proved that it was down to COVID, but there are masses of (mostly anecdotal) reports of post-COVID complications of all sorts, including lots of cardiac ones.

HCM is what I have. My go-to encouragement is the opinion of my cardiologist: "yes, this is the condition that fit young men drop dead from, but I wouldn't worry too much - if that was going to happen it probably would have already"

briantrumpet

bompington said:

briantrumpet said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've two friends with heart problems from long covid from infections back in March, both in their forties. One in particular still has to spend a lot of time in bed, as her blood pressure is so low that if she stands up she's likely to faint. Tests aren't showing up why. She's amazingly resilient, considering how it's impacted on her life.

I've had two friends with heart problems... drop dead.

One was 30, one 55, both had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. One tested positive weeks beforehand, one was never tested. In neither case, of course, could it be proved that it was down to COVID, but there are masses of (mostly anecdotal) reports of post-COVID complications of all sorts, including lots of cardiac ones.

HCM is what I have. My go-to encouragement is the opinion of my cardiologist: "yes, this is the condition that fit young men drop dead from, but I wouldn't worry too much - if that was going to happen it probably would have already"

Sorry to hear that, but glad you're still alive (probably). Is there a hope/expectation that you'll improve?

carbonclem

I had it through November (confirmed by test). Serious fatigue, loss of taste/smell and nausea - no cough, no temperature. Bad effect was the flare up of dental absesses during it - intense pain with little opportunity for additional pain relief. Took another month to get straight, and even now I find it tough getting up in a morning and can all too easily nap in the day which is unusual. I'm riding my bike enough but feel I have no 'zip' about me at all - just plodding. I'm really unsure whether its after effects, or just January/February malaise - bad weather, nothing planned to look forward to, solo riding only, etc etc?

bompington

briantrumpet said:

bompington said:

briantrumpet said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've two friends with heart problems from long covid from infections back in March, both in their forties. One in particular still has to spend a lot of time in bed, as her blood pressure is so low that if she stands up she's likely to faint. Tests aren't showing up why. She's amazingly resilient, considering how it's impacted on her life.

I've had two friends with heart problems... drop dead.

One was 30, one 55, both had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. One tested positive weeks beforehand, one was never tested. In neither case, of course, could it be proved that it was down to COVID, but there are masses of (mostly anecdotal) reports of post-COVID complications of all sorts, including lots of cardiac ones.

HCM is what I have. My go-to encouragement is the opinion of my cardiologist: "yes, this is the condition that fit young men drop dead from, but I wouldn't worry too much - if that was going to happen it probably would have already"

Sorry to hear that, but glad you're still alive (probably). Is there a hope/expectation that you'll improve?

Thanks. I am improving - a combination of fairly serious blood pressure meds and keeping working on my fitness / weight reduction has seen a measurable decrease in the thickness of the left ventricular wall that characterises the condition.

BP meds are a pain, I'm fairly sure they reduce my fitness significantly, but at least I go faster than I would if I was dead.

bompington

briantrumpet said:

glad you're still alive (probably)

I'm mildy concerned that you're not totally sure you're glad I'm still alive

briantrumpet

bompington said:

briantrumpet said:

glad you're still alive (probably)

I'm mildy concerned that you're not totally sure you're glad I'm still alive

Well, it seems that we both are, at time of posting...

briantrumpet

bompington said:

briantrumpet said:

bompington said:

briantrumpet said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've two friends with heart problems from long covid from infections back in March, both in their forties. One in particular still has to spend a lot of time in bed, as her blood pressure is so low that if she stands up she's likely to faint. Tests aren't showing up why. She's amazingly resilient, considering how it's impacted on her life.

I've had two friends with heart problems... drop dead.

One was 30, one 55, both had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. One tested positive weeks beforehand, one was never tested. In neither case, of course, could it be proved that it was down to COVID, but there are masses of (mostly anecdotal) reports of post-COVID complications of all sorts, including lots of cardiac ones.

HCM is what I have. My go-to encouragement is the opinion of my cardiologist: "yes, this is the condition that fit young men drop dead from, but I wouldn't worry too much - if that was going to happen it probably would have already"

Sorry to hear that, but glad you're still alive (probably). Is there a hope/expectation that you'll improve?

Thanks. I am improving - a combination of fairly serious blood pressure meds and keeping working on my fitness / weight reduction has seen a measurable decrease in the thickness of the left ventricular wall that characterises the condition.

BP meds are a pain, I'm fairly sure they reduce my fitness significantly, but at least I go faster than I would if I was dead.

Good to hear you are improving... however slow progress is, at least it's progress.

skeetam

I had COVID-19 just after Christmas (positive test on 27th December) and last week was the first week I felt back to myself on my daily commute to work (20 miles round trip). I had a high temperature, bad headache, dizziness, nausea, congestion, sorethroat, pain in my legs and arms and blurred vision for about 4 days before those symptoms eased off a bit. I'm asthmatic and was worried it would spread to my chest but thankfully, it didn't. The best of luck to anyone recovering from it.