[Closed] 'Long Covid'

I've not had it, yet, being ills one thing, the long term effects and unknown damage are another and do concern me.

I know of 3 people, all active, 35-55, fit and healthy who 6 months post covid still can't walk up an incline / commute by bicycle as they have done for years.

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3489

Partner had a similar experience. All covid symptoms apart from loss of smell / taste just before lockdown (no tests available then) and until very recently she struggled with exercise or even walking up a hill and having a conversation. Typically shes really active run and gym a few times a week and does some sort of yoga / yt exercise thing every morning so not unfit at all. I would say its taken her 7 months to get this far but shes now pretty much 100%.

I've had six months plus of it. A relatively mild infection to start with - like high altitude breathing - followed by months of chest pain, tingling fingers - a Nerve Conduction Study shows sensory changes in the middle two fingers of each hand - horrific insomnia, acid reflux, elevated heart rate, crushing fatigue, symptoms that mimicked stroke / heart attack stuff and saw me end up at A&E etc. Also had lots of odd symptoms - one of the nastiest were insane noradrenaline rushes prompted by standing up - which are gradually fading and probably due to damage / inflammation to the autonomic nervous system. Also have gradually receding brain fog.

I'm improving slowly, but progress is glacial. No local rehab hub. My GP has been sympathetic, helpful with blood tests etc, but limited in scope. I've been working with an osteo using something called the Perrin Technique which has really helped me. She believes that I'll be mostly well by the end of autumn and has worked with a lot of CFS/ME sufferers so has specialist background in that area. It's such a weird illness though, that I'm not counting any chickens.

There's precious little info on what the mechanisms behind it are, most of the focus has been on managing critical cases and stopping people dying, and precious little treatment beyond symptom relief. Referrals to specialists are taking months. Some GPs don't even know it exists and are telling people they have 'anxiety' and the unreliability of testing means that some medics are using it as an excuse not to take the diagnosis seriously.

I know two other previously fit, active cyclists in the same position as me. There are a significant number of athletes who've copped this thing for reasons they don't yet understand.

The best sources of information I've found are FB support groups where people are pooling experiences and, in particular, diagnoses from consultants. I can post links to a couple if anyone's interested and the Body Politic long covid Slack group, which I don't use because my head can't cope with it.

I know there are several other STWers suffering long-term impacts from this thing as well. If I've learned one thing it's that for me at least, you can't exercise your way out of this thing, you have to rest hard and that includes screen time etc.

But yes, a really unpleasant, debilitating experience. Good luck to everyone else going through it.

In case it's useful to anyone else here, a couple of FB groups that I've found really good for information and support:

UK-specific group, don't be put off by the name:

More international group (though with UK origins) - 22,000 member fwiw

https://www.wearebodypolitic.com/covid19
http://bodypolitic.slack.com

I almost certainly got a much milder form of C19 from my better half and the turmoil she went through, just before the first lockdown in March. Initially, I didn't feel too bad, but I was still riding the wave of my best training block to date during Jan and Feb. But then it all changed, PB chasing efforts up hills would leave me absolutely wrecked for 3-4 days, instead of being ready to go again no more than two days later.

My memory got even worse and I was often ending up back in bed mid afternoon for a while, something I won't normally do. But then I suffer from SAD and because I was getting out less due to C19, it's hard to say if it was C19 (a common symptom apparently) or SAD.

I then stopped doing efforts for a month or so, to try and give my body more time to heal, which seemed to help.

All out intervals up to ~30mins then began to need less recovery time, doing a monthly 100Km ride didn't leave me feeling like death and I managed to almost get my FTP back to pre-C19 levels by early July.

But then I came back from a break in Prestatyn visiting family and a lump on my back suddenly turned into a big angry abscess, requiring urgent lancing and then writing off getting sweaty on a bike for ~5.5 weeks until early September.

Surprisingly, with some haphazard Z5 efforts the week before our holiday to Burnham On Sea, I got surprisingly close to my early July power interval numbers going up Draycott's New Rd, Cheddar Gorge and Burrington Combe.

But since just before we came back home last Friday, I've felt a bit odd when sitting around the house outside of work shifts... A bit like that feeling I get when I'm on the verge on getting a stitch or I'm a bit anxious, but it's not negatively affecting any sub 10min efforts I've tried on the bike. It almost reminds me of the feeling I had just after getting C19, except back then, the "bruised rib" feeling moved around different areas front and back most days.

I'm well aware that others have had much worse "long C19" consequences than myself, so in that respect, I should be thankful that I have been able get within ~3% of my 20mins power back in Feb. Where I still have a lot of ground to catch up on is 30-60min power, I'm still ~16% down on pre-C19 figures for that band, but then in fairness I'm not sure off the top of my head if I've even attempted an interval that long since March.

It's been one hell of a rollercoaster year for me in terms of fitness, I'm not sure I'm totally over "long C19," but I'm not prepared to just stop pushing my fitness boundaries unless I feel really unwell.

I’m well aware that others have had much worse “long C19” consequences than myself, so in that respect, I should be thankful that I have been able get within ~3% of my 20mins power back in Feb. Where I still have a lot of ground to catch up on is 30-60min power, I’m still ~16% down on pre-C19 figures for that band, but then in fairness I’m not sure off the top of my head if I’ve even attempted an interval that long since March.

It does sound like it's hit you really hard 🙂

Joking aside, I'd be a little careful. There's a lot of stuff coming out suggesting that myocardidtis - heart inflammation basically - is surpisingly common, even with mild cases of covid-19. There's a project by some gugs called Coverscan where they're MRI scanning covid sufferers and finding that heart changes are common, ongoing lung issues less so. Also brain and other major organ impacts in some cases.

I think I had Covid around Easter and fortunately it took about 6-8 weeks to shake of all the symptoms. Though getting myself back motivated has been really tough before lockdown I was getting back towards sub 3 hour marathon shape now I can just about be bothered to run round the block.

I have had on going post viral fatigue that from a illness I picked up in my early 20's. I went from a sub 1.30 half marathon runner to having to sleep for a day if did any mild exercise or feel really depressed. The doctors weren't that good at the time but overtime it wore off though it does flair up every now and again I understand the triggers much better though I sometimes choose to ignore them.

I hope if any good comes of this pandemic with so many people been exposed to a new virus and health impacts so closely monitored that they'll gain a much better understanding of long term impact that viral infections in general as well

Boils my 'wee wee' when folk say 'I won't be affected' yadda yadda, when you see folk either getting very ill, dying, or ending up with these long term conditions.

I may have had it, then may not - very early on - we have an office in Wuhan. Other than feeling very rough, bad cough and having breathing difficulties - low 90's O2, and enough for me to go to the GP and get given Xrays, I don't know. Not caught anything since.

I wish these idiots would listen. It's shown on the threads here that people, and 'fit' people, have been badly affected by this virus.

All the best

Two of my friends have it - both mid to late 30s.

Case 1: She had covid in March and seemed to recover quite quickly - since then she had a mini stroke in June and started to have acute respiratory problems that have now become permanent. Also had an onset of fatigue that started in late May and is now having tests for damage to her kidneys.

Case 2: Triathlete - has never smoked and rarely drinks. Covid almost killed him in late March and 6 months on he's a shadow of his former self and struggles to walk even 1/2 mile now.

I suspect that if the rest of the population stopped complaining for long enough to read about long covid cases in people whom are in the 20s / 30s / 40s they might start acting like Covid is "no worse than the flu."

Covid has brought to this country to its knees and unless people start taking personal responsibility for their actions and thinking about others the country will be flat on its back and in need of CPR by the spring.

Anyone who is suffering from Long Covid has my sympathy - hope you all get well.

I think I had covid in March. Felt awful for 2 weeks - struggling to walk up an incline etc. Recovered but have some ongoing symptoms including chest pain. I have been into cardiology at the local hosipital and they suspect it is covid related, but also noticed that my cholesterol had rocketed up. Been on a cholesterol reducing diet now for 3+ months so I am due back at cardiology for more tests.

Also like @Stainypants I have ongoing but managed fatigue - ME/CFS consistent stemming from a virus/bike race combo. Some of the fatigue associated with covid (if it was covid as I wasn't tested) felt the same, bar the additional chest pain.

Morbidity from COVID-19 infection is very poorly understood and there is very little systematic epidemiological data. This is a new human pathogen that enters cells by a widely expressed receptor (ACE2), so I think very likely that the systemic effects may be widespread for some people. I'm a Second Cat road racer with a 12hr TT personal best in the All Time Great lists. I have not ridden since my infection in April, having then just resumed my training at 300-400 km/week. Yes I'm reasonably fit, but now I'm taking it easy for recovery. I still have recurrent occasional chest pain and have not taken my heart above 140 bpm for any significant period (which is lower than my 12hr racing average!). I still have muscle pain at the top of my calf, but that may just be lack of exercise. According to the scales, I have acquired 2kg in this time and it has remained stable. Walking is fine.

Not rushing.

I was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue in October 2009. In April of that year I was really ill with what can only be described as the flu but after the main symptoms went away I felt really, really rough for months after. I was breathless, had heart palpitations which after investigation suggested that I had pericarditis, confused thinking, panic attacks etc. I was in my mid-20s

Loads of tests etc couldn't pinpoint anything apart from the heart issues which rectified itself after 3 months and I slowly started recovering over the course of 2010.

Fast forward a decade and my health is really good but to be honest, I honestly feel that I never got back to the stage I was pre-virus.

It's a good thread to start - especially if we get TiRed's insights on where thinking, research and understanding is going. At the moment my information / support comes from social media / normal media or chatting with BWD as a fellow early adopter.

Over the last six months I've covered most of what is going on on the have any of us caught it... thread. I just feel a bit like a crash test dummy - there are highs and there are lows. March to June was steady progress to the point where I thought I was unfit not ill. I seemed to be making much better progress on exercise and coping with the roller coaster of symptoms. End of June to date has been much more of a steady decline. To me it felt like cold followed by relapse followed by 're-infection' followed by cold.

Re-infection is a fairly contentious description and really the odds currently seem stacked against it. It was though a distinct event - a complete mirror of march but milder symptoms. This 'reinfection' episode really hit my heart - had much more protracted chest pressure sensation. It really hit my fitness - gave up on the idea of cycling much or walking anything over a couple of km. This is a big change from June where I had got the point of being able to do long flat rides. By the middle of last week I was feeling better - or much less bad - my times for the two walks I usually do were back to close to those I did in June.

Cold the latest - probably got at friends when I collected some kit - they were down with mild return to school cold. Seven days in and I'm not shaking it.

It's things like the how does long haul interact with other bugs and viruses that interests me. A chunk is total self interest but as I'm coming into flu season run down - absolutely not what the aim was - I want to get a handle on what I might be having to deal with.

Last week I would have said I was expecting to be back on the mountain bike in mid October. Now I don't know. It would just be nice to be at the point where my watch stops telling me I have the fitness of a 63 year old! VO2 according to Garmin down from 42 in June to 33 this week. It's a bit disheartening and yes I know it's just a watch not a proper test but the trend is still the wrong way.

The back to school cold round here seems to be an annoying one though so don't be surprised if it takes a while to go.
I don't think it is related to anything else but the cold our boy brought back raised my heart rate and has given a sore throat and a crappy chest (phlegm).
So if that is on top of long covid don't beat yourself up over it not going

I would say its taken her 7 months to get this far but shes now pretty much 100%.

Ace, glad she's doing well. Nice to hear of a full recovery too 🙂 It's a fairly dark place when you aren't sure when (or even if) you'll be back to your normal self.

Cold the latest – probably got at friends when I collected some kit – they were down with mild return to school cold. Seven days in and I’m not shaking it.

I had a cold a couple of weeks back - it lasted a full fortnight, and had me far more knackered than a cold normally would. Lots of people I've spoken to have said something similar, that the recovery is very much a rollercoaster - lots of downs in amongst the ups...

Good thread OP

I had some sort of middle ear pain at the end of July, I got a course of antibiotics for it and it went away, a couple of weeks later I got hit by a horrible brain fog/aches/fatigue. It lasted around 3 weeks, I then had 2 weeks of feeling normalish which took me to this monday. I thought it was finally time to try a bike ride. I went out on the gravel bike for an hour and a half and thought I'd taken it easy HR never went above 150 (max ~180), felt amazing off the endorphins that night. Then over the last few days the aches and brain fog have come back - perhaps not as strong as last time but still really hitting my focus and attention span.

I guess I've not actually had anything really strongly identifiable as Covid and my post-whatever symptoms are nowhere near as bad as others but still really struggling to focus on the more mentally challenging aspects at work. Also not being able to ride is robbing me of a source of mental and physical relief!

In short FED UP of bleurgh!

Full Member
I’ve had six months plus of it. A relatively mild infection to start with – like high altitude breathing – followed by months of chest pain, tingling fingers – a Nerve Conduction Study shows sensory changes in the middle two fingers of each hand – horrific insomnia, acid reflux, elevated heart rate, crushing fatigue, symptoms that mimicked stroke / heart attack stuff and saw me end up at A&E etc. Also had lots of odd symptoms – one of the nastiest were insane noradrenaline rushes prompted by standing up – which are gradually fading and probably due to damage / inflammation to the autonomic nervous system. Also have gradually receding brain fog.

Pretty much the exact same as MrsRNP, started in March and now only just recovering, shes probably 90% of the way back to 'normal'. I must have had it and passed it to her - I had a weird sneezing man flue type thing early March which floored me for a weekend but then i bounced back quickly.
Wifey had shingles last year which probably didn't help her immune system.

I think I had it early doors, mild ish symptoms, but remember going out for a run and feeling like it was high altitude (amongst other symptoms)

Odly as I got better and went out running and biking again. I would get out of breath easily and feel like I was pushing peak heart rate only for my heart rate to be no where near my peak. No other symptoms though. Few weeks later all back to normal, able to hit peak heart rate but actually felt less uncomfortable.

4 weeks ago - headaches, dizziness, brain fog, fatigue, pins and needles, muscle aches, hot flushes. No exercise for 4 weeks and COVID test negative. Mrs FD normally gives no sympathy as she’s a doc, but even she said I looked rough.

All bloody bizarre and not similar to viruses I’ve had before

Can I join the club? Bad cough and shortness of breath back in April. Then suffered throughout May to August with serious fatigue, to the point where I had to take some time off work and I was also very short of breath. Any attempt at exercise knocked me on my arse. Ended up having bloods taken, being sent for a chest x-ray and an ECG.

GP said it is post viral fatigue and that he thinks I’ve had COVID. Only just starting to feel a bit back to normal these last few weeks. I know a lot of people have had things a hell of a lot worse. Therefore I feel lucky in some ways. It has done a massive number on me mentally though.

All bloody bizarre and not similar to viruses I’ve had before

It's proper weird. The missus, who probably caught the thing first, had three days of super mild symptoms - tickly throat, mild headache and strange feeling skin plus rashes on both wrists - but then nothing else bar some mad HR spikes when walking / cycling. Five months later she suddenly developed a single covid toe plus tingling/fizzing fingers for a couple of days. Then it went again.

Looking back, I had odd rashes on my upper arms for no obvious reason back just before it all kicked off, but back then it wasn't actually known to be a covid symptom.

What's genuinely heart-breaking is seeing what some of the people on the FB long covid groups are going through, really debilitating stuff that's potentially life altering in the long term while still trying to work and look after their families and then having GPs telling them they have 'anxiety'. Just awful.

It is worrying not knowing exactly what's going on with your body, but I believe that I'll get through this eventually and recover. I may even be a better person for it in the longer term. You never know.

Oh, things not to say to long haulers: 'At least you're not dead' :-/

I am in general highly resistant to colds/flu type viruses, and my family are reasonably robust also.

In Feb I went to Italy and shortly afterwards had mysterious bad guts and fatigue. My wife and daughter had anosmia randomly. So we might've had it.

I've always had some irregular heartbeat from caffeine abuse but since March there have been periods where it's been quite bad. I've also had loads of fatigue, lack of motivation and concentration, and feeling out of it generally. It could just be the effects of WFH, or it could be something else. I've not done much biking at all because I haven't felt up to it. I've also had periods where my breathing was more rapid than usual, which I've never felt before. A long list of just general weirdness with my health. Then a few weeks ago I had really strange illness, felt like absolute shit with sore skin (no rash) bad stomach (no shits) and a long list of other random issues which came and went.

But it comes and goes - I did quite a bit of riding early in lockdown. But none of it was particularly quick. Annoyingly I only re-acquired a HRM recently and my sustainable HR is way down on what it was last time I used one, but that was a long time ago. Same for my power as I now have a smart trainer, but that could be lack of fitness, age, or just the fact it's an indoor trainer rather than an on-bike unit.

I'm still suffering effects after testing positive in April. I initially went back to work after about two weeks of general lethargy, headaches and shortness of breath.

After about a week back in work I started to suffer extreme tiredness, loss of concentration, short term memory loss and confusion. I had another test at the end of May and was still positive so was off work for another month.

I now have weird rashes on my legs and suffer with hot feet. A scar from an injury I suffered at work over ten years ago now itches and burns like mad at night. I still have no sense of smell and often fall asleep at weird times of day (which has never happened before in my life). My lung capacity is absolutely shot and I've lost all tolerance for alcohol.

Blood tests haven't shown anything out of the ordinary and my Dr is just a bit non plussed by the whole thing.

On second thoughts.

Can I join the club too.

Wiped out for three weeks just before full lockdown. Didn't go to hospital but was so short of breath it was getting to close to it.

I've had a touch of asthma all my life but never needed inhaler apart from very rare occasion. I've been puffing on one ever since, I've got a persistant asthma cough, completely knackered and worryingly unable to concentrate or remember stuff (to the point I run through friends names almost daily to remind myself of them) and franky fairly depressed too. I can still ride a bike reasonably but it wipes me out for the rest of the day, I doubt I could get to end of street running. Need to get myself to the docs but I suspect it'll be in vain as I've not got a massive opinion of my surgery.

*waves*

my story is not hugely dissimilar to funkmasterp - fever and fluey symptoms in early April, followed by pretty severe fatigue, with bouts of brain fog, nausea and occasional dizziness throughout the summer (and still no tolerance for booze). ECG, liver ultrasound, various blood tests etc all came back normal(ish), except my cholesterol is up a bit, which is unusual as I've always been scrawny. I do eat my own bodyweight in butter though, so I could tone that down.

I eventually conceded that the only real solution is rest - I make myself spend 12 hours in bed, each of Saturday and Sunday, and I've got a 'may be fit for work' note off the GP recommending 4 day weeks, so for the last 3 weeks I've done the same on a Wednesday too. I walk everywhere at a glacial pace and attempt not to get my heart rate up at any point.

I can now feel myself coming out the other side (i think); this week marked the first time I've averaged 4,000 steps over a fortnight, and I generally feel better in myself. But it's still slow going. These last two days I've done something like 10,500 steps (total) and 13 hours at my desk and I am completely floored.

I was reasonably fit in March!

I'm writing off the rest of the year - but my goodness am I itching to get out and walk up a hill. Or even just walk into town. We had a few days in a coastal village the other week - one day I felt so rotten I went back to bed after breakfast, and stayed there til about 4pm. MrsDoris went for a nice coast walk and saw some dolphins. I was pretty envious!

But still. It could be a lot worse.

Yeah, as per the other thread got it in march and had a long 'recovery'. Thought things were ok come June but then over the last months the usual suspects - fatigue, sob, chest oddness / pain, sore muscles, pretty significant fitness loss and the most worrying thing, fast heart rate and odd rythms.

Reading oldagepredators post earlier was eerily familiar, following that to a tea (colds, then relapse etc etc)

It comes and goes and sometimes I'm fine. I can ride so I'm grateful. Heart and chest tests next week.

Need to get myself to the docs but I suspect it’ll be in vain as I’ve not got a massive opinion of my surgery.

GPs seem incredibly variable on this. Some don't know it exists, others are curious and pro-active. What you can do is get a bunch of tests to rule out stuff like vitamin or mineral deficiencies, thyroid issues, blood clotting markers etc. Plus referrals, though these seem to be taking months at present. Plus potentially prescriptions for any specific issues.

Also worth knowing is that covid heart issues don't always show on an ECG, an echocardiogram or MRI may show more. Equally people with clear chest x-rays are sometimes showing damage with CT scans.

The bottom line is that currently no-one really knows what's causing long covid, though there are several believable theories. BUt yeah, I'd see your GP, get some tests done. Oh, and ask if there's a covid rehab hub in your area. They're starting to appear, but a lot of GPs don't know about them.

R4, 11am, Tuesday 29th; Adam Rutherford explores the symptoms in the light of his own experience.

I'd like to know if I have had it but like molgrips our family have lucky genes (my mother got over pnemonia in her late 80's). I had something in March that put me in bed for the first time in 20 years but I'm fine now.

Interesting thread. I’m also writing off this year and doing what I can, but some of the symptoms here ring a bell - I had a week of nausea and stomach problems but without shits, fever or vomiting. Also had some weird balance issues and got my ears syringed which made no difference.

For anyone else still struggling with this thing, this is some of the best post-covid information I've come across. Detailed advice on supplements, exercise etc. Detailed and precise, but not over complicated. Well worth a listen - it's audio only btw.

It's very obviously a thing, and could easily be a bigger issue overall than the fatalities. It's also showing signs of becoming a new ME. By which I mean, a very real problem that ruins people's lives, that people who've no empathy will dismiss as all in their head/just people being skivers.

It seems to be very important to failing governments that covid be seen exclusively in terms of deaths, though.

Does anyone else have rasping exhallation.? Like you are breathing out through a deflated balloon. Along with loss of power, loss of endurance, any efforts push your perceived HR up and lead to near bonk levels of output.

Alcohol tolerance has halved roughly, and all i had was 1 day of feeling ill in April and 2 to 3 weeks of a dry and non productive double cough.felt reasonably ok at the time. Riding is ok at a low level of effort, stairs more of challange than usual

I had paradoxial breathing issues through Feb so i wonder if this isnt related to that.

Received this today from our friend who had it bad in March:

At the end of the day on Thursday I couldn’t see and I nearly passed out at work.
I thought I was tired but I then got a dreadful pain in my left arm. I phoned 111 and they told me to go straight to A&E, they thought I was going to have a stroke.. bloody scary.
At least I had lots of tests, at long last, and a few things have flagged up.
Going back on Monday to have a heart scan as it seems it is my heart that is the problem.. getting old. 😩👵

The above doesn't mention it but she's also anaemic and has scarring on her lungs.

Also had some weird balance issues

I've had those too. Mild, but definitely there. My wife has too.

Also had some weird balance issues

My brother has that, they all had Covid a few months back...

My bet is blood clots in the inner ear.

I've been doing better on Zwift lately, feeling better at higher exertions. I hope I'm not gonna kark it on the final sprint next time...

Oh yeah, and a mild visual migrane for the first time in my life today.

Gov.uk post on Long Covid - study from King’s College London.
There's a new video at the bottom of the page too

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/health-secretary-warns-of-long-term-effects-of-covid-19-as-new-film-released

Video here:

For anyone else still struggling with this thing, this is some of the best post-covid information I’ve come across. Detailed advice on supplements, exercise etc. Detailed and precise, but not over complicated. Well worth a listen – it’s audio only btw.

I've been using the Ubiquinol recommended in that video for week or two now. Seems to have made a difference to energy levels, though my symptoms have ben very up and down the last few months so it may just be coincidence. Cheers for the link.

It’s very obviously a thing, and could easily be a bigger issue overall than the fatalities. It’s also showing signs of becoming a new ME

And yet there is a suggestion that only those at higher risk of death will get the vaccine.

The government and its experts have been telling us for 9 months covid is serious for all ages, and it clearly is. They are now suggesting vaccinating under 50s isn't part of the plan (even in lomg term), and they'll just need to deal with any 'minor ailments' they succumb to.

If that ends up being the plan then it's a xxxxing disgrace given what we know about long covid.

If that ends up being the plan then it’s a xxxxing disgrace given what we know about long covid.

Given we know more about covid and long covid (admittedly we don't "know" alot....but we have lots of observations) than we do about any potential vaccine...

I'm ok with that. If anything I'm.more concerned about long term effects of the vaccine on the over 50s at this stage.

A long rambling post, jump to the final paragraph if you can't be bothered.

I'm still suffering as of March 10th last year, I had obvious covid symptoms for a week with a very dry cough and consistent sore throat, abated for two days the hit me lake a hammer for another three weeks. Following on from that I had no energy and was constantly clearing my throat and developed a more phlegmy cough, a few timed I'd coughed so hard I hurt my eye and had to start holding my eye in when I coughed, also my always congested sinuses were even worse than normal. Being a stupid man I just soldiered on thinking it'll get better soon but after about five months I thought shit I might be dying I'd better get this checked out.

So, many calls to the doctors getting fobbed off, saying I think I had covid which just seemed to be brushed aside or ignored, grudgingly being prescribed antibiotics which seemed to help but the symptoms just carried on. Eventually had bloods and an Xray which showed nothing. Another doctor then said as a hail Mary attempt to show we've tried everything prescribed high strength anti-histamines, anti-biotics and omeprazole, I was immediately much worse and saw the side effects of the first two were an enlarged oesophagus so cut them out and I've been better to some degree since.

Since then I've been on Omeprozole and Ozemeprozole up to 80mg a day along with Gaviscon advance just managing the symptoms, got referred for a gastroscopy on the thinking that the coughing may have caused a hernia and through persistence managed to jump the 42 week queue and got checked out on the 23rd of December, nothing found. Back to the docs and he was happy to finally refer me to ENT although said I'll have to go private or likely wait a year. So I saw the specialist two weeks back and he said this was 100% silent reflux caused by Covid and that he'd seen a huge spike in similar cases in the last nine months. I was being careful with diet anyway but now I'm living like a gastro-monk and after a rough couple of days I'm hoping it's going the right way. I just want this crap gone I'm feeling utterly defeated and it's pretty much robbed a year of my life. Oh and another thing is the shortness of breath or more specifically the shallowness of my breathing, I'm having to tell myself to breath properly which is really weird. The symptoms have morphed and changed so much over the 10 months it made it difficult to explain and re-explain to docs what the hell was gong on.

I’m ok with that. If anything I’m.more concerned about long term effects of the vaccine on the over 50s at this stage.

We don't really know anything about long covid yet, how are these folks like schrick above and others in just this thread gonna be in 5, 10 years?.

I'll take my chances any time with a vaccine thank you very much, it's not as if we're gonna be short of it. If you don't then that's your choice, but at the very least we should get the choice, and not left because we're under some arbitrary age barrier.

I’m having to tell myself to breath properly which is really weird

Had you seen the stuff in the news about breathing work by the English National Opera that's on a roll out

I thought one of the things that came out in developing the exercises was people with long covid are breathing differently / from a different place.