For those returning to exercise – keep an eye on your heart rate. It may be doing spectacularly weird things!

I was in intensive care in January. It’s been a long journey since and I feel if I still worked in a proper job with sick leave then I don’t think I’d be back at work. I am a contractor and work 7 days a month ish, which seems to be the limit before I get tired. Brain fog is a problem!

Last weekend I had a scary tightish chest and lack of oxygen moment in – of all places – a kids bouncy castle/maze. About 20m in I just couldn’t suck air in fast enough. Fortunately the other dad I was with took the kids to the end of the maze and I slowly made my way out. Not nice. Just before that we’d been in an inflatable laserquest, so anaerobic, and 20mins before that I’d jogged across a car park. Friend of ours suggested it might be an anxiety response, which would fit with the worriedness about returning to more days of work. Also fits with the fight/flight things above.

I’m trying to do the 30mins exercise per day too and that is mostly walks now the weather is poo.

Reading these accounts from others its clear I got off lightly.

I got double-jabbed at first opportunity (2nd jab mid-July), finally succumbed via mini-a11y’s school at start of October – it took down the whole house inc Mrs a11y who’s frontline A&E and was booked for her booster 2 days after her positive test. mini-a11y’s were thankfully mostly symptom-free, Mrs a11y had loss of smell/taste symptoms and generally felt crap (like a bad cold). Me though, all the above but also felt like a proper nasty manflu. Flattened me for a few days where I did nothing. After 10-day isolation we had a week camping in the Lakes for the school hols and I found that tough – reined back our plans for bigger walks and rides.

5 weeks post-diagnosis and I did my first MTB ride last night – absolutely knackered and feeling run down this morning. I felt OK but definitely slower on the ride (not that we race each other), but today’s going to be a challenge at work… hence STW!

Three weeks or so ago I tested positive for Covid. Pretty sure it was the trip to the London office on the previous Thursday is where I “got it”.

From the Tuesday, my taste went, appetite went, retching and vomiting in the morning, coughing and sleeping loads more than normal. Still worked at home for the rest of the week (what a mistake) and got to the weekend. By which time I had every single covid symptom in spades at this point. But I stil thought I’ll just get over it at home.

Then it went quite badly, my condition went downhill at a rate of knots, by Sunday I was a zombie, laboured breathing, hardly able to move, but not producing anything, I just looked ill and was quiet and tired.
monday morning – so bad – called 111 and they sent a paramedic – who established very quickly (I’m told) my o2 levels had tanked to 70 something and I needed to get to the closest hospital.
Got read the riot act in A&E about my condition, pretty much written off as I’m over 50 and “a bit overweight” and that the wonder drug would not be guaranteed. Chest x-ray showed 100% lungs with pneumonia and covid. Again prognosis from consultant was not positive.
Ward 1 – I didn’t have much awareness of what the bl**dy hell was going on.
Ward 2 – Covid ward, intravenous drips, remdesivir (? may have spelt this wrong), steriods etc. Full rest and this an a positive attitude (my 1% contribution) did the trick. I wouldn’t have been able to recover without asssistance.

Took 4 days for my 02 levels to stabilse, but still not reach the levels that the nurses were after !

8 days in hospital and I was discharged. My recovery is going very very slowly, back at work but finding it quite hard (was advised not to go back for another 2 weeks).
Physically I feel like I’m a 100 years old, lungs are fubared at the moment, I’m permanently knackered, breathless at just the lightest physical things, tired out all the time. My covid experience has absolutely boloxed my health.
At discharge – I was given some stern warnings from the Dr about my recovery 3-6 months and if I didn’t take it easy – I’d be back.

I am so relieved to still be here, I do feel really fortunate – as some of the younger and older guys in the ward were struggling. A real eye opener.

Wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

8 days in hospital and I was discharged. My recovery is going very very slowly, back at work but finding it quite hard (was advised not to go back for another 2 weeks).
Physically I feel like I’m a 100 years old, lungs are fubared at the moment, I’m permanently knackered, breathless at just the lightest physical things, tired out all the time. My covid experience has absolutely boloxed my health.

Sounds rough! Were you doubled jabbed?

@walowiz do not go back to work! Just don’t. Mine is a very similar story to your’s I guess. I took a month off and tried to do a bit of work – it was a huge mistake and I’m still paying for it months down the line.

Sounds rough! Were you doubled jabbed?

Would be nice to know that if walowiz willing to share. Not to judge, but I’m struggling to decide how much caution is still required and these type of stories are concerning.. Glad to hear you are over the worst, all the best with recovery.

Hopefully my ramblings below help.

@Rich_s
I’d love to take two weeks off, but if I dont work – I don’t get paid. Work have been great, but reality is I’ve got to get back. Only doing every other day, or 1/2 days – I do notice it if I do a proper full day. I might just be being a wuss though.

Single jabbed, I’d deferred the second as I’ve been udnergoing epidural steriod injections for some issues with my spine over the last 4 monbths or so – last one was 5 weeks ago – so I should have been at normal levels, the consultant advised I would/could (can’t recall which now) be immune suppressed, so we agreed since I wasn’t travelling with work, I could have the treatments and wfh.

Maybe this will help others who’ve been severaly affected by covid or reading this thread, but I’m just over 50, very fit, strong, robust and active all the time. Never been ill, had the occasional thing go wrong physically, and some mtb related damage 🙂 – but nothing major – not even the back stuff, which was painful and irritating – wasn’t the worst.

I don’t know if this would have always happened to me, or whether I’ve just been bloody unlucky. It has really shocked my family, friends and colleagues.

Some of the after affects are strange too.
I cannot stand any milk based drinks, food, milk etc.
Appetite hasn’t fully returned, and I know that’s key.
It’s taken 2 weeks now for my head to get back to normal, two bloody weeks !!
The garmin watch keeps reporting high heart rate and quite high stress levels (this never happened before)
tightness in the chest.
And the damn coughing.

This may help those with private medical cover, but with a referral from your GP – and after an initial assessment I’m hoping to get onto a Nuffield 12 week recovery program. First time ever I’ve gone for something like this, but I do recognise that it would beneficial to have some assiatance. As I can’t quite see the route to get from here; back to normal.

The peak flow meter I’m using indicates I’m at 160-170 and I should be at 620 or so. Which doesn’t seem good either.

As for mtb, I’m waiting until spring 2022.

@walowiz so am I. That’s how I know how hard it is. I did 4 hours of hard brain work yesterday and slept the sleep of the dead last night – still knackered today. If you keep working everyday you will struggle. Try and break it up.

Tested positive end of July/beginning August; I felt awful for a few days and nose was basically a none stop running tap. After a week I could function well enough but exercise was limited to level one & two cardio, and has been pretty much since ☹️.

Fast forward to now and my sense of taste is about 80% but smell is intermittent & fleeting. I had a strange episode of dizziness for a week at the beginning of October which was tracked down to swollen sinuses affecting my middle ear and balance. There was no sign of any infection but following gradual improvement it has made my sense of smell worsen again.

I had my booster a couple of weeks ago and can’t exercise properly – breathless instantly and sweating like mad. I managed 20 mins on the turbo trainer yesterday with my heart rate up in upper level 2 lower level 3 but at warm up/level 1 RPE.

@Rich_s

so am I. That’s how I know how hard it is. I did 4 hours of hard brain work yesterday and slept the sleep of the dead last night – still knackered today. If you keep working everyday you will struggle. Try and break it up.

Well four full days and Jesus I’m feeling it, o2 levels have dropped (no idea how or why this could happen) and recovery obviously stalled. Got to admit you may have a point, I’ll have to rethink this.

@mildred hope it improves. Have to say your experience and the Bmj article linked above are a worry as I’m desperate to get back on the turbo and get swimming.

Thank you to those who are sharing their experiences, both the really tough, unpleasant ones and also from those who have been a bit more fortunate. It’s really informative to see how a generally fit and active outdoor population copes with the challenges of this really nasty bug.
Please keep on posting about experiences, both new ones that develop and updates from those who have been coping with it for a while.
As some folk know, I medic at a lot of ultra marathon events, with the Glen Ogle at Killin this weekend and the Dava Way up on Speyside next weekend bringing the season to a close. I review medical declarations from every participant before the races, so know about the background medical conditions affecting this rather ‘special’ population.
I get asked questions all the time about recovery, things like ‘I was quite ill three/four weeks ago, am I ok to run..?’ I take the view that if you have to ask me that question, the reason you are asking is because you aren’t yet right, know it and that’s creating doubts. In that case, absolutely no run. The idea of heading out in Highland weather for a 5-6-7 hour challenge during the recovery is utterly nuts and just isn’t worth the risk. Every time, if there’s any doubt at all, I’m grounding people. It’s just not worth the risk that a serious knock back from this bug might create.
Alongside that, I’m starting to now see some examples of really odd late presentation problems; complex lung issues are common, with inability to get back to normal function and fitness. New cardiac issues arising weeks after recovery; months later, I’ve also been hearing of circulatory problems showing up on brain scans.
About the only thing we can really say with certainty at this stage is that there is a really wide range of what is ‘normal’ after an infection. Some folk will shrug it off quite readily. Others will have months of a struggle ahead of them, with really slow progress, marked by unpleasant setbacks from trying to push on. And others, who are initially showing signs of recovery are permanently losing their ability to participate in sport.
The publicised rules say that isolation post infection ends at 10 days. Personally, I don’t want anyone showing up to run or to marshal within 14 days of a probable infection, even if they were asymptomatic. Infection delays/relays within and around households is a risk; just because you were negative on a PCR on Monday, doesn’t mean that you are still negative by Friday. I had one parent the other day who in theory ends isolation tonight after kids tested positive and were ill last week; wanted to run tomorrow. Er, no. I can’t eliminate all risk of infection to everyone else in a race, but this is one place where the additional risk isn’t worth it.

Last weekend I had a scary tightish chest and lack of oxygen moment in – of all places – a kids bouncy castle/maze. About 20m in I just couldn’t suck air in fast enough. Fortunately the other dad I was with took the kids to the end of the maze and I slowly made my way out. Not nice. Just before that we’d been in an inflatable laserquest, so anaerobic, and 20mins before that I’d jogged across a car park. Friend of ours suggested it might be an anxiety response, which would fit with the worriedness about returning to more days of work. Also fits with the fight/flight things above.

I’m emerging from around 18 months – I’ve stopped counting – of long covid following a relatively moderate initial infection in March last year, back on the bike for three months now and getting there. One thing that seems common with long haulers is dysfunctional breathing, ie: using the upper chest rather than the diaphragm along with ansxiety. There are breathing exercise programmes that look to correct that including a simple, free online programme from Stasis Performance which they’ve developed with Mount Sinai hospital in New York. See:
http://stasisperformance.com

Someone mentioned moniotring HR further up the page. I’d second that, my HR last year was a bit mad, but I’d add that don’t assume that once your HR is normal, you can simply go back to regular exercise. Take it cautiously at first and listen to your body. I still think that doing sightly too much too soon was possibly part of what landed me in the long covid hole, but who knows, it might have happened anyway.

2 weeks since positive PCR here. Symptoms mild, a bit achy, a bit of a cough and lost sense of smell. The lack of smell was an unexpected bonus when I had to clean out the blocked soil pipe in the garden.

Don’t feel too bad but I am knackered just going out to walk the dog a couple of miles. No desire to ride my bike or go for a run. I’m hoping this lack of energy goes soon.

Interesting what people have been saying about working – I have been working from home all the way through – although certainly not firing on all cylinders.

All very familiar. Double jabbed, tested +ve on LFT on 13th October after eldest brought it home from school. Youngest also tested +ve later on but never showed any symptoms through the whole period.

Each day was different going through it all (puking one day, feeling achy the next, etc.), but being very tired and lots of naps was a recurring feature. Still don’t have normal energy levels and the slightest bit of exertion (e.g. going up stairs) has my heart rate going through the roof. Resting heart rate is still around 80 to 85 bpm whereas before I’d be around 60.

We both had covid a week before the very first lockdown. We had it for about 18 days, I don’t remember the first week or so as I just slept all the way through it. The tiredness and fatigue was unbelievable!

I think it was about 6 to 8 weeks before I felt back to normal. My partner still has no taste or smell since March 2020. I remember having covid as it felt like nothing I’d had before, nothing like it!

I had my booster jab last week and just like the previous 2 jabs, it knocked me off my feet for 2 or 3 days, still not feeling 100%.

Anyone else had bad side effects from the jabs?

@highlandman

Alongside that, I’m starting to now see some examples of really odd late presentation problems; complex lung issues are common, with inability to get back to normal function and fitness. New cardiac issues arising weeks after recovery; months later, I’ve also been hearing of circulatory problems showing up on brain scans.
About the only thing we can really say with certainty at this stage is that there is a really wide range of what is ‘normal’ after an infection. Some folk will shrug it off quite readily. Others will have months of a struggle ahead of them, with really slow progress, marked by unpleasant setbacks from trying to push on. And others, who are initially showing signs of recovery are permanently losing their ability to participate in sport.

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it’s all anecdotal, but again are these late presentation cases you are seeing in vaccinated people ? The data I have seen (I think from Zoe study) seemed to suggest the vaccine is providing decent protection from these long term effects… there will always be exceptions, but how common is the question? With most things “open” but case rates so high in the UK it’s difficult to know how much of a risk all this is…

hope it improves. Have to say your experience and the Bmj article linked above are a worry as I’m desperate to get back on the turbo and get swimming.

To be honest with myself I think there’s a couple of different, though connected, things going on. The disparity between RPE & heart rate also occurred after my initial dose of the Pfizer vaccine in January. This was echoed by a good half dozen work colleagues who had their vaccine at the same time.

I’d seen a lot of improvement over the weeks following my infection and could ride to work albeit gently. However, I attended a difficult and stressful training course, which seemed to cause certain symptoms to flair up again, such as the swollen sinuses.

However, it wasn’t until I’d had my booster that the heart rate “thing” re-occurred. A quick Google shows that myocarditis & pericarditis is fairly widely reported following the Pfizer vaccine so I wonder if that’s what I’m experiencing.

Vaccinated in June, caught it off my youngest just in time for half term. First day out of isolation for me today. Last week I had 3 days off work, not even attempting to open the laptop or get out of bed/off the sofa, plus a weekend of doing about 15min activity around the house to 2 hours of lying down to recover. Yesterday was the first day I haven’t had to lie down by early afternoon. This morning I’ve been out for a flat ride on an ebike for 40 minutes, and that was enough – feeling sleepy again now, plus can’t get warm.

The fatigue feels quite similar to the post viral fatigue I had years ago. Hoping this doesn’t last as long.

@Paul0 Funnily enough, I’ve just received an email from a runner in that situation; double vaccinated some time ago but totally floored by their late summer infection experience. Now recovery is heavily impacted by heart function seemingly hypersensitive to any significant load. I’ve not seen details of the specific diagnosis of their precise problem yet; not my patient as they are grounded for the forseeable future.
Yes, it’s one case, yes it’s anecdotal and I’m not involved in any studies but clearly we really need to know a lot more before we can give advice other than ‘tread very carefully’…

@Rich_s

For those returning to exercise – keep an eye on your heart rate. It may be doing spectacularly weird things!

I was in intensive care in January. It’s been a long journey since and I feel if I still worked in a proper job with sick leave then I don’t think I’d be back at work. I am a contractor and work 7 days a month ish, which seems to be the limit before I get tired. Brain fog is a problem!

Blimey, just read this – sounds dreadful – really hope it improves for you. You’re in the same employment situation as me. Are you down to 7 days per month as a result of COVID ? That’s tough.

I ended up catching it off my partner. Really wish I’d made more effort to isolate from him. My initial illness wasn’t that bad, temperature about 0.5c above normal, aches, upset stomache and an unpleasant taste/smell. On day 7, when I seemed to be getting over it, I developed insomnia. It’s now 10 days later and I’ve barely slept in that time. I fall asleep and immediately dream and then wake up again. I was prescribed 3 sleeping tablets and on the mornings after I took them I did feel a bit more refreshed, but then exhausted again by mid afternoon. I’ve got none left now so tried over the counter sleep aids, but hasn’t helped. I worked part time last week but today feel so absolutely exhausted and have a high resting heart rate. Not sure how I’m going to cope next week if I don’t start getting some sleep soon. Really worried for my long term health.

Got read the riot act in A&E about my condition, pretty much written off as I’m over 50 and “a bit overweight” and that the wonder drug would not be guaranteed.

@walowiz hope you are recovering. I was in the same boat a year and a half ago. Except I’m not overweight and was one of the very fittest on here. I think it kept me out of hospital but 111 were good. It’s been a long year but am now back riding a little.

People have been arriving at A&E like yourself low oxygen but otherwise not feeling so bad. So don’t feel bad. You will have received remdesivir, which is not hugely effective. You might have had the Regeneron antibody which is effective if you don’t have antibodies. But having been vaccinated even once, chances are you had some.

Try and take it easy.

@Susie I’d forgotten about the insomnia, I really hope it improves for you. I only had it for the first week, the inability to sleep and complete lack of appetite combined with everything else Covid throws at you is really tough. I remember (now) just wondering how the hell I was going to get through it.

@TiRed thanks, I’m not really one for taking it easy, but I’m trying to. Discharged 25th Oct, back at work 2 weeks 2 days now and I can do a full days work – my mind is back to normal. I’m taking it easy when I need to, actually having a lunch break and turning off earlier than normal.

The physical stuff isn’t progresssing at all well. Lung meter thing still has me at 1/3 capacity, which I noted, but didn’t really appreciate.

Now I can do 20 mins on a turbo trainer, wahoo workout option, no resistance, just pedalling. Easy enough tbh. Gave me the confidence to try & do more.
Dropped my car off for it’s MOT, got the Brompton out to ride 1.5 miles home, I thought I was having a heart attack when I got home indoors. Couldn’t get my breath, coughing like a lunatic. Almost on the floor trying to breathe and calm down.
Mowed the lawn at the weekend, now it’s a big lawn, but I use a self propelled mower, took me 3x as long and I had to rest for the rest of the day. Bonkers.

Yet I do feel better, coughing less, more alert etc. Still tire easily.

Someone above suggested not going back to work too quickly, they’re right. @Rich_s I think
There is also something posted above relating to exercise, that seems correct too.

I do know that I’ll get back to normal that’s clear now, but is it possible to monitor / check that I’m not over doing it, without over doing it and it being flipping obvious ? But still make progress.

Hope you all are feeling better soon.

I’m feeling a whole heap better this week. Managed about 45mins at the bouldering wall and felt ok strength beginning to return. Not been out running or riding yet, maybe this week or the weekend to see how that goes.

Edit: I think I’ve escaped lightly

I’m 19 months into what now seems like post-viral fatigue. The occasional breathlessness has mostly subsided, but I do still get terrible brain fog if I overdo it or don’t sleep well. I certainly echo the posters who suggest taking things very slowly!

One thing I do suggest is some slow paced yoga / stretching. I went from being tolerably active (commuting by bike, lots of walking) to being completely inactive, just WFH and lying on the sofa. About 8 months in my back started to get stiff, and by 12 months it was too painful to sleep through a night. The lack of sleep really made me feel like crap and it’s taken an awful lot of yoga, osteopaths, acupuncture, stretching, to get back to the point where I’m sleeping again. I think it set my recovery back by months.

So take it slow, but do some stretches too!

Walowiz, good to know your insomnia got better. My appetite seems to be returning, so hopefully my sleep will get back to normal now. Hope you get your energy back soon.

I tested positive on the 5th November, and had a high temp, aches, loss of smell, etc.
Was feeling ok by the 10th day, so I finished my isolation on Monday, and went back in to work/school on Tuesday.

Ha! 5 lesson teaching day and I was fubared!
Managed to drag myself in on Tuesday, but ended up going home again by midday as I nearly fainted in a lesson (not great for a DT teacher!)

So….I thought I’d be ok, but turns out I’m not.
Going to be taking it as easy as possible. But there’s not many places you can hide in a classroom 🙁

I’m going back to the docs to try get referred to the long covid clinic. They start with chest xrays, blood checks and spirometry so let’s see how that goes.
I’m wondering if I’ve developed asthma.
Case in point, I ran/jogged/walked 2km park run with my 6 year old last Sunday while giving her lots of encouragement. Felt absolutely fine, no problems.
Monday morning I walked back from school, about 0.5km, while chatting to another dad and was seriously running out of air while talking. I mean, huh?
Work is going better. I think I was more worried about starting one of my jobs back up than I am actually doing it. I get tired, but the brain fog is lifting.