[Closed] How's you Covid recovery been?

Check your oxygen saturation levels. There have been admissions where people haven't thought themselves particularly ill, but had very low SATS. How is the sense of smell? It's 18 months and I'm back on a bike - of sorts. Long way back to 2nd cat and 12 hour TT's. I wonder if the smell will ever return. Time will tell. Hope you are better soon.

I too after being free of the virus throughout the initial pandemic, and having a double vaccinated status, succumbed on tuesday the 12th October.

Mild irritating cough on tuesday pm, turned into feverish, freezing cold, shivering, and with a continual, persistent cough all night, that meant when I woke on Weds I was absolutely shatterered and unable to even think straight, and this was essentially repeated for about 3 days, before the hot/cold feverish symptoms started to relent - A week spent sitting up in bed, as the only way to even try to get sleep. The weird thing is that you're not "porductive" theres no snot, no runny nose, no chest congestion, just an iunexplicable cough, without even a sore or tickly throat - but the cough, although better at nearly 2w post covid, and I suspect symptom free, is that bad that a conversation of a few minutes, or a short walk, brings on a hacking fit that almost turns me inside out if I allow it to continue.

Certainly not planning on getting on a bike for some time..... even looking at it makes me feel like coughing.

I feel free of symptoms, but fear that theres actual "damage" on the lungs, thats going to take a while to fix.

Slow in a word.

Double jabbed, then caught covid when it flew round the youngest's school. 3 days in bed with what resembled proper flu, then slowly picked up. However 3 weeks later and the rate of improvement has levelled off, I can do a short day at work but need an hours sleep when I get back home. Slept 3 hours on a sofa whilst my lads played in a tennis tournament, that sort of thing.

Anything approaching effort and the cough immediately has me dizzy, though SATS were 98% recently.

Riding a bike? Don't make me laugh, that makes me dizzy too!

I'm still struggling to get over this 'super cold', not covid, and finding even a couple of mile walk leaves me exhausted, drained and feeling like a lack of air with tight chest and throat and some coughing. Really needed to lie down.

Was thinking to get at SpO2 thing or an app on the phone to check O2 after any exercise. I know what it should be before exercise (in the past been 98% all the time for me), but what would be an ok level after?

I had covid last January, before vaccinations were a thing, really knocked me on my arse for a week. About as ill as I'd ever been. Was back on short gentle rides after 2 weeks took over a month to feel ok on the bike again.

Alarming to see the double jabbed getting quite ill.

Can I ask the people who were jabbed how long was the gap between your last jab and infection and which vaccine did you have.

Took me 6 weeks before i got rid of the tight sensation in my chest and felt right when riding. Caught it in early Sept following the great school return.

In the middle of it at the mo. Double jabbed but caught last weekend. A bit achy on Wednesday, positive on Friday. Feeling a bit better today but so far no worse than a cold, certainly not as snotty and an occasional cough.

Looking forward to recover but going to take it very easy

Been tested positive and now self isolating. Pfizer double jabbed - last one back in May
Timeline
Monday – started coughing not continuously but a lot more than usual.
Tuesday – Coughing, starting to feel a bit under the weather (headache, tired, a running nose – typical cold symptoms). LFT evening – negative.
Wednesday – Cough had subsided slightly but still having cold symptoms. Was looking at the phone APP said had cough that had started on Monday. This then flagged – to Self isolate for 9 days and to get a PCR test. Which I did.
Thursday – coughing, Headache, Shivers etc. Got message on the APP that i had been in contact with somebody on the previous Friday that had tested positive and to self isolate etc… PCR result back as positive.
Been working from Home and hardly going out. But had gone for a curry a week last Friday and think that may have been where I got it from.
A week since I started coughing. Now feeling tired, headachy, and a bit stuffed up.
Self isolation end at the end of the day on Thursday. Looking forward to getting out on Friday or at the weekend. Don't know if it will be on the bike or not. Will see how I feel closer to the day.

Like many here, I'm double-jabbed and caught COVID about 4 weeks ago it via our children. I felt generally OK but I certainly knew I had it! Generally hung-over feeling, and very tired and needing 10 hours sleep each night plus a siesta.

I was able to keep working from home (maybe stupid, I work in a university and taking time off just stores up even more work for later). Looking back I really can't remember very much of the work I did in that two weeks.

I was able to run and bike again after 2 weeks, but I'm still a bit slower than I'd normally expect to be (objectively, running 7.30 miles used to be fine for up to an hour, but now 8.00 miles for 20 mins feels hard) and I'm having to breathe slightly faster than "normal". Both biking and running I find I can be suddenly reduced to a standstill - phrases like "hitting the wall" and "running through treacle" were things I had read about but not experienced until now.

Anyroadup, I feel like I'm making progress.

I'm still in my 10 day isolation so interesting to see how others have been with it. I feel more knackered than usual, feels like a particularly bad cold but the loss of taste/smell is a weird thing. I could quite happily drink Ouzo/Vodka/Sambuca neat and not boak. Even taking a big sniff from my Laphroaig whiskey does nothing.

I've still been reasonably active in the garden, so not hit as hard as some others.

I've had Long Covid for nearly 19 months. I am improving very very slowly, but still get walloping levels of brain fog (as in, lasting for days and I can barely do my job), occasional chest tightness and of course the hovering grey cloud of constant fatigue. Can't see myself being back on the bike (for anything more than a 15 minute pootle) any time soon.

Someone I know who had it bad a year ago just posted their hospital diagnosis having been a guinea pig for tests:

After extensive tests from the best medical professionals I could wish for I have a diagnosis of multisystem dysautonomia.

This includes:

- Hypotension

- Orthostatic Intolerance

- Blood Pressure variation

- Vasomotor instability of peripheral circulation

- Fatigue and fogging -Hyperhidrosis

- Reduced venous return - Splanchnic autotransfusion failure

- Cardioaccelerator impairment - Orthostatic fatigue

In simple terms my sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight response) has been severely compromised.

 

Other half is currently a week into it. He's not had the jab, so I've been worried sick all week. He seemed to be getting better at the weekend and his cough seemed a lot better but it's come back again today and sounds awful and he's achy all over again and has a rash. I'm double jabbed but still worried about getting it as I haven't been able to isolate from him. I have asthma and I'm at 5 months post 2nd jab. I thought there was supposed to be some protection from infection with the jabs but heard of so many breakthrough cases. Everyone's experiences above are quite scary.

2nd Jab AZ in May caught Covid on 8th October. Aches and pains neck back and hips. Hot and cold sweats and coughing. No headaches fortunately. General lethargy etc. Back to work on the 19th, unfortunately I had to work from Home during my isolation as it ripped through our Company and people were a lot worse than me. Several not jabbed. (Flat Earthers !!!!). Still have a tight chest although the coughing has subsided. I will be walking for the foreseeable until I’m sure the old lungs are up to it. With the Delta variant it will not trigger a LFT until you have full on symptoms by then you’ve infected everybody in your proximity.

Caught it 3 weeks or so ago. Was generally pretty mild, felt fluey for 4 days maybe, had a cough for a day, lost my sense of taste/smell (which is still not really back yet). But as others have mentioned, feel tired very easily - have been out on the bike a few times since isolation ended and felt like I was at about 60%. At times fine, other times feeling like lead weights attached to my legs.  Reasonably happy I'm moving forwards though, don't think there'll be any long term effects.

Double jabbed, last one in June (AZ)

My second jab was July. I was ill before I tested positive. My missus is still frontline so we test on a regular basis. I thought it was from my sea swimming. But Friday I tested again and it came up positive. No smell and reduced taste is odd. Only neat whiskey and curries are cutting it......every cloud.

Caught it in August and was single jabbed at the time.

While the initial infection and isolation was fine (I’m pretty healthy and fairly young still) I got very peculiar nausea a week or so post infection which led to dizziness and vertigo which is now manageable but still not perfect.

I’m back on the bike and lungs were back to normal quite quickly but rough trails which make my head bounce around, or looking too quickly left or right send me rather dizzy.

Never actually tested positive as didn't have classic symptoms, but 95% sure I had it between Christmas and New Year (my wife tested positive New Year's Eve and as we're teachers, the only person she'd been in contact with for two weeks locked down before that was me). Had one evening of being weirdly disconnected from reality (I was aware of seeing and hearing things happen but not actually registering them until 4 or 5 seconds later - strangest feeling I've ever had), and then 5 days of feeling OK but having no energy at all - sleeping 15+ hours a day and not really eating.

Long term impact is tough to gauge. In February, my undiagnosed foot/ankle issues flared up worse than ever and I was pretty much immobile (in terms of any real activity) for 8 weeks. Off the back of that, this year has been my lowest number of rides (less than one per week on average) and lowest distance cycled since 2011. Getting back into more regular riding now and it's super hard work...

Some rides are OK, but then others are hard to the point of feeling like I need to get off and walk home. Example - was struggling for fitness in July/August but took the bike up to North York Moors anyway when we went camping. Did a not quite 30km natural ride one afternoon and Dalby the next morning and felt surprisingly OK. Couple of weeks later was down at FoD, only rode the blue gently and had to go back to the van as was completely spent.

Question is whether that's just down to lack of exercise this year and an ageing body taking longer to regain bike fitness, down to a Covid hangover/long term complications, or down to a combination of both?

Have since had both vaccinations, and even though working in a Covid-risky environment (secondary school) with regular LFT testing I've been clear so far since.

Caught it on a riding weekend in Wales (October 15th). First symptoms, the following Monday with fatigue. Started feeling quite unwell on the Tuesday afternoon. Tested positive on Thursday. The next 3 days felt quite awful with aches, shivers and a side-splitting headache. Loss of senses of both taste and smell.
All symptoms now subsiding - hopefully to a full recovery. As you can see that's taken about a week. I'm still isolating for another 4 days.
I managed to infect other members of my family - we all had our 2nd jabs in May / June.
My youngest only just had her 2nd jab just over a month ago ... she's not caught it.

Unjabbed, as are all my family.
Was working in a bubble of unjabbed coleagues, no problems at all for the duration of the pandemic so far. Forced, under protest, to work putside of my department (to cover for Covid cases, with Covid sufferers, I later found out.Raging) came down with it within 24hours. Apart from me, 4 cases on t he same cell. Apart from me, all double jabbed.I caught it off someone double jabbed.
Started with extreme sudden exhaustion, as in sat down and passed out. Knew something was up but only hour and half til hometime so stuck ot out. Passed out in my car on my drive.
Raging, ferocious temperature for 12 hours, no sweating though. No mucus of any sort, no sore throat, just tired and on fire.
Following that, instant positive LFT test and positive PCR. No real symptoms other than sore ,aching tendons.Weird.
Day 3, loss of taste and smell, sudden extreme vertigo with terrible nausea. Tendons still sore, cant get comfortable.Appetite destroyed.
Day 4-10 appetite gradually returning, went from 15st to 13st10 though. Very unsteady on my feet, nausea subsiding by day 8. Vertigo still evident but not as severe. Sense of smell and taste a thing of the past it seems. Some coughing, not much though.
Day 11, gradually getting stronger but am not planning on going back to judo , the gym or biking anytime soon. Staying off work as long as possible, despite suggestions by them that I go back.
So, not the worst illness I ever had ( that was meningitis) but not something I want to experience for a while again.

Had it a couple of weeks back, caught from sister's kids/school etc

Wee bit phlegmy for a few days and that was about it. Felt like a very mild cold.
Double vaccinated, last jab in August.

Recovery was fine - chomping at the bit to get out and walk/gym/bike as soon as my 10 days were up.

Considering it a booster jab

I've not had it. Yet. But I'm double vaxxed and people are talking about boosters. I'm hearing some hospitals are saying if it's been 6 months since your second vax, they're are now not considering you as being vaccinate until a booster has been given.

We have 2 cases in iso here in WA.

The feeling of impending doom is affecting some, and others oblivious. It's bad over East but now they seem to be just accepting that the "vaccine" hasn't really helped prevent people from getting infected or passing it on.

I had an email advising me my laptop is being designated as a Covid Laptop (whatever that means). We are seriously short staffed. Front line health. And they are mandating people across the board to be vaccinated or lose jobs (not sure how this will help the already low numbers of staff?)

Even our nursing union has just sent out 2 quite posh branded face masks to each union member and that makes me feel uneasy.

Heads up WA. It's coming.

Had my second jab on July 4th.

My Daughter tested positive on 11-Oct, and me a week later (last Monday)
First few days were a bit of a blur - i had cold shivers, blinding headache, muscle aches, joint point, very mild cough and snotty nose.
Also super tired/fatigued.
I started feeling better after 4-5 days, but still achy, tired, painful sinuses and toothache.
Yesterday i started back working from home. I was relieved to make it through the day and was absolutely exhausted last night.
Today is my first day out of isolation, i'm going to carry on WFH for the foreseeable as i don't think i could do the 40 min drive to work even if i wanted to.
i feel like my lung capacity has been reduced as i'm out of breath walking upstairs.

Oh, and i've had absolutely no sense of taste/smell since day one - nothing, although the last day or so i can tell the difference between sweet/salty.

I'm 48, a bit overweight but fairly fit - i was on target to ride 2000 miles on the road this year, but can't see me back on the bike anytime soon.

This feels different to previous 'cold/flu recovery periods' - i can't quite explain why.

Like many above, worked all through in school, double vax, fairly fit, hadnt had a cold or flu in years. Once all the kids returned to school, I got a massive case of freshers flu (since our head decided to remove the need for facemasks) so was off work for 3/4 days, had negative PCR (Sat) followed by negative LFD (Thurs), my eldest complained of a headache on the Monday morning as I was doing by pre work LFD and lo and behold we were both positive.
TBH the actual cough wasnt too bad, it was more the just general feeling of crapness and lack of energy. Initially tried WFH, but it soon became apparent that I was having difficulty focusing, getting any info out of anything, and just couldnt really function. I wasn't *ill* it was just this stupid head fog and malaise that I couldnt shake.
Had all these great ideas about how I was going to get back on-it following the end of isolation - managed a 5k run the day after and was gassed (and about 4 mins off my average for that route) 3 days later I managed to complete an hr on Zwift and that wiped me out for about another 4 days.
The tiredness is so different to anything I've had before, even when stupidly overtraining. School have been great in allowing WFH where possible as it seems to be a common post-covid symptom that the recovery is long and you've really got to listen to your body. Even more so as within my group of peers we cant really remember the last time we were properly ill.
I wouldnt wish it on anyone, and I'd hate to think how bad it would be without the vaccine.

I wouldnt wish it on anyone, and I’d hate to think how bad it would be without the vaccine.

+1.
I think this would have been a hospital job for me.

Got it in July despite being double jabbed. Wiped out for a week, then slow recovery. Mainly very tired with low energy. Got back to the gym but nowhere near previous best weights. Had sickness and diarrhoea start of last week followed by a real chesty cough, thankfully Covid negative. Again, stating to feel better but feel like I've spent my time since July running significantly sub-optimal.

Got off light compared to some though.

got Covid just before the first lockdown. Got off lightly I think. not too much of a cough, overnight fever, sore head, brain fuzz, tiredness.
every few months or so, I get varying levels of the same. Mostly fatigue and brain fuzz. Seems to be getting less frequent though. Anytime I've been tested it's always been negative.

I did react similarly to the vaccine too, albeit with strong migraine headaches the last of which had me in the MRI at hospital to check for stroke. I'd only ever had a couple of migraines before that, in 47 years.

I did react similarly to the vaccine too, albeit with strong migraine headaches the last of which had me in the MRI at hospital to check for stroke. I’d only ever had a couple of migraines before that, in 47 years.

I had never (knowingly) had a migraine in my life before the vaccine! Very odd. They seem to have passed now though.

yeah, really odd, migraines 2 and 6 weeks after the jabs, both times

that or throwing a clot, as my nurse of a wife says, like its nothing..:-/

none since though.

i'm not really looking forward to the booster, but at least it'll not be AZ

For those of you who have lost their sense of smell, there is a charity called Abscent that sends out kits for a fee. The kits help to 'kickstart' the brain into training it to smell again. I lost my sense of smell several years ago after an operation, the kit hasn't helped me, however the sooner you start the better for returning smell quickly.

https://abscent.org/support-us/shop

For those questioning return to exercise, there is a lot of literature on it. This is helpful: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.m4721

It’s a bit long but the figure in the main part of the paper will be most useful part.

I was in my weekly long Covid course yesterday (11 months on for me, and of course pre jabs) which was about exercise and they once again said this is virus like they have never seen before. Take it carefully.

I seem to be back to my "new normal" health after long covid for 18months, originally i wasn't particularly ill so tried to get on as normal, plus everyone telling me (including doctors) that there was no reason i should be feeling unwell. Seems a lot better understanding of it now, but i'm still petrified of getting ill again but hopefully my body will be better placed to fight it off. But its turned me from a fairly elite athlete in to a much more regular human, used to race alot but haven't had the inclination to race a bike since, turning to ultra running for my racing fix, when i'm not injured.

Last day of isolation for me and feeling the best I have for ten days, I think just having some taste/smell back has lifted my spirits a bit too. Fortunately I had the next couple of days booked off, unfortunately I'm back in on Saturday night and with the clocks changing it's a 13hr shift ☹️

Double jabbed and both 57, Mrs Scape and I both started with runny nose and headaches,and a bit of a sore throat. I did a negative LFT on Thurs 14th, Mrs Scape negative the next day. Two days later I was told someone I had been in contact with had tested positive and sure enough we both tested positive too.

We both had really runny noses with plenty of sneezing, fever and headaches, plus sore legs. Taste and smell both disappeared innthe first couple of days.

We're more than a fortnight past the first symptoms and there's still a bit of a cough, and were both a bit more lethargic than usual. I describe it as more of a feeling of general malaise than being ill, though after a couple of hours out with the dog I'm pretty much all in.

I'm starting to get some taste back.... but nothing like normal. Tried a whisky yesterday and it tastes of alcohol and a bit of sweetness.

I caught it beginning of this month from daughter, despite being Type 1 diabetic and it playing havoc with her blood glucose for a few days (illness makes her insulin resilient) she was tired and slept a lot for a few days, but fine.

Both my wife and i then went down with it within 4 days (both double jabbed, me AZ, wife had the posh Pfizer vaccine as NHS), we were both really ill for 7-8 days, headaches, that flu like aching of muscles and joints, nausea etc.

I had some weird symptoms, my skin was overly sensitive in that it felt weird to pull t-shirt over torso, or run fingers in hair! and my eyesight went downhill for about 7-10 days, not sure if this was fatigue of muscles controlling eyes, or O2 levels dropping as i am also asthmatic and my lungs needed steroid tablets to get me through.

We both also commented that old injuries that haven't caused problems in years ached, being a big daft ex-army/ prop forward/ MTB-er i have a collection of broken bones, metal pins in jaw and shoulder and issues with tendons etc, all of which really ached??

Thankfully i feel 90% better, still loss of taste and constant "metallic" taste in mouth, annoying as i love coffee which i can't drink as it tastes off, and i can only taste sweet and salty things, which is a git when you much prefer savoury and lots of pepper!

I tried to ride bike last night for 20 miles, rode MTB thinking my chest can open up more than drop bar bikes, managed 20 miles, and lungs seemed ok, but had nothing power wise, struggled to hold 8-10mph, on sections i know i'd be riding 16-17mph on.

So plan for me for next few months is to be a bit dull, and sit on turbo turning legs over in Zone 2 and catch up on some movies, and increase amount if i feel OK to, plus that way i can be warmer and breathe through nose, instead of gulping cold air into lungs..

So, three weeks after catching it, my sense of smell has gone!

I caught Covid from my kids as it ripped through the school. it took 6 days to feel well, 3 of those laying on the sofa. Just starting to get my taste back properly now after 18 days. Got off pretty lightly I think. Had my last AZ jab in June

My first ride in 3 weeksish yesterday, mellow gravel ride - breathing laboured and properly affected by anything remotely steep, like riding at 3000m but recovery much quicker than it was, walking up a stairs a week ago had me needing a rest.

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.