Amazing how something can slow you down...

[CarmineBlancheJr]

I know it's just going to take time, but I have been laid up... and not in a good way... the last couple of weeks, fighting through a case of Covid.

Yeah... the fictional illness that someone made up that does not really exist? That one. ;-)

What is amazing to me is how hard it is to get the energy back to do simple things like even writing. I wrote for two hours today, and I am sweating my ass off and have no energy left. Before this, I could write for hours and barely had an issue. Also, it seems like my thoughts are scattered all over the place like I cannot lock onto anything and hold the thought.

Has anyone else reading this go through this after they had Covid? Wondering, too, if it might not be the Paxlovid I'm taking... who knows.

 

[Britva415]

the fictional illness that someone made up that does not really exist? That one

Is anyone still saying that in 2024?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Sorry to read that you're having health problems, @CarmineBlancheJr. Hope you get better fast. I had terrible exhaustion when I had COVID, but in my case it only lasted a week or so and I was nearly OK. Lucky.

@Britva415: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/de...chological-stress-from-the-pandemic-response/ (2 minute search to find that.)

-Rocco

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Is anyone still saying that in 2024?

You would be surprised. When I stopped testing positive, I went to my favorite coffee shop, and one of the gals there said that I was lying and that Covid was a democrat conspiracy. They are still out there.

 

[lovecraft68]

My wife's cousin works for a pharmaceutical company, a rather....um, large one, and Paxlovid can have some side effects that at times last longer and are worse than what it's supposed to help cure. So, if your issue is lingering, I'd put my money on that being the case more than the actual Covid.

Hang in there, and don't push or fight it. You'll come around faster if you don't try to force yourself to do anything. Don't get fooled by the infamous "I feel great today so..." that one good day can set you back a week.

Happened to me, not with an illness, but recovering for a shoulder surgery. Felt great and next day was like "Yup, I'm an idiot" I don't think my wife needed to add "Yeah, you are!"

 

[lovecraft68]

Is anyone still saying that in 2024?

Its the interwebz, everything is now forever
And always true.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I know it's just going to take time, but I have been laid up... and not in a good way... the last couple of weeks, fighting through a case of Covid.

Yeah... the fictional illness that someone made up that does not really exist? That one. ;-)

What is amazing to me is how hard it is to get the energy back to do simple things like even writing. I wrote for two hours today, and I am sweating my ass off and have no energy left. Before this, I could write for hours and barely had an issue. Also, it seems like my thoughts are scattered all over the place like I cannot lock onto anything and hold the thought.

Has anyone else reading this go through this after they had Covid? Wondering, too, if it might not be the Paxlovid I'm taking... who knows.

Covid kicked me hard. I slept for ten days straight. I have noticed since that my writing is not as voracious. I'm still creating content, and some of my latest stuff is some of my best, I think. It could be Covid. It could be my muse is just tired, or it could be the hormones I'm taking; mood swings and all that girly stuff I crave.

Take it easy and don't be in a hurry to get better. (My god, I'm agreeing with @lovecraft68 . LOL)

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah, Covid can knock you for a good couple of months after. Take it easy for the next six weeks. Post-viral fatigue is a thing, and you don't want to be a long Covid statistic if you can avoid it. Get lots of sleep and hopefully you'll be pretty much OK in a month.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The brain is part of the body, as much as we might wish it otherwise. Post-Covid "brainfog" is a common thing.

 

[AllenWoody]

Anything that impacts my health drains my will/drive to write. I had clogged Eustachian tubes (of all things) that effed up my hearing and brought on mild dizziness. Couldn’t even bear the thought of writing. No ability to concentrate.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Covid kicked me hard. I slept for ten days straight. I have noticed since that my writing is not as voracious. I'm still creating content, and some of my latest stuff is some of my best, I think. It could be Covid. It could be my muse is just tired, or it could be the hormones I'm taking; mood swings and all that girly stuff I crave.

Take it easy and don't be in a hurry to get better. (My god, I'm agreeing with @lovecraft68 . LOL)

Yeah... I have NO APPETITE... Well, I am hungry, but everything seems to taste like cardboard unless I put hot sauce on it.

My coffee is like drinking warm water... no flavor. I have been told that it will return, but not always the same as it was and it will take time. Six months is about the average that people are giving me.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Yeah, Covid can knock you for a good couple of months after. Take it easy for the next six weeks. Post-viral fatigue is a thing, and you don't want to be a long Covid statistic if you can avoid it. Get lots of sleep and hopefully you'll be pretty much OK in a month.

I have been trying to research that. Is the difference between "Long Covid" and just Covid a matter of the recovery process, or are they two variations of the same virus?

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

The brain is part of the body, as much as we might wish it otherwise. Post-Covid "brainfog" is a common thing.

Odd as it might sound... my dreams have been incredible since I have had it and I seem to recall them better than I have in the past. Hoping that is a permanent thing.
No sign of the fog, yet... yet... Just the lack of motivation and energy.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I have been trying to research that. Is the difference between "Long Covid" and just Covid a matter of the recovery process, or are they two variations of the same virus?

Post-viral fatigue happens with lots of viruses that give a nasty illness - you'd want to be careful for a couple months after glandular fever, measles, all sorts, so Covid isn't an exception there. But when that fatigue lasts longer than a month or two - that's when people talk of ME, chronic fatigue syndrome, and now, Long Covid. All seems to be part of the same overactive autoimmune process.

At least there's now a large pool of patients to study, and people who have had ME/CFS may not get told it's all in their heads any more. Seems up to 1% of people may get Long Covid for a year or more, at varying levels of impairment. A friend's kid is badly impaired, often can't get out of bed. A fair few middle-aged people I know have mostly recovered, as long as they potter about slower than their parents in their 80s. Not exactly disabled, but equally, not able to cope commuting by train to the city any more.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Post-viral fatigue happens with lots of viruses that give a nasty illness - you'd want to be careful for a couple months after glandular fever, measles, all sorts, so Covid isn't an exception there. But when that fatigue lasts longer than a month or two - that's when people talk of ME, chronic fatigue syndrome, and now, Long Covid. All seems to be part of the same overactive autoimmune process.

At least there's now a large pool of patients to study, and people who have had ME/CFS may not get told it's all in their heads any more. Seems up to 1% of people may get Long Covid for a year or more, at varying levels of impairment. A friend's kid is badly impaired, often can't get out of bed. A fair few middle-aged people I know have mostly recovered, as long as they potter about slower than their parents in their 80s. Not exactly disabled, but equally, not able to cope commuting by train to the city any more.

Well... time will tell. I will take it one day at a time and listen to my body when it says, "Slow your roll, asshole!"

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I have been trying to research that. Is the difference between "Long Covid" and just Covid a matter of the recovery process, or are they two variations of the same virus?

"Long COVID" just means "COVID where the symptoms don't go away for a long time." It probably isn't one thing. Some people might have long-lasting infections. (There's some evidence that getting vaccinated has helped people with Long COVID, which might mean they had some persistent infection.) Some people might have damage that takes a while to heal, even when the virus is totally gone from their bodies. Some people (as mentioned above) might have inflammation, overreacting immune response, after the infection is gone.

The reality is, we don't know the answer yet.

-Billie

 

[TarnishedPenny]

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Yep. Had Covid week before last. I thought I was never going to stop coughing. I kept my sense of smell, thank goodness. I’m getting over it now, but I’m still plagued with mental lethargy. At work things go in one ear and out the other. At home It’s the same with books I’m reading. I don’t seem to have the mental stamina to handle more than a couple of dozen pages.
I’m supposed to be rehearsing numbers for my covers band with some brilliant new kit I’ve just bought (A Dexibell SX8, if you’re interested) but I just don’t seem to be able to knuckle down to it.
Writing’s a bit different. I am currently writing the third instalment to The Young Queens, but I cranked out something approaching 100k words on three different works over a ten week period in the summer. It was great but it’s left me feeling a little hollow, if you know what I mean. Covid hasn’t helped.
Thankfully, my muse is beginning to resurface but it’s slow going.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Covid is real. I got it in June of 2020, and it left me flatter than a pancake.

I never had a fever, or lost my sense of taste or smell, but I had no appetite. One way to lose weight fast - stop eating. All I wanted was ice water. I just couldn't eat.

I was just looking back, and I didn't write anything for about five weeks. It took several months to even start to feel like myself again, or be able to think enough to write.

I think all you can do is get plenty of rest, and don't push yourself too hard. Gradually everything came back for me, at least I think. So, I imagine it will happen for you, too.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Writer61]

What is amazing to me is how hard it is to get the energy back to do simple things like even writing.

I know exactly how you are feeling; I'm still not fully over my latest encounter with the virus.

The only positive from my semi-comatose state was several new plot ideas and realising that a couple of secondary characters could support a series in their own right. Although given the speed at which I turn ideas into finished text that might not be a positive.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

I would say I am about 90% back to normal. Still getting winded when I climb stairs or exert myself, but the muscle pain and cramping are gone now.

 

[shakna]

Is anyone still saying that in 2024?

A community in Idaho just decided to no longer have public services provide covid vaccines. Because vaccines are evil, right?
... You cannot underestimate the insane lengths some people go to, to continue holding a belief.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Our vaccines are still available here for free, thank goodness.

I think the vaccines were a game changer, and serious illness and deaths really began to drop off once people started getting vaccinated. It's kind of hard to argue with facts. Though I'm sure there are still some people who will argue to the death, literally, that the whole thing was a hoax and vaccines are evil.