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View Full Version : Feeling of general malaise during the last four months - anyone else?



dorabella
04-08-20, 14:14
Anyone else been feeling (non-CV related) intermittently 'unwell' since the lockdown but can't put their finger on why?

I have had spells of just feeling grotty - odd muscle aches and pains, sometimes just feeling hot flashes, digestive system gone haywire, noticing hay fever symptoms more this year, and just in general feeling like my whole system is out of whack.

Suppose working from home for the last 4 months hasn't helped - not using my work desk, working on laptop and not my work PC, and I miss my daily walks to and from the office.

Trying to keep to a work schedule and get out every day for a 20-minute walk and other odd trips, but it isn't the same. Also at times just feeling mentally and physically 'done in', and the depression and anxiety just hovering in the background - which I haven't had like this for quite a while. Fibro symptoms also exacerbating.

Just wondering if anyone else has been affected in this way? This lockdown has been a lousy experience I have to say.

Lencoboy
04-08-20, 15:46
I have obviously been feeling a bit down in the dumps because of it all but I have probably been more depressed about certain factions of our society using this pandemic as a means of pushing their own pre-existing agendas and prejudices (especially the hard-righters) and all the blatant CT bull that has accompanied the pandemic so far, in particular, the antivaxxers and those who are convinced the authorities are out to get us and control us, which IMO is definitely not true. I personally think (in the latter case), the authorities in this country especially, have been a bit too lax on occasions, although I wouldn't like the idea of another full-on national lockdown all over again, though the original one from late March up until about late May-early June was necessary at the time given there were a lot more unknowns, coupled with the fact that the initial means of testing were limited and not always very accurate, but things in that particular field have supposedly advanced since then, along with greater general awareness of the virus, even though certain members of the general public have started to get a bit complacent more recently.

Pamplemousse
04-08-20, 16:22
Anyone else been feeling (non-CV related) intermittently 'unwell' since the lockdown but can't put their finger on why?

I have had spells of just feeling grotty - odd muscle aches and pains, sometimes just feeling hot flashes, digestive system gone haywire, noticing hay fever symptoms more this year, and just in general feeling like my whole system is out of whack.

Suppose working from home for the last 4 months hasn't helped - not using my work desk, working on laptop and not my work PC, and I miss my daily walks to and from the office.

Trying to keep to a work schedule and get out every day for a 20-minute walk and other odd trips, but it isn't the same. Also at times just feeling mentally and physically 'done in', and the depression and anxiety just hovering in the background - which I haven't had like this for quite a while. Fibro symptoms also exacerbating.

Just wondering if anyone else has been affected in this way? This lockdown has been a lousy experience I have to say.

"Yes to pretty much all of the above" from me. Mind you, a panic attack put me on hospital on Friday night too. I tried to put down the last couple of days to suddenly going from 30mg to 10mg of citalopram but yes, I'm the same as you.

dorabella
04-08-20, 19:26
I feel for you Pamplemousse - those crisis moments that deposit you at the A&E door are not pleasant. Sometimes the anxiety and catastrophic thoughts and feelings are overwhelming. I stopped taking ADs nearly 20 years ago as I couldn't face spending the ensuing years being dependent on them to keep me on the straight and narrow. Can't say there are not times 'though when everything just escalates and I think maybe take a course to get a bit of relief ... only the thought of having to get off them again stops me.

Physical malaise aside, the issues Lencoboy raises are quite pertinent and probably contribute to the background anxiety and depression that we are probably all suffering from. I keep an open mind where 'big government' is concerned and I can see why there are elements who propound these fantastic conspiracy theories. Still not sure about the original lockdown and I think fundamentally Boris's gut instinct to go for herd immunity was the correct one - as controversial as the situation in Sweden is - provided that is we could have introduced some precautionary measures like shutting down international movement in and out of the country (and installed some Swedish mentality) in the population at large. We might have got through the hump much quicker and evened out the spread better. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The population is getting more complacent but that is probably because there are a lot of people out there who are fed up to the back teeth with the uncertainty and just want to get on with things. I would happily go back to my offices except for the fact that the university campus where they are houses is still shut down. Oh for some sense of normality (and I don't mean the new norm!!)

pulisa
05-08-20, 08:12
I hope you feel better and more settled once you get to Worcestershire, Dorabella. A change of scenery may bring you a bit of respite from the malaise and a bit of time to think about getting back to what feels like a normal life again. As for the new normal..it may not be as disruptive as we fear.

Pamplemousse
09-08-20, 11:45
I feel for you Pamplemousse - those crisis moments that deposit you at the A&E door are not pleasant. Sometimes the anxiety and catastrophic thoughts and feelings are overwhelming. I stopped taking ADs nearly 20 years ago as I couldn't face spending the ensuing years being dependent on them to keep me on the straight and narrow. Can't say there are not times 'though when everything just escalates and I think maybe take a course to get a bit of relief ... only the thought of having to get off them again stops me.

A hat-tip to you Dorabella, both for your kind thoughts and for kicking the ADs into touch. I would like to get off the Citalopram but in reality I think I'll just have to accept that I'm on them for the rest of my life now, although they don't do a very good job.

fishman65
09-08-20, 15:04
A hat-tip to you Dorabella, both for your kind thoughts and for kicking the ADs into touch. I would like to get off the Citalopram but in reality I think I'll just have to accept that I'm on them for the rest of my life now, although they don't do a very good job.PM, I've been taking a combination of mirtazapine/venlafaxine since 2013 and it has worked very well for depression. Not so much the anxiety though but you can't have it all ways, but like you I'm pretty much resigned to being on ADs for life.

Lencoboy
09-08-20, 15:18
As awful as this pandemic is, had it never even happened we would have probably regarded 2020 as an 'annus horriblus' over other pre-existing issues, such as Brexit, austerity, violent crime, terror threats, hard-right extremism, and various other big 'panics' of the past few years.

Fishmanpa
09-08-20, 15:31
Anxiety or not, the side effects both mentally and physically from dealing with the state of the world is exhausting. I can safely say you're not alone in that feeling. After all, life has done a 180 degree turn in the last 6 months.

positive thoughts