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Thread: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

  1. #11
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    What symptoms/conditions frighten you most in the long covid profile?

    You tested positive on Monday so can't consider yourself in the post covid complications "category" already.

    Why not try to downplay this spiral as just something that you normally do and covid is the perfect trigger so not really surprising that you are having palpitations due to your anxiety. It's very predictable so nothing to get worked up about? Normalise this anxiety, don't feed into it.

  2. #12
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Thanks Pulisa
    I am scared of the fatigue of long covid and the fact that it won’t allow me to lead a normal life any more or enjoy anything. When I was in my early twenties I had a virus (flu or something similar) and it was at a time (like now) when I was very stressed as I was in my first job and had a lot of stuff going on. I struggled to feel better afterwards, and it triggered my first and worst ever major episode of anxiety and depression. At that time I was convinced I had ME. I was so sick I couldn’t really function but I kept pushing myself as I didn’t want to lose my job and have to move back home. I guess essentially it was a kind of breakdown. In the end a Dr prescribed me antidepressants and they worked like a miracle for me and I slowly recovered. I think ever since that I’ve had a fear of feeling like that forever and being stuck in s cycle of feeling too unwell to do day to day tasks. I am afraid of having to stop work and how we would survive financially, and of not being able to enjoy spending time with my kids or enjoy any of the pleasures of life. I feel like long covid is going to take everything away from me that is important and that I have worked for so I guess that’s what I’m so afraid of. Even writing it down makes me feel scared and tearful. And the heart palps are non stop today. But I do know this is a cycle for me. Trouble is my key thought pattern is ‘I could be in this anxiety cycle and still have long covid’…

  3. #13
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Cattia, it’s one of those things where it’s here now & you need to manage it as well as possible. You’ve got covid, you might get long covid but nobody knows. Stressing about it won’t help anyone.

  4. #14
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Quote Originally Posted by cattia View Post
    Thanks Pulisa
    I am scared of the fatigue of long covid and the fact that it won’t allow me to lead a normal life any more or enjoy anything. When I was in my early twenties I had a virus (flu or something similar) and it was at a time (like now) when I was very stressed as I was in my first job and had a lot of stuff going on. I struggled to feel better afterwards, and it triggered my first and worst ever major episode of anxiety and depression. At that time I was convinced I had ME. I was so sick I couldn’t really function but I kept pushing myself as I didn’t want to lose my job and have to move back home. I guess essentially it was a kind of breakdown. In the end a Dr prescribed me antidepressants and they worked like a miracle for me and I slowly recovered. I think ever since that I’ve had a fear of feeling like that forever and being stuck in s cycle of feeling too unwell to do day to day tasks. I am afraid of having to stop work and how we would survive financially, and of not being able to enjoy spending time with my kids or enjoy any of the pleasures of life. I feel like long covid is going to take everything away from me that is important and that I have worked for so I guess that’s what I’m so afraid of. Even writing it down makes me feel scared and tearful. And the heart palps are non stop today. But I do know this is a cycle for me. Trouble is my key thought pattern is ‘I could be in this anxiety cycle and still have long covid’…
    Thank you for opening up about what happened to you in your twenties and how that virus triggered your HA. It explains a lot about why you are so fearful of long covid as you can see history repeating itself etc etc and your "life" being over..according to what you have to predict for yourself thanks to the HA.

    I wonder how many people with an anxiety disorder now believe that they have long covid? Is the fatigue from long covid similar to that from chronic anxiety and depression? I'm sure that there is an overlap somewhere along the line. I've had a chronic pain condition following pleurisy 4 years ago which presents as a shingles type pain. It's not much fun but I can still function. Sometimes it happens....Sometimes but not every time. Maybe you were just unlucky with that virus in your twenties. You didn't have ME. Antidepressants helped you get better. You didn't have a lasting physical legacy..Other than HA.

    Scass is right. It's pointless speculating on your chances of getting long covid in the first few days of a current infection. It just sets you up for a prolonged bout of misery and fear and will certainly wreck the Easter holidays for you and your family

  5. #15
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Thank you both. I know you're right, it's the uncertainty that I find so difficult, of not knowing whether or when I'll fully recover. I don't want to spend my days scanning myself for long covid symptoms but that's what's happening. If I start to test negative I can at least try to get out for a walk or something.

  6. #16
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    You've got too much time on your hands to ruminate when you can't go out but you know this. i do hope it won't be too long before you can escape from your four walls again and try and distract yourself with things non-covid related which you actually enjoy. Do you know what you enjoy doing now or has the anxiety and fear taken over everything?

  7. #17
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Thanks Pulisa. I’m still testing positive today. I’ve also had a migraine all day. I tried to do some light jobs around the house which I managed OK, but I’ve been having really bad heart palpitations for a lot of the day, and I also think I feel a bit more out of breath than normal climbing the stairs etc so this is adding to my anxiety. To tell the truth, I don’t think I’ve been doing great for quite a while, well before I had coivd. I have taken on a new job (same organisation but new role) and it’s been a very stressful time at work. I’ve thrown myself into it but in a way that I don’t think is necessarily healthy. I work probably 60 hours a week. I enjoy the work but I also know it’s not a sustainable pace. All I’ve done recently is work. I spend time with the kids at the weekend, but often I’m distracted. I’ve been run down and stressed but I still keep going. All this has made me worry that I’ve somehow ‘set myself up’ for long covid. I’m now also super worried about my heart. I don’t really have much by way of relaxation. I’ve found recently, that even when I’m doing things I enjoy like seeing friends I don’t feel like myself somehow. I was sick over half term with a heavy cold and now it’s Easter I’m sick again. I feel like I just need to sort myself out.

  8. #18
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    If you could cut your hours would you actually want to do that or do you feel that working hard gives you a purpose and keeps you motivated?

    I expect you are hopeless at delegating and feel responsible for everyone and everything? I bet you are excellent at your job but just exhausted now. Getting sick in the holidays can be quite common for those in highly pressurised jobs like yours but it doesn't mean that it's your fault. It just happens to many people.

    You have got covid so you won't feel great and everything will be more of an effort. It's only 5 days since you tested positive so very early days to be considering long covid, "self-induced" or not. Under your criteria there will be many workaholics who develop LC too but there is so much controversy as to LC's actual profile and whether it is a functional neurological disorder or not. There is so much about it which needs to be properly analysed and investigated.

  9. #19
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    I am the one who earns the money in our family and my husband does the bulk of the childcare, since he didn’t get many qualifications back in the day so doesn’t have the same ‘earning power’ as I do. For years I resented having to work so hard and missing out on time with the kids, so when I took on this job I decided to just go for it with my career and try not to let the guilt hold me back. I think for that reason I’ve gone a bit extreme with it, as balance isn’t something I’m all that good at! Work does give me a purpose and it does distract me from worrying about other things, but at the same time I know that the stress does take its toll and I need to find a more balanced approach to it.
    It’s interesting what you say about long covid. I think that it probably encompasses a range of conditions, some of which could certainly have a psychological element to them, in the same way that many chorionic health conditions can. I had a student once who used to have stress-induced seizures and she had the exact same symptoms as someone with epilepsy but her diagnosis was functional neurological disorder. I always found it so interesting that trauma could cause such an extreme physical reaction in a young person.

  10. #20
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    Re: Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

    Yes I know a 21 year old who developed FND at 18 and was unable to walk because her legs refused to work. She puts herself under a lot of pressure to achieve but this did seem like a really extreme reaction. She's much better now but has to be careful about excess stress. The brain is so complex and not fully understood by neuroscientists etc. I doubt whether it ever will be.

    True LC is probably very different from post-viral fatigue following covid. You feel responsible for keeping your family afloat financially and that's an onerous burden to carry when you have an anxiety disorder. Having covid will make you think of all the potential long term effects staying ill could have on your ability to carry on working and provide for your family. Being "responsible"puts so much pressure on you but i's very hard to take your foot off the pedal, isn't it?

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