Scared of long covid - loss of taste with omicron

[pulisa]

I suppose you could counter that belief with the fact that you have had covid, you are extremely anxious about LC and every ectopic you get is a reflection of that consistently high anxiety?

Have you ever had a 24 hour holter monitor test?

[Darksky]

My son had long covid back in Jan 21 onwards when he caught covid the first time round. It must have been the delta one but who knows. His girlfriend at the time, also contracted it. I remember the whole thing very well. She was extremely ill, her fatigue was off the scale to the point where she couldn’t get out of bed. Nothing you have said makes me think you have it.

You do have a fear of it and that’s what’s eating you up. I have covid now but long covid isn’t even crossing my mind. It’s all down to our arch enemy anxiety, nothing else. If you’re feeling a little better, get out and about, no marathons but distract yourself and get out of your head.

Ignore the voice that tells you you’ve got it, ignore the voice that tells you to reassurance seek and listen to the final voice that tells you it’s anxiety. That voice is the one that needs to learn to shout!

[cattia]

Thanks both. Pulisa, I’ve never had any tests for my heart. I’ve had ectopics / palpitations for as long as I can remember and I’ve honestly never worried about them until now! They are much worse than usual. I’m also feeling tight chested but I also know that I get this with anxiety so trying to rationalise it. I was expecting a call from my Dr yesterday but then never rang. I guess like everyone else they are short of staff.
Darksky thanks so much for your reply. It did help a lot. I hope your son and his GF made a full recovery. I have walked into town and back today (about a mile each way) and although I had a feeling of chest tightness, I wasn’t out of breath or too fatigued so I guess that’s a good sign. I hope you recover quickly from covid. It seems to be just everywhere at the moment.

[pulisa]

Your palpitations/ectopics are more pronounced now because you are so wrapped up in a LC mindset and because you have been researching LC and convincing yourself that you are destined to get it.

As Darksky says, the actuality of LC is very different and certainly not what you are experiencing. I'm sure that you will already have researched online accounts of people who believe they have LC but in fact have post-covid anxiety symptoms. Obviously Darksky knows from personal experience how LC presents so please take comfort from what she says and it's very reassuring that you have done that walk just 9 days after first testing positive. That's pretty impressive so why not acknowledge that and if you're tired tomorrow don't catastrophise about relapses etc?

[Darksky]

Well you can take comfort in the fact you walked two miles today. That would have been impossible for my sons ex. She washed her hair and was so exhausted by the effort she had to go back to bed.

[cattia]

So I filled out the e consult form for a conversation with my Dr. They were meant to call me on Tuesday but they didn’t so I called back. Basically their phone system went down so the dr had reviewed my e consult and left notes on the system but nobody had actually called me back. He has prescribed me propranolol for the palpitations and the notes said that anxiety and palpitations can be features of long covid and that it can take a while to get over. So now of course I basically feel like the Dr has diagnosed me with long coivd and you can imagine the scale of my anxiety now. I’m trying really hard to rationalise it, because I know that the symptoms I’m having can be anxiety too, but how do I know which one I have? I also wanted to know whether it’s safe for me to exercise or not but obviously the receptionist couldn’t tell me that so I have to wait until Tuesday before they can book me in to actually speak to someone. I kind of wish I hadn’t called as I feel like it’s confirmed my fear. I’m not sure how to move past this. Also don’t want to take propanalol as I’ve had it before and it makes me feel weird. But I guess it might help with the heart palps.

[pulisa]

Does this doctor know you? Did you tell him that you thought you had long covid or that you were worried that you would get long covid? Does this doctor know that you only tested positive 10 days ago?

[cattia]

Does this doctor know you? Did you tell him that you thought you had long covid or that you were worried that you would get long covid? Does this doctor know that you only tested positive 10 days ago?

No, this is just a doctor from the practice who reviewed my e consult. He knew I had tested positive last Monday. I also put in the e consult that I have a history of anxiety and have experienced heart palpitations before. I didn’t put that I was worried about long covid or that this was a focus of my anxiety. I was hoping to talk to the Dr about this but because their phone lines went down they reviewed my form without speaking to me.

I have asked for a phone consultation because I really want to know if it’s safe for me to do physical activity with the heart palpitations. They seem to be getting worse and worse. I’ve started to feel like I’m breathless when I’m walking but tbh I think this is mostly because I’m fixated on it. I’m tired but I wouldn’t in all honesty say I’m suffering fatigue more than I do when my anxiety is high. They said I can call back on Tuesday.

For the past 3 years, I have done 40 minutes each day on the cross trainer. I do it without fail and it’s probably the thing that is best for my mental health. It helps me to realise that I am physically fit. I now feel I can’t even start to build back up with this, because when I look online about exercising after covid, it says if you have heart palpitations you shouldn’t do any at all. So I really want to know if the heart palpitations are due to anxiety or as a result of covid. I would like to talk to my own Dr, and am hoping I can get an telephone appointment with him next week. I am going to struggle with waiting so long and I feel like I’m not managing my anxiety at all really.

[glassgirlw]

I can’t believe any doctor would diagnose you with long Covid after only being 10 days past the illness. Seems really irresponsible

you may have some palps as lingering after affects of your *very recent* bout of Covid. Far more likely is that you have extremely high anxiety right now, and your brain is hyperfocusing on any symptom that appears. I understand because I get that way too!! Do you think any of your normal anxiety coping mechanisms might help you get better control?

[Fishmanpa]

I can’t believe any doctor would diagnose you with long Covid after only being 10 days past the illness. Seems really irresponsible

you may have some palps as lingering after affects of your *very recent* bout of Covid. Far more likely is that you have extremely high anxiety right now, and your brain is hyperfocusing on any symptom that appears. I understand because I get that way too!! Do you think any of your normal anxiety coping mechanisms might help you get better control?

BAM!

FMP