[duncan]

Personal experiences: infected Christmas 2020 so unvaccinated. Moderately severe: a week in bed but never remotely felt in danger. 2-3 months of fatigue, like a phone with a knackered battery. Fortunately this got a lot better around the time of my first vaccine. The remaining fatigue gradually disappeared over the following 6 months or so. During the fatigued phase I was able to tolerate brief max. hangs type fingerboarding reasonably well but multipitch routes or walk-ins flattened me, the reverse to usual.

Had another viral-type respiratory infection in November/December 2021 and was back to being unable to do anything requiring a sustained effort. LFTs and a PCR were negative but it’s possible I was testing too late.

As of January 2022 my cardiopulmonary system is not 100%. I’m much more short of breath walking uphill or climbing. Until a year ago I happily stomped up steep approaches, crushed the Ceuse walk-in and Mt. Fuji (2300m to ~3800m in 3 and a bit hours). This shortness of breath was noticeable from a year ago after covid and took a further knock recently. 

I also seem to be woefully unfit for multiple pitches of climbing a day. Not sure this is covid, old age, or lack of recent training. It’s a bit of a concern as this was previously my signature strength.


Anecdote: as said above, chronic fatigue is sometimes reported as a consequence of doing too much too quickly after viral infections. I’m not an expert in this but it seems sensible to be cautious for a few weeks after a covid episode even if you’re feeling OK.


Professional experiences: I worked with people with chronic conditions and there is an element of loss of general fitness in many with chronic conditions. I’d be amazed if this wasn’t also true with long covid. This isn’t helped by the low mood and the anxiety about activity that frequently come with chronic fatigue. All totally understandable given what people have been through - once bitten - but it can become a bit of a vicious circle.

[Edited adding dates for clarity]

[Nike Air]

Ah wow that was grim reading!

So I'm on day 9 of testing positive, its wiped me out way more than I was expecting it to.

Would folk say that around the 14 th day they felt a bit more normal. I feel like a 40 year old rechargeable battery with rusty ends!

I found a twitter thread which covers a lot of the potential long term consequences of covid;

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1478611650760437765.html

Some of this seems somewhat alarmist and also its not clear whether these clear up entirely after say 6/12/18 months due to the newness of the virus, plus we don't necessarily know how much the level of initial illness impacts, fitness of the ill person etc. Nonetheless it is interesting to see how it can impact beyond the initial sickness. Basically it appears to have whole body impacts including organs and blood vessels etc.

[Yossarian]

Day 9?!

I tested positive yesterday am. Had terrible night of sleep Monday following wall session in which I felt really strong but got weirdly out of breath a few times. Felt increasingly ill on Tues and thought it was a bad cold. Another night of terrible sleep. Did test yesterday am, spent the day in bed feeling completely broken / very achy / zero energy and bad headache.

Today I feel much better physically, though brain is a bit fuzzy and have a slight echo in my ears whilst talking.

I had both vaccinations but hadn't got around to getting boosted, which obvs now I regret...

[Duma]

Hey Jordan, I know when I caught it as at work, call that day 1:
Day 2 and 3 no symptoms, was testing daily and negative.
Day 4 woke up with sore throat, tested positive. Ok through the day, but went down hill rapidly in the eve. Terrible night, aching joints especially back, hot and cold sweats, no sleep.
Day 5 still feeling worse than any flu, but slight improvement on previous night. Slept much better that night.
Day 6 better again, like mild flu
Day 7 like a cold
Day 8 -11 pretty much ok, but still testing positive and noticeable shortness of breath. Did a bit of fingerboarding and core stuff during this period.
Day 12 out of isolation, route climbing indoors, took it easy.
Day 13 big bouldering session. back on night shifts that eve. Knackered, but not really any more than normal.
Day 21 shortness of breath finally went.

I had a day or two of feeling awful, but the really noticeable thing that differentiated it from flu for me was how long the shortness of breath hung around. It was two weeks after the rest of my symptoms had gone before I felt like I could breathe fully again.

I'm double jabbed and boosted in December, mid forties.

[Evil]

Ah wow that was grim reading!

So I'm on day 9 of testing positive, its wiped me out way more than I was expecting it to.

Would folk say that around the 14 th day they felt a bit more normal. I feel like a 40 year old rechargeable battery with rusty ends!

If it's any help that is kind of how it went for me, around 2 weeks of having a really bad sinusy cold and no energy then I got better. I did continue to test positive for quite a while, but got a negative about 1 month later. Apparently you can test positive for up to 90 days but it doesn't really have a bearing on how long symptoms last. Obviously very inconvenient if you need to travel somewhere with testing requirements.

[Fultonius]

Ah wow that was grim reading!

So I'm on day 9 of testing positive, its wiped me out way more than I was expecting it to.

Would folk say that around the 14 th day they felt a bit more normal. I feel like a 40 year old rechargeable battery with rusty ends!

If it's any help that is kind of how it went for me, around 2 weeks of having a really bad sinusy cold and no energy then I got better. I did continue to test positive for quite a while, but got a negative about 1 month later. Apparently you can test positive for up to 90 days but it doesn't really have a bearing on how long symptoms last. Obviously very inconvenient if you need to travel somewhere with testing requirements.

Were you still +ve on LFTs?   Most places now accept an LFT instead of PCR for travel, as PCR keeps being positive. I hadn;t heard of +ve LFT after getting better...
.

[tomtom]

Hi Jordan
I’m about 2 weeks after my ten days isolation ended. My illness wasn’t that bad (couple of crappy days) apart from feeling tired/fatigued. Took on board advice and did nothing in those ten days.

Since then I’ve ramped up climbing stuff very gently - but  it’s still taking me a while to recover after a session. Bizarrely - I did some one arm hangs/pulls on day 12 and equalled Pb’s… but a big outdoor session on Friday gave me mega DOMs for nearly three days. Since then I’ve not got near those hang results 😁 but went to the wall yesterday and feel Ok today so hopefully getting back to normal(ish).

It’s been a bit frustrating (esp as I nearly did a 7C+ I’ve been working for ages the day before I tested positive - and am no where near that form now!) but thankful so far it’s been a bit slow but progressive recovery.

Take your time, listen to your body etc.. sounds a bit trite but has worked for me. So far.

Wishing you and every one who’s struggling well.

[Ged]

I'm a self confessed massive hyperchondriac, so any reassurance I can receive to convince me I'm not struck down with long covid would be great! Clearly I haven't got it, but woukd love to hear how others have got on.

Similar to above, my symptoms were never bad, just like a standard head cold. I'm only 2 weeks in, but still a bit rough. Definitely better than last week, but a long way off feeling like doing any exercise. The caveat is we've got a 1 month old baby, so sleep isn't at a premium which may have had an effect.

Like I said, I've convinced myself that I'm not going to get any better and am destined for months of being a tired grumpy twat, so any reassurance that it'll be fine and I'll keep improving would be greatly received!

[Nike Air]

 Cheers for the responses.

Think personal experiences will help everyone. I once had a virus after a Buoux trip in 2018 that really set me back energywise and also with partial deafness. At least this time round there is joint recovery going on.
I've not really been as snotty as Naomi and she was seemed to get here energy back quickly. I wonder if viral load has a large part to play?
She caught it at the Dentist where she works. They have good measures in place and we think it was only one particular day it was spreading in there so the load was low whereas I had exposure to her death fumes at home.

Symptoms have really been juggled around and from what I hear that's one of the strange things that covid does. Just when my kidney ache has gone and replaced by wierd red snot from deep within its back for another play.

I too like Tom Tom was climbing well just before. Its annoying to let performance slip away but hey hoe.

It's definitely hard to stop thinking about long covid hey.

One thing I did learn about my last virus was avoiding sugar if possible and also sucking on cold pressed coconut oil.
I'll keep trying that now as I've only just recovered from feeling like im in some sort of weird dream. Somewhere between being awake and asleep.

[Ged]

That's interesting re sugar. I wonder why that is. I don't normally crave or eat much sugary stuff, but currently it's all I want!

Hope you keep improving. I'm hoping some more sleep will help me. It's so tempting to just try and push on and go for a run, but terrified of setting myself back

[Duma]

I was running a lot in Jan, including the weekend I caught it and the Monday, but haven't run since, as it felt like the thing most likely to set me back. (though I would be happy to run now) Fingerboard stuff felt much less of a load on body and lungs.

[seankenny]

I'm really very very sorry to hear all the tales of covid woe. As far as I understand it scientists think that the vaccine will reduce the likelihood of long covid but it's still a bit too early to tell from the last wave as the official point at which long covid begins is three months after the onset of the illness. Up to then it could just be a typical post-viral recovery I guess.

From reading around this a bit and talking to others, it seems that it's super important to rest a lot when you're recovering. Trust me, you really do not want long covid - I have spent every afternoon in bed this week and the most exertion I did was walking ten minutes with my cousin to get a coffee and also thinking too much earlier in the week. It's serious! It's worth losing a month or two of training to avoid this. Sorry Ged, don't want to pump prime your hypochondria - chances are you'll be fine - I just hope everyone stacks the odds in their favour.

I have found my diet and digestion have changed quite dramatically, too many carbs leave me really bloated and uncomfy, I can't even have a sandwhich for lunch, can't remember the last time I ate pasta. I think sugar increases inflamation so it's definitely worth avoiding.

I've found breathing exercises seem to help. I've used an app called Flourish, it's a bit new agey but the actual exercises are good (if you do all the weird breathing shit right you'll be too high to notice the cosmic consciousness bits when they do roll around), also these guys in the US seem to be doing good research and help for covid recovery, it's not new agey:

https://www.stasis.life/programs

[Evil]

Were you still +ve on LFTs?   Most places now accept an LFT instead of PCR for travel, as PCR keeps being positive. I hadn;t heard of +ve LFT after getting better...
.

Well, I was after 14 days at least, but thankfully they then dropped the LFT requirement for returning to the UK, so I only had to do a PCR after return (still positive), so I think the LFT would still have been positive also at that point as it was only a couple of days later. I didn't keep checking the LFTs so I'm not sure how long that would have continued. The line was fainter than the first one I did, but still definitely there. Perhaps if I wasn't very thorough with the swabbing it wouldn't have shown up at all.

[Nike Air]

What type of fingerboarding did you do to ease your way back into it?

[Duma]

Power club 618 and 619 have details, but basically it was the ancap and aeropow repeater sessions from the crimpd app.
I never struggled with persistent low energy or feeling massively wiped out after a session though, so might be too much if you are?

[abarro81]

I found short fingerboard or campus sessions best. Reckon it took me about 4 weeks after isolation to feel like I could got hard on endurance again...

[Ged]

How ill were you when you had it Alex? And are you feeling 100% now?

[abarro81]

I was what I'd call moderately ill when I actually had it - a few days pretty wiped out watching movies instead of working, plus brain fog for a week or so, but by day 6 after symptoms/positive LFT I was feeling well enough to want to do some hangs... Then ok for a week, then dropped off a cliff and was totally fucked for a few days (negative on LFTs though) - could barely get out of bed the first day even to go downstairs to lie on the sofa, plus very sore throat. Took about 3 weeks to get back to feeling normal again after that set back. I dialled back on the training (partly based on nudges from people like you on here) for that time, then increased again and that time it went ok...

Now I feel fine, as far as I can tell!

[Nike Air]

 cheers Duma and Alex.

I did dust off the finger boards yesterday, don't think ive really used them since April last year.

Yesterday was the first day I actually felt human enough to do some training/playing. I've now had two negative test days in a row after testing for 9 or 10 days positive, I'm loosing track.

Not sure what I did on the finger boards can be classed as anything like training, but that could be because I've not a clue what I'm doing on that front.

What I did feel as that my fingers felt responsive to what I asked of them and all my muscles seemed to be firing well.
I spent about an hour in the cellar where the finger boards are, I made the rests useful by tidying up the cellar and giving it a good sweeping out. This aspect of the hour felt way more taxing on my body as a whole than the dangles/pull ups and toe touches. Guess bending over and grafting exacerbated the covid dizziness and fatigue.

It all seems to be moving in the right direction, I still feel like an old battery and window cleaning next week will be the test.

[AMorris]

Tested positive today, which is frustrating. It was bound to catch up with me eventually...

[slab_happy]

also these guys in the US seem to be doing good research and help for covid recovery, it's not new agey:

https://www.stasis.life/programs

Thanks, that led me to this, which is fascinating:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-long-covid/618076/

I've not had Covid (so far), but I had a bout with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME in my teens and still fatigue pretty easily, which makes this all very recognizable to me (and has also made me wonder if I'm predisposed to long Covid as and when I do get infected).

For what it's worth, a friend who has POTS as a result of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome swears by Skratch Labs for helping with her tachycardia; might be worth knowing about for anyone who ends up with dysautonomic symptoms.

[mrjonathanr]

I've not had Covid (so far), but I had a bout with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME in my teens and still fatigue pretty easily, which makes this all very recognizable to me (and has also made me wonder if I'm predisposed to long Covid as and when I do get infected).

I had rather more than a bout of this when I was younger. Having had Covid in the autumn, I am not more fatigued than normal. Whilst everyone is unique, I wouldn’t worry unduly about this.

[slab_happy]

I've not had Covid (so far), but I had a bout with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME in my teens and still fatigue pretty easily, which makes this all very recognizable to me (and has also made me wonder if I'm predisposed to long Covid as and when I do get infected).

I had rather more than a bout of this when I was younger. Having had Covid in the autumn, I am not more fatigued than normal. Whilst everyone is unique, I wouldn’t worry unduly about this.

Good to know!

[monkoffunk]

Tested positive today, which is frustrating. It was bound to catch up with me eventually...

I started getting symptoms last Saturday and tested positive Sunday. After a couple of years of covid ICU work including intubations etc, I did think I’d get it before now too, but think I ended up catching it at home from a visitor.

Still feel a bit rough a week down, but resumed training now. Just need to recover from my exam induced lay off and dislocated patella and I’ll be back to it!

[seankenny]

Good long covid thing in the New York Times this weekend:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/19/science/long-covid-causes.html

I know that some people regard covid-related energy problems as involving a large deconditioning or even psychosomatic component, but this view appears to be somewhat behind the science:

"These findings demonstrate that people with long Covid are suffering systemic physical problems, rather than just being anxious or out of shape, said Dr. David M. Systrom, an exercise physiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who helped conduct the bike study.

“You can’t make up small fiber neuropathy by skin biopsy. That isn’t in somebody’s head,” Dr. Systrom said. “You can’t make up poor oxygen extraction to this degree. All of these are objective measures of disease.” "