I got Covid at work in April 2021, a few days before i was supposed to be vaccinated and the testing place determined it was the Brazilian variant. at first it wasn't a big deal, my 2nd week i went for a light bike ride i thought i was on the mend, i also did more walking at the park etc. well i wasn't getting my full strength back, and wasn't able to work doing industrial electrician work. at home stuff would happen like i would drink a coffee and then have a huge allergic reaction that i ended up in the ER for 20 hours with a very high and abnormal HR. a few weeks later i tried to lift a 50lb keyboard (piano) from the floor to the stand and again back to the ER. and then as time went on i thought i was getting better then out of the blue i couldn't lift my arms over my head without almost passing out. Seems like every 3 months i would get better to the point of being able to walk for an hour quickly in the park, even walk/jog and i could do push ups and sit ups, lift some weights and then I got the vax #1 in June, my joints swelled up but i felt great, then back to almost being bed ridden, then vax #2 in late august wiped me out i couldn't stand for more than 30 seconds, and POTS. but by mid october I'm back in the park being able to walk/jog again.. come december vax/booster time and guess what? yupp can't lift arms above head without passing out, bedridden pretty much for Jan Feb.. I was taking some antiviral/SSRI which is supposed to help the vascular damage heal and it seemed to help. But I've totally atrophied and now doing PT to slowly build up strength. still not working at all, employer refuses to give me modified duties. Last week i went to a music festival and had a few gin and tonics and guess what? can't lift arms over my head, severe pain in shoulders esp left shoulder, arms feel heavy, walking around feels heavy. I didn't go to the ER because I've done that before, seems like a waste of time, they just say it's Long Covid symptoms and they don't know what to do. Once a doctor said i was having a stroke and sent me home with no meds or other advice. ... I had joined a long covid support group and 90% of the people who are having debilitating life altering symptoms are much younger than me, in their 30s and 40s and some even in their 20s. The general population are clueless to the Covid disabled. ppl believe that you either get covid and die or you get better after 2 weeks "it's no big deal' . My 85 year old mom got it in the spring, she was vaxxed and boosted and she likes to put on the facade of "I'm strong it's no big deal" well she has lost her sense of taste and smell ( no big deal eh? ) . This sucks big time. .. I sold my house just before the pandemic started thinking i would just rent for a year while i look for another house in a better location for work and now my old house has gone up 40% in value, i can't buy it back plus I'm on disability now so i don't / can't qualify for any mortgage and I'm being reno-victed from my cheap affordable apt. .. I really don't think I'll ever be able to do the construction work i did before, not that it's my dream job but it got me out of bed and moving around and socializing and learning interesting things.. before i got covid i could run up 6 flights of stairs and work all day with heavy tools and materials and at the end of the day i would do an hour in the park of jogging or walk jogging as i feel like it. I feel like 80. This experience totally sucks. it feels like suddenly my life is over , no doctors can really help. The tests in the medical system were not designed to detect the peculiar damage that covid does to mast cells, arterial damage everywhere, autonomic nervous system, cognitive impairment ( is huge ), doctors have no idea how it passes the blood/brain barrier. Someone flipped a switch and now i have chronic fatigue syndrome. Maybe the vaccines are not 100% effective but I would have rather gotten a vax and then caught covid rather than have my body deal with it on it's own without the vax.
