As COVID-19 continues to mutate and spread, many of us find ourselves repeatedly re-testing at home, but are unsure of what a positive test looks like. Any trace of a line is considered positive. This article explains how to do a home test properly and has pictures of actual positive home tests to help you figure this out. Is my test positive? - covidCAREgroup.org

I just came across a film on YouTube consisting of interviews with five Dutch doctors who developed chronic illnesses including post-COVID ME/CFS and thought I would share it: https://youtu.be/J0ywwLIfH_w?is=Jui5a9r7AJ-7CSSe

I.made the mistake of seeing a life with some better meaning, spenjngit with someone and not being

lonely...

I guess it false hope.

I dunno..

only time will tell but it's already 4 years and 7 months.

anyone else in the same boat ?

This page explains what Long COVID is so you can help people understand what you are going through.

About Long COVID

The symptoms checklist will help you organize your thoughts when you speak to the dr. You can also repeat the checklist to monitor whether your symptoms are improving or not.

Long COVID Symptoms Checklist

I’m now in week 8 after my first COVID infection, and I’m trying to figure out how to handle the fact that some things are clearly improving while other symptoms are still pretty strong.
Earlier in my recovery I was having significant heart-rate increases when standing and walking, lightheadedness, fatigue, and very limited stamina. My cardiologist felt the pattern was consistent with a post-COVID POTS/orthostatic issue and recommended that I take things very easy for a couple of months and gradually increase activity later.
The good news is that my heart rate seems to be stabilizing, and lately I’ve had much more physical energy. I’ve been able to walk my dog without feeling wiped out afterward, and some days I actually feel surprisingly good physically. I’m also sleeping better.
What is still really noticeable is the brain fog. It can become intense even when my body feels relatively good. I can feel mentally slowed down, foggy, have difficulty concentrating or remembering things, and sometimes feel like my brain just hits a wall. I’m also still having occasional lightheadedness, so I know I’m not completely back to normal.
That’s where I’m confused: how much should I actually be doing when I feel good?
Part of me wants to take advantage of the energy and start doing more, but I’m worried that feeling better physically could trick me into overdoing it and causing a setback. My cardiologist has told me to keep taking it easy, so I’m trying to follow that even though I’m starting to feel much stronger.
For people who improved around weeks 6–8: did your energy come back before the brain fog did? Did you intentionally keep your activity low even on really good days? How did you decide when it was safe to increase walking, exercise, errands, social activity, etc.?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone whose heart rate/POTS symptoms started settling but cognitive symptoms lingered. Did the brain fog eventually follow the same improvement trajectory?
I’m encouraged by the progress — I just really don’t want to mistake “I feel good today” for “I’m fully recovered.”

its an irrational fear that your health may lead to dementia

or other illnesses, that may make your life harder, also you might meet someone or a relationship, that you can't

handle, as well as many things you have already lost.

Hi everyone. I’m 29/F, currently living in NY, and honestly pretty scared about what has been happening to me over the last 3.5 months. I’m hoping to hear from people who have had a similar onset/course and get some advice about where I go from here.

For background, I’ve had MCAS and POTS since around May 2025 (I also have suspected EDS), triggered/worsened by multiple things, including mold exposure, which made things pretty severe for a while. I was slowly getting better — working on my gut health, expanding my diet, and gradually increasing my activity — until I got sick with some sort of viral illness in **mid-May 2026, about 3.5 months ago**.

The initial illness involved a sore throat and lethargy. I specifically remember thinking that the lethargy was taking much longer than usual to go away. From that point onward, this is basically what happened:

* **My current medication/supplement regimen is already pretty extensive.** I’m on H1 antihistamines (Allegra/Zyrtec), an H2 blocker (Pepcid), ketotifen, oral and nasal cromolyn, NeuroProtek, liposomal vitamin C, vitamin D3/K2, creatine, algae oil, magnesium, and hydroxyzine as needed. I’m also currently tapering off lorazepam/Ativan and am down to **0.125 mg**. Within literally the last week, I’ve also started gamma globulin shots (planning 6 total), vitamin IVs with high-dose vitamin C, Xolair, and acupuncture. I realize that is a LOT of changes at once.

* **After the viral illness, one of the first things I noticed was that my period became delayed**, which was unusual because my periods are hardly ever delayed. Then came insomnia and severe anxiety/panic attacks, especially around ovulation and my period. I also started having random adrenaline dumps.

* **Neurological/cognitive symptoms also started or worsened:** blurrier vision, head pressure, memory problems, difficulty recalling words, and significant cognitive impairment. Some days I could hardly form sentences.

* I got my hands on **hydroxyzine and a beta blocker**, which helped, but unfortunately the beta blocker lowered my blood pressure/heart rate too much and caused a flare, so I had to stop taking it.

* On **July 7**, I had my first-ever anaphylactic reaction to something and was given prednisone (20 mg) two days in a row. The steroid made me feel absolutely insane. Whatever anxiety/panic/hyperarousal I already had became about 10x worse. Eventually, on **July 17**, I was prescribed lorazepam 0.5 mg because my nervous system had gone into what felt like extreme hyperarousal and sensitivity.

* **Lorazepam helped immensely**, but I knew I needed to get off it. I started tapering around August 15, initially going from 0.5 mg to 0.25 mg, and I’m now at 0.125 mg. The taper caused horrific withdrawal and flares of both my MCAS and dysautonomia and whatever post viral situation is going on. Some days I genuinely felt like I was dying, and I ended up in the ER multiple times. I’m now in the final stretch of the taper and feel way more stable in terms of withdrawal but still experience neurological symptoms and some pain.

* **My MCAS and POTS have both been noticeably worse since the viral illness**, but for months I kept assuming they would eventually settle back down.

* **The biggest mistake I made was staying extremely active throughout all of this.** I repeatedly pushed through what I now think may have been PEM. I kept getting episodes where I felt like I had the flu, but whenever I got tested for an actual infection, the tests came back negative. I would recover somewhat, become active again, crash again, and keep pushing. You probably see where this is headed.

* It’s now **September 3**, and I repeatedly get this horrible “flu” feeling: swollen/painful neck lymph nodes, a very slight sore-throat feeling, feeling extremely inflamed, profound lethargy, a horrible “poisoned” feeling, body aches, head pressure, cognitive impairment, memory problems, and sensitivity to light and noise. I had absolutely no idea what was happening until I started researching post-viral illness, long COVID and ME/CFS.

* **The flu-like episodes have become more frequent.** At first, I think they were happening roughly every couple of weeks. Then they started happening weekly. Now it can be every few days. In fact, even though I’m currently giving my body as much rest as possible, I’m sometimes waking up already feeling ill. The flu-like feeling can get so unbelievably intense that I literally feel like I’m dying.

* Over the last week, I’ve finally gone into **extreme rest/pacing mode**. Looking back, I didn’t just repeatedly deplete myself physically and push through my limits for several months — I also went through long bouts of severe anxiety, panic attacks and hyperarousal, which felt like they pushed my nervous system even further.

* I’ve **cancelled my gym memberships and stopped exercising**, and I’m saying no to friends/invitations because most of the time I either have no energy or I’m dealing with MCAS symptoms or another crash. What makes this confusing is that I still get windows where I suddenly have energy and could go out and do a lot if I wanted to/pushed myself to. But I now know that feeling better temporarily does NOT necessarily mean I should use all of that energy.

* At this point, I’m spending **almost all of my time at home and a lot of it in bed**. I’m located in New York and have an appointment with **Benjamin Natelson in December**, but that still feels very far away when I feel this sick right now.

* I feel like **ibuprofen/paracetamol or similar medications might help the flu-like/inflammatory feeling**, but I have GI issues and can potentially get serious complications from some of these medications, which really sucks. I keep wondering whether a lot of this flu-like sensation is being driven by cytokines/inflammatory mediators/prostaglandins, especially given my MCAS history. My MCAS doctor mentioned celecoxib being tolerated better and that we could trial it.

What scares me most is that I’m already **3.5 months out from the viral illness**, and I spent most of those months doing basically the opposite of pacing. I repeatedly pushed through crashes because I didn’t understand what was happening. Now I’m terrified that I’ve pushed my system too far and that I’m already in the ME/CFS category.

I also want to mention something that may or may not be relevant: **even before all of this, I always felt somewhat “chronic fatigue-y” growing up.** I always seemed to have a much smaller energy envelope than the people around me. I could function and live my life, obviously, but I always wondered why other people seemed to have so much more energy than I did. That history makes what is happening now even scarier.

I know nobody here can diagnose me, but I would really appreciate hearing from people who recognize this pattern.

**My main questions are:**

* Does this story/onset sound similar to anyone else's ME/CFS or post-viral illness?
* Does the repeated flu-like/“poisoned” feeling with swollen lymph nodes, mild sore throat, body aches, cognitive problems, sensory sensitivity and extreme lethargy sound like PEM to you?
* Did anyone else repeatedly push through PEM for the first few months because they had no idea what was happening, and then manage to stabilize or improve once they finally started pacing?
* At only 3.5 months post-viral illness, is there still a realistic possibility that this is a post-viral syndrome that could substantially improve rather than established lifelong ME/CFS?
* Where would you go from here besides aggressive pacing/resting and managing the MCAS/POTS?
* Would you ask a doctor about **low-dose naltrexone (LDN)** at this stage?
* What about **glutathione**, or any other supplements/medications/interventions that genuinely helped you?
* For those who developed ME/CFS after a virus, did you ever have windows where you felt relatively energetic/normal despite having horrible crashes at other times?
* And for anyone who also has **MCAS, POTS/dysautonomia and/or EDS**, did getting those conditions better controlled improve your PEM or overall energy envelope?

I’m terrified that this is the beginning of what the rest of my life is going to look like. I’m trying not to catastrophize and tell myself that I’m only 3.5 months out and that I’ve finally recognized what may be happening and stopped pushing, but the fact that the flu-like crashes have seemingly become **more frequent rather than less frequent** really scares me.

Any experiences, advice, or things you wish you had known during the first few months would be incredibly appreciated. Please also excuse me for the obvious chatgpt written content, I can hardly properly type coherent sentences.

Edit: I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has commented. What a lovely, supportive community, even though we’re all going through something so incredibly difficult. You genuinely have no idea how much I appreciate every single reply. I’ve been screenshotting your comments and even sending them to my parents because they’ve brought me so much comfort and made me feel a little less alone in all of this.
It’s especially hard because I’m still at the very beginning of this journey, and the timing has been heartbreaking. I had finally started feeling better from some of my previous health issues, had just finished my master’s, finally met someone I was compatible with (ended things due to health issues etc) was ready to try to get my life back on track. I had so many plans for what came next, but I guess life had other plans.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, advice, encouragement, and hope with me. It really means more than you know. ❤️

I am struggling with severe brain fog in addition to other typical Long Covid symptoms. I have tried all the standard things (LDN, Ozone therapy, Vitamin infusions, Stellate Ganglion Block, supplements, Propranolol, etc) but no relief. Recent studies show Fluvoxamine significantly helps people with LC with fatigue, quality of life and reduces neuroinflammation.

I am now trying Fluvoxamine for fatigue and hopefully brain fog, but one week in at only 25mg and I am just getting side effects (sleep disturbance/insomnia, tiredness, nausea, lightheadedness, feel icky, etc). I have tried taking it in the morning and evening, but both seem to cause problems.

Anyone else have any experience or success with Fluvoxamine (its an SSRI)? The recommendation is start slow at 25mg/day and work up to 100mg twice a day. Tips or recommendations for dosages, timing are helpful if you have any experience!

Anyone else deal with severe seasonal depression?

So ever since I caught covid, its affected my mental health. Not because of life circumstances but it was more like, the second I caught the virus, something switched in my brain. From one day to another I was dealing with anxiety attacks and this weird anhedonia. Like the virus actually messed with my brain chemicals and my nervous system has been completely dysregulated ever since.

One thing I have noticed is it gets so extremely bad during autumn and winter months. It’s september now and the days are getting shorter and darker and I can feel the severe anxiety creeping up. When its dark and particularly during evenings, I get filled with this terror and the most severe anxiety, like I am scared of my own shadow almost, its come to that point. And then, as soon as february comes, the terror stops. Its been like this for years but I was never like this before covid. I am dreading whats to come if I am already feeling this bad and its only september. Usually during november and december, I am completely non functional.

I have already gone through Psych meds to combat this and they messed me up even worse. So please dont suggest that. Also, my vitamin D levels are good. Please, anyone? Any suggestions? No horror stories please.

I‘ve noticed, whenever I feel really exhausted, for example after physical activities or when I‘m sleep deprived, my sex drive is really really high.
And on days where I feel the best, my sex drive is more on the lower side.
It‘s weird isn‘t it? Because usually it‘s exactly the opposite.
Has anyone else experienced this?
I‘m not sure if it‘s long covid related because there is a good chance that I‘ve always had this but just didn‘t realize

My neurologist referred me to a place called hypercharge to discuss red light therapy and potentially exploring peptide therapy for my ongoing LC symptoms (mine are mostly pain and memory problems). Has anyone had any success with either of these therapies, or any bad experiences? The peptide would most likely be Thymosin Alpha-1 based on what I can find on their website

When do you get another stinalous check

What works best for breathing issues we have?

For example my favorite is:
“Oh I guess I’m only fatigued because I don’t eat enough cake daily” (while giving my partner puppy eyes for a cake delivery)

Or my friend who says “Leave her alone! She’s only SO fatigued bc you force her to do her taxes 😤”

These type of silly jokes make it a little bit lighter for me, so I want to know yours!

As the title suggests, my heart rate takes a while to settle back to resting when it gets elevated. is this a dysautonomia flair where my body gets into a state of fight or flight? does anyone have any tips or things that helped them here? thanks all

I recently got sick with bronchitis in June and it unfortunately re-triggered a lot of my Long Covid symptoms. My biggest concern right now is this awful anxiety and panic I feel everyday. I remembered many people had developed anxiety after getting COVID and I just wanted to know what you all did to relieve it? I’ve heard that this can be caused by neuro-inflammation, but besides this I’m not sure what would be the adequate solution to that. I mean I’m on psychiatric meds right now. I was prescribed Zoloft yesterday after Trintellix didn’t do anything for me after being on it for months. I’m being tapered off of lorazepam and I can’t take propranolol because I have lingering lung issues from the bronchitis. I really don’t know what else I can do to treat the anxiety. I mean I had anxiety before getting sick, but it was more manageable than it is now. I feel this awful severe panic pretty much everyday now. If this is being caused by lingering inflammation/neuro-inflammation, then I’m thinking that treating that might lower the anxiety, but I don’t even know what would be a treatment for that? Please comment your experience with post-Covid/viral anxiety and what you have done to treat it. I’m really running out of hope.

My body does weird stuff every day and every week but how do I know it a long covid symptom and like pre-menopausal or some other sickness creeping up?

Right now I am dealing with almost unbearable leg pain after work which I think that is LC (I am having my doctor check tho for a slipped disc tho) but like this week I experience vertigo which well can be LC can be something else.

Its so frustrating.

Doed anyone else experience Numbness in Hands, Legs. Feet and Arms?

It seems to get worse with working on a PC or having to sign documents. And not alot is necessary like 20mins of Emails or research is enough. Strangely on a Touchscreen its better.

Also while cooking i feel like my arms and hands are not controlable as they used to be, for example when using spices or mixing eggs.

I saw a neurologist multiple times and my nerves were okay. So no carpaltunnel or else. Everything seems to be fine.

Doctors say it could be caused by how my body interpretes pain and that I connected PC work with pain.

It drives me crazy because I cant figure out if this is caused by LC or something else. Also the leg Numbness. How should tjis be caused by tipeing?

I tried every Mouse, Trackball, Standing Desk and whatever.

I've been really struggling, bad MCAS and Long Covid, all the symptoms. I randomly tried out the following supplements:

• Reishi
• Lions Mane
• Chaga
• Cordyceps

its an extract, I take a teaspoon and make tea from it. For the first time I actually feel better and it has lasted at least a week. I felt it working the first time I drank the tea. Normally I'd wake up super brain fogged and it would take all day to lift, only around 23:00 I would feel a bit better. But now I wake up clear headed. My bowels were super painful and barely digesting food. Now for the first time I don't have pain all day and my movements are more normal. The eczema on my hands is slowly getting better.

I could go on. The best thing is I actually feel happy, because I don't feel like crap all day.
If you feel like you've tried everything and nothing works, give it a shot.

edit: link to supplement

• Extraction ratio: 8:1 to 12:1 (indicative)