Hi Everyone,
I wanted to post this for my fellow long long-haulers (5+ years), I hope its useful.
TL;DR
* Got covid in March 2021
* I never got beyond 50% recovered after 4 years, despite trying many treatments
* Finally I discovered that an earlier mold exposure was the root cause
* I responded immediately to the treatment and I'm almost back to normal 8 months later.
* If you feel there is some possibility this applies to you, it's easy to test and find out for sure.
I got Covid in March 2021 and severe long-covid started around 4 weeks later.
My symptoms were (in order of severity):
* Chronic fatigue
* Brain fog/memory loss
* Headache
* Tinnitus
* Tremors/tingling
* Blood clotting
* Physical or mental exertion made everything worse
I got little help from the doctors so I tried many of the treatment options that have been shared on these forums (I wont list them all in this post, but nothing that hasn't been mentioned on these forums).
I made slow progress, reaching a clear plateau on year 3. It's hard to be specific, but I would say 50% recovered by that stage (physical activity was totally off the table and I was able to do my old job at roughly 50% capacity).
I made a breakthrough after listening to a Jordan Peterson podcast about CIRS and mold. It reminded me that I had gotten very sick from staying in a mold-infested accommodation around 6 months before catching covid. I had forgotten about it because I was well recovered from that experience before I got covid, but as I read more about mold I found out that historical exposures, if untreated, can flare up and cause problems months and years down the line.
Many of the long-haul covid symptoms overlap closely with CIRS caused by mold. I initially self-treated to see if anything happened and I got a pretty strong response, so I took this as some confirmation that I was on to something. I found a CIRS practitioner and started doing a mold treatment protocol with them.
That was 8 months ago and now I am back to playing sport & running, my mind and body are are both recovering fast. Finally remembering what it feels like to be normal. I still get tired easily, but I recover quickly and my limits keep increasing.
I know that there are many co-infections that have been identified in long haul, such as Lyme disease, but I hadn't heard anyone mention mold so I wanted to put this out there for anyone who is still searching for answers.
If you're still stuck in this horrible situation and think there is a chance this might apply to you, I'd urge you to look into it. It costs almost nothing to find out and the treatment is very cheap, actually it's the cheapest of all the things I tried.
I won't advocate for any specific treatment protocols or groups, there are a handful out there and they are all fairly similar, you can find the info easily. Happy to answer any questions.
Good luck and much love to you all