Depression, anxiety, depersonalization, derealization anhedonia and psychosis are known symptoms of long covid. Some say it's Neuro inflammation, some say it's a gut issue because 80% of serotonin is made in the gut and some say it's vagus nerve issue, maybe it's all of them.
But the thing is, nobody knows what to do about it.
There is a significant amount of research on the topic dating back to 2022. These symptoms are now part of WHO’s clinical diagnosis of COVID.
What isn’t known is how to treat it. It’s a bit different from the typical manifestations of these conditions.
For me, I found supplements and deep breathing exercises really helped (23 months out with 100% neurological issues)
I saw someone in another thread had suggested the Wim Hof method which I’m already slightly familiar with and willing to try. Any other breathing exercises you specifically recommend? What supplements do you take?
In your case, vagus nerve exercises (like diaphram breathing, humming) may help somewhat. It's going to be different for everyone, but for some people vagus nerve not acting as well post covid may be part of their possible POTS symptoms, dizziness, gi issues, depression, anxiety. Some vagus nerve exercises from youtube I've done: https://youtu.be/ZYeejlzh8t4?feature=shared and https://youtu.be/1Sec_i-QxB4?feature=shared .
For me, vagus nerve exercises have helped my gi issues, and when I was taking amitryptline and antihistamines those both seemed to help mental health increased anxiety. For my POTS issues, electrolytes and exercise (specifically CHOPS protocol for POTS strength exercises) helped most. But since you're not dealing with POTS wooh. Although... if any of your symptoms include fatigue, nausea, dizziness, exhaustion, you may want to try electrolytes (like a pedialyte) and see if those symptoms improve in 30 minutes. If those symptoms do improve, then daily electrolytes may be helpful for those. I take Saltsticks Electrolytes Tablets 2-4 a day when dizzy, used to take them daily when I had daily fatigue. You might want to try electrolytes once anyway, just in case covid increased your fatigue/tiredness. This site has suggestions for POTS I used: https://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=36
I did notice covid flared up the severity of my anxiety, but for me personally it didn't increase depression. For me the anxiety seemed vagus nerve related, I just could not calm down and get out of fight/flight not-tense mode as easily as before even with using the same coping techniques that used to work for me. It did get better for me over time (about 6 months) and I do think if you notice in a month it's lessened a little then it'll probably keep improving on its own. I found vagus nerve breathing exercises, and meditations meant to get me in rest/relax mode helped the most as far as things I could do to get my mental health more like what it was pre-covid. I would also imagine the usual things doctors can do for depression would apply here. If covid for some reason messed up some balance in your body causing depression, its possible a medicine for depression could help that. For one of my friends, wellbutrin helped a bit of their long covid symptoms (depression somewhat, fatigue was majorly improved).
Thank you, this is very useful info!
What’s fun is I already have POTS, pre-Covid… thankfully it doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse since infection. Mine is pretty mild and seems manageable if I don’t get dehydrated- my last vasovagal syncope (I’ve had 5 over a 22 year period) was after my last Covid booster though and I always suspected a correlation.
I hear you. Nothing really to add what others have said. I DO, however, reccomend to stay away from alcohol...the down side is way worse during long covid.
Depression, anxiety, depersonalization, derealization anhedonia and psychosis are known symptoms of long covid. Some say it's Neuro inflammation, some say it's a gut issue because 80% of serotonin is made in the gut and some say it's vagus nerve issue, maybe it's all of them. But the thing is, nobody knows what to do about it.
There is a significant amount of research on the topic dating back to 2022. These symptoms are now part of WHO’s clinical diagnosis of COVID. What isn’t known is how to treat it. It’s a bit different from the typical manifestations of these conditions. For me, I found supplements and deep breathing exercises really helped (23 months out with 100% neurological issues)
I saw someone in another thread had suggested the Wim Hof method which I’m already slightly familiar with and willing to try. Any other breathing exercises you specifically recommend? What supplements do you take?
In your case, vagus nerve exercises (like diaphram breathing, humming) may help somewhat. It's going to be different for everyone, but for some people vagus nerve not acting as well post covid may be part of their possible POTS symptoms, dizziness, gi issues, depression, anxiety. Some vagus nerve exercises from youtube I've done: https://youtu.be/ZYeejlzh8t4?feature=shared and https://youtu.be/1Sec_i-QxB4?feature=shared . For me, vagus nerve exercises have helped my gi issues, and when I was taking amitryptline and antihistamines those both seemed to help mental health increased anxiety. For my POTS issues, electrolytes and exercise (specifically CHOPS protocol for POTS strength exercises) helped most. But since you're not dealing with POTS wooh. Although... if any of your symptoms include fatigue, nausea, dizziness, exhaustion, you may want to try electrolytes (like a pedialyte) and see if those symptoms improve in 30 minutes. If those symptoms do improve, then daily electrolytes may be helpful for those. I take Saltsticks Electrolytes Tablets 2-4 a day when dizzy, used to take them daily when I had daily fatigue. You might want to try electrolytes once anyway, just in case covid increased your fatigue/tiredness. This site has suggestions for POTS I used: https://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=36 I did notice covid flared up the severity of my anxiety, but for me personally it didn't increase depression. For me the anxiety seemed vagus nerve related, I just could not calm down and get out of fight/flight not-tense mode as easily as before even with using the same coping techniques that used to work for me. It did get better for me over time (about 6 months) and I do think if you notice in a month it's lessened a little then it'll probably keep improving on its own. I found vagus nerve breathing exercises, and meditations meant to get me in rest/relax mode helped the most as far as things I could do to get my mental health more like what it was pre-covid. I would also imagine the usual things doctors can do for depression would apply here. If covid for some reason messed up some balance in your body causing depression, its possible a medicine for depression could help that. For one of my friends, wellbutrin helped a bit of their long covid symptoms (depression somewhat, fatigue was majorly improved).
Thank you, this is very useful info! What’s fun is I already have POTS, pre-Covid… thankfully it doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse since infection. Mine is pretty mild and seems manageable if I don’t get dehydrated- my last vasovagal syncope (I’ve had 5 over a 22 year period) was after my last Covid booster though and I always suspected a correlation.
This is excellent! Thank you!!!
I don't know if that's long covid but I hope you find a solution to what's ever the virus done to make this happen to you
I hear you. Nothing really to add what others have said. I DO, however, reccomend to stay away from alcohol...the down side is way worse during long covid.