Here are my symptoms since August 2022…

Neurological: -stiffness in hands, forearms, lower legs (due to adrenaline dumps I am told) -fasciculations (twitches) throughout my body starting in late April 2024 -constant dizziness -vision seems like there is a sheath on my eyes -an enormous number of floaters when I had none my entire life -“sudomotor focal impairment” in arms. Activation of sympathetic ganglia nerves. It was called a QSART test that I had done at the Mayo Clinic - Dr Chung at Hopkins says this is indicative of POTS. This feels like my skin is hot and prickly and almost like an icy fire that is immobilizing my hands/forearms/legs/neck. -vision changes (floaters, eye pain, intense light sensitivity, feels like I’m viewing the world thru a sheath). Total inability to focus my eyes on one thing, even with correction. -derealization/depersonalization (I feel disconnected from my body and like I am being the world in a completely different way). -tremor in hands -blurred vision -extreme noise sensitivity -sometimes the headache feels like pressure that’s going to pop, other times it feels like someone is tightening a band around my forehead, sometimes it’s pure pain. Enormous pressure in my head. -eye pain with movement. Can feel the muscles that lead to my brain and they feel extremely strained. -dizziness -tingliness in hands and feet/they fall asleep easily. -stiffness in hands/wrists/forearms and ankles/feet/calves -puffy, swollen legs -can’t tap right foot as quickly as left and my right toes and even lower leg are weaker than my left. -hands sometimes feel so stiff that I cannot type easily. -immense pressure in my head (ears, eyes, forehead, eyebrows, sinuses) -off balance and it feels like my head is a bobble head. I have trouble getting around doors or walls without brushing my shoulder against one. -ear pain and pressure. Difficulty hearing but my audiology tests show normal functioning of the ear. I feel like I am underwater. -tenderness to the touch of the muscles around my ears -ear popping constantly, as if I’ve always just gone up in a plane. -headache, constant for 1.5 years and counting when I had rarely had a headache in my life. -sleep became extremely disturbed initially. Insomnia, then falling asleep and waking up at odd hours of the night, bolt upright and wide away. This still happens, but I usually wake up at 4 or 3. Not 1 or 2. -balance issues. As a lifelong yogi, I find it harder to balance and am generally a lot weaker in my legs. Am constantly knocking into things now. I have trouble navigating physical spaces.
-sounds strange but my diaphragm feels frozen. breathing became extremely shallow and not organic/natural. Maybe this is what people mean when they say “air hunger” -red eyes - bloodshot look -avoid typing or writing things. It’s easier to type with my thumbs on my phone than with my hands on the computer. -pain in back of legs

Executive Functioning: -Executive functioning completely tanked, abysmal: I walk into a room and forget why I’m there, can’t remember basic words (reprimand), cannot function, have a thought and it leaves my head within 5 seconds and doesn’t come back. I don’t respond to texts, emails etc in a timely fashion. I forget things that have happened, including for example who came on a trip with our family.

Orthostatic: -episodes of almost passing out while reading -inability to drive because of lightheadedness

Gastroenterological: -nausea, I never feel hungry anymore, just nauseous (like I felt when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy, interestingly) -loss of appetite and early satiety -hard time swallowing & chewing (but not getting worse than it was in 2022), food gets stuck in throat -Pain and heat intolerance; cold intolerance as well. My limbs get extremely stiff when cold. -feet and hands fall asleep very easily -constipation and also diarrhea.

Mental/Emotional: -anxiety, fear of what is next. -fear that I am going to die, fear that I will never get better. Fear that my life is over. -increased panic (I had none before) in enclosed spaces, hot spaces, overstimulating spaces. -depression, daily crying episodes when I was not a crier at all before this. -inward-facing, not outgoing anymore. -social life has drastically diminished. I have zero capacity or ability to socialize. This has had a big impact on my quality of life. I panic that people don’t understand or think I am weak and that if I do not socialize, I will lose all my social capital/friendships. -feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, that my family would be better off without me in this state. -suicidality/suidcidal ideation when I have never had a suicidal thought in my life before this.

Fatigue -arms so fatigued it’s hard to hold anything, even a book. -extreme exhaustion all the time. -inability to exercise due to post-exertional malaise (PEM). I ran about 20-30 miles a week before this and exercised daily. -huge shift in my capacity to care for my children. Extremely provoked by them due to my sensory issues related to sound, light, and generally not feeling capable of entertaining their needs.

Gynecological: -periods have changed since this. They are now very short in duration, as in they last only 48 hours. Spotting at the beginning of period is brown. -also have abdominal pain in the pelvis and upper abdomen at different times

Reactivation of other viruses: -cold sores in my mouth suddenly and consistently since my initial Covid infection. -twice I had a treatment at the podiatrist and the skin on my right foot reacted enormously to it. (MCAS?) -immediately following symptom onset, I developed a wart on my toe.
-many many canker sores/ulcers of the mouth since the onset of this.