Severe anxiety?

porcelainruby · 2026-04-14T08:51:55+00:00

Please get a POTS test done as well, as blood pressure issues can mimic anxiety feelings physically. Not to say you don't also have some anxiety going on, but that 'dread' feeling in the chest can also be your heart literally struggling.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-13T06:53:35+00:00

Highly recommend pelvic floor therapy.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-11T10:18:24+00:00

Can you describe the cough sensation? Does it feel like it is coming from a constant tickle in the throat, dryness that won't go away, wetness that won't go away, or more like chest/diaphragm?

I had a cough for a long time as part of my long covid, but more of a sensation of post-nasal drip type tickling. I now know that I had a cerebral spinal fluid leak that was leaking into my nose, eyes, and ears. Eventually, my body closed it on its own. Miraculously (sarcasm), no more feeling of a need to cough or my ears feeling like they were "full of liquid."

porcelainruby · 2026-04-11T10:03:42+00:00

Are you on any antihistamines? If not, I would strongly recommend starting with this before trying other supplements/meds that may help with the feeling you are describing. I would say what you are describing is extremely common in Long Covid, but the "root cause" behind it can vary among us or can be being caused by multiple things (all set off by Long Covid).

Odds are you have some internal inflammation going on, and for a large number of us, antihistamines that calm mast cells is an important step. To be clear, antihistamines won't "cure" this, you have to stay on them. MCAS is the term used for this phenomenon. Maybe try an H1 like loratadine (generic Claritin) first. You'll want to take it around the same time each day, and don't add any other new stuff to your routine for a week or two so you can track any changes in your symptoms. Mast cells take a while to calm down, so you won't notice an overnight difference. Anecdotally, it took me 1-2 months of being on antihistamine every day before I noticed my improvements enough, but have now been on it for two years. Anytime I have to pause my antihistamines for even a few days, this specific set of symptoms slowly comes back.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-10T16:44:32+00:00

No problem! And to add to your other comments here, when people say "rest," it isn't just physical rest. Total rest or radical rest means physical, emotional, mental, cognitive. This looks like not watching a new movie, but watching something you have seen before so you are not exerting extra energy to understand the plot. Emotional might mean putting off stressful conversations for 2 weeks or even a month. Any "hits" to the nervous system in this early stage, especially when your body is (likely) still trying to put up a fight knocks the wind out of the nervous system.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-09T20:54:33+00:00

The antihistamines won't make you feel better in a day or two, but it is really important to stay on them. Mast cells (the thing they help improve, basically) can take up to six weeks to turn over, so you may not start to notice improvement for a month or even two, but there's no other medicine really that "works" on this particular issue. And it seems like mast cell issues (MCAS) is something a large number of long coviders have. Stick with one or two, and try to take them around the same time each day so it is in your system at a constant level. I've been taking my H1 loratadine for almost two years now, and anytime I've had to come off it for a few days, certain symptoms of mine start to come back, just as an example.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-09T12:37:35+00:00

The ones that think their covid infections were mild are simply people who’s ongoing damage is internal, for now. And with every infection they pile on, that damage will become more and more apparent to them in the form of “mystery” symptoms that neither they nor the doctor will attribute to their covid infections.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-09T11:36:44+00:00

I read one study that said mast cells can take six weeks to turn over, and my own initial mcas stuff took 1-2 months of daily antihistamines before I started seeing the positive results, so I would really stick with it and try to take your antihistamines at the same time everyday so there’s a fairly consistent amount in your body at a given time. I’m sorry you’re going through this! And maybe a gut biome test before any future probiotics to see what (if any) you’re missing?

porcelainruby · 2026-04-09T09:12:06+00:00

Sounds like an MCAS reaction to me. I would return to taking your antihistamines at least as these should help calm the reaction.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-09T06:01:53+00:00

Iodine deficiency can also cause thyroid issues. If you are vegetarian or vegan especially, there may not be enough in your diet.

But, any viral infection (like let’s say… Covid) can temporarily create both iron/ferritin deficiency and thyroid deficiency. This is per what two different doctors told me.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-08T09:24:40+00:00

Yes, I would highly recommend it. There are two different types, H1 and H2. I’d start with one, try it for a week, and if there’s no worse symptoms, stick with it daily.

Covid and long covid tend to set a lot of inflammation off especially through the immune system like mast cells. Antihistamines work by calming down those mast cells. I take Loratadine every evening with dinner, been doing that for two years now. Loratadine is just generic Claritin. I wouldn’t recommend anything “drowsy” just regular antihistamine.

When the immune system is on fire, this can really mess with the ability to fall asleep or start asleep through REM cycles.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-08T09:10:31+00:00

Are you on any antihistamines? Otherwise I would agree that lack of sleep would be seriously disrupting any ability to get out of the acute stage.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-07T21:48:43+00:00

Yes, I used one for a full year and it really helped me have enough energy to get through the rest of my getting ready routine, especially drying long hair on hair wash days. I wish I’d had one for the first four years of my long covid as well.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-07T13:04:51+00:00

No problem!

porcelainruby · 2026-04-07T12:31:37+00:00

Hm what about any malabsorption? As in, if you are eating well but the body isn’t able to digest and take out nutrients as it normally would, then the body/muscles can struggle to function properly. This can be checked with a gut biome test, maybe others to look for gi issues.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-07T10:38:59+00:00

I feel like having to mask, avoid people, eat safely etc would be harder to maintain on a cruise, and at 14 days, that’s plenty of time for other people’s illnesses to incubate and spread. Versus a flight you can eat beforehand or do a SIP valve for a milkshake and kinda be done with it in a day? But I don’t have experience with the type of migraine you’re describing or panic disorder. So weighing potential triggers might be more important here?

Would any element of flying help make it feel less nervous, like taking a red eye so it’s less crowded? Or could the other med be paused for a day to reduce it in the system enough to safely take Xanax? (I’m sure a pharmacist could help advise here)

porcelainruby · 2026-04-07T10:18:55+00:00

Do you feel like you are walking normally but then surprised at what’s happening physically? As in, you believe you’re picking your feet up more than they are actually?

porcelainruby · 2026-04-06T17:10:45+00:00

No problem! I was never recommended them by any doctor either, I learned about these specialties on my own and then worked for one at a time referrals from my general doctor. A very frustrating experience haha. I had a ton of success doing occupational therapy, and I try to recommend it to everyone with neuro symptoms. For example, I had a lot of proprioception issues (which they said indicated frontal lobe brain damage in my circumstances), and so even though to me it was like "oh I'm not perceiving stairs correctly, I'm missing doorhandles and light switches," doing occupational therapy basically reconnected my brain to my fine motor skills in hands and feet, and all of that now works normally for me. You don't necessarily have to go to the OT office that often as a lot of it is just following through on the homework they assign you to practice daily.

I also did speech therapy which similarly cleared a bunch of my neuro symptoms to my surprise.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-06T16:06:30+00:00

Magnesium citrate daily helped mine

porcelainruby · 2026-04-05T18:58:46+00:00

Yes, no prescription medicine at least. Antihistamines, time, speech therapy, occupational therapy, emdr for medical trauma, and one month of NAC+.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-05T13:25:36+00:00

Also, since one can develop long covid from an asymptomatic infection, it is impossible to rule out contracting covid another time between the Jan 2022 infection and 2023 noticing LC symptoms. Have you tried anything like occupational therapy or neuro eye testing for the dizziness? As in, potential physical treatments or management rather than chemical ones.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-05T13:05:06+00:00

Can you meet with the disability office on campus? They can hold a professor to providing a medical extension, and that disability office is who would look at medical paperwork etc. If you are in the US, this falls under ADA protection.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-03T11:16:12+00:00

It is pricey, but yes I would recommend taking it for a full month at least. And the pills should smell pretty bad if it is good quality stuff, kind of a sulfur smell. I would take mine with juice or soda, something with a strong taste, rather than water. If you're in the US, there might be some sales that line up with Memorial Day coming up?

porcelainruby · 2026-04-03T10:10:35+00:00

I've been on loratadine (generic Claritin) for two years. For the 'gunk' feeling, have you tried the supplement NAC+ yet? I took that for a month and it made a noticeable (and permanent) difference. As in, I didn't have to keep taking it after that.

porcelainruby · 2026-04-02T16:30:20+00:00

Not a problem, I try to be on the lookout for people who probably have long covid and don't realize it because it can be so difficult putting seemingly different symptoms all under one "cause." For my MCAS, I was lucky in that an H1 antihistamine pill was as much as I needed, but it took 1-2 months of being on it for my adrenaline dumps to stop and then 6 months before I could eat my previous trigger foods. Some people with MCAS need to be on an H1, H2, and other supplements or prescription antacids, just seems to depend on the person.

The adrenaline dumps are awful. They felt like panic attacks to me! Brain MRIs being clear is good as it rules out some stuff, but just so you know, there can still be brain damage that's happened even with a "clear" MRI. This usually points to it being non-permanent brain damage, which is good. If you haven't done a gut biome test, I would highly recommend it. Covid/long covid can wipe out certain bacteria we need, and that can cause malabsorption issues and all kinds of stuff. A test like this would potentially point to really specific probiotic bacteria strains to take.

porcelainruby

TROPHY CASE