Within half an hour of my booster I had what I can best describe as a tightness in my neck, armpit area, and upper back. It was more of a sensation, but tightness is the best description. It didn't hurt, but was uncomfortable. I assumed it was some kind of lymph node involvement, but it wasn't and still don't know what it really was. It would come and go intermittently over the next couple years. Not a super horrific side effect, but worth mentioning.
I had the normal flu like side-effects most people experience after the first day and that remained for the next four days. Being a 40 something ex athlete I did what I always do when sick and tried to work it out. Have a glass of orange juice, rub some dirt on it, and get on with life just like always was my mindset. I like to workout and wear a smart watch, so i have a baseline for my HR at rest, working out, sleeping, ect. I covered this part in my initial post, so i won't go back over that in detail here, but I'll make a short mention. I rode my bike trainer, my HR was pretty normal during the ride, afterwards my HR never came back down. My resting HR is in the low 50s typically, but hours later it was stuck over 110 and I started getting nervous something was very wrong as i was also feeling really terrible. I can't say forsure, but part of me thinks if I would have continued to rest instead of trying to work out I might have avoided the worst of things. Hopefully someday research can shed light on this if it really was part of setting everything in motion. Off to the ER as I've already mentioned.
That night even after an IV with ativan at the ER and taking benadryl when i got home I still was unable to fall asleep. Insomnia was probably the worst symptom I had to deal with. I was lucky to avoid the ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) type illness a lot of people experience, but i suffered severe sleep deprivation so fatigue was a constant battle. Over the next 5 weeks my insomnia would progress into a combination of being unable to fall asleep, stay asleep, and worst of all relentless hypnic jerking. I'm sure we've all had them, you dream you're falling or fall asleep on the couch and jerk awake. Only in this instance it was all night, multiple nights a week of jerking awake just as I'm about to fall asleep. This is what affected my life the most and was severe for the next two years. I still deal with it from time to time. Once a week maybe every other week I'll still have excessive hypnic jerking as i fall asleep, but it doesn't keep me awake at night anymore.
The next morning after my trip to the ER my HR was still in the 90s. I ate breakfast and after that my HR was climbing back into the 100s sitting and jumping into the 140s standing. I wasn't convinced I wasn't experiencing a heart attack, so we went to a different hospital and I was admitted into a bed with suspected afib. Again i passed all the tests to rule out a heart attack and afib. A nurse mentioned she thought my wild HR swings looked a lot like POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). I'd never heard of this before, but I'd get very familiar for the next few years. POTS is a sudden drop in blood pressure and rapid rise in HR to compensate due to change in posture, mostly laying/sitting to standing. This was an almost immediate symptom, but it took a few days to realize what exactly was happening. This made working out pretty much impossible and I had to be careful not to stand up to quickly. There were two occasions that I passed out trying to get to the kitchen in a hurry. I still have this to a small degree, but it doesn't prevent me from living normal and I'm told it will fully resolve.
I'll stop here for today and pick up at another time, there's a lot more. I'm open to suggestions if this is too long winded, hard to follow, or maybe i should make one long post instead of breaking it up. I also don't need to continue if I've already hijacked this thread enough.
trials.recovercovid.org
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but with the amount of false information and misinformation out there, I just want to be as clear as possible in hopes that someone reads our convos and learns something useful. You've been cool to chat with on this and I appreciate your contribution.
. I had the joy of taking a dump in the little chair with 2 orderlies and a nurse watching me. HR went up over 200. But then started to normalize. I was put on a diltiazem IV drip and a 24 hour hold. Diagnosed in the hospital by the attending cardiologist with atrial flutter. I wasn’t released from the hospital until my HR was normal for quite some time, 50-60 bpm.
. Just goes to show a good dump can cure just about anything.
