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Annie Storkey

Post-covid recovery

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Edited by Annie Storkey, Friday, 29 Oct 2021, 16:41

This morning I stood up and did not have tachycardia. I even managed to walk to the bathroom with a normal pulse. Admittedly it did increase when I brushed my teeth (and more so when I got dressed). But this is quite a development. Let me explain.

On the 17th March 2020, a couple of days before lockdown, my 15 year old developed a cough. Just a mild occasional one, not a hacking cough, but the warning signs were there and we went into isolation. He never developed more than this mild cough, though it went on for at least 6 weeks. Several of his friends also had it and apparently a parent of a fellow pupil had a positive covid diagnosis.

The next day I had a cough and sore throat so called in sick. I had mild fatigue but never developed a fever. I felt better after a few days and told my manager I would be back after a week and I duly returned to work. Later that evening I developed shortness of breath and chest tightness. This later developed into a central chest pressure where it felt I might stop breathing, exacerbated by exercise. But on day 16 I felt better. On day 17 I even phoned a student and a work colleague, with just mild shortness of breath.

On day 18 it all changed. I was overcome with extreme fatigue and shortness of breath on exertion. Over the next few days I developed anxiety and panic attacks. Then the fog lifted and I realised that what I really had was tachycardia. I had tachycardia when standing up and moving around and it seemed to be getting worse. It appeared to be autonomic, as I also developed a severe aversion to food which was clearly not gastric; I had to do breathing exercises in order to eat. Eventually I could stand it no more and went to casualty.

After a thorough check up all they could find was sinus tachycardia with a mild rise in blood pressure. The doctor suggested maybe a mild myocarditis which would improve on bed rest. As one of my bloods was slightly raised I was started on anti-coagulants and would have a lung scan to check for a clot on Monday.

The next day I felt awful, presumable due to the anti-coagulants. I spent the day in bed (where, incidentally, my pulse stayed in the 60s) but got up in the evening. I had a massive surge in pulse with chest pain and resultant panic attack and ended up in casualty again. Here an x-ray was taken and the doctor reassured me that he did not think there was anything wrong with my heart or lungs (I think he thought I was just an anxious patient, a common problem for tachycardia patients but I am also bipolar which colours perceptions). 

The lung scan was normal and the doctor in the acute admissions clinic sympathetic and interested. I’m on a waiting list for a 24 hour ECG and echocardiogram.

The paramedic earlier had told me he thought I had Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and I looked it up; it fitted everything I was experiencing. The tachycardia on standing and moving around, exacerbated by lifting my arms (chopping vegetables gives me a pulse of 125!), the shortness of breath and chest pain, even the panic attacks. Over the next few weeks I recognised other symptoms such as tachycardia after eating, heat intolerance (my record tachycardia was 140 on the VE bank holiday due to gardening in the sun) and air hunger when sitting and concentrating. It is now 8 1/2 weeks since I developed my assumed covid symptoms yet I’m still recovering from the experience. The prognosis for POTS due to a post-viral Dysautonomia is generally good and I instigated rehabilitative techniques early, an advantage of being an ex-nurse who uses cognitive behavioural therapy daily to manage mental health. But I’ll discuss that in another thread.

Annie


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