the long tail of covid-19

i’m not sure how much this is being discussed broadly (maybe this is old news) but i wanted to write up a bit about my experience with the long tail effects of covid-19.

i started coughing on march 10th. my symptoms got their worst on may 17-18 with a dry dough and blood in my mucus from both my nose (very bloody mucus when blowing my nose) and my throat/chest (just flecks of bloody mucus when coughing). i’m not sure if the fatigue i felt was from covid or from my body being in off/on panic mode. the blood lessened over the course of a few days and by the 21st was clear again.

there was a period of about three weeks from march to april where i experienced what i am calling the covid boomerang. i know at least five people who shared this experience. one day, you’d feel great and think you were ready to tackle the world again and then, in the process of tackling the world, you get fully laid out and have to rest deeply. definitely a two steps forward, one step back sort of thing.

so now, even though the boomerang has finally subsided, my dry cough persists. it was present yesterday which was day 58 of coughing. i haven’t coughed yet today… fuck. i just coughed. that makes day 59. did i psychoinduce that cough? =\ ugh.

anyways, the cough afterwards has lasted forever. got an inhaler prescribed last week by a nurse from fenway health to see if that helps. it has helped a little, reduced the intensity and frequency of the cough, but the cough is definitely still present. my PCPs nurse will call me on monday to check in on me and we’ll go from there.

ok anyways, off to breakfast.

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