Since August 2020 I’ve been experiencing significant cognitive impairment, acute fatigue and various recurring symptoms - all of which come in "waves". Sometimes I feel alright only to feel bad again after a few days. Below is a detailed list of everything.
Primary symptoms:
• Cognitive impairment• Brain fog, confusion
• Orthostatic intolerance; unable to stay upright for very long (I find some relief by elevating my feet)
• Slowness of thought, inability to express myself, slow or slurred speech
• Dizziness when I stand up
• Heart pounding (though not always associated with a faster pulse)
• General fatigue (body energy level feels similar to having an illness such as the flu)
• Fatigue after light or no exertion
• Unusual warmth and pressure in my skull (even though I haven’t had a fever)
• Extreme dry eyes
• Sensory overload
• Persistent tinnitus
• Dramatic sensitivity to sun and heat (even just a few minutes of direct sunlight will drain me quickly)
• General body aches
• Double vision, blurred vision, difficult to read
• Difficulty seeing when I drive at night
• Slowness in movement/psychomotor function
Secondary symptoms:
• Temperature control○ Wake up very warm in bed
○ At times my feet feel cold
○ Very sensitive to warmth, sun and light
• Aches:
○ Arthritis-like sensation: difficulty moving when the temperature is less than 65 degrees
○ Hip bursitis/Hip pain (existing condition: trochanteric bursitis, which I think may be exacerbated)
○ Mild headaches
• Digestive/excretory issues
○ Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms (pre-existing condition but it’s been much worse since August)
○ Constipation
○ Unusual bloating, gas (burps, flatulence)
• Sensory issues
○ Ringing in ears/tinnitus (constantly hearing a high frequency that I didn’t hear before)
○ Increased sensitivity to sounds
○ Feeling of sensory overload
○ Redness, soreness, crust at corners of eyes
• Skin issues
○ Intermittent papules on hands (intermittent, pink, dry, scaly, itchy)
○ Intermittent purplish toes, feet, knees
○ Swelling of feet
○ Darkened toenails
• Cognitive issues
○ Inability to think straight; can’t focus or concentrate
○ Inability to process complex information
○ Inability to complete tasks
○ Difficulty making decisions (even simple ones)
○ Memory issues
○ Stumbling over words, forgetting basic words
○ Slurred speech, intermittent stutter
○ Unusual clumsiness
○ Absent-mindedness, loopy
○ Rapid mood swings
○ Change in personality
○ Involuntary sighs and “hmmm” sounds (sometimes multiple times per minute)
○ Can’t stay upright at a desk, or engaged in a task, for very long
• When I wake up, I often feel:
○ Tingling sensation in arms
○ Sleep was not restorative
• Occasional twitches, spasms or vibrations
○ Legs
○ In arm (regularly)
○ Top of head
○ On face, incl. jaw
• Full body vibration
• Tingling in arms
• Tingling, heaviness or restless legs
• Intermittent swollen lymph nodes
• Mouth/jaw
○ Mild jaw and tooth pain
○ Halitosis/bad breath
○ Receding of gums
Experienced in 2020 (but now resolved):
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea) randomly and after little or no exertion• Mild tightness of chest
• Urination: frequent (8 to 10x a day; March-August 2020 but now it’s a little more normal), hesitation, slight pain when urinating (though I don’t have a UTI)
• Change in my sense of smell (early 2020, seems to have mostly returned to normal)
• Disruptive sleep (tossing and turning, unusual waking-up unexpectedly in the middle of the night) (March-July 2020, November-December 2020)
• Highly unusual, recurring daily pain behind my eyes (in early 2020)
• Persistent diarrhea for several weeks (sometime between March - April 2020)
• Small, raised tufts on the foot for several months (earlier in 2020)
• Incontinence
• Loss in sense of smell
• Anaphylaxis (on 2 or 3 occasions)
• Intermittent, occasional, mild sore throat
• Slow wound healing