[iirvine]

This is sorely needed. People are starting to get desperate - who knows how many outcomes could be improved with earlier medical diagnostics and intervention. We need clear guidelines to give those recovering a better chance of not slipping into the pit of a chronic illness.

I will say, as I've been trying to tout on every "long Covid" thread I come across - it seems that rest is crucial. Your best option, obviously, is to not get Covid in the first place. But if you do, after you've passed through the 2 week acute phase, rest like your life depends on it. Extremely light exercise only, take as much time off work as possible, and pay close attention to how your recovery is progressing.

The usual caveats apply - not a doctor, evidence is completely anecdotal and based on my experiences, this is not medical advice, etc etc - but scheduled, compulsory rest helped me a great deal at my worst. So much of my downward spiral could likely have been abated by avoiding overexertion, prolonging the rest period after the acute phase of the illness, waiting even longer before jumping back into exercise and full work days (3-4 months as opposed to 3-4 weeks) but that is so antithetical to how we think we're supposed to act after we "get over" an illness.

[sschueller]

This will hopefully shed some light on people suffering a very similar disease often described as Chronic Fatigue syndrome. Many also getting this after a non covid virus infection.

The biggest issue was the small sample size the difficulty to diagnose as there is sometimes also a phycological aspect to it. The now large sample size should help a lot in finding out what it really is.

[bspammer]

Honestly that's kind of terrifying. I got Covid 2 months ago, and have been trying to start running again to improve my lung capacity. Are you saying I've been making it worse?

[iirvine]

Not exactly - we don’t really have any way of knowing that empirically yet. Personally, I do wish I had given my body a bit of a bigger break after I got over the infection. So I guess I’m saying pay attention - watch how you’re recovering, and maybe think about easing back into vigorous exercise slower than you might have had you just gotten over a cold. And, as always, when in doubt, get your doctor involved.

It’s clear now a majority of people outside the vulnerable groups get over this illness with hardly any after effects. But it’s becoming clear that some people don’t, and suffer some amount of sequelae. We don’t know how many yet, and we can’t tell who will or who won’t yet. Given those circumstances, a slower than usual return to normal activity levels is prudent.

For instance, I’ve read that college athletes are restricted from play for about 10-14 days after even an asymptomatic COVID diagnosis, and then are carefully monitored for months afterwards. With any hint of lingering symptoms or a drop in performance, they’re given a cardiac MRI to check for heart inflammation, and potentially benched for 3-6 months. If you don’t have a team physician checking in with you after every workout, you’re gonna have to do that interrogation yourself.