[throwaway_4179]

Yep. People think I'm exaggerating when I say I've developed dementia. It's pretty intense (and terrifying) on the inside, but I've found ways to compensate to appear vaguely normal on the outside. Look, I'm even using multisyllabic words here!

I also have the profound cardiovascular deconditioning described in other comments. So many hopes dreams flushed down the toilet, but people assume that I'm just lazy and stupid. My heart goes out to the millions with this condition who aren't as privileged as I am. At least I have savings and family to fall back on (as well as a large cognitive reserve).

AMA, I guess!

[throw0101d]

> So many hopes dreams flushed down the toilet, but people assume that I'm just lazy and stupid.

Reminds me of:

> The culprit behind “the germ of laziness,” as the South’s affliction was sometimes called, was Necator americanus —the American murderer. Better known today as the hookworm, millions of those bloodsucking parasites lived, fed, multiplied, and died within the guts of up to 40% of populations stretching from southeastern Texas to West Virginia. Hookworms stymied development throughout the region and bred stereotypes about lazy, moronic Southerners.

* https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-so...

[Workaccount2]

When were you sick? March 2020 here and while cognitively I have been ok, my heart and lungs are all messed up. Four years, three primary doctors, five cardiologists, over a dozen tests and still no real answers. I tested as borderline COPD, given an inhaler and my lung tests improved dramatically, well into healthy range. However even with the inhaler I still get that "air hunger" sensation and the feeling like I cannot get a full breath in.

Oddly I got COVID this past July and most of my heart/lung symptoms disappeared the day before being sick, and did not return until a week or two after I recovered. I have heard this before in the LC community going back years.

[throwaway_4179]

Jan '22 here. I'm sorry to hear that you're not finding the answers you need either.

[93n]

Jan 2022 for me. I also have the "air hunger" sensation, but it comes in spurts. I was also perscribed an inhaler, and have used it a few times, but it doesn't seem to have much of an impact.

[emeril]

perhaps try the inhaler for an extended period to see if it helps more over time?

[stevenalowe]

much empathy/sympathy; vascular dysregulation is terrifying, but treatable. cognitivefx.com (in Utah) does excellent work in this area, as do others

good luck!

[throwaway_4179]

Thanks for the empathy and for the tip!

[stevenalowe]

you're welcome - and here's the correct url https://www.cognitivefxusa.com/

[itsthecourier]

What symptoms do you feel recently?

Are they improving?

[throwaway_4179]

The brain fog is hardest to describe. One symptom is that I confuse things much more easily now. It's like the resolution on concepts has gone way down. Instead of remembering a specific fact about a specific country (that I recently learned and resolved to commit to memory), for example, it's "some Middle Eastern country... or maybe it was African, but somewhere over there... did this thing where... something medical. Or maybe scientific." It makes socializing really hard. While using my multimeter recently, I convinced myself that voltage and resistance were the same thing, because they both fell into the "electrical" bucket in my brain. Even scarier, the double-checking mechanism failed, so that I didn't detect the absurdity for a while. It only resulted in a blown fuse, but I can imagine this kind of confusion having much more serious consequences.

As for physically, I just get winded much more easily -- and it's not the kind of winded I used to get, where if I pushed through, my body might complain but gear up to meet the challenge anyway. I just hit a brick wall where my heart and lungs won't give any more, either immediately or over the long run.

I've seen a mild improvement cognitively lately, though not sure why.

[aeonik]

I've been getting the same thing since 2019 from time to time. I had Covid several times as well.

I'm getting better, but I feel like I relapse occasionally. Extra sleep seems to help me a lot.

[throwaway_4179]

Wow. Did you get super early covid or was there another cause? Same here on the sleep thing!

[aeonik]

Yes I got Covid it before vaccines were available.

I work from home, and I'm generally pretty careful, I got it the other times in places you wouldn't really expect like drive throughs.

The first case was by far the worst though.

[shlant]

did you just have covid once before developing these symptoms? If so, when did you get it?

[throwaway_4179]

Yes (that I know of). Jan '22.