I wasn’t sure if I should put this question into one of the long Covid threads already in existence.
I’m quadruple-vaxxed and have never shown any symptoms of Covid. However, this year I have had weird recurring sickly feelings which have stumped my PCP and a cardiologist. It only just occurred to me that it’s remotely possible that I’ve had an asymptomatic case of Covid in the past and that the faintness, anxiety, heart palpitations and breathlessness which have been plaguing me might be long Covid. It’s not probable, I know, but I can’t rule it out.
I’d like to get the sort of test which shows if you’ve had Covid in the past. Maybe my doctor has that sort; otherwise, I guess I’ll check at CVS.
Make sure you get a serology test that tests for the anti-N antibody as this only shows up for people who have been infected. It may still be negative because antibody levels wane with time and may be below the detectable limits.
My doctor gave me an order for a lab test to see if I’ve had Covid in the past, and I’ll pop in to a Quest lab in a couple of hours. I’m not even sure how they do this kind of test - nasal swab or blood test? I’ll find out.
I keep reading that long COVID is much less common among the vaccinated. So since your symptoms only started this year, presumably after you were vaccinated, that’s probably another point against it.
I’m not sure how it would be determined whether it was possible to get long COVID following an asymptomatic infection. There’s no test for long COVID, is there? People just get diagnosed on the basis of “you had COVID, you’re now negative, but you still have symptoms.” If someone had asymptomatic COVID but tested positive while they had it (maybe they needed to test for some reason), and developed symptoms immediately after, it might make sense to consider long COVID. But a positive antibody test doesn’t tell you when you had it, so it makes it a lot harder to draw that conclusion.
Yes, it was a blood draw, and I just got the test results back. Negative on all counts, so I’ve probably never had an asymptomatic case.
So that eliminates that possibility for my symptoms.
I hope they figure out what’s causing it and how to treat it!
I assume they’ve already done a thyroid levels test? Given heart palpitations and anxiety are both sometimes symptoms
Yeah, cardiologist tested my thyroid levels - all normal.
I think I found the source of my problem and am hoping I’m not jinxing it by writing about it. I had been having trouble with muscle cramps, which was a new thing for me. I started taking potassium supplements perhaps eight months ago, which did indeed help the muscle cramps. But it finally occurred to me to look up the side effects of too much potassium, and the list included: palpitations, breathlessness, anxiety, etc. So about a week ago I stopped taking it, and almost immediately these symptoms went away.
I was never taking a lot; the supplements were under the minimum daily requirements. But somehow it was too much for me, I suppose.
Anyway, none of this is Covid-related, but I thought I’d do an update.
Frustratingly, there are a LOT of contradictory articles out there on that topic (I have been looking into this a lot, lately). Some say “slight reduction”, some say “not much”, some say “significant”. I don’t know WHAT to believe.
Long COVID scares me more than the illness itself.
I’ve had a persistent cough since my beginning of July COVID experience. I’m going to get a my booster in a few days. I remember some of the original long COVID people saying they improved after they got the vaccine. I’m hoping that a new swarm of antibodies can get to whatever little reservoir that’s causing the cough, and it goes away.