Really resonates with me. I was a very active (4-5x a week weightlifting & 1-2x cardio) person until about 13 months ago when I got an extremely mild cold. It was barely noticeable and I continued with exercise. 2 weeks later, I still hadnt shaken the fatigue that normally comes with a cold and in fact, it got worse. After a month I sought deeper medical investigation and eventually ended up seeing a cardiologist as I now had palpatations and could hardly walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath.
I had myocarditis, caused by an infection, likely a covid strain but unproven as it was so mild I never thought to get tested. No exercise for at least 3 months and lots of R & R. I did this but I've never fully recovered. I still get pretty bad post exertional malaise, cant tolerate caffeine or alcohol and my sleep is terrible - especially after pushing too hard. Extremely shallow and I wake up a lot. The real nail in the coffin is something about heavy lifting really tips me over the edge. I can do some (very) light cardio infrequently on good days.
Doctors have been next to useless in helping, I guess because there isnt any real treatment for what is probably a multi factor systemic problem.
Whats been fascinating is my garmin fenix watch has been able to track how I'm feeling to a T. HRV readings have been particularly helpful in knowing whether I should be really dialling back activity on a given day or allowing myself to push a bit more. Ive fallen from a baseline of 85-95ms average to 40-60ms average which is really interesting. I'd love to see what macro analysis of their data would reveal around illnesses such as mine. The sleep functionality has also been quite illumunating. Getting 8 hours used to reset me to 100 body battery, now im lucky to get back to 80 after 11 hours sleeping.
Im not alone and I'm lucky enough to have a mild case but it still sucks and has robbed me of a big chunk of my previous life and personality. Im really hoping stories like mine begin to trigger trials and further treatments.
I had myocarditis, caused by an infection, likely a covid strain but unproven as it was so mild I never thought to get tested. No exercise for at least 3 months and lots of R & R. I did this but I've never fully recovered. I still get pretty bad post exertional malaise, cant tolerate caffeine or alcohol and my sleep is terrible - especially after pushing too hard. Extremely shallow and I wake up a lot. The real nail in the coffin is something about heavy lifting really tips me over the edge. I can do some (very) light cardio infrequently on good days.
Doctors have been next to useless in helping, I guess because there isnt any real treatment for what is probably a multi factor systemic problem.
Whats been fascinating is my garmin fenix watch has been able to track how I'm feeling to a T. HRV readings have been particularly helpful in knowing whether I should be really dialling back activity on a given day or allowing myself to push a bit more. Ive fallen from a baseline of 85-95ms average to 40-60ms average which is really interesting. I'd love to see what macro analysis of their data would reveal around illnesses such as mine. The sleep functionality has also been quite illumunating. Getting 8 hours used to reset me to 100 body battery, now im lucky to get back to 80 after 11 hours sleeping.
Im not alone and I'm lucky enough to have a mild case but it still sucks and has robbed me of a big chunk of my previous life and personality. Im really hoping stories like mine begin to trigger trials and further treatments.