My month after COVID

It’s been about a month since I came down with COVID-19, after nearly three years of researching the virus. Since the aftermath is interesting from medical and public health perspectives, I thought I’d continue to share my story here. It’s one snapshot of recovery.

The main effect I’ve experienced of having had COVID is fatigue. For the first three weeks after exiting lockdown huge waves of fatigue would hit me. Sometimes they would hit after I’d done what I used to consider minor or trivial amounts of physical activity: making dinner for the house, vacuuming a floor. Sometimes intellectual work yielded those fatigue tides, like grading for a couple of hours. At other times nothing would be the cause — sitting on a chair, reading, and suddenly feel like I’ve just chopped wood for ten hours.

This was much worse in early November. I think it’s less of a problem now.

Yet connected to fatigue is getting more sleep. Normally I sleep for around 6–7 hours each night. (My quality of sleep is usually fine, thanks to the CPAP machine. I have no problems falling asleep.) Since Halloween I’ve slept 9–10 hours, and many days could easily have slept more. These are usually deep sleeps without waking or disturbance. My dreams are clear; I can recall one, two, or three upon waking.

To some extent this might be my body catching up with “sleep debt,” since 6–7 hours/night isn’t enough.

Keep in mind that the medical advice for people after infection is not to exercise. I’ve been following…