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How to Manage Long Covid-19 Symptoms and Fatigue
Covid-19 is new, but the ME/CFS community has dealt with long-haul-like symptoms for years. Here’s how they cope.
As the pandemic has progressed, it has become clear that a good chunk of Covid-19 patients suffer symptoms for weeks, even months, after first getting sick. Many of them deal with fatigue, muscle and body aches, difficulty breathing and concentrating, and other issues that make “normal life” feel out of reach.
While SARS-CoV-2 is new, the problem of long-term symptoms after an infection isn’t. Many in the chronic illness community, particularly those affected by myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), understand some of what the long-haulers are going through. ME, sometimes referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome, is a complex, multisystemic neuroimmune disease affecting 15 million to 30 million people worldwide. While there’s been increasing speculation about the possibility that some with long Covid-19 will eventually be diagnosed with ME, it’s too soon to know with certainty; many will either slowly recover or have their symptoms rooted in other things, like lung damage, heart damage, or something else.
At the same time, members of the ME community have spent years — for some, decades — honing their skills for conserving energy, improving sleep, and finding hope even through difficult and sometimes debilitating symptoms. I should know, because I’m one of them. While we’re still looking for answers ourselves, given how historically underfunded ME research has been, we do have a few tips to share in the hopes that they help long-haulers find ways to live a more comfortable and functional life as they continue on the slow path to recovery.
Members of the ME community have spent years — for some, decades — honing their skills for conserving energy, improving sleep, and finding hope even through difficult and sometimes…
