If You Get Sick with Covid-19, Log Your Symptoms
My friends use me as a cautionary tale. I’m basically the poster child for the “Look out! Even Young, Fit People Can Get Knocked Down by…
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
My friends use me as a cautionary tale. I’m basically the poster child for the “Look out! Even Young, Fit People Can Get Knocked Down by Covid-19!” campaign. I was a rock climber, yoga teacher, and trail runner. I was always moving — exercising, gardening, cleaning, chasing my three kids around. Now I am what they call one of the ‘long-haulers’. I’ve been sick with Covid-19 for over three months. I don’t know when I’ll recover. I don’t even know for sure if I will recover, and my doctors are as clueless as I am.
More Americans continue to fall ill, and with businesses reopening, this trend is likely to grow. Current estimates are that 1/20 of people who get sick with Covid-19 will become long-haulers like me — experiencing a months-long rollercoaster ride of symptoms.
About eight weeks into my illness, I wrote about the things I wished I had known when I first got sick. Now, with an additional seven weeks of wisdom (and illness) under my belt, I recognize a key omission from that list.
I wish I had tracked my symptoms from day one. Or if not day one, then at least from day ten, when they took a marked turn for the worse. Instead, I waited until day 81 to begin formally tracking my symptoms.
By then, I was already pretty aware of the patterns. Some of them are weird and inexplicable, and they may be entirely unique to my body. Aching pain just below my shoulder blades comes on late in the afternoon — but only on the first few good days after a relapse. A severe headache, on the other hand, often precedes the return of other symptoms like shortness of breath, dizziness, brain fog, ear pain, nausea, tachycardia, bradycardia, or fever.
In addition to tracking my symptoms, I now track factors that may affect the severity and timing of those symptoms.
I’ve identified things that help me feel better: staying super hydrated, consuming extra electrolytes, fresh air and sunlight, rest, breathing exercises that focus on a long and complete exhalation.
I’ve identified things that trigger a worsening of symptoms, too: menstruation, overheating, dehydration (my body needs far more water than in normal life), lack of sleep, stress, excessive caffeine, and sugar. Until recently, physical exertion was the clearest trigger for me and for most long haulers I’ve met through online support groups. In recent weeks, I’ve gradually been rebuilding my stamina, carefully monitoring my heart rate as I walk or practice gentle yoga. On my best days now, I can handle a slow, flat walk of up to two miles without issues. It wasn’t so very long ago that I couldn’t even walk to my mailbox without risking collapse. Close observation of my symptoms and cumulative knowledge of the factors that exacerbate my symptoms help me to choose the appropriate level of exertion on a given day. And if I overexert and relapse? That data can help inform my decisions going forward.
A pen-and-paper symptom diary is fine, of course. If you can afford to throw down a few dollars for an advanced version of a symptom tracking app, though, then I recommend doing so. I use Symple. The free version allows you to track five symptoms. I paid $8.99, and now I can track all 30+ of my symptoms, as well as a roughly equal number of factors that may influence them. I also write notes in the journal feature of the app and classify each day as ‘good’, ‘okay’, ‘rough’, or ‘bedridden’ so that I can watch for big picture trends.
There are also a variety of symptom tracking apps designed specifically for Covid-19. These help researchers assess the rates of Covid-19 infection in different communities. By spending just a minute or two a day, you can be part of this important research. That said, if your goal is to monitor your own health, track your full range of symptoms, and analyze the effects of a wide range of factors, a more open-ended app or pen and paper journal will probably serve your purposes better.
The simple act of logging my symptoms and potentially related factors several times a day helps me to pay closer attention, and this attention helps me to notice trends. The app I use also allows me to overlay factors on symptoms and view them in graph form to highlight any correlations. Whether or not l like it, I’m in this thing for the long haul, and so I am committed to doing anything that I can to feel better and improve my prognosis.
In addition to helping you make sense of your illness, a health log can empower you to advocate for yourself with your doctors. A frustrating trend experienced by long-haulers is that many doctors listen to the first two or three symptoms that you list, and then they seem to make up their mind about what is going on and stop absorbing new data. Sharing your health journal with your doctor can make it easier for them to grasp the full range, severity, and duration of your symptoms so that you can work together as a team to unravel the mysteries and improve your prognosis.
In addition to taking a toll on the body, Covid-19 — like any illness — takes a toll on your mental health. Physical symptoms like shortness of breath and elevated heart rate can easily trigger anxiety. Anxiety and stress can amplify these symptoms. So you may want to consider tracking your moods, as well — do you feel anxious? Depressed? Hopeful? These can be treated as symptoms in a tracking app or can be logged in your journal. Read the news, felt anxious. Googled my symptoms all day, am terrified. Talked to [insert relevant loved one] and felt totally depressed afterward. Sat outside under my favorite tree and felt hopeful again. Connected with a support group, feel less alone.
I can say from personal experience that being ill for three months does not have to mean being unhappy for three months. Joy, gratitude, love, hope, curiosity, and wonder are all possible within the confines of illness. They aren’t dandelion feelings that pop up untended, though. They are orchids that require attention, nurturing, and protection. Noticing the impact of your behaviors on your moods is imperative. Stress is a natural byproduct of illness, but when left unchecked, it can also become an obstacle to recovery.
Maybe this symptom tracking business sounds like too much hassle? I thought that at first, too, but that thought was grounded in the firm belief that I would quickly recover. It was grounded in a belief that this illness would only last for a few weeks. Normally, when you are sick with an identifiable illness, there is a body of research you can turn to. You can typically find reliable information on medicines that will and won’t work and on the potential impact of diet and exercise. Covid-19 is something altogether new. Medical research on Covid-19 focuses almost exclusively on ICU patients and on the first few weeks of illness. Most of us, even among the long-haulers, do not end up in the ICU, and the first few weeks of illness are just a distant and blurry memory. So instead of waiting around for an external body of research to provide the answers we need, we must research our own bodies.
If you can wait a bit longer to get sick, you might benefit from our research! And if not? Start logging. Be the expert on your own body.