Cycling, long covid, and an endurance athlete changed forever
I've been a cycling enthusiast since the the start of covid, the full story can be found here. The story below picks up where that story ends.
The descent into long covid
On August 15th, I set out after work on what I thought would be a typical 20-25 mile ride. I hopped on my bike and made my way down to the West Side Bike Path, intending to roll north. Shortly after making it into the path, my chest lit up in a wave of fire. My heart started racing. My neck started burning. Was I having a heart attack?
I had been having these episodes ever since I got covid but none while ever on the bike. I texted Mao-Lin - I knew he was on an earnings prep call and I was purposefully on a ride so I wouldn't be around for it. I never liked being around for earnings prep; the less I know the better. Baebae - I don't know what to do. Can you make it home? I'm trying, I started walking up the hill from the bike path but had to stop at the top. Everything is burning, my heart keeps racing. Is this how I die? Just get to the train at Broadway and come home. You need to be strong and come home.
I walked in the door and went into the bedroom, sliding on the wall and sitting on the floor, and began to cry. After earnings prep finished, Mao-Lin came in and sat down next to me. "We are going to figure this out. You're being let down by the American medical system but you have to fight. My mom gets up and goes for a walk everyday; can you stand up for yourself?"
We began trying to figure out the doctors in NYC who had been seeing post-covid patients and were getting decent reviews from the long covid community. I found a PCP who had been taking on a lot of long covid patients and got an appointment for the following week. With others, it was 1-2 months out. I told the PCP what I had been going through and what other doctors had been telling me.
"You're lucky to be alive and the medical advice you've been given thus far is borderline malpractice. I can't believe they cleared you to bike with these symptoms." She prescribed me a beta blocker for the racing heart, something a previous cardiologist had said I didn't need. She also prescribed me low dose Naltrexone which, at standard dose (50MG or so) for its intend use, is used to ween people off alcohol. At much lower doses and for off-label use, it's been show to improve exercise performance. "How long will the recovery take?" I asked, wondering what was about to come.
"You're looking at 12-18 months of recovery time."
Fuck my life. 12-18 months? We would, with the help of a neurologist specializing in long covid patients, determine I have a mild form of a condition called dysautonomia. My centrak nervous system is out of whack and likes to play tricks on me, more or less. Mine isn't lethal and nothing about it will shorten my life or anything like that. You know what it is, though? A huge pain. Absolutely huge pain. The most common manifestation is what I call "running hot" or "running cold." Blood isn't flowing properly so my body can't regulate temperature. When it's cold, I'll sometimes feel completely cold skin in my fingers or toes. When it's warm, I'll just sorta sweat constantly.
"You need to drink 6-7 liters of water a day, even more when exercising, and about half of that needs to have electrolytes. The salt infusion helps with the blood flow." "That seems like a lot, has this worked?" "Buy a big water bottle and make it a habit.
TBC
