Hello,
I'm a 31 year-old male who has had Long Covid for coming up to 7 months, of which I would consider the last 3 as being the recovery phase.
My symptoms kicked off at the tail-end of what had otherwise been a pretty mild case that did a complete 180, and I was left primarily with POTS. I then had a big dip a month and a half later after over-exertion, which led to me being mostly housebound at my parents for a couple of months with more clear cut CFS-type symptoms as well. It was here I made the active choice I couldn't live like this and started digging into mind-body work as this is where I had found the most amount of success with all the recovery stories online. During this time I also started beta blockers for POTS, and also noticed my toes were often looking red and inflammed (we'll come back to this).
After educating myself about neuroplasticity and getting into regular meditation, I started brain retraining with the Lightning Process. I wasn't one of those miracle in a week recoveries you often hear about, but it made a big enough difference that I was able to successfully go back to independent living 2 weeks after finishing the training and gradually increased capacity more as I went towards Christmas, although I still had difficulty increasing walking distance and continued to remain bothered by my red toes which often stung in the morning. I'd also notice that my feet and hands would get sweaty/clammy almost as soon as I got into bed and as soon as I woke up.
Regardless, my improvement was such that I was able to drive myself (2 hours) back to my parents for Christmas, have an enjoyable time of it and even take in a little alcohol, and drive back the same distance 12 days later and go to a friends new years on the same day and stay up till 3am, with very little pushback the next day. During the Christmas break I also started with the mind-body reconnect, as for all the good tracking I was making with LP I felt there was an emotional component holding me back a bit.
However I was also noticing that the sweaty palms and feet often burned uncomfortably when I got into bed. I worried whether this was a reaction to warmth and alcohol and therefore a direct nerve issue, but I didn't have burning on new years which I took as reassurance as a positive response to fulfilling an emotional need. And indeed for the rest of that week while clammy palms and feet in bed continued, I didn't have burning.
A few days ago however I had some emotional stress and while reading before bed, noticed that my left hand was red, warm to the touch and burned. The same thing happened with my right foot the following evening, and I've noticed that when my hands are under the duvet at night they are overly warm and clammy, they tingle and redden after holding a cup of tea or coffee for some time or are close to the warm air fan in my van, and generally react in such a way to increased warmth. In effect, a 'reversed' Raynaud's. I learned this was pretty on point for Erythromelalgia, which I searched this forum for and have found limited but not great news for, so this has dampened spirits somewhat.
The fact my hands and feet still sweat and wrinkle after the shower I take as a good sign there is unlikely to be physical nerve damage, but I wonder if anyone has any further knowledge about overcoming these kind of symptoms with mind-body approaches. With the progress I've been making it's felt like a bit of a kicker!
I'm a 31 year-old male who has had Long Covid for coming up to 7 months, of which I would consider the last 3 as being the recovery phase.
My symptoms kicked off at the tail-end of what had otherwise been a pretty mild case that did a complete 180, and I was left primarily with POTS. I then had a big dip a month and a half later after over-exertion, which led to me being mostly housebound at my parents for a couple of months with more clear cut CFS-type symptoms as well. It was here I made the active choice I couldn't live like this and started digging into mind-body work as this is where I had found the most amount of success with all the recovery stories online. During this time I also started beta blockers for POTS, and also noticed my toes were often looking red and inflammed (we'll come back to this).
After educating myself about neuroplasticity and getting into regular meditation, I started brain retraining with the Lightning Process. I wasn't one of those miracle in a week recoveries you often hear about, but it made a big enough difference that I was able to successfully go back to independent living 2 weeks after finishing the training and gradually increased capacity more as I went towards Christmas, although I still had difficulty increasing walking distance and continued to remain bothered by my red toes which often stung in the morning. I'd also notice that my feet and hands would get sweaty/clammy almost as soon as I got into bed and as soon as I woke up.
Regardless, my improvement was such that I was able to drive myself (2 hours) back to my parents for Christmas, have an enjoyable time of it and even take in a little alcohol, and drive back the same distance 12 days later and go to a friends new years on the same day and stay up till 3am, with very little pushback the next day. During the Christmas break I also started with the mind-body reconnect, as for all the good tracking I was making with LP I felt there was an emotional component holding me back a bit.
However I was also noticing that the sweaty palms and feet often burned uncomfortably when I got into bed. I worried whether this was a reaction to warmth and alcohol and therefore a direct nerve issue, but I didn't have burning on new years which I took as reassurance as a positive response to fulfilling an emotional need. And indeed for the rest of that week while clammy palms and feet in bed continued, I didn't have burning.
A few days ago however I had some emotional stress and while reading before bed, noticed that my left hand was red, warm to the touch and burned. The same thing happened with my right foot the following evening, and I've noticed that when my hands are under the duvet at night they are overly warm and clammy, they tingle and redden after holding a cup of tea or coffee for some time or are close to the warm air fan in my van, and generally react in such a way to increased warmth. In effect, a 'reversed' Raynaud's. I learned this was pretty on point for Erythromelalgia, which I searched this forum for and have found limited but not great news for, so this has dampened spirits somewhat.
The fact my hands and feet still sweat and wrinkle after the shower I take as a good sign there is unlikely to be physical nerve damage, but I wonder if anyone has any further knowledge about overcoming these kind of symptoms with mind-body approaches. With the progress I've been making it's felt like a bit of a kicker!
