Posted 1/17/2022 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
My experience of COVID with Lyme:
Last week (starting Jan.7), I started feeling colder than I even usually do. Hands and feet so cold they were painful. Generally colder feeling in body.
On Jan. 8, I went out to eat for lunch, and within 30 minutes of sitting down, I had chills so bad I was shaking. Left quickly so no one would notice me shaking. Driving home the mile-and-a-half was a struggle I was shaking so bad and so cold. Got home, stayed in the sweats I had on and crawled into bed with extra covers. Also, checked body temperature, which was 102.8.
Stayed in bed all afternoon, then finally found a place that could do a quick COVID test, along with a flu test. Thank God it was close or that I could get a test at all. The COVID nasal swab test came out positive and flu negative. Went home and stayed in bed shaking again with cold feeling, and fever was 101.9. Felt so tied, I just wanted to sleep.
The strange part I couldn't sleep, like I was wired with insomnia. Wasn't able to get to sleep until just after 3:00 am and then it was off and on.
Next morning, fever was gone and felt a little better, though the cold hands, feet and body remained. At 2:30 pm, the fever started coming back, and by 6:00 pm it was back to 101.9.
That was the pattern for two more days, but there were a couple of more symptoms:
Neuropathy in hands and feet was much worse
Body hurt
Insomnia remained bad no matter how tired I felt
Sweat some later each night: couldn't regulate body temperature. Felt hot in face and body felt like ice.
Skin became much more itchy with a rash and eyes burned at times
I DID NOT ever get a cough, lung problems, headache, loss of taste and smell, sneezing
Leading up to all this I had been itching more, but nothing like it became and has remained with rash. Neuropathy is back down to much less but still there. Today I felt an electrical pain in my tricep while doing light weights
It's really hard to know what was caused by COVID and what was simply made worse by it. The nurse who did the test said they are finding the quick nasal swabs seem to have trouble picking up Omicron, especially early in its course, and she was concerned it was Delta. She understood Lyme well because one of her best friends has it. She said if I get any worse symptoms, I should go the the emergency room, which was nice of her but the last place I'd choose to go.
Feel near normal today - as in Lyme normal. Just thought knowing what another person with Lyme and COVID experiences would be informative for some. It also shows the worst case situation some predict with immune issues and COVID did not happen with me. I have not been vaccinated, which does not mean I am against someone doing so.