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Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Hello

Can anyone relate to this?

i’m pretty new here, but hoping to outline my current situation and see if anyone has been in the same boat.

About 12 years ago I was first diagnosed with severe treatment resistant depression and for about the next 5 years went through difficult times finding the right medication and treatment.

But for the last 6 or 7 years, I’ve been doing really well and have had no symptoms.

On this basis, I recently decided with my Dr to trial tapering down off the medication and all was going well.

Then I got Covid, which has turned into long Covid.

I’ve been having a range of symptoms which could be long Covid or could be the depression coming back.

The timing coincidence between long Covid and tapering off the meds means I have no idea what is actually causing me to feel the way I’m feeling.

I figure it is important to know the cause of something so you know how best to treat it.

As well as struggling with everyday functioning, I am also really struggling to understand what is going on.

My Dr is primarily treating it has mental illness but I’m not so sure.

I wondered if anyone had any relevant experience and would share?

Thanks for reading.

13 replies

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In response to: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Hi @Kintaro

Welcome to the forums, it's really nice to meet you here. I'm sorry things haven't been great for you lately after being well for quite a while. It's definitely a valid question to wonder if it's long covid or your mental health. I have heard of people with long covid having mental health issues so perhaps it's a combination. A support group for people with long covid was established by a consumer health group last year but has now been moved to Facebook. You can find it here.

You could also try asking in there if anyone has had similar experiences to you? It's a fairly large community so I'm thinking you'll find others there for sure.

But please do keep reaching out here on the forums. It's a wonderful community where people connect and support each other so beautifully.

warmest regards

Hanami

In response to: Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Hi Hanami

thanks for the reply and the link to the Facebook page. Much appreciated.

In response to: Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

You're very welcome @Kintaro !

In response to: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

@Kintaro

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Its lovely to meet you. I have struggled with depression for the last ten years. Glad to hear you had quite a long period of being well. I would be unsure too; I think it might be a matter of trial and error. There could be underlying cause and perhaps have a physical and include relevant blood test. It could be thyroid or hormonal or vitamin deficiency. Or related to covid too or combination of issues. You can also get another opinion. Keep your chin up and take care.

In response to: Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Many thanks.

In response to: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

@Kintaro tracking cause and effect, and long term trajectory, is pretty hard to untangle sometimes since many aspects of life are always in flux. Long covid is also a massive new factor I am sure, and it’s good that you’ve identified that there are multiple potential causes because it keeps your mind open.

I went on SSRI’s for 2 years and, thinking I was fixed, came off for 2 years before realising that I had slowly slid back to square 1. A lot of other things happened in that time as well but I’ve restarted the medication recently to see if the pattern repeats itself. Again, multiple factors cloud the picture.. but early indications are cautiously optimistic.

In response to: Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Thanks @nervouswreck @for the thoughtful response.

In response to: Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Hi @Kintaro , so sorry to hear about your Long Covid and also the return of your treatment resistant depression 😞

I would assume that having Long Covid would result in depression 😞

Sending wishes for you...

In response to: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

Re: Long Covid triggering a return of mental illness? Can anyone relate?

@KintaroI have been following the science of covid since it started. there is a very resourceful community of doctors, patients and immunologists on twitter who share medical journal findings in real time. Unfortunately twitter is not working as well as it used to due to a man baby taking it over. You dont need a twitter account to access their tweets, you can use Nitter instead. Some have moved over to Mastodon.

Google comes up with some info:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10079873/

"Scientists are still learning exactly how the coronavirus alters the brain, but research is beginning to highlight some possible explanations. A few studies, for example, have shown that the immune system goes into overdrive when some people get sick. They can end up with inflammation throughout the body and even in the brain. There is also some evidence that the endothelial cells lining blood vessels in the brain become disrupted during a bout of Covid-19, which may inadvertently allow harmful substances through, affecting mental function. And cells called microglia, which normally act as the brain’s housekeepers, may go rogue in some patients, attacking neurons and damaging synapses, Dr. Al-Aly said."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/well/long-covid-depression-symptoms-treatment.html

Covid is a blood vessel disease not a respiratory disease.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/does-covid-19-damage-the-brain

Please note, pandemics are political. It is a crime that those of us that are vulnerable are forced to isolate ourselves rather than everyone embracing public health measures to limit transmission. With the Cholera epidemic in the 1800s sewage and the water came out of the same pipes. It wasnt until rich bastards were personally affected that they decided to build the infrastructure to have separate pipes for sewage and water! Thats how they solved the Cholera epidemic. With the AIDS epidemic, it started spreading in the late 60s early 70s. People started getting sick and dying in the early 80s. The govts did nothing, and instead punished gays and sufferers. It wasnt until the activists started protesting - the protests reached a critical mass and in the late 80s early 90s did they start to fund research for anti-virals. By 1993 40 million people had died from AIDS. I was in primary school when the grim reaper ad was on the TV scaring people into doing the right thing (ie wearing condoms etc to prevent transmission). Covid will follow the same pattern. We will look back with shame on these times of trying to pretend it is mild or over when it is not.

In the meantime, wear a well fitting N95 mask as there is evidence that damage is cumulative. That means the more times you catch covid, the more damage happens to the body. You want to catch it as little as possible, with as little viral load as possible. Dont be afraid of the science. It is better to know and have the tools to protect yourself. My mum died of it thu a hospital acquired infection. It is airborne which means you catch it when it goes up your nose, in your mouth (ie masks, ventilation and air purification is more important than washing hands). I mask everywhere. Its, wallet, keys, mask. Everytime.

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