Has anyone here had Covid?

[araminta]

If so it would be interesting to know how it has affected them. 

[meirish]

I am wondering if your doctor has put you on vitamin D as this has been found to help our body be able to fight off civid and other diseases. My doc just checked with me and I have been on D for many years as mine was severely low and now up too 24 or so which is better than severely low. Take care. meirish

[araminta]

Hi Irish,  I'm not on extra vitamin D, however I do take a multivitamin every day, that has 10 mcgs vit D in it.   I know I don't get much sun, so I should look into this.   Thank you for the good advice.  I hope you're doing OK.

[Maria3667]

I can't vouch if this is true, but on another forum a patient mentioned her rheumatologist claiming people with Sjogren's are less likely to get Covid-19 because their immune systems are already in overdrive. She said she hadn't heard of any (primary) Sjogren's patients with Covid..... Could this be true??!

Flues or colds haven't affected me since being diagnosed almost 20 years ago (despite having low Vit D levels - whenever I try to ramp it my eye dryness becomes worse).

[Linda196]

There seem to be two profiles for Autoimmune disease; either you never catch anything, or you pick up a virus if someone sneezes in the next county!

I'm lucky(?) enough to be in the first but I'm not relying on that to protect me from any contagious diseases. I take appropriate precaution and always have; so avoidance, sanitization, and even masking aren't new or a problem for me.

I'm a strong believer in Vitamin D, and have never tested low for it but still take 2000IU daily during the summer, double in the winter. Probably because I'm north of the 49th parallel so worry about getting less sun exposure.

[Jenny]

I haven?t had the flue or even a cold in many years. I too was extremely low in Vitamin D and have now brought it up with supplements. Hopefully it?s true that we can?t catch Covid!

[Deb 27]

I wouldn't let my guard down. Our immune systems can be tricky, either overactive or underachieve. I've heard people with lupus don't have good outcomes with Covid 19.

I take 3,000 IU of Vitamin D 3 every day. Mine was real low when they tested me a few years back. It might get up to 27, even with supplementation.

[Judes]

Hi, I have primary sjogrens and had COVID end of March. It is going on 8 months and I still have lingering symptoms from it. I developed tachycardia, chest pain and tightness, and tingling numbness in my left leg and foot. I never had serious respiratory issues, thankfully, just heaviness / tightness in chest. The leg pain started in lower back, turned into severe sciatica and then seemed to stay in my leg as tingling numbness which persists to this day. It also seems to have caused all my normal sjogrens symptoms to progress. It took about three months for my smell and taste to come back and it's still not 100%:(. I just started hydroxychloroquine a couple days ago so I'm hoping it helps. I'm worried about taking the hydroxychloroquine with the heart issues I've seemed to develope as it can effect your heart so I started with only taking 1 200 mg pill instead of 2 to see how it goes. I've had no help from doctors as they all seem to think COVID can't cause long term issues, they have all blown me off, but there is a community of 100's of thousands of COVID survivirs who have developed long term symptoms. You can find them on Facebook called survivor corps. Many of the long term symptoms mimic sjogrens and other autoimmune diseases including brain fog, fatigue, pots and neurological manifestations, and research suggests it may be triggering them. I hope you all stay safe xo

[meirish]

There has been a lot of discussion about heart issues from hydroxycholoquine and I have heard several cardiologists on TV shows say that they have never seen this type of side effect. I have been on the drug for close to 14 years and had not even heard of it being a problem. Neither my immunologist or cardiologist ever mentioned anything about heart issues. Take care. Hope all is getting better. meirish

[araminta]

I'm so sorry to hear you had  this virus, Judes.   The effects do seem to linger for months in some people, especially older or more vulnerable people.   I'm glad you didn't have breathing issues, and that you didn't have to be admitted to hospital.   Do you have any idea where you caught the virus?

[Bucky]

I have primary Sjogren's and yes, I was dx'd with Covid earlier this month!  (a family member brought home from work  )

I'm not so sure the tests for Covid are accurate - meaning, what if you have a cold and took the test, because you have nasal issues going on with the cold, you could be dx'd with Covid.  As we know, many diseases have overlapping symptoms.

The first few days I had a slight sore throat and cough.  The sore throat went away, the cough lingers on.  In years past, I've had chest wall inflammation with Sjogren's - at times, when I take a deep breath, I can tell I have the inflammation, but I just take some Advil to help with that.  Keeping fingers crossed that it doesn't develop into anything else.

I was disappointed that I was suppose to have a wellness doctor visit the week I got dx'd with Covid, so my appointment didn't happen.  It's now rescheduled the middle of December.  At that appointment they are suppose to check all my labs - thyroid numbers, Vitamin D, etc. 

Bucky

[meirish]

Bucky, Sorry to hear that you are feeling bad. I also have trouble trusting the labs on the Covid. So many have false negatives or positive and such enormous testing is bought to make things get screwed up. We have so much information nowadays that keeping things straight regarding anything at all is more difficult than years gone by.
Take care girl. meirish

[jazzlover]

There is a big correlation between chronic or long term COVID and MCAS. (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) .. evidently it can cause the MCAS, just like Lyme disease  can.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-begin-to-crack-covids-mysterious-long-term-effects-11604252961?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR2dp7ezCSNr8jFNkirpq602lF2usRdyV3Wb6BsitaarDacTY_TNTukAEUg

[Bucky]

Jazzlover - unfortunately, the link you posted for the article only lets you read a few paragraphs and then requires you to subscribe to read the entire story.  I hate when articles do that!

Bucky

[SjoGirl]

I was not diagnosed but my spouse and I had many COVID symptoms in March, we became very ill quite quickly though without the fever or cough. We continue to wonder whether it was SJS but there is no way to know. I was tested prior to a procedure and was negative and hope to stay that way.