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Comment by raptor556 | Hacker News Reader

I've recently realized that I've been unusually tired, daily, and lack the usually high ambition and drive I had prior to January 2020, which is when I caught COVID.

I never got the vaccine and I'm curious if my symptoms are related to COVID, or related to being a few years older, or changes to exercise schedules, or a general change in life outlook after the past few years, or even mild depression or something. It may even be completely psychosomatic.

I'm considering getting the vaccine just to see if it makes a difference. I'm curious if anyone else is/was in a similar situation.

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You should get the vaccine regardless to enhance your immunity in case of a potential re-infection. If it helps you feel better that's just a bonus.

Completely feel the same way, except I attribute it to losing my job offer due to lockdowns (pulling the financial rug out from under me for months), being isolated from friends and family members for years, losing all access to outlets other than TV and video games or whatever else I could do inside, and the constant stream of news about how the world was on fire and we're all hopeless to stop it.

It doesn't take a novel virus to see how many people would feel pretty aimless and disillusioned after that.

You'd probably be better off talking to your doctor and having some bloodwork done. It could be as simple as some kind of deficiency. Throwing a random vaccine at it for something that vaccines aren't meant to do is probably ill advised.

I've done this, labs seems normal, though I don't think we tested for vitamin deficiencies.

Being deficient in vitamin d is especially common in winter months and can cause symptoms like yours. There are probably others worth checking as well. Good luck.

Vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids control serotonin synthesis and action, part 2: relevance for ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and impulsive behavior

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25713056/

It's unlikely vaccine will help you at this point, although there've been some anecdotal reports of vaccination reducing symptoms of long covid.

The problem is what even is "long covid"? I've had a doctor tell me it doesn't actually exist, and other people tell me it's to blame for basically everything.

Has the definition been consolidated now that covid is (seemingly) a little less political?

There are quite a lot of studies that conclude long covid is definitely a thing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8875269/ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5...

I've been experiencing that, too, but mine started early in 2019 when I got burned out at work. I've been coasting ever since. Some weeks I get zero work done, and I struggle to do the minimum of get out of bed, exercise, and shower some days.

I don't think it's covid, except inasmuch as the isolation of work-from-home has made every day identically boring and unstimulating. The sense of looming doom -- new covid variants, long covid, and the beginning stages of world war 4 -- make it hard to care about doing anything for the long term.

I wish I had a solution. I'm considering taking a long sabbatical. My fear is that won't help, and I'll deplete my savings before the world can get any better, which I think is what I really need to overcome it.

I had had immune system issues since January 2020, where it take forever to feel better. So before the vaccines, which I did get. I am suffering now, as I write this. It comes and goes. I will go months when I am fine but then get sick and take weeks to get better. No mental issues. Not obese, run everyday, etc. If I overdo it with a long run then sometimes it will trigger it. Once its triggered, it takes a week or two feel normal. I can work and get through the day, but not much energy for much else. Feel sick in the morning. Extremely frustrating.

To be clear, are you saying this is something you think was caused by the vaccine, or something you had before the vaccines? If the latter, what are you suggesting occurred in Jan 2020?

I wanted to rule out the vaccine as the cause, since it started before vaccines were available. And wanted to offer a similarity to the OP. A virus or some illness I got back in January 2020 caused a deregulation in my immune system that I still suffer from today in 2023.

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