Hi all - body is still really giving up on me after contracting Covid in May and struggling to put it all right. I’ve had pernicious anaemia for many, many years but never experienced anything like this. My B12 definitely isn’t working properly and neither is my stomach!
First came the tanking ferritin, now my folate is deficient and my thyroid levels are bouncing around. I’ve also contracted a UTI for the first time in four years so on penicillin which will not be helping! I can’t tolerate folic acid tablets but can tolerate liquid - GP has ordered me a liquid supplement. All of these supplements…. My stomach has truly given up the ghost being able to absorb my food properly and I’m worried something else is going on like crohns or coeliac or something else really nasty. GP is not interested in looking any further and wait times would be very long to see a gastro anyway. I’m thinking Covid has potentially just messed up my gut bacteria and balance somehow?
Unfortunately I’ve had to hop on gabapentin as the nerve pain I’ve now got has become absolutely unbearable. I’m not someone that loves to be on pharma meds but I need to be able to function to try to put this all right.
I’ve ordered one of those fancy Healthpath stool test kits as I feel like my gut has been hit hard by covid and now the antibiotics. Maybe it’ll reveal something I can address. I’ve found someone that hopefully will be a good fit to work with that understands B12 too but I’m getting a bit desperate.
Has anyone been at rock bottom and managed to turn everything around? Losing hope! I’ve got all my deficiency symptoms back I’m pale, riddled in acne, dry hair, losing hair etc. I’ve gone from working full time and very busy, eating a good balanced diet and exercising to being bed bound. It’s really very distressing for me and everyone around me. The difference between May and now is night and day. I fixed myself before but I’m lost with all this
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Littledancingtiger
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I have one small suggestion for you . Once you have finished with the antibiotics , do try drinking some Kefir daily . Starting with a small amount to get yourself accustomed perhaps . This will help your gut Microbiome . Having P.A. means you have little or no stomach acid anyhow .which affects your guts well being .
Best of all make your own Kefir It is superior to the normal shop kefir , and cheap to make . The only commercially produced traditional kefir is marvellous , called “ Chuckling Goat”but it’s very expensive!
Getting your gut flora in good shape is a first and important step on the road to better health . You can read all about kefir on the internet .
And even if it doesn’t work got you , you will have done yourself no harm .
I hope that you are getting sufficient B12 injections .
Thank you - I’ve got some kefir yogurt that I’ve been using to make overnight oats. I was taking two lots of probiotics before this all kicked off but Covid has made my whole system “hypersensitive” to all meds and supplements so I had to stop everything and slowly reintroduce. I’ve been tolerating iron supplements and my B12 injections. With my low folate now I’m a bit worried about injecting - will this be pointless? I can’t pick up the liquid until next week. It’s special order.
Every med or supplement has been setting off nerve pain and/or a “fight or flight” response. It’s so weird and distressing. My system is in overdrive and really confused. I’m also not sure whether I went “B6 toxic” at the same time as contracting Covid as a lot of the symptoms overlap and when you withdraw B6 it seems to get worse before better for a period of time and can take some time to resolve.
It feels like my system is highly confused, I was stuck in fight or flight initially and now it feels like my adrenals are tanked (testing those) and I’m deficient in so much now that it’s going to take some hard graft to put it all right and will have to be done slowly. I’m also barely able to sleep which isn’t helping me to heal. Seriously hoping this person can help me! I know she has worked with a lot of Covid folk.
It feels impossible at the moment, I’m trying to go day to day but really worried!
I’m dreadfully sorry to read Littledancingtiger. Others have given great advice. The body takes time to recover from such a serious illness such as COVID-19.
The Office of National Statics reported that 24,910,387 people died of that particular virus. They ALL had names, families and friends.
On 7 August 2024, the Information Commissioner’s Office reported a ball park figure that they are fining the software provider £6m to following 2022 ransomware attack that disrupted NHS and social care services.
The NHS computers crashed again on 19 July 2024 due to a software update. Human beans are not computers. We are bumfgnacious.
This is a great time to learn, you will be amazed at your own emotional resilience. So what you are on gabapentin. It’s just for a short period of time. You live in the U.K. You have a lovely home, a caring family and wonderful friends. A warm cosy bed and internet access. So what course are you going to sign up for ? Art History ? Life Coaching ? A language ? Animal Care ?
Some people run whole successful businesses from their bedroom. Be creative and let your imagination run wild.
The length of your recovery depends on your stress levels. The more relaxed you are, the easier your body and brain recovers. It really is that simple. Someone I know kept using the word Neuroplasticity at work. They were teased so much at their retirement, one employee dressed up as a Postie and delivered a big sign with the very word on.
Hi Little, am so sorry your life has changed this much, it must be very scary and upsetting for you. At least you can self inject, perhaps you can work on your diet etc too?
It is incredibly scary my whole body has changed and I don’t know how to put it all right it seems like a mammoth task and not sure where to start. I am trying to keep going and hoping.
For years I struggled to do exercise and I told my partner Ian that I knew there was something wrong with me to cause it. We often argued because he got it into his head I was too lazy to exercise, but the truth was when I tried to do step ups or go up the stairs or walk a reasonable distance it was just too much for me. It got worse and worse and I found it hard to put one foot in front of the other or just sit or stand up. Blood tests showed b12 deficiency, it was very very low. He just did not get it. Then when I found out I had pernicious anaemia and read the symptoms it said - difficult to exercise - and it all fitted into place.
I've also got small lungs, so my lung capacity is low. I read recently on my doctor's report that they consider me to be a n ex smoker ! I've never smoked but in their eyes every time someone has lung problems they must be a non smoker or smoker.
So sorry to hear of your slump. May I recommend a very effective liquid mix of fermented probiotics and stomach soothing herbs called Naked Biotics - Restore. I've never tolerated probiotics well, but this was recommended by a nutritionist when I had severe gastritis, firstly due to reversing out 6 months ago then triggered again recently by 3 lots of antibiotics within a month.
It's the first product I've been able to take without bloating and pain, and I feel it was the turning point for my stomach healing, and being able to eat a normal range of foods, not just oats, bananas, and chicken broth!
And it's made me realise how crucial a well functioning gut biome is to those of us with low acid, otherwise the poor old stomach gets overwhelmed by bad bugs from below which is just horrible and sets up a vicious circle of pain and poor nutrition/ absorption.
Surgery, antibiotics and Covid caused my big crash when previously I’d been well on 8 weekly injections. It’s taking time to recover. Daily injections. Raising folate ferritin and vitamin D that had crashed. Getting HRT stable as Covid kept crashing hormones too. Pacing. Acupuncture. Bioresonance. Low histamine diet and antihistamines. Etc. It’s been a b*gger to sort out. It can be done. Like we didn’t have enough to contend with! X
Thank you for reminding me it can be sorted. It seems like trying to climb Everest at the moment with so much to fix and not knowing where to start.
Covid seems to mess with a persons entire system! Trying to raise everything that has crashed at the moment but having to focus on which fires to try to put out first as there’s so many and my system can’t seem to handle everything being thrown at it at once - it’s really sensitive to any changes at the moment and it’s really difficult. My iron did come up on last test so that’s headed in the right direction at the very least.
And by increasing iron I seem to be tolerating thyroid med raises again better but now there’s the issue of the low folate so I don’t want to overwhelm myself with jabs as they won’t be working without that and I need to gently raise that and not wham myself with loads. All such a bloody nightmare.
Sleep issue is still a total bugger I’m tired at the right time but then it just doesn’t come.
Covered in acne and hair dry and falling out is also really getting me down. I suspect some kind of hormonal issue with the acne - I never get acne!
2nd dose of covid in 2022 and now have long covid. Sweating, overheating, aching, very bad brain fog (worse than PA brain fog), no energy (worse than PA energy loss). Doctor, a waste if time, put me on tablets that made overheating so much worse then doubled the dose!! So gave up. He thinks that at 71 I'm a stupid over reacting geriatric, tried to stop my injections after being informed, after one set of blood tests, that injections shouldn't be stopped as I have PA. I couldn't make up some of things he has said and done. I have to take my husband in with me as he won't listen to me.
Hi there—Please know that I went through a lot of the same issues when I had COVID in January 2022. I believe I had the most deadly variant, the Delta variant, but I really did not have the usual symptoms people were getting at that time. COVID attacked my digestive system and no one knew how to help me because at that time, COVID was only known to affect your respiratory system. I was not even tested for COVID when I went to the ER, even though my husband had tested positive a week before and we were in the ER for him as well.
With that being said, I took me a year to figure out that I had a b12 deficiency, and another year to figure out that the problem was actually my gut. I too was in chronic fight or flight and my stomach felt so tight and bloated and I was constantly constipated. I began seeing a nutritionist last November and started taking a probiotic, mineral supplement and vitamin d3 (my vitamin d level was just above normal in the summertime, who knows what it was in the winter). I was also advised in March to eliminate gluten as it seemed I had some inflammation going on. I really noticed a difference in how I felt 3 months after eliminating gluten. I also take a small dose of methyl folate and of course my B12 injection every other week.
After 2.5 years, this is the closest I’ve felt to being normal. I’m hoping I can continue to improve to 100%. Hang in there, concentrate on healing your gut because COVID can wreak havoc on it. It takes awhile, so try to be patient and be your own advocate!
Just sending you big hugs. Covid is evil. We should all be suing the Chinese by all accounts. Ice cream and movies is what I'd prescribe! Indulgence and escapism.
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AUGH! 
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