We’re all different, with a lot of overlapping symptoms. Long Covid (LC) is described as over 200 different symptoms - and seems to be a condition of exclusion. Below I note the symptoms I have become to know about over the course of this year.

I’ve noticed that some minor things come up as well (in comparison to the lingering issues below). For example, I had eye and nasal infections in the first few months after covid (which have since subsided). This really makes it hard to know what is causing what. I also caught influenza in March of 2025 this year, which made my headaches much worse.

When I rebounded from COVID after a third known infection late 2024, early on doctors (PCP, ED, specialists) mentioned long covid as a possibility, even before I hit 3 months. I primarily experienced a lot of neurological symptoms, known as neuro-covid. For me the impacts were on the central nervous system (CNS), as well as the the peripheral nervous system (PNS), with impact on the somatic nervous system.

Lastly, my sympathetic nervous system (response to fear and danger), was stuck on. It was as if my mind sensed danger (well, I suppose it wasn’t wrong), but had no idea what it was. So, off I went, burning energy and not sleeping for days during the first few months of long covid. Eventually the energy burned out, and I crashed hard. I would attempt to go to sleep each night, and wonder if I would even wake up the next day, for most nights (impending doom, night time panic attacks - something I’ve never experienced before).

Most doctors I see explain this as being similar to a severe concussion. I’ve mostly learned to accept this, and try to treat my symptoms as best I can.

My Symptoms 🦠

Neurological 🧠

Being a male, my vision has always been, great - no color blindness, and great night vision. I have had sensitivity to bright light most of my life, so sunglasses became common on bright summer days. Eye imaging was always normal pre-long covid.

In middle age, a slight astigmatism and some reading glasses I would use on rare occasion with blue light filtering before long covid. The vision has been one of the difficult symptoms for me, as I work (including doing this very blog!) on a computer screen. That is a lot of time doing something our eyes probably weren’t meant to do normally, let alone having brain damage (not sure what else to call it at this point) impacting optical cranial nerves.

• Double vision (binocular diplopia in right eye)
• Visual snow, halos divergence issues
• Brain and nerve issues
  • Severe insomnia
  • Stuck in fight or flight mood
  • Headaches (front, back, occipital) - mostly subsided after 6 months
  • Severe unilateral (primarily left) neck with crepetius, shoulder, and inner ear pain and pressure
  • Tinnitus (left side, swooshing sounds - triggered by looking right and randomly), confirmed hearing loss
  • Brain fog, short term memory problems, lack of focus
• Mental health
  • Fatigue (not so much physical, very mental)
  • Mood swings
  • Panic attacks, which I’ve never experienced before
  • Worsened ADHD, anxiety, depression
• Other issues
  • Fasciculations internal and external, mostly in the calves
    • Benign Fasciculation Syndrome (BFS) diagnosis before long covid - came about after first covid infection
  • Paresthesia in the arms and hands, changing color and temperature in hands

Asthma & Allergies 🤧

I have had on and off hives very sporadically since my 20s, and asthma since a teenager. These all got way worse, and, additionally, spring time allergies are a thing for me now (they were not in the past - now I know what many people experience annually). A lot of long covid groups talk about the long covid link to something called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or MCAS. I have not been diagnosed with this, but have found taking mast cell stabilizers to be helpful for me.

• Asthma (mild become moderate before long covid)
• Large hive clusters triggered by sunlight, friction from a watch (regardless of material) or tight clothing
• Epistaxis (nosebleeds that mostly just clot in the nose)