Age: 59.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: COVID19
Symptoms: Pain, SARS-CoV-2 test positive, Sinusitis, Syncope, Throat irritation
Clinical narrative: I received the second Pfizer booster for COVID-19 on 6/21/2022. On the night of 11/22/2022, I had been dealing with sinusitis for a while, but I suddenly also had body aches, severe cough, severe fatigue, and shortness of breath. Not only that, but I actually started stuttering! I felt like I had hit a wall, like all my systems had just crashed and I couldn't function. I have dealt with sinusitis for years, but I had never had those symptoms before, so I knew something was different. I didn't think I had COVID-19, though, because I was fully vaccinated. Not only that, but my husband wasn't sick, so whatever I had, he hadn't caught. I doubled up on TYLENOL and alternated it with MOTRIN, drank extra fluids, did sinus washes, took DELSYM cough syrup, and quarantined from my family during the November holiday. I also took 120mg of OTC pseudoephedrine. The medicines helped with the active, individual symptoms, but the cough persisted. I had a doctor's appointment on 11/28/2022 to get my ears examined. All of my symptoms had resolved by then, but I still had the cough. At the doctor's office, I had to fill out a questionnaire asking if I had had certain symptoms of COVID-19. When I saw the list of symptoms, I thought that maybe I should be tested for COVID-19. On the way home from the clinic, I went to a county testing site, and the following day I received the news that I had tested positive for COVID-19. On 11/29/2022, I had a telehealth visit with a doctor. The doctor prescribed a QVAR inhaler, an albuterol inhaler, benzonatate, and TESSALON PERLES. The combination of the QVAR inhaler and the TESSALON PERLES really helped my cough, because trying to take a deep breath would cause me to have a coughing spasm. The QVAR inhaler helped with the breathing, and the TESSALON PERLES helped numb my throat to the point that any irritation to the area would not trigger coughing. The stuttering I mentioned earlier accompanied the shortness of breath I experienced with the illness. At the time of this writing, I still have some brain fog, and I will sometimes stutter a bit if I lose my train of thought, but those symptoms are now less pronounced than they were when I was sick. I have also noticed changes in my vision. During my illness, I didn't bother putting on my glasses, because my eyesight was the least of my worries at that point. After my 14-day isolation was over, though, I was able to notice better the vision changes that I had experienced. I experienced what could be described as a delayed effect in my vision; it's sort of like watching a TV show and there being a break or delay in a scene. I resumed wearing my glasses. I had a brand-new pair with an up-to-date prescription. When I put them on, though, things were out-of-focus. The prescription was no longer accurate. Not only have I dealt with changes in my eyesight and occasional stuttering since my illness, but I also had episodes of syncope on a daily basis from 11/21/2022 until 11/27/2022. I didn't automatically associate this with COVID-19, though, because my doctor had recently doubled my blood pressure medicine. I don't know if the syncope was caused by the COVID-19 or a change in the medication dosage, but ever since my doctor switched back to the original dosage and I got over COVID-19, I haven't had any more episodes. At the time of this writing, I am still dealing with vision changes, and I now have a scheduled follow-up appointment with my eye doctor in the near future. When I had the body aches that were caused by the COVID-19, my knees were among the areas affected. The all-over body aches eventually receded, but I continued to have pronounced pain in both knees. It feels like there is a painful squeeze enveloping the entire kneecap area and the area just above the knee. Kneeling and bending cause the pain, and I did not have this issue before I got COVID-19. I use the BIOFREEZE roll-on on my knees at night, and it works well enough for me to get to sleep.