This all sounds a lot like my husband. He is a high school teacher and the head tennis coach, and he absolutely thrives at both. He didn't want to teach either when he was first in college, as he was not a great student growing up. But he worked as a substitute teacher for awhile (which is an awesome college job, by the way; it pays pretty well, and you can schedule your classes so that you have a day or two free each week to sub), and he soon realized that teaching is a great job if you like people. It is also not really a desk job. Yes, there's grading, but the actual teaching is more of a move-around-the-room kind of job, and he loves it. The coaching came later, but it is a natural fit for both an athletic person and for someone who would rather not be sitting behind a desk all day. He gets to help a lot of kids get better at their sport, every day is different, and he gets a good mix of active job with a decent amount of autonomy over his day. Plus, he stays in great shape (not every coach does, but it makes it very possible).

Ok, that's good to know! It sounds like it's good to wait a bit on that, too! Isn't it weird how thinking about this stuff can make you feel like you're having a reaction? It makes me feel nuts, sometimes! 🤣 But so much of the POTS stuff, at least, is nervous system related, so I guess the nervous system triggers the stress, which triggers the inflammation, which triggers more stress.... 🙃

I think that sounds like a good plan. If you're having a lot of pain right now, that stress can cause inflammation by itself. Since the Pfizer is scheduled for 3 weeks apart, you would only be at 4 weeks if you waited an extra week. I don't blame you one bit. When your immune symptoms are different every day, it's scary to think about intentionally introducing a major immune response to your body on purpose. Out of curiosity, do you not take Advil because of the MCAS? My doctor doesn't know a lot about it, but I take it most days. Do you react to it, or is it just a precaution? I'm super nervous, as I said above. I ended up in the hospital twice three years ago with possible mast-cell issues. If I think about it too much, I start to get tightness in my throat and chest, and my heart starts racing. I won't say more, because I don't want to trigger your symptoms. The only thing I can say is that we are in God's hands, and although sometimes we feel like we're not going to make it to tomorrow, He's got this. We will be ok!

I saw that people were mentioning POTS, so I thought I would chime in with two anecdotal cases. My sister and I both have POTS (both cases thought to be "caused" by viruses. I may also have some mast-cell issues, as I had an episode 3 years ago which sounds awfully similar). My sister got Moderna and has had both doses. She did fine and did not experience a major flare, although she did have the typical second-dose 24 hour flu feeling. She is over a month out now, and she feels great! I have gotten my first dose of Pfizer two weeks ago, and I had no problems at all. I am very nervous of the second does, but based upon how my sister did, I am choosing to believe that all will be well! Our doctors definitely feel like the benefit outweighs the risks.

I'll play! I've been trying to figure out which subjects need a shake-up and which ones can just be the next level of what we've been doing. DS15 will be a junior next year, and the plan had been for him to dual-enroll at our local four-year university like his big brother did. We have all been so happy with how that turned out, but the virus has thrown us a curve-ball (more like a million curve-balls!). DS15 has type-1 diabetes, and we are all more comfortable with him being home right now. He will (hopefully) get the Pfizer vaccine right when he turns 16 (at the end of May, he already qualifies in Texas except for his age), so he could theoretically do DE in the fall. But he hasn't taken the SAT yet to qualify for the DE program, and the deadline is mid-March, so that is not happening. At this point, we are hoping he will take the SAT in the late summer/ early fall, and get in to DE for the spring semester. If he does, he will very likely take US Government to get that credit out of the way. English- For college-prep writing, I want to use CAP's Rhetoric Alive 1, short-answer response practice for history, and a couple of lit analysis essays for fun (he is a natural writer). Literature will be a mix of classics from roughly 1800- present. Plus read alouds of lighter fare and Shakespeare For creative writing, he will definitely keep going with the Writing with... classes taught by Jonathan Rogers (C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, P.D. Wodehouse, and L.M. Montgomery are the authors this year) plus the new teen writing discussion forum he is a part of. He loves creative writing, and this is the favorite thing in his day for sure! 😊 Pre-Calculus- Derek Owens- He is doing DO Algebra 2 (parent-graded) this year and it's going well, which is wonderful, because he was through with AOPS! American/World History (1865-present)- K12 American Odyssey + World History + Turning Points in American History lectures + Guns, Germs, and Steel + reading- We've already been using the textbooks and the lectures. I want to add the Jared Diamond book in to cement the overall picture of history in his head. DS15 is not a history guy, and he still has trouble putting it all in context. We also need to continue to work on geography, as there are definite holes there as well. Maybe I can add in some documentaries to make his visual brain happy. Chemistry- Clover Valley Honors Chemistry for sure! My DS19 took this class (parent-graded) and he still talks about what a fantastic teacher Mrs. S (Connie) is! This is the class that taught him how to study, and I am more than ready for DS15 to work on that skill. We will also do the dreaded chemistry labs at home. Spanish 3- We will continue to use my sister's TPRS materials and videos, but he will level out of those soon. We will keep on with Spanish Playground resources/ videos (they are awesome) and try watching Destinos again (we stalled out about 2/3 of the way through because it got too hard). I think he is ready to try some children's literature in Spanish, so I need to figure out what to start with. Hmmm... Electives will (hopefully) be choir and musical theater, as long as he is vaccinated and nothing goes too wrong with the virus variants. He should be in a pretty good position to make the All-State Choir next year, as he just missed it last year. We will continue with mom-taught voice lessons and some music theory. Thanks for starting this thread! It was good to put that all down on paper!

So I don’t know if you were able to check your heart rate out, but I wanted to tell you what has worked for me over the past few months. Your situation might be totally different, but none of these solutions are drastic or expensive, so it can’t hurt to try. But I think that going to the doctor or cardiologist is a good idea either way. For me, one of the biggest game changers has been Sudafed, 4-6 hour (pseudoephedrine). I get the store brand from Target, but you need the real stuff that you can only get from behind the counter. Back in the late spring and summer, I had to take it twice a day to get good results, but now I only take it in the morning. It is a vasoconstrictor, so it raises your blood pressure, which for POTS is generally a good thing, because it helps to force the blood up. If you have high blood pressure, you shouldn’t take it, but many people with POTS have very low blood pressure (I do). This has greatly relieved the dizziness and headaches, and it also seems to help with the heavy, achy feeling I get in my legs. I ran out of it about a month ago and went without it for three days, and by day 2, the dizziness was quite bad again. Every morning, I take 2000 IU Vitamin D, 200 Mg Vitamin C, 1000 Mg Vitamin B12 (this seems to help with the shaky, anxious feeling), and 2 regular ibuprofen gel caps. In the afternoon I take another 1000 IU of D and another 200 Mg Vitamin C. I used to take another dose of ibuprofen but I usually don’t need it at this point. In the evening, I take another 2000 IU Vit D and sometimes 100 Mg Vitamin C. The D is life-changing, as you have already noted, but if you are taking less than this, maybe up it a bit to see if it helps. Again, as everyone is saying, please consult with your doctor about all of these things. Unfortunately for me, my doctor knows nothing about POTS, and I am in the process of trying to find another doctor. Another thing that helps a lot with the heart rate and the fatigue is learning to balance resting with moving. Just resting all day makes me feel so much worse, mostly because it feels like all of my muscles seize up and it exacerbates the tachycardia whenever I do have to get up. So on a regular day, I will spend at least half an hour in bed after waking, just resting, and then gradually sitting up (while leaning against the wall), and then working my way up to getting up. Once I am up, I try not to immediately stand at the sink washing dishes or the stove cooking breakfast, but instead I walk around doing little things around the house, talking to people, going outside in the yard if it isn’t too cold, etc. This seems to keep my heart rate from spiking so high, which seems to keep the baseline lower for the day somehow. When I do need to stand in one place for awhile, I try to shift my weight a lot, sometimes I stand on one foot (don’t laugh, it helps! 😊), and I take short breaks to walk around. For the first few months, I also had to take breaks from sitting at the table (during school, eating meals) to get up and walk around a bit. But even now, and things are a lot better now, I have to take breaks during dinner prep to sit with my feet curled up (not flat on the floor, as that still allows the blood to pool in the lower legs), or to lie down on the couch for a few minutes. Cooking dinner can feel like a marathon, but if you pace yourself, it gradually gets better. I think I got quite a bit better when I stopped lying down so much and started sitting more. My favorite sitting position is curled up sideways against the back of the couch. Again, this gives your heart a chance to rest, and seems to bring blood to your brain. If you feel up to it, go outside and take even a five minute wallk, and then come back in and rest for a few minutes. If you can work your way up to doing that several times a day, you can start to recondition your body to being upright more. If you are feeling faint, though, you need more rest and less movement. It is a weird balancing act that often seems contradictory, but it has helped me to feel much better overall. More in a bit! We are headed out to take a short walk.

This is a fantastic article. I had a shorter one that my sister sent me that I was going to link, but this one is much better. Thank you!

Yes! My husband’s massages are sometimes the only thing that gets me through the day. I often feel like my muscles are literally all knotted up, especially in my neck, shoulders, and back. Anything he massages (or even lightly touches), feels better as long as he is doing it. I sometimes want to cry if he doesn’t have time to do it, because the difference is that stark. Also, yes, dietary changes and vitamins are part of what have helped me feel better.

The best way I have found is to just sit on the bed with my legs curled up near me. Just don’t let them hang off the bed, because that seems to raise the heart rate somewhat. And just try to stay still and breathe regularly.

I have a tentative diagnosis and am somewhat better after making a lot of lifestyle changes. I just want busymama to tell me what she thinks before I write another novel! 😊But I will share what has worked for me here in a bit.

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re still feeling so poorly! This is just a shot in the dark, as your symptoms sound so close to mine, but maybe you have developed POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). Although it is more common in teens and women in their 20’s, it can definitely come on in the aftermath of a virus. I was quite ill starting in late February of this year with some yucky virus, and although there was no testing then, I suspect it may have been Covid based upon symptoms and how long I was sick. I had major cold symptoms through Easter, and then I finally got better. But I was left with a set of symptoms that seemed to come on suddenly at the end: dizziness/wooziness, extreme pressure/pain in my head, especially in the back of my skull, a feeling of weakness in my muscles, heavy legs, a racing heart rate, tightness in my chest, and extreme fatigue. All of this continued for weeks and was very debilitating. I was basically couch-bound for most of the day, as every time I tried to do much of anything, my legs got so shaky and I felt so dizzy that I thought I was going to fall over. i went to my doctor a couple of times and got extensive bloodwork done, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. My doctor was stumped, and he said that if it continued, I should probably see a neurologist (we both thought MS might be possible, although not likely). I continued to have symptoms through the summer, and the heavy legs thing got worse. I did a bunch more internet research and settled on Chronic Fatigue Syndome as a real possibility. And as I researched that, I stumbled upon POTS, which I had never heard of before, but which seemed like an even better fit. I used my pulse ox reader to do a poor man’s tilt table test. POTS is primarily diagnosed by a change in heartrate upon standing of 30 bpm within five minutes. I sat on the bed with my feet up, and let my heart rate settle down as slow and steady as it would get. I then stood up with my pulse ox reader still on my finger and just stood still, not moving at all, which I discovered brought my heavy legs on very quickly. And within less than a minute, my heart rate went up over 40 bpm (to over 120). It stayed there as long as I stood there, but if I moved, it slowed somewhat (but still stayed fairly high). If I stood still again, it would speed back up. The only thing that would slow it all the way back down was sitting or lying down, with my feet up off the floor, but if I did this, it would slow back down in less than a minute. I repeated this off and on for the next few days, and it was always the same. I don’t want to say more until you have tried it (do you have a pulse ox reader?), but I could have literally written your recent posts. I can tell you what has helped me if this sounds to you like what is going on. (((((Hugs)))))

I’ll share! I love my church! We attend Lover’s Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. It’s a very inclusive church, with a really good mix of Liberals and Conservatives, and a very loving place. Our mission statement is “Loving ALL People into Relationship with Jesus Christ”, and they really do mean ALL people! The United Methodist Church is basically going through a split over LGBTQ inclusivity, and I’m proud to say that my church has helped lead the way on the inclusive side! Our head pastor is an incredible leader, and his sermons are always inspiring. His current sermon series is all about Social Justice. Our church is also known for its music and amazing pipe organs. They livestream 4 services every Sunday, at 8,9,10, and 11:00. They have a Facebook page, a YouTube Channel, and a website, llumc.org. They also have Sunday school classes, small groups, and evening prayers, all online. I am proud of my church for remaining closed throughout the pandemic. United Methodists have “Do No Harm” in our tenets of faith, and we take it very seriously. My family (myself, dh, ds18, and ds15) did the music this past Sunday at the 8 & 11:00 services. We sang a hymn, a quartet, and a duet (dh and I). Our music minister has done a wonderful job of planning great music every week, despite the lack of choir. I am linking to the 11:00 Traditional service.

I just did! 😊

I agree! I will definitely share your post with my husband. My oldest son said something similar at the breakfast table this morning. I was saying that their Dad was going to practice teaching in a mask to get used to it, and he said, “The kids should get used to seeing Dad in a mask too!”.

The air purifier we decided on is this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M6YMWNA/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1 The reviews are great, and it says it filters down to 0.3 microns. The HEPA filter also has an antimicrobial layer that says it kills viruses, bacteria, and fungi, which is awesome, because there are lots of those recirculating through school air systems even on a non-pandemic year. The masks we got are a bit expensive, but we’ve been very happy with them. They are called Sonomasks, and they are made by a cool startup company in Israel called Sonovia. They are woven from thread infused with zinc oxide, and they actually kill bacteria and viruses. You can wear the mask multiple times in a row without washing it, and they are rated for up to 100 washings. https://sonoviatech.com I was skeptical at first, but I looked at the research they have done, and it looks pretty solid. They just sent something out last week in an email saying that the masks had been tested in an independent lab in Austria with SARS-Cov2 and that they neutralized 99.99%. 😊 We bought a ten pack to share with my parents and my sister and her husband, which brought the price down to a more reasonable cost per mask. They are quite comfortable, easy to breathe through, and they are not hot, which is huge for living in the humid South! My husband has worn his for several hours in a row a few times, and he feels that he will be able to wear it for a full day of teaching and coaching. All four of us in our household wear them whenever we have to go anywhere.

My husband is also a high school teacher (in Texas). His district will start school online (for the first six weeks), and he plans to wear a mask any time he is in a campus building, even when alone in his classroom or office. His district has not announced yet whether they will have to teach from campus or home, but we are fully expecting it to be the former. He plans to teach from either his classroom or his office (he is also the tennis coach) wearing a mask. He will likely have to teach live online, and he said that he will primarily teach using a whiteboard app so that his masked face is not what the kids see. The masks my family got are very comfortable for all-day wear, and they have head straps rather than ear loops, which also helps quite a bit. I don’t think it’s overkill at all. Our youngest son has T1 diabetes, and my husband is determined not to get this virus. In our minds, sitting in an air-conditioned building means you may be breathing in the virus from your co-workers in another room. He also plans to use a HEPA air purifier, and go outside between class periods. We hope that he will be able to come home for lunch most days, and all of his tennis coaching responsibilities will be outdoors (also masked). He sees this as practice and habit-building for when school comes back in person. He wants this all to feel routine by the time he has to be in the room with the kids. I hope this helps! Let me know if you want the details on the air purifier or the particular kind of mask he is using. Hang in there! I have been beside myself with worry all summer about how this is all going to go. The unknown aspects are incredibly stressful!

I am glad to hear it! The world needs more people right now who are open to the idea that it is important to protect the high-risk people and try to stop or at least greatly slow down the spread of the virus. I do not necessarily think that you are arguing. But I have definitely heard others on this board and conservative media personalities arguing that masks will make people sicker. There does not appear to be any scientific evidence of this, however. Someone on this board posted an article the other day from a doctor that was arguing this, but he wasn’t backing up his arguments with science, and the website was for an anti-globalism, anti-science, the-government-is-out-to-get-us website, so it was difficult to take it seriously. I think it is important to get our science from scientists and science publications.

I almost posted this exact same thing! Thank you for saying it.

Exactly! I was saying that the anti-masking people keep arguing that healthy people should not have to wear masks, only sick people should. And then when science is presented that shows that if asymptomatic people wear masks, the virus doesn’t spread as much, the argument becomes that if asymptotic people wear masks, the masks might make them sicker.

True, and I do think this should be studied! It seems like this might help to convince people. Or maybe not, because I do agree with the poster earlier who said that it seems more and more that the anti-mask crowd wants to be the anti-mask crowd. They are not hoping that masks will prove to be the answer here, because they don’t want to wear them. Or maybe because they are afraid that they will be made to wear them?? I do understand that people are concerned about their rights, but I don’t understand at all the argument that wearing masks is unfair and against some people’s rights, so we should all accept that we are going to get the virus, which takes away the safety for all of the people who are trying not to get the virus! My son is diabetic, so I care very much about this issue. If most people would wear masks, he might be able to leave the house. But other than walks in the neighborhood, he hasn’t been literally anywhere in over two months! 😕 Because we live in Texas, the land of the free.

Also, isn’t the argument being used for not wearing masks that only sick people should have to wear masks??

Jumping in here...sorry! As far as I know, there are not any studies on this. But in hospitals, every single patient that is admitted with this virus is masked, all of the time. Every picture I have seen of any patient in a hospital bed during this crisis has been wearing a mask. And not N95’s, but just surgical masks. And in all of the studies, the cloth masks work pretty much exactly like surgical masks. If the masks are not making them sicker over the weeks they spend in the hospital, and we know that many have recovered and gone home, this is probably not an issue. I cannot think of any reason why the masks would make infected people sicker in their homes but not in the hospital.

Thanks so much for starting this thread! I will be sending this info out to my family members tomorrow. I've been trying to figure out how to get the info out in a way that people might believe it and not just think I'm nuts! 😊

I see you have read many studies on this. 😊 So at least you won't think I'm crazy! 😂 And for the record, I think you and @ElizabethB are on to something!

So I have been wanting to jump in with my thoughts on this, as it has been eating my brain for 2 days, but I don't usually have time to both read here and post. So here goes... When you first started talking about Vitamin D and Covid, I was mostly interested from a preventative standpoint, as my younger son is Type-1 diabetic, and I was quite desperate for anything that might help him ward off the virus. I was especially interested in how (in the influenza study) it seemed to keep the virus from getting into the cells in the first place. One of my primary concerns with my son is that if he gets a high fever, like most diabetics, his blood sugar gets very high very quickly. The idea of him having a fever for days and days is quite frightening. But you also talked about Vitamin D potentially helping to balance the immune system, thus potentially helping to keep the cytokine storm at bay. And as Type-1 is an autoimmune disease, this also sounded promising. I started all of us on Vitamin D3 supplements that day. I am considering raising the amount we are taking based on what you have posted above. But when I read an article the other night talking about many Covid patients who have died having mysterious severe blood clots, something clicked in my brain. And I went and looked it up, and sure enough, Vitamin D deficiency is a leading cause of blood clots....and high blood pressure...and heart disease. And as you said, obese people often have low levels due to fat absorption issues. And people with darker skin have trouble making D. And older people have absorption issues and don't tend to go outside. And children tend to have good levels due to the fact that they do go outside. There is also a connection with diabetes, at least with Type-1! I wish I could find it, and I will look, but I read this like 30-page study a couple of weeks ago about how they have looked into the connection with autoimmune diseases in general, and that there was a major correlation with Type-1. In fact, there are researchers who now believe that Vitamin D deficiency might also be a major cause of Type-1 diabetes, like a direct cause. They are studying that more with the hopes of keeping children from developing it in the first place. The study did say that there was evidence that Type-2 might also be connected. And people with Type-2 tend to have at least one other Covid risk factor, like high blood pressure or heart disease, so there might be a connection there either way. I will try to find some of the studies that I found, especially the diabetes one, because my brain is telling me, this might be the key. Maybe the people who are getting severely ill from this horrible virus are Vitamin D deficient, and the level of D in any given person might be the (or at least one) determining factor in the degree of illness that develops.