32/M—Long COVID 2020 Journey-$15,000 Later
Background
I’m a 32-year-old Indian entrepreneur in Texas. I own and operate a real estate company with about 40 employees which I started while I was 20 years old and was thriving until I got hit with COVID.
Before COVID, I was in excellent health and extremely high-functioning mentally and physically. I had great memory, strong communication skills, plenty of energy, high motivation, sex drive and felt like I could work endlessly.
I caught COVID in June 2020 at age 26, well before any vaccines were available. I also never got vaccinated when they did come out later.
I don’t carry health insurance (that will change come November), so everything so far has been paid for out of pocket. I’ve spent a significant amount trying to figure this out, with some findings but no real solution yet.
At this point I’ve largely been managing my own medical journey because several doctors essentially told me my tests were normal, nothing major was wrong, or I was simply getting older.
My COVID Experience
During the infection, I completely lost my energy and motivation. I didn’t want to work, answer calls, socialize, or interact with anyone.
My highest fever was around 103.4°F, and the fever resolved within roughly three days.
Aside from fever & fatigue the only strong symptom I recall is developing a strange smell distortion where almost everything smelled like a burnt cigar — food, candles, marijuana, etc. (I did take a few puffs from a buddy’s cigar a week prior which I believe is the night I caught the virus)
By around day 5 I no longer felt severely sick, but the exhaustion and cigar smell remained.
About three weeks later I tried a NeilMed sinus rinse to curb the awful cigar smell which lingered on with little to no improvement since the onset. The burnt-cigar smell curbed by roughly 80% almost immediately, with the remaining 20% subsiding over the following week.
The fatigue and cognitive problems never went away.
Symptoms I Struggle With Today
-Inability to think critically (feel like my IQ dropped by 50 points)
-Brain Fog
-Terrible memory and recollection (short term & long term)
-Decline in diction/verbal fluency and ability to speak as professionally as before
-Chronic fatigue regardless of how much I sleep. Ex. I lie on the couch to watch TV or read emails on my phone, I fall asleep and literally drop the phone on my face
-More days with virtually no drive or energy than not
-Very low motivation
-Anhedonia-type symptoms
-Low Cortisol more often than not
-Low libido despite still being able to get erections
The biggest change is that I simply do not feel like the same person cognitively or motivationally that I was before COVID.
Testing / Treatments So Far
Function Health — Blood Testing App
I use Function Health for extensive blood work and tracking trends over time. I personally recommend it for anyone who wants a large amount of lab data organized in one place.
Amen Clinics SPECT Brain Scan — 2022
Nothing useful came from it. Report was that everything generally looked appropriate.
Endocrinology / Low Testosterone — 2022
Testing showed:
Total Testosterone: 223 ng/dL
Free Testosterone: 6.29 ng/dL
SHBG: 12.8 nmol/L
I never had hormone testing before COVID, so I have no idea what my normal testosterone levels were when I felt healthy.
I was placed on TRT and stayed on it for about three years.
TRT probably improved how I felt by around 20%, and at the time every bit helped.
However, I never experienced the dramatic improvements in energy, drive, motivation, cognition, libido, etc. that many men describe on TRT.
I also lost roughly 60% of my hair during those years.
I stopped TRT in December 2025.
Interestingly, I did not experience major negative effects immediately after stopping. Around five months later, my testosterone had essentially returned to my pre-TRT levels.
Gastroenterology — 2025
I had comprehensive stool testing for bacterial and gastrointestinal abnormalities. Nothing significant was found.
Pituitary MRI — 2026
A newer endocrinologist ordered a pituitary MRI. Nothing was found that explained the severity of my symptoms.
What I’m Doing Next
—ACTH stimulation test scheduled Monday to further evaluate adrenal function.
—Scheduling my first neurology appointment @ Baylor College of Medicine. As I’m increasingly wondering whether the primary problem is neurological rather than purely hormonal/endocrine.
What have you done that you feel others have not & have you found an underlying cause?
Has anything meaningfully bring your cognitive ability, energy, motivation, or personality back toward your pre-COVID baseline?
I am willing to spend as much money as I need to improve my situation. For me, on the business end, it’s more expensive for me to do nothing. Curing myself would allow me to make the investment back 10 fold, not to mention the priceless quality of life I would which all of us are after.