Do I have long covid?
I've been disabled and off work for almost 4 years now due to mental health reasons. I've had the same psychiatrist since 2019/2020 so I've been fortunate to have had constant follow-ups, I tried every treatment that was offered to me (TMS, day hospital programs, ketamine treatments, etc) and have tried a countless number of medications since 2018 because mental health issues have always been a part of my life.
In the past 4 years, I haven't had any signs of improvement and have been feeling more and more lethargic, no matter how much I sleep, I never feel rested. I have no motivation and am just completely exhausted every morning due to nightlong nightmares every single night.
Long covid hadn't occurred to me until a few days ago. Insomnia/depression and other mental health issues have always been issues in my life. I've always had depressive episodes, but none that have lasted that long or were that intense. I'm also very medicated and it's hard to compare when every memory before the last 5 minutes is already foggy.
What leads me to believe that this might be what it is:
-Constant fatigue, lack of motivation and complete lethargy
-Insomnia, difficulty falling asleep (I take sleeping pills every day), and difficulty staying asleep (despite the pills).
-Affected cognitive abilities and severe brain fog.
-Joint and muscle aches.
-I feel like I need 3-5 days to recover from any social interaction, medical appointment or simple task.
-Digestive issues.
-Hormonal issues that I didn't have before (acne, despite having done an accutane treatment as a teen, thyroid imbalance and messed up menstruations).
On top of my pre-existing diagnoses of depression, dysthymia, GAD, PTSD, CPTSD and my neuro divergence related diagnoses, it may not have occurred to me or my doctors that long covid could be the culprit (adding on to the existing issues).
I got covid in 2022, a few months before going on leave for disability for the current depressive episode.
Sorry for the long text, but I would really appreciate the feedback from people who are the most likely to understand the struggles of long covid, and the excruciating task of constantly having to justify an invisible disability.
I will obviously reach out to my doctor as soon as it's possible to get an appointment, but I wanted some feedback to figure out if this could be a possibility.
Thank you everyone ✨
Edits: grammar-spelling