Endo with Covid – Transcript
Arti Shah: Hello, lovelies. My name is Arti Shah, and welcome to another episode of A Ray of Sunshine, a journey of an endo warrior and everything in between. Welcome home.
In today’s episode, we discuss covid and endometriosis. Endometriosis does not increase susceptibility to covid 19 infections, but alters the manifestation of the disease. From my personal experience, because I did get hit with covid in December 2021, it exacerbated all the endometriosis symptoms. Many of us endometriosis patients suffer from high levels of stress and detriments in mental health due to painful symptoms that affect many aspects of our daily life. Persistent stress leading to disease exacerbation is what I experienced when I had covid, for example, a few of Omicron symptoms. One of them being tiredness and fatigue and muscle aches is a symptom of endometriosis. So what Covid did for me is exacerbated that symptom of endometriosis.
The first four days, whilst I was battling covid, including endometriosis, my body aches were just unbearable. Covid mixed with neuropathy from the endometriosis led me to nights of just crying because I would wake up in the middle of the night in agony, especially when my right hand was frozen and the fingers were bent and I just couldn’t move it.
So what I did do, just to manage it and get through, is apply magnesium oil and some other oils that I use and start getting mobility to ease the pain. Those first few nights were just horrific to say the least. I didn’t know what was going, what was coming, what was happening. I just wanted this saga to end.
Another symptom of Omicron was headache. I suffer from migraines, and this exacerbated that too. The Omicron headache was way worse than a migraine, and I just thought, when is this ending? Breathlessness for me was another Omicron symptom. Again, breathlessness is a symptom for endometriosis, so that together with the breathlessness from Covid was a fight for gasping for breath.
Initially, how I knew I had Covid was because I felt it. I felt very different. I am very in tune with my body, and I listen to how my body responds to certain things and speaks to me because living with a chronic illness such as endometriosis, you have to be very in tune with your body because there are triggers and indicators that actually snap you into thinking there’s something bigger or something that’s going wrong in your body. So as I was having a conversation with my mom, I literally could not breathe, and I was so breathless trying to construct a sentence. And this wasn’t the normal breathlessness that I experienced from endometriosis. This was far more exacerbated, and this is when I knew something’s not right, hence why I went and did a PCR test and tested positive with Omicron.
Another symptom of Omicron was having a high pulse rate. My pulse rate was so high that most of the days it was in between 115 to 135. Now, anxiety for some is a symptom for endometriosis due to the stress factor of pain levels. Having a high pulse rate mixed with endometriosis anxiety felt like my heart was put on a treadmill on the fastest speed ever possible.
It was just ridiculous. Out of the 17 days of having Covid, I threw up for the first 14 days. Nauseousness is a symptom for endo. Now this with Covid plus the burning sensation in the throat due to Covid felt like I was choking every time I would throw up. It literally was a living nightmare. I couldn’t understand why I kept testing positive for a very long time, so let me break this down for you.
I obviously tested positive on the first day when I did my PCR test. I then did my PCR test on the 10th day, and I was still positive. I couldn’t understand why I kept testing positive for a long time. So let me break it down for you. I obviously tested positive on the first day when I did my PCR test. I then did my PCR test and on the 10th day I was still positive.
And here in Kenya, when we do our PCR tests, we’re given the CT levels. And that is something I just could not understand. Because on the first day of my PCR test, my CT levels were at 35.54, which indicates a positive result for covid. But when I did my 10th day test, my levels were at 26.13. So this had dropped and it was really bothering me because I am one person who needs to understand what is going on, especially when it comes to my body.
So I started making phone calls, I started doing my research, and I eventually understood how the CT levels work. My concern at the start of having Covid was that my seven year old nephew was with me, and we were playing together at a very close range. By this time, I did not realize, I obviously was positive.
Fortunately, as I got to understand how the CT levels work, I realized that I was not contagious when I was with him, hence why he did not test positive. On my PCR test, which was done on the 10th day, the levels had dropped to 26.13, making me very contagious. I then on the 14th day, went to do another PCR test, and I was still positive, but the CT levels had gone up to 30.93 and 31.64, which means I had started shedding.
So then the day after my 15 day, I did a lateral flow test, which indicated I was negative and hence why I stopped isolating within the house. On the 17th day, the PCR test was finally, This is all research that I have done based on my personal experience, and it may vary for a lot of people. And remember, I have endometriosis, hence making covid extremely difficult and intense for myself.
The pain just got to another level on its own, which was quite scary to say the least. I thought endometriosis was a demonn that I had to deal with until I met Covid and those two together just created havoc in my body. But I say this, not to scare any of you away. I came out stronger, more resilient, and I now have a boosted immune system.
Yes, I was put on a lot of medication for the treatment and to combat any further damage to any of my organs. I was also put on steroids just to reduce the pain because it was too much and due to the exacerbated symptoms of endometriosis. I know all this medication affected my organs. Hence why I had post covid checkup with my doctor and resumed acupuncture to start the cleansing process internally.
Covid also delayed my periods, and I got them seven days later, which was kind of a blessing, as I don’t know how I would’ve managed having a period, endo pain, and a flare up of all the endo symptoms together with covid, which had already exacerbated endometriosis and all its symptoms. And talking about periods, the cycle definitely changed because I did get my period seven days after and it was much lighter and last at a shorter duration. I normally have a period cycle of seven to eight days, and this one lasted about five to six days. But remember, this is just my first cycle post covid, so I will be monitoring the effects of covid and my periods.
If this is the case, then I will definitely be grateful for some light dealing with Covid as it changed my pattern of my menstrual cycle. I laugh because we must find humor in every challenge or every storm that we are handed, because during that storm you cry so much, but eventually you do laugh about it.
Remember not to succumb to the isolation as well because it can get boring. But for me, the symptoms were so bad that the boredom didn’t even allow itself to take over because I was either steaming, I was either throwing up, I was either crying, and I was in so much pain trying to manage it all. I’ve done this post and I’ve shared my experience with you all because no matter how bad the storms are in our lives, we are brave, resilient, warriors.
We come out fighting, we come out stronger, and we come out braver than ever before. And remember, it’s absolutely okay to walk through your emotions. It’s okay to ask for help, and if you need support, please reach out. I had moments through this Covid journey when I just thought, How am I going to get myself through this?
It was hard. It was difficult. The first six days I just wanted to cry and then it got better. But during the 10th and 11th day, it worsened. Again, I felt emotions taking all over myself, but I had to do a mental health check. It is very important to be mindful of the space your head starts to wander in because it is so easy to get caught up in those emotions in a way that you may not know how to come back from it.
It is very important that you understand that this is just a phase. It will pass and it will get better. I also just wanted to mention what helped me a lot during this time of covid was that lying on my stomach as much as I could for 80% of the day helps the covid not infecting your lungs. Steaming three times a day helped a lot.
And a breathing exercise that is called Simha Kriya by Sadhguru helped me a lot. I am not promoting any of these modalities, but this is what helped me. So make sure whatever helps you in terms of breathing techniques, you must do, because this helps a lot to manage symptoms of covid and for me, symptoms of endometriosis too.
I say all this from my own personal experience. It is very personalized and different from each individual to individual. It is not the same journey. So what I went through, some of you may go through it in a much better manner at an easier and shorter timeframe, or some of you may have it worse, but whatever the case, you can get through this and you will get through it because you are a fighter.