“I hate being sick, I feel like a superhero with no powers.” – Unknown

After almost three years of staying home, wearing masks, getting jabs and boosters, the Covid-19 virus finally struck my family two weeks ago.

This is my first real bout with illness following my diagnosis 5.5 years ago (long time – no sick…I know!), and having gotten through the worst of it, here is what I have learned about being sick when you have a chronic neurodegenerative disease.

Medication: All medication to alleviate my Covid-19 symptoms must be carefully considered so as not to interfere with PD meds. I take two different PD medications; Carbidopa/Levodopa and Rasagiline. CL is a pretty agreeable drug, but Rasagiline ‘does not get along with others’ in the medication playground. Something as mainstream as Advil is out for me. Thankfully, basic acetaminophen is an acceptable friend. However, the shelves of pain relievers and cough/cold meds are pretty much empty right now so options are severely limited.

Exercise: The most effective and accessible treatment for my PD is daily vigorous exercise. With the cough, fatigue, and achy body that Covid-19 has bestowed upon me, exercise is not an option. I am already feeling the setback that this will lead to as the stiffness and rigidity will take over without that essential movement.

Sleep: Sleep disruption and PD is common. Add to that the incessant Covid-19 cough and you get total sleep disfunction. Decrease in sleep leads to increased PD symptoms. More setback.

Isolation: Being contagious means no appointments. No physio. No osteo. I rely heavily upon appointments like this but have had to cancel. More and more setback.

Loss of smell: People have reported losing the ability to smell with Covid-19. Loss of smell (hyposmia) is also an early sign of PD and I lost my sense of smell many years before any other PD symptoms showed up. I wrote about it here: The Earliest Sign. So this particular Covid-19 symptom had zero impact, on me, other than concern over the neurological implications. The nose knows more than you think. Losing your sense of smell, either temporarily or long-term should be a concern for everyone.

Post Covid/Long Covid: According to the Government of Canada website, the most common symptoms of Long-Covid are: “fatigue, memory problems, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, anxiety and depression, general pain and discomfort, difficulty thinking or concentrating, post traumatic stress disorder” (Post Covid-19 condition). Well, much on this list of goodies is quite similar to what many people with PD live with daily. I sure hope that this virus cruising through my body is not thinking about sticking around – opting to stay dormant and bring on more of the same at a later date.

The Great Unknown: Do I have an increased risk of developing complications? Who knows? From what I have read and been told by my medical team, I don’t think so. But a virus has a mind of it’s own and it will be years before we know the full implications of this pandemic. I had the Epstein Barr virus and the Meningococcal virus in my early 20’s and just look at me now! A virus is an uninvited guest, an intruder whose sole objective is to bring more unruly guests into your home to take over and completely wreck your party. Now it’s time to clean up the mess left behind.

and finally, the most important thing that I will take away from this…

Do not get sick: that’s it.