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Lemmysfavoritebottle
Posts: 33
Joined: October 18th, 2021, 5:20 pm

Post by Lemmysfavoritebottle »

Hello, everyone.

I am a 25 year old man, who is struggling with an as-yet diagnosed chronic illness. I strongly suspect it to be PASC (Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2) or "Long Covid", but no viral test has ever come back positive. I first fell ill in April of 2020, and life has often been a struggle since. Though it's taken a year and a half, I've come to a state where I can do most of the things I had to give up. Still, when I get sick I can never tell if it's going to be some mild, distant thing or if it's going to incapacitate me completely. Daily life has therefore become a frightening ordeal, but I'm trying like hell to push through it and make something of myself yet. Before my illness began, and before the pandemic was declared, I was chasing after my dream of becoming a performing musician. It seems that, at least for now, that path in life has been closed off.

I still play my guitar, but not as much as I'd like to, as I'm often too busy to dedicate myself to music like I used to. Something I've been told a lot by doctors and nurses during appointments, and - I hate to say it - trips to the ER, was that I've got a great voice and I should utilize it. Many of them recommended podcasting, but I talk too much as it is already! I'm a motormouth, see - you get me started and I'll owe you a tube of super glue by the end of it because I'll talk your ear off. So, having been a fan of audiobooks for years now, I thought I'd give it a try. Though being restricted to work in the public domain may be somewhat limiting, I'm hoping that I'll be able to find, and maybe even contribute to some interesting literature. I'm curious - does much work written during, or written about the great war get covered in LibriVox? I suppose much of the literature of that time must be part of public domain, or will be soon. Wilfred Owen's war poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est", to this day sticks in the mind.

Well, nice to meet you all. Here's hoping for better days, aye? Cheers.
-Jared Shaw
lightcrystal
Posts: 1213
Joined: October 22nd, 2021, 10:55 pm
Location: Melbourne with kangaroos

Post by lightcrystal »

Welcome! Sorry to hear about your illness. Have you considered tests for things other than Covid? Epstein Barr [often called Chronic fatigue] virus, Lyme disease, various auto immune conditions, and even heavy metal poisoning, or trace mineral deficiencies [e.g magnesium], could all cause fatigue for a long time.
I use Linux. I also like penguins.
Lemmysfavoritebottle
Posts: 33
Joined: October 18th, 2021, 5:20 pm

Post by Lemmysfavoritebottle »

lightcrystal wrote: October 23rd, 2021, 5:12 pm Welcome! Sorry to hear about your illness. Have you considered tests for things other than Covid? Epstein Barr [often called Chronic fatigue] virus, Lyme disease, various auto immune conditions, and even heavy metal poisoning, or trace mineral deficiencies [e.g magnesium], could all cause fatigue for a long time.
Thank you! I appreciate your concern, and honestly, I wish I had more to write about than this illness. It's just swallowed up so much of my life - I feel like a year has been robbed from me, stolen away. I actually have seen a relatively large number of doctors, and I've got a number of appointments to go to. I've had a number of blood tests, and they've all come back pretty much fine. Maybe very slight elevations of certain levels, but nothing to indicate anything serious. It's strange, certainly. I'm pretty sure it's PASC, though - despite not having any test come back positive, the symptoms were almost word-for-word exactly what was described for covid. The only things I didn't have were a cough or loss of taste or smell. Similar to many PASC victims, my symptoms have lasted over a year now and no tests seem to yield any explanation as to what's causing them. While they seem to be resolving with time, some days are still really hard when flare-ups come.

That being said, I'm very glad to be here, and I hope to contribute as much as I can to this website. Here's to that, cheers!
-Jared Shaw
Bagpussbee
Posts: 67
Joined: October 23rd, 2021, 2:17 pm

Post by Bagpussbee »

Hi from a fellow newbie. I’m looking forward to hearing your dulcet tones! :D
🐝 🐝 🌸
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 38572
Joined: April 3rd, 2008, 3:55 am
Location: Melbourne,Australia

Post by annise »

We've quite a collection of WWI books - I'd like to have some German ones(translated in English) but they seem more difficult to find. As LV operates under USA copyright rules any written before 1926 is PD - other countries have different rules.
It could be a good hobby for you, you can do as much or as little as you feel up to.
Hope to here you round

Anne
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