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Comment by krono | Hacker News Reader

Funny, I was just searching if the temperature dysregulation - randomly sweating and feeling hot or cold without a change in body temperature - might have anything to do with my covid infection two months ago (the answer seems to be: maybe, who knows!).

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FYI, temperature dysregulation can be a common sign of hormonal balance issues (thyroid, etc could be a factor), so if it's causing you a lot of trouble you should see if your doctor can check the levels of key hormones. IIRC testosterone and estrogen are two key ones that can be out of whack for various reasons and will cause temperature dysregulation. The test is pretty cheap and easy to do with a regular blood draw so it shouldn't be too hard to get it done if they haven't already checked it before.

Cheers, I'll bring it up with the doc!

Luckily he's one to take it well when his patients bring up internet-sourced thoughts or suggestions :)

Thermogenesis is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), dysfunction of the ANS is called dysautonomia and it is a central component to Long Covid. There are a variety of medical interventions that are helpful for dysautonomia.

The light searching I've been doing since my last comment had indeed been leading me in that direction. I even came across a mention of this here on HN from a few months ago[1]. A sibling comment to yours also suggested a hormonal imbalance as a possible cause which can't hurt getting myself checked for.

Some anacdata: This strange temperature dysregulation feels somewhat similar to what a too high dosage of my ADHD meds does to me.

Anyway thanks for your comment. I'll be seeing a doctor about this for sure.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31512100

Doctors are not great at managing dysautonomia if they even know what it is. It’s a niche area. You’ll probably have to DIY research on it and ask for the meds you want.

Yup, ADHD medicine will activate the sympathetic nervous system and too much of that will cause dysautonomia.

If you have LongCovid and ADHD it’s reasonably likely you’re also hypermobile and have a condition called hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). It runs in families on an autosomal dominant basis. Doctors rarely know anything about hEDS either. The normals tests done by those that do have a 90% false negative rate.

I was actually tested for hEDS (amongst other things) in the past because my knees can do some funny tricks and I had some pain there. Turned out not to be EDS but instead the problem was caused by the kneecaps not tracking well - that was easily fixed by exercises.

You know your stuff well!

Thanks, in case you missed it though, 90% false negative means you could have received a negative on your test but it can easily be false. The normal tests are almost worthless, especially for men where testosterone helps a lot and reduces flexibility. People with hEDS also often have T4 -> T3 conversion problems and can benefit from supplemental T3. Endocrinologist tend not to know this which is strange because it’s kind of their job so it’s yet another thing you’ll have to figure out yourself. The proper way to check for hEDS is by using to rare comorbitities which co-occur in families with hEDS at a vastly higher rate, i.e. it’ll be almost impossible for a family to have this many seemingly independent things wrong with them by chance without a common hEDS cause. See https://ohtwist.com/about-eds/comorbidities for an extensive but by no means exhaustive list. One of the things not on the list is general and local anesthesia resistance. Dentists will not believe that you’re still in pain after using 2x the dose, or you make wake up under general.

I should really get tested for that. I have ADHD and my fingers can do weird crap and I have had 2 suffers and 1 person who has a similar condition tell me I should get checked for it... I just feel weird saying "hey doctor some people told me I might have weird bendy disease, can I have a specialist referral". Without any actual complaints I feel silly

Late response, apologies.

Saw the doctor today and brought this all to him. He has opened cases with and referred me to two specialists: one for the potential long covid symptoms, and one who will be taking another and more thorough look at the hypermobility and associated symptoms.

This information would have never reached me in such an actionable format if it weren't for your detailed comments. Thank you, I really appreciate it!

My pleasure, it’s a bit of a hobby for me. I hope you manage to find your answers.

I’ve been feeling that a lot since I caught Covid a few months back too, thanks for mentioning, now I can look it up in context

It's mentioned in most official resources that I've come across as a potential "long-covid" symptom, but I don't recall ever having seen it listed as one of the researched criteria - those seem mostly limited to just the (I suppose much more prevalent) cognitive impairments and exhaustion as in the linked article also.

It's definitely a symptom of COVID. I know someone who had COVID and one day they coughed suddenly, dropped their iPhone on the floor and since then even the iPhone's temperature sensor doesn't work anymore. This is how infectious and terrible COVID is, just one cough caused the loss of temperature sensation!

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