Originally Posted by canklecat

It's more likely you're experiencing long haul COVID symptoms. It's hit me harder and longer than I'd expected, and has affected other folks I know aged 50 or older who caught COVID and were sick-ish but not hospitalized.

After getting sick in late September I went from riding 500 miles a month, and jogging and walking, to not riding outdoors at all since October, doing only a few hours on the indoor trainer, and my jogging has sharply declined from about 20-30 miles a week to maybe 3-5 miles a week. I mostly walk now, about 3-5 miles several times a week. And I'm often so exhausted that I nap as soon as I get home. I used to feel energized and productive after exercising, but not now.

There have been some reports of reactions to the COVID vaccines, but relatively few and mostly anecdotes without hard data.

FWIW, it's possible to get a vaccine or immunization and still get sick from the disease. Happened to me in around 1981. At the time I worked in hemodialysis with patients who had kidney failure, and some patients had hepatitis. I caught hepatitis somehow, despite never getting an accidental needle stick. My family doctor gave me an injection of gamma globulin (now called immune globulin), which *can* help, but in my case it was too late. I got very sick, although the gamma globulin may have helped prevent long term damage. I had to quit college for the semester and had low energy for months. I was only 24 at the time, in top physical condition, but it took months to recover. And I never was as strong or energetic again. Maybe the reaction was to the gamma globulin, but there's no way of knowing.

And while it may seem odd to need multiple boosters for COVID, that isn't new. My childhood shot record shows I got four immunizations for polio and a few other common childhood diseases. I don't remember all of those, but the record shows I got them. I suspect the doubters now about vaccines simply forgot how many vaccines they received in childhood.

According to my immunologist and research I've read, the normal prescribed dosages of nasal and bronchial inhalers are too small to have any significant effect on our metabolism or performance.

For example, I was concerned about albuterol affecting my bone density, because I already have osteopenia (fairly common with aging). My doctors, including my endocrinologist, said the dosages of asthma and allergy inhalers are too small to have a detrimental effect.

Which is why when pro cyclists have been suspended, banned or investigated for elevated levels of even permissible inhalers, it's almost certainly because they are ingested these in large doses far beyond the normal prescriptions for asthma. They're taking these in large amounts for the relatively small benefit of gaining lean muscle.

It's also possible that the so-far *casual* connection between pro cyclists and loss of bone density may not only be due to pursuing a niche sport to extremes. It's possible the study subjects were also using or misusing other medications that affect bone density. Unfortunately on bicycle forums these studies were misinterpreted to the point that recreational cyclists, even those who ride around 500 miles a month as I used to, were equally vulnerable to bone density loss. There's no study to support this. There's certainly no evidence that casual recreational cycling is detrimental to our bone density health. Bone breakage from falls, sure. Bone density loss, no. We aren't riding 8 hours a day, thousands of miles a month, and competing in grueling race schedules, subsisting on diets that keep our weight artificially low.

For example, my thyroid failed after developing thyroid cancer in 2017-2018. The cancerous left lobe was removed. The right lobe was left intact but appears to have little or no function. I take levothyroxine to supplement thyroid function. But it's more difficult to replace parathyroid function which controls bone health.

So while my doctors are concerned about my taking Prednisone more often than absolutely necessary, they aren't concerned about my asthma and allergy inhalers.