Didn't know which thread to put this in... (Covid content)

judit on Saturday, December 5, 2020 – 06:29 pm

Forums:

Other Stuff

This is written by a sweet friend of mine in her 30s, posted on Facebook. I've known her since she was 5 or 6. What a terrifying ordeal. I had heard she had "long-hauler" ongoing symptoms but I didn't know what the specifics were. Jeez. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

I’m a very private person, but in light of the recent explosive growth of COVID cases and people still not taking it seriously, I feel compelled to share my experience.

I had a presumed COVID infection in March (no testing was available) after travel to the east coast and southern CA, just before the whole world shut down. It was like a really bad flu, but I got better in 2 weeks. I felt lucky.

Then, after fainting out of the blue in late July, I spent nearly all of August and September of this year in bed. Most days I was too fatigued to be upright (even sitting). I had almost daily episodes of what they call ‘brain fog’, which felt like everything was in slow motion and I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. When I tried standing or walking, I would often get lightheaded and feel like I was going to pass out. I had hypersensitivity to lights, sounds, touch, smells (I sometimes even smelled things that weren’t there). I slept a lot. I couldn’t work. My husband provided constant care for me during this time.

After a terrifying month of tests to rule out stroke, seizure, tumor, encephalitis, I was found to have dysautonomia (dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system), specifically a type called POTS. I had never even heard of it, but apparently many people with POTS develop it after a viral illness like COVID. It all started to make sense. Thankfully, POTS can improve with management and some people fully recover. I have improved with lifestyle changes (wearing medical grade compression tights, fluid and salt loading, recumbent exercise, using a shower chair, and a lot of rest), but I’m not back to my baseline by any means. Simply put, when I stand still and don’t engage my leg muscles, blood begins to pool in my feet and hands as my heart rate rises to try and increase circulation to my brain. Within 5 minutes I become short of breath and lightheaded. Within 10 minutes I could pass out. Given my trajectory so far, I believe I will fully recover. In all honesty this is something that I must believe for the moment, so that I don’t lose hope.

When I was struggling in August there was already evidence that COVID affected many organ systems, not just the lungs. However, very little was known about potential long-term effects of COVID for those with ‘mild’ cases. What has become clear in recent months is that my experience is hardly unique (see comment below for some studies/reports). There are larger studies being undertaken now to examine long-term effects. This work will get published eventually. Unfortunately, I fear it will be too late to be useful in making the case for more stringent measures to control this virus. Years from now we may be looking back on the toll of this pandemic in terms of not only deaths, but also chronic illness and disability among a not insignificant number of survivors.

... just wear a mask, physically distance and avoid gatherings. Vaccines are coming. You do not want to risk it with this virus.

Main menu

Show:

Info:

Utilities:

Didn't know which thread to put this in... (Covid content)

Forums: