Post Covid Syndrome
Post COVID Syndrome
COVID-19 is a disease we are all familiar with and know, that to some, has been fatal. Patients who suffer from COVID-19 and are hospitalized have long term affects from COVID-19. What is surprising is some patients can experience symptoms weeks or months after having COVID even with just mild symptoms. These new issues have been marked as Post COVID syndrome (Mayo Clinic, 2021).
(World Health Organization, n.d.).
Symptoms that typically linger or last longer than several weeks include:
- Cough
- loss of energy
- loss of taste
- loss of smell
- muscle aches
- memory or issues with concentration
- tachycardia
- muscle aches
(Mayo Clinic, 2021)
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of COVID-19 is generally made via nose, throat, or saliva samples. Most commonly used is nasal swabs (Mayo Clinic, 2022). Lingering symptoms after typically a couple of weeks could mean someone is experiencing post COVID syndrome (Mayo Clinic, 2021)
COVID-19 has shown to cause long term damage to the heart, lungs, and brain. In the heart COVID-19 has increased the risk of heart failure or other complication due to damage that occurs from the disease. In the lungs COVID-19 has shown to damage alveoli, the tiny air sacs that exchange oxygen in the lungs (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Consistently there have also been shown scar tissue that can lead to long term breathing problems. Strokes and seizures have been linked to neurological issues caused by COVID-19. COVID-19 also, can cause a tendency of clots to form. This is problematic as clot can go to brain, lungs, liver, heart, or kidneys (Mayo Clinic, 2021).
Population
Post COVID syndrome affects 10-35% of those diagnosed with COVID-19 (Pavli et al., 2021). COVID primarily affects elderly and individuals with multiple co-morbities. However, it has affected young individuals as well.
According
to the northwestern medicine website many people have varying affects long
after COVID. This website shows you the testimony of individuals who are
trying to recover from the Coronavirus. One individual, Linda, reports
that after having COVID she stills has shortness of breath and fatigue. A year after recovering from COVID, Linda still has cognition issues. She still feels "foggy" headed and sees a neurologist to help with this (Northwestern Medicine Staff, 2022).
Globally we accounted for 349 million cases of COVID-19 (COVID Live - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer, 2022). This number will continue to rise as I post this blog (COVID Live - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer, 2022). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there have been 70,206, 220 confirmed cases of COVID in the United States (CDC, 2020). In Kentucky 1.07 million cases have been confirmed (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, n.d.). Currently in the county I live in Kentucky which is Daviess County, there have been 25,368 cases of COVID confirmed (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, n.d.). Statistically 30% of all these cases will experience some lingering symptoms or long term effects (Pavli et al., 2021).
Treatment
Currently the CDC asks providers to be transparent. That is we let patients know that disease and symptom management will change as new evidence surfaces. Currently we can only manage symptoms as they arise. For example, give cough medication for cough relief. Breathing exercises for lung strengthening and increasing lung capacity. For fatigue based on severity hospitals may have to create a rehabilitation programs with physical, occupation, and speech therapy (CDC, 2020).
(The Ranch Tennessee, n.d.).
During all of this providers may have to follow-up more frequently with patients. They may have to follow up every 2-3 months and increase visits if symptoms worsen or if patients are not progressing. This is a very challenging time as patients have battled weeks of getting over COVID to find they may have symptoms for the long haul. It is very frustrating and our best approach is to manage diseases as we would in the past. As time goes on we will surface more effective management processes. The best recommendations currently is vaccination. The vaccines will ultimately decrease symptoms if someone were to catch COVID (CDC, 2020).
Taste/Smell lose
Per the uchealth website, lose of smell and taste can may be regained by retraining your senses. Per
Dr.
Jennifer Reavis Decker, an ear nose and throat specialist, it is best to
use the first six weeks after having COVID to retrain your senses.
Peanut butter or peppermint seems to be most effective. Most people's taste
and smell, according to the website, is linked to memory. So attempting to
recreate pleasant memories could help regain sensation. (Bill St. John, for UCHealth, 2021)
Technology
In order to combat the complexity that COVID-19 has entailed a registry is being created in order to track patients' symptoms. This could give help and detail on the varying differences amongst individuals. As patients leave healthcare facilities they could report their symptoms and the length of them. This could be recorded to the registry to help correlate data and aid in prevention and intervention for COVID-19 survivors (Roe et al., 2021).
Other new ways providers can access patients is remote monitoring. Providers now can do telehealth visits. This lessens the changes of infection but allows patients to be monitored. It also provides ease for patients who may be combating post COVID symptoms (Muller et al., 2021).
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your discussion regarding loss of taste and smell. It seems that this is a common side effect, but what isn't discussed is how the side effect lingers for an extensive period of time. I have personally done some research in relation to re-training your taste and smell. Luckily, research proves some positive outcomes with the re-training process. However, this takes time and energy to ensure it is done correctly. I would be interested in the statistics of if anyone has been unsuccessful in re-training and how they are learning to cope and manage their long lasting symptoms.