Coronavirus Symptoms Occur After Weeks or Months at COVID Long Haulers, Colorado

Early in the morning of April, at Erie’s home, Marea Anderson woke up feeling like ice water sticking out of her spine and exploding into her head. She had a terrible headache and tried to get out of bed and go to the bathroom, but her limbs did not cooperate. She was afraid of having a stroke.

Her partner, Randy, took her to the emergency room. Doctors suspected she had COVID-19, but could not be tested. At the hospital, a 53-year-old brain scan returned to normal and there was no stroke. She returned home from the hospital again.

It was her second visit to the emergency room in a few weeks and her third since March. She made countless telemedicine appointments with various primary care doctors, consulted a specialist, and started taking supplements such as vitamin D and zinc. , muscle pain.

One day she feels better. Then she crashes again.

“I got to a place where I could walk and probably go to dinner, so I got up and made coffee, and I would decide how the day would go,” Anderson said. It was. “Most of the day I went back to bed. It would be nice if I could plan a meal for my family. And otherwise I was in bed.”

Anderson is not alone. Facebook group called Survival army For those who describe themselves as “long-haul carriers,” there are just over 102,000 members. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of COVID-19 infections are “mild or asymptomatic” and patients recover after 2 weeks, but those who are still suffering question the concept of “mild” cases. Is throwing.

Hart van Denburg / CPR News

Dozens of people in Colorado have been reported to have a variety of symptoms, including shortness of breath, elevated heart rate, fatigue and malaise, headaches, digestive problems, body aches, and brain fog.

“I call it a triple win,” said Cindy Maesold, who lives in Snowmass. “But when I feel tired, I go for a walk, come back, just sit down and do nothing. That doesn’t mean I’m lazy. I don’t have the energy to do anything. ”

It is not clear how many people have prolonged symptoms and how many will move forward. In a multi-state telephone survey of virus-positive adults, After 2-3 weeks of testing, 35% did not return to pre-Covid-19 statusAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ah A small study from Italy A survey of 179 patients found that 87% of hospitalized patients remained symptomatic 60 days after they began to feel sick. Ah Small study in germany It was found that 78% of COVID-19 patients had prolonged heart problems for 2-3 months.

In Colorado Springs, Dr. Robert Lamm and his medical students began investigating COVID-19 patients after they were discharged. The survey asks about mental, physical and financial health. At first, the psychological effects of isolation and loneliness were prominent, but some patients began to notice that they had not recovered.

“Our first results showed that up to a quarter of patients still had COVID symptoms, which was something we didn’t expect,” Ram said. Told. “We are not seeing the patient recover completely, so we are beginning to feel hints and concerns that there is probably a possibility of long-term lung damage.”

Due to the long hospital population of Lamb patients, the long-term effects are those who have never been hospitalized, used a ventilator, or treated with COVID-19, such as Anderson. Probably not.

To make the problem even more complicated, many patients like Anderson Could not get PCR test I got sick in the early months of the pandemic because I hadn’t been tested. It also distorts the situation of how many people are infected with the virus and how many are still infected with the virus.

January 15, Thai GodwinThe 58-year-old was on a business trip to South Africa. He is in business and travels abroad dozens of times a year. That night he woke up to sweaty sheets. Like most people in the United States, he hadn’t heard about COVID-19 yet, but he was traveling abroad for work. It was one of the trips he went dozens of times a year. He thought he would have been suffering from a common cold or flu for weeks.

“I did three CT scans. I have two echocardiograms. I did a $ 25,000 pet scan all over my body,” Godwin said. “And I’ve been tested on everything you can imagine, from Lyme disease to HIV.”

None of these tests led to a diagnosis. As he learned more, he began to suspect he had the coronavirus. Despite the time and many tests required, his doctor now believes the culprit is COVID-19. Early on, he had all the common symptoms, Negative antibody test..