The effects of COVID-19 can be persistent and serious, doctors say they suffer from “long COVID”

Natalie McDermott is no stranger to the deadly illness.

She has been at the forefront of the Ebola epidemic in cholera, Haiti, Liberia, and is treating critically ill children with COVID-19 in London this year.

But now she is fighting on a more personal front line.

Dr. McDermott has suffered from severe and ongoing symptoms after being infected with COVID-19 in March.

When my legs were numb while driving, I realized something was terribly wrong.

Then, as she climbed the stairs, a burning pain broke out on her back and spread radially over her arms and legs.

“The more I try to go, the more my feet get a kind of abrasion and start dragging along the ground,” says a pediatric infection doctor.

Dr. McDermott did an MRI scan, which looked normal, but is still under test. She and her doctor suspect that the coronavirus (or the inflammatory process caused by the virus) has attacked her nerve cells and affected her spinal cord function.

Push to #CountLongCOVID

Dr. McDermott was one of those who were previously healthy andLong COVID‘, A tremendous series of symptoms that last months after the first acute signs of infection.

“The long concept of COVID has also been rejected in the medical field,” she says.

But now, Dr. McDermott A group of British doctors Affected by persistent symptoms of suspicious or confirmed COVID-19 seeking more research, better monitoring, and medical assistance.

They joined a growing choir in an online support group campaigning for social media and health authorities #CountLongCovid, And to take the plight of self-description #LongHaulers seriously.

Amy Small, who has been suffering from COVID-19 symptoms since April at a 39-year-old GP in Edinburgh, said, “I’ve seen too many people not listen and their symptoms and concerns haven’t been verified.” It states.

“I’ve seen the tragic story of people losing their jobs.”

According to one estimate 10 to 20 percent The proportion of people infected with the coronavirus has persistent symptoms for the next few months — according to data collected by COVID Symptom Research App In England.

“Everyone seems to have long-lasting symptoms of COVID,” says Dr. MacDermott.

Overlapping with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

It has similar symptoms to another disorder, myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME / CFS), and has the striking similarity of different reactions from medical professionals.

ME / CFS is a chronic recurrent disease that can occur after a viral infection. The illness is characterized by extreme malaise, “brain fog”, muscle aches and pains, memory loss, headaches, and anxious sleep.

There is also a crossover with another condition called fibromyalgia. In this condition, people continue to experience musculoskeletal pain throughout the body.

People who suffer from long COVID also talk about fatigue, brain fog, muscle aches and pains.

“You have a hard time even thinking about something,” says Ian Frayling, a Welsh genetic pathologist and practitioner who was infected with COVID-19 in March.

“”[It was] The worst 5 or 6 days in my life.

“I had this cough like no other.”

Dr. Frayling explains that he will live with “Chronic Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” for the next few months.

One day he feels okay, but then he crashes. He suffers from language, shortness of breath, sleep disorders, tachycardia (excessive heartbeat), and debilitating malaise.

Symptoms can change from hour to hour.

Long COVID studies may help patients with ME / CFS

Dr. Small said much of the ME / CFS community is connected to her on Twitter and hopes that the long COVID study will help them as well.

“They have been exposed to gas lights by doctors for a long time. [and] They said their symptoms were psychological, “she says.

“Chronic fatigue syndrome and all related syndromes associated with its population are deeply disappointed by medicine.

“”[But some with ME/CFS ask] “Why are you so special in your long COVID when we have had this for years and no one believes us?”

“I think we have a lot to learn from each other and a lot to gain from working together.”

Difficult to diagnose

Like ME / CFS and fibromyalgia, long COVIDs have proven difficult to diagnose due to the confusing range of symptoms.

In April, Dr. Small experienced the typical symptoms of COVID-19: fever, extreme shortness of breath, low oxygen levels, severe headaches, body aches, and persistent coughing.

Her husband and two small children also experienced COVID-19 symptoms. However, six months later, Dr. Small is still experiencing recurrent fever, elevated body temperature, dizziness, and other annoying symptoms.

She was shocked when she tried to return to the clinic in Edinburgh in June.

“I feel a little better … [but] … that afternoon, I began to feel tired, which I had never experienced before.

“I used my brain to do half a day’s work and I was bedridden for about 10 days.”

“My speech was vague. I couldn’t find my words. There were days when I couldn’t speak.”

New symptoms continue to surprise Dr. Small. In August, she suddenly lost her sense of smell.

“I don’t know how it affects our bodies.”

Like others, Dr. Small wonders if her immune system was triggered to react as if she still had the active coronavirus.

“This requires far more research and investment,” she says.

Dr. McDermott agrees.

“Healthcare professionals tend to be when they can’t explain something, or when the first basic test looks normal. [to] Dismiss things as anxiety-related or psychosomatic. “

The research needed to understand the long COVID mystery

Long COVIDs do not appear to be distinguished by age or health. Even those who first experience mild or asymptomatic COVID report long-term symptoms.

“We are now discovering that many … actually have evidence of potential organ damage secondary to COVID, but that is only being addressed now,” said Dr. McDermott. Says.

“Until very recently, I couldn’t get an outpatient visit.”

If people had symptoms of a mild infection, the early message of the pandemic was to quarantine and recover at home.

“People who weren’t hospitalized for this illness were just like being left to get over it,” says Dr. McDermott.

This means that many are suffering in isolation. Others gathered in thousands online, Patient-led movement Demand that their symptoms be taken seriously by the drug.

Currently, there is growing interest in their plight.

For example, the UK National Institute of Health uses patient testimony investigate Long COVID. One suggestion is that the condition is actually possible Multiple syndromesIncludes post-intensive care syndrome and viral fatigue syndrome.

“Given the number of people affected by long-term COVID in a short period of time and the fact that it may be associated with COVID infection at some stage, this means it is much more difficult to dismiss.” Says Dr. MacDermott.

Dr. Freiling struggles to understand his symptoms, but feels relatively light compared to others he has heard of.

“Their breathing [is] It was much more seriously affected. They have permanent changes in their lungs. Some people have permanent changes in the conduction pathways of the heart, “he says.

“There are many other things happening.”

The respiratory system, heart and cardiovascular system, brain and nervous system, kidneys, and intestines all appear to have different effects in different people.

“We need to be aware that it is a series of illnesses and a multiple system of illnesses,” says Dr. McDermott.

Avoiding the second pandemic

There are other signs that people with long COVIDs are listening.

UK National Health Service is new Long COVID task force And specialized clinics are available to people with ongoing health problems due to the coronavirus, including those who are not hospitalized or who are not positive on the COVID test but meet the definition of clinical cases of infection. I announced that it will be.

Dr. Freiling is concerned about the second pandemic (long COVID). It is silent, impaired and difficult to diagnose.

“In terms of total health burden, it far exceeds what acute COVID did to us by the time the vaccine was vaccinated.”

Dr. Small, the two busy mothers of the British Medical Association, are worried about whether they can continue to work as a busy GP.

“I’m worried about the future. I’m worried about the impact on every aspect of my life,” she says.

“It’s absolutely painful to see a 4-year-old kid look at his mom and think,’Oh, I have to help mom.'”

It also changed the way she sees her role as a doctor.

“As the previous GP of all this, I was pretty skeptical of things.

“Sure, I sympathized with symptoms like fibromyalgia, but I didn’t sympathize with them like I do now. I couldn’t understand. I really couldn’t understand.

“Before all this, if I could go back and talk to myself as a general practitioner, I would have been a much better doctor at the time, and I hope to be a much better doctor now. I am. ”