In for the long haul:��Recovered COVID patients report lingering symptoms

By Patricia B. Mirasol����

FOR SOME PATIENTS, surviving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not the end of it. A percentage of��those who recover still��suffer from long COVID, a condition characterized by symptoms such as chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction.����

“I have a very low quality of life. Everything is excruciatingly hard. It’s like my body forgot how to work,” said Karen Nina Ibañez-Danao in an e-mail interview with������ý. Simple activities such as showering now require her husband’s help. “Even then, I get exhausted midway.”����

Ms. Danao was declared recovered from COVID-19 on Aug. 14, 2020.������

��as a condition that “occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms and that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.”����

In a white paper published this June, US-based non-profit organization FAIR Health reported that����(or��23.2%) of COVID-19 patients will have at least one post-COVID��symptom.����

NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN����
For other COVID-19 survivors like Beth R., fatigue isn’t so much a problem as the lack of oxygen coursing through her body.����

“T������󾱲Բ�������[shortness of breath] never went away��—��it’s just less now,” she said in a Viber interview with������ý. “My doctor at the hospital said that, according to her patients, the���󾱲Բ�������persists for a long time.”����

To help her breathe, she has oxygen tanks in the bathroom and bedroom, and an oxygen generator for when she moves to the living room or kitchen.������

Even doing intellectual work while hooked to an oxygen tank takes its toll after an hour. “You have to lie down. It’s like I can do more when lying down than sitting up,” she added.����

Ms. R., who declined to give her full name due to professional reasons, was hospitalized for two weeks and discharged as negative for COVID-19 on Aug. 31. She was infected a week after her first vaccine dose, and has since lost 25 pounds in her post-COVID journey as a result of her lack of appetite.����

��ᴡ�ѷ���������-����������
Initiatives such as��,��a two-year research��program��on the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 ICU (intensive care unit) survivors, are gathering data from its partner medical institutions to gain a better understanding of the medical condition’s mechanism.������

“We really don’t have enough evidence yet from its pathophysiology,” said Dr. Karen��Wildi, an Australia-based intensive care physician that co-leads the AFTERCOR study team. “What’s quite peculiar with COVID-19 is that it’s such a chameleon.”������

“It seems to have a high affinity to the brain,” she told�����ܲ����Ա�����´ǰ�������in a Zoom call, but it “pretty much affects every organ system.”����

Another two-year study,����(or��the Genetics, Immunological and Neurological Long-term Consequences in Prospective COVID-19 Cohort in Thailand, Japan, Philippines, and USA), likewise commenced this May to shed light on the phenomenon based on data from the four countries involved.������

“T��� cohort… will be composed of at least 90 COVID-19 recovered patients; 30 of whom will be Filipinos aged at least 50 years who have recovered from severe COVID-19,” said Dr.��Fresthel��Monica M.��Climacosa, principal investigator of the Philippine study team, in a separate e-mail to������ý.��

BRAIN FOG
Life has not gotten better for Ms. Danao 14 months post-recovery.��She��suffers from��brain fog, tremors, hair loss, painful knuckles, and a swelling of her extremities. She also has chronic strokes.����

“I sometimes forget words mid-sentence, have difficulty composing sentences, and experience short-medium term memory loss,” she said. Her strokes, meanwhile, compelled her to discontinue her physical therapy exercises and take��injectable��blood thinners to the tune of P60,000 for a two-week supply.����

“My doctor said I may have to take blood thinners for the rest of my life because no one knows yet how long the strokes will last,” she said.������

The various long-term COVID treatments have taken a toll on the single-income��household.����to seek help defraying costs.������

The definition of quality of life is very individual, said Dr.��Wildi.����

“In the end, you have to [consider] the quality of life,” she said.��“What we can find objectively is different from a patient’s view of the symptoms troubling him.”����

Patient monitoring for both the AFTERCOR and the GINCO Cohort e-ASIA studies include periodic follow-ups, biochemistry testing, and neurological examinations.����

It’s not only “long-haulers” that will feel the pinch, but the economy too. The “loss of health and capacity is a demand shock that impacts the ability of the labor force to work,”��. Society, it added, will have to shoulder the costs of its disabled members.����

Ms. R. likened long COVID to “transcending hell.”������

“You realize as an individual you are all alone in this journey to hell and the only thing going for you is your faith in the future — that you could still be around for your loved ones, for your dreams and for your country,” she said.������

Medical centers interested in joining the global AFTERCOR study may e-mail its principal investigators at��[email protected].��The study also welcomes funding assistance.����