![]() "I had my first visit with them and it was such a disappointment," says Simbana. She had "all of her hopes" pinned to that appointment at Medstar's clinic, after months of visiting different specialists without getting any answers. While her breathing improved after she was discharged, other symptoms persisted or worsened: She was constantly fatigued, joint stiffness made walking difficult, and sometimes bruising enveloped her entire leg. resident and mom of three (including then-six-month-old twins) spent nine days in the hospital after contracting COVID around Mother's Day. When Alexandra Simbana made it off the waitlist for an appointment at Medstar's COVID Recovery Program in the summer of 2020, she was beyond hopeful that relief was coming. Then you can treat it early."īut even if patients make it to a doctor's office for treatment, many say it's disappointing to hear that there really is no established recovery plan. "What we're showing is that if you're a physician or clinician and you have a patient who has COVID, you really want to check on these things, 60 days out. ![]() The study looked at nearly 30,000 adults who contracted COVID in 2020, and identified more than a dozen potential symptoms, including loss of smell, anxiety disorders, and gastrointestinal issues. In February, Johns Hopkins University and Kaiser Permanente conducted a study to identify the most prevalent symptoms of the illness - a study they hope will serve as a launch pad for scientists and practitioners trying to better understand the condition, says one of the lead researchers, Dr. ![]() Senator Tim Kaine, a COVID long-hauler himself, introduced a bill that would expand research efforts into long COVID and work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better educate both the public and providers about symptoms and treatment.) While epidemiologists and researchers have made progress in the past two years, there's still no standard set of symptoms, or confirmed answers for what causes it or cures it. Locals who spoke with DCist/WAMU say it's a challenge to reach providers who take their symptoms seriously when they do, the answers are often unsatisfying.ĭespite its prevalence, relatively little is known about long COVID. And while the symptoms are unbearably real, many long COVID patients reported feeling gaslit, doubted, or misunderstood by providers who didn't believe them. Everyday tasks like showering, grocery shopping, or even completing a jigsaw puzzle can become laborious feats. alone, that could mean around 30 million people are or will be impacted.įor some, symptoms are so severe that they've had to quit their jobs: Too fatigued and exhausted to work, they're left to navigate debt and mounting medical bills without an income. Research estimates that as many as 40% of COVID cases globally may lead to long COVID - in the U.S. Redfield is among millions of Americans living with long COVID - a still poorly understood condition with symptoms that range wildly: from exhaustion, to anxiety, to gastrointestinal issues, and cardiac symptoms. "Every time I had a reprieve and then the symptoms came back, it was like a new whole sequence of a new COVID happening again," she says. Redfield began tracking her symptoms and, at one point, she'd recorded over 50 different ones. But she also started experiencing completely new symptoms, including a strange pain in her ribs and gastrointestinal issues. Her exhaustion and headaches returned in full force. Her "spaghetti legs" came back, so wobbly and uncertain that she couldn't hold herself up. In the months that followed, a bevy of symptoms would flare up sporadically. "And that's when the long COVID symptoms started kicking in." "I had a whole day that was just the acute stage all over again," says the 51-year-old engineer. Then, about three months after her first symptoms, she experienced what she now calls a "COVID crash." She no longer felt the exhaustion of her acute infection, a fatigue so extreme she said it was like taking muscle relaxants and, minutes later, "dribbling into your dinner plate." Her breathing improved and she even took up running for the first time in her life. Locals with long COVID describe living an entirely different life after their diagnosis, navigating often confusing and unpredictable symptoms.Ī few weeks after contracting COVID-19 in March 2020, Maryland resident Signe Redfield thought she was getting better.
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