“I have very bad anxiety, much worse than I’ve ever had in my life,” says Dunlop. “The anxiety I feel now is different from any kind of anxiety I’ve ever felt.” From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed at night, Dunlop’s mind wonders with questions like: When will I fully recover? and I have undetected heart damage?
It doesn’t help that Dunlop feels breathless and extremely tired after exercising. “Not being able to move is probably the most difficult for me, because the intense movement controlled my anxiety. Without being able to do that, that level of control disappeared, so it was a struggle for me, ”says Dunlop. Now, she practices yoga instead and it helps her temper some of her anxiety.
Then there is the monetary stress. Chronic illness can drain your finances from medical costs and reduced pay from absence from work. The Mount Sinai program requires daily rehabilitation activities and it is not known if anyone will improve in three months, six months or more. “We have conversations with the social security administration, because this is a full-time job for people,” says Dr. Putrino.
The fact that insurance approval is often required to help pay for medical treatment can create an impossible financial situation for people with long-distance COVID-19. About 28.5 million people in the United States had no insurance in 2017, according to a 2018 U.S. Census Bureau report. The same report found that about 10.6 percent of black individuals and 16.1 percent of Hispanics did not have health insurance in 2017. This lack of insurance can create massive financial stress for people who become ill in some of the communities that suffer. of the weight of the virus.
To make the insurance situation even more complicated, some people with long-distance coronavirus have never received a definitive positive diagnosis. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, coronavirus testing was limited throughout the country. Some people who thought they had COVID-19 simply could not receive confirmation. So what happens to people who can’t prove they had the coronavirus, but think it has to do with the consequences?
“I worked 24 hours a day to argue that you can’t deny someone access to care based on test status. The World Health Organization has published guidelines for presumptive positive diagnosis based on symptoms, so we are following these guidelines, ”says Dr. Putrino.
What’s next for long distance carriers
It is too early to know if everyone with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome will make a full recovery. It has only been about a year since US medical experts treated patients with COVID-19; they had even less time to figure out what post-acute COVID syndrome is, what causes it, and how to treat it effectively, says Dr. Putrino. “We still don’t have a good answer if we have to be vigilant for the rest of our lives,” he said.
But he is encouraged by the successes of his patients. I wouldn’t say right now that we have someone saying “I’m 100 percent where I was pre-COVID-19,” but we see people running on treadmills again and people who can exercise at a pretty hard level. without being deleted for two or three days after that “, says Dr. Putrino. That being said, some patients have failures, so it is not known if there will be visible improvements.
Dr. Bunnell’s feelings are similar: “I still don’t have exact figures on the recovery trajectory, but anecdotally most of our patients make improvements, and I’d say that after about three months, patients who weren’t in intensive care are doing much better.”
As more people receive COVID-19 and the number of people with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome increases, our knowledge about the condition – and who it affects – will increase, says Dr. Putrino. A national study called CDPI-funded INSPIRE will study the long-term outcomes of the patient with the new coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will study the effects of COVID-19 on 9,000 veterans who have had the disease.
For now, everyone needs to be vigilant in protecting themselves against coronavirus. It’s just another good reason (on an already long list) to follow the recommendations of the local health department, social distance and wearing masks. “There are all these young people all over the country who are thinking, ‘It’s okay if I get COVID-19; I am young and healthy “, says Dr. Putrino. You may have a lower risk of death, but you are susceptible to this new life-changing condition. “We still can’t figure out who will have post-acute COVID-19 syndrome and who won’t,” says Dr. Putrino.
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