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Call this anecdata, but here's part of a weekly update from a friend, ~45yo male, and his post-covid struggle: “I am trying to keep my weekly covid journal going. We are still in about month 4 post infection. Some good news is my breathing is slightly better. When everything is bad all small improvements are noticed. Could be from OTC blood thinners or that my lungs are getting better. Still have a super hard time breathing, but it is just a bit less difficult. I am also in a near constant state of fatigue, but am unable to easily sleep because of the other symptoms.
My MRI revealed no vessel or tissue damage to my brain from the stroke, so maybe not a stroke or just not sever enough to cause damage. It did reveal a small cyst on the brain, but that seems to be common in covid recovery patients and no one knows why yet. The stroke like symptoms maybe related more to the hypoxia and not a stroke. I see a nuerologist this week and they will decide the next steps. The symptoms are still there though - dizzy, off balance, difficulty with sentence formation, difficulty getting facts from brain to mouth or hands to type, memory issues. Super frustrating. My cardiologist has sent me for a new test that takes highly detailed xrays of the heart. After deciding what/how much damage is in my heart valve they will decide the next course of treatment. Other than the damage, he says my heart is healthy. Passed my breathing test, so capacity is OK and volume/flow is good. The worry and science now is saying the breathing troubles I am experiencing may be related to tons of micro-clots in the lungs. They have been discovering these during autopsy of covid deceased (hopefully deceased) patients.
My next steps of healthcare relate to all these specialist working together. I can not start blood thinners for my stroke prevention until I am sure I will not need heart surgery. I can not go down the path of heart surgery until there were sure I can both breath effectively and not have a stroke. I am fortunate for good doctors that are at the front edge of treatment for covid patients. Some of the care is "we just have to wait", that is OK but frustrating because in the mean time I am at the mercy of me neighbors to do the right things and not re-infect me and I have to stay socially isolated.
The latest science is showing that antibodies are not retained in over 85-90% of cases of infection, meaning there is no natural immunity. This includes me, I showed no antibody after 10 weeks. This is worrisome since I am sure I would NOT be able to survive another round, since I barely survived the first one. " |
The thought of dealing with permanent lung and brain damage for the rest of my life is pretty terrifying, and seems disturbingly common even in age groups with a low fatality rate.