WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) – Doctors continue to do research on what is called “long COVID” or “long distance COVID”. Long COVID refers to patients who have had COVID-19 but are not recovering for several weeks to months after becoming ill.
Long-term symptoms of COVID can range from fatigue and brain fog to more serious problems that affect the lungs, brain and heart. Doctors still don’t know exactly why this is happening.
“I would say it’s a bit surprising, you know that most other infectious conditions don’t have this kind of post-infectious sequelae,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at UW Health.
Doctors say COVID Long is alarming and is something they are studying urgently.
“They think that many of these symptoms are related to excessive inflammation in the body,” said Dr. Julie Biller, leader of the post-COVID multi-specialty clinic at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The severity of the illness when a person first took COVID-19 does not matter. Even if you are young, healthy and have only mild symptoms, doctors say you can still be a “long-hauler COVID”.
“There is no virus still present, it left the body a long time ago, but these symptoms are still occurring,” said Dr. Safdar.
Long COVID is happening right here in our backyard, so much so that Froedtert and the Wisconsin Medical School set up a clinic to treat various symptoms.
“I have probably seen about 20 patients, even before we opened the clinic,” says Dr. Biller.
The clinic opened on Thursday, January 28, and offers several therapies, case by case, ranging from medications to rehabilitation for people who have psychological symptoms.
“Clinical symptoms that weaken and reduce your quality of life and really hinder the normal functioning of daily activities – that was the decision to open this clinic”, adds Dr. Biller.
Doctors say the only way for people who have taken COVID-19 to know they have COVID for a long time is to experience the symptoms.
“Being in a brain fog, which seems to be very common, and mental health situations occur,” says Dr. Safdar.
“They have shortness of breath, chest pain and often complain of burning pain,” said Biller.
Dr. Biller says a medical study published in The Lancet this month found that 76 percent of Wuhan COVID-19 patients still had at least one symptom six months after diagnosis, with the prominent symptom being weakness and fatigue.
“There are many research labs that are watching what is going on in the body during COVID infections, so while there are things we know, there is still a lot that we don’t know,” she said.
“The number of patients with long COVID is probably much higher than has been recognized so far,” says Dr. Safdar.
Doctors say that for the vast majority of people, the symptoms end up disappearing, but to help alleviate minor and long-term symptoms of COVID, doctors say that meditation, good nutrition, rest and hydration are important.