It’s been a year since COVID-19 actually arrived in New York. But some of the first locals to contract the virus still have debilitating symptoms that made it impossible to live as they were – leading to job losses and an inability to read or study, let alone exercise.
“We don’t understand why the body is responding in that way,” said Dr. David Putrino, Director of Innovation in Rehabilitation at The Mount Sinai Health, which surveys these patients called “long distance”. He estimated that about 90 percent of participants in the hospital’s long-distance program, which has an average age of 42, did not need to be hospitalized while on COVID.
“Now, what we are seeing is, in these less serious cases [of the virus] – much younger, disproportionately previously fit and healthy [patients] – there is an extreme response after the acute [initial] the symptoms are gone, ”Dr. Putrino told The Post.
Here, four New Yorkers – all of whom claim to be in good health before and none of whom have been hospitalized with the virus – reveal the hopelessness and isolation caused by their long-standing COVID cases.
‘I’m nervous about my brain’
A year after taking COVID-19, Devin Russell was unable to return to work as a manager for a health and medical practice center in the Hamptons. “My nervous system is really messed up,” he said. “At night, I have to alternate between putting on icing and applying a heating pad to the head”, for acute pain. “It feels like your nerves are failing, like you can’t think straight.”
To relieve pain, the 35-year-old Southampton resident spends about 90 minutes a day in a hyperbaric tank that is rented for $ 549 a month and uses an oxygen tank and ozone generator to “kill pathogens and help clean up my head.
“My whole life revolves around [COVID health complications], “he said. It is a far cry from his previous life of constant activity – including playing in two basketball leagues, riding a bicycle, working out with weights.
“I can’t force myself too much. Even walking 800 meters can ignite my nervous system, ”said Russell, single, adding that he dropped from 172 to 150 pounds. “It is debilitating. I’m nervous about my brain. ”He started CovidCastaways.org, a long distance resource website.
‘When I wake up, I feel like there’s going to be an earthquake’
Helen Thompson Buffong is 46, but “it’s like I turned 80 overnight,” said the mother of two children, ages 6 and 8, with whom she is no longer able to keep up. “I have no resistance. I have to wave at the door instead of going to the park. ”
The Brooklyn married woman fell ill on April 2 and was unable to work as a part-time student support counselor until last week. “I have hives and swelling every day, all over my body. I always have an Epipen and steroids with me, in case my face starts to swell. “
Neuropathy causes a relentless internal vibration throughout the body. “When I wake up, I feel like there’s an earthquake every day,” she said. “A doctor said it could take years, if I heal.”
‘COVID is like an abusive partner’
Marissa Oliver experienced her first “respiratory attack” – a 10-hour constriction around her lungs and heart – during her initial battle with COVID last March.
Now she is still afraid to have one. “I have been referring to COVID as an abusive partner, because as soon as I get out of the line and do something … I am punished,” said the artistic management professional, 36, from Greenpoint. Attacks are limited by symptoms, including fatigue and dizziness – and can be due to stress, walking too far or even just talking. The most recent attack was triggered after she received her first dose of the COVID vaccine.
Now she uses an inhaler daily and undergoes regular treatments such as musculoskeletal therapy – usually recommended for athletes and artists who suffer repetitive stress injuries – recommended by her doctor at Mount Sinai’s Post-COVID Care Center.
“It was the first time I spoke to doctors who completely believed me and said, ‘This is what we can do for you,'” she said.
‘I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous’
“I feel like it’s still me, just less – which is scary,” said Leigh Jerome, a 50-year-old Bushwick resident who fell ill on March 5, 2020.
What started with a cough and sore throat led to bilateral pneumonia – and long-term symptoms with relapses of weeks. They include rashes all over the body, fluctuations in heart rate, dizziness and fatigue that totally depletes it. She now takes about 25 medications and supplements at night just to sleep. “I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous,” said Jerome, who is married and has no children. (A more typical dose is 5 mg.)
Before hiring COVID, Jerome, the founder of the non-profit gallery Relational Space, spent his afternoons in his art studio, creating pieces in metal.
“The thought of going up and cutting a piece of metal and grinding it … just thinking about it makes me relapse,” she said. “I try to at least sit in the studio, which I know seems a little absurd, but it’s part of who I am.”
Starting on April 29, Relational Space will perform an immersive virtual installation, “Long COVID – We Are Here!” to raise awareness and desire for more research and therapeutics.
“The only thing that keeps me from being totally desperate is maintaining a positive attitude,” said Jerome. “I believe I will be fine.”
“The only thing that keeps me from being totally desperate is maintaining a positive attitude,” said Jerome. “I believe I will be fine.”
‘I don’t have the ability to learn anything’
Before falling ill last March, Nia Raquelle Smith was applying for doctoral programs to study food culture. Today, the 36-year-old Navy veteran, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, can only read three pages on a good day.
“I don’t have the ability to learn anything and I need to find out, ‘How am I going to complete my research?’” Said Smith.
During the summer, she participated in a panel to discuss her research, but she was too afraid to open her mouth because of the fog in her brain. “I let everyone lead the conversation,” said Smith.
Last year, she said, the only Smith experienced 57 complications related to COVID; she still feels spasms, an intermittent internal vibration and so much tiredness that just to get out of bed in the morning, she needs to lie down again. She uses an inhaler and takes several medications and supplements every day.
“I don’t think most people can imagine what that looks like,” said Smith, who works with nonprofit database management.
“I would like to be optimistic and have more days when I say to myself, ‘I’m going to get over this,'” she said. “But then, if I wake up and it’s a really bad day, there’s a good chance that I’m in the corner crying and wondering if this is my new normal.”