March 28, 2024

What Long COVID Looks Like And How Oregon Doctors Are Treating It – The Lund Report

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Amy Watson said her COVID-19 diagnosis came with a “plot twist.” 

Early in the pandemic, Watson came down with flu-like symptoms that wouldn’t go away. After two weeks, her doctor prescribed her antibiotics that didn’t help and her bloodwork was unremarkable. 

COVID-19 tests were in short supply. But afterward her symptoms persisted for 28 days. Meanwhile, her partner and daughter both recovered from the same illness. Watson drove to the Kaiser Permanente clinic on I…….

Amy Watson said her COVID-19 diagnosis came with a “plot twist.” 

Early in the pandemic, Watson came down with flu-like symptoms that wouldn’t go away. After two weeks, her doctor prescribed her antibiotics that didn’t help and her bloodwork was unremarkable. 

COVID-19 tests were in short supply. But afterward her symptoms persisted for 28 days. Meanwhile, her partner and daughter both recovered from the same illness. Watson drove to the Kaiser Permanente clinic on Interstate Avenue in Portland to get tested. Two days later, her test came back positive, leaving her perplexed as to why her illness had not gone away.. 

“What in the world?” Watson, 48, recalled asking a doctor. “How is this COVID this late?” 

“I don’t know, but you survived,” was the response. “Just keep surviving.”

The response didn’t leave Watson with much to go on. She was still ill, and she needed help. Nearly two years later, Watson is still sick and is among the millions who suffer from “long COVID” or “long-haul COVID.” 

Long COVID is marked by a range of persistent symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, brain fog, changes in smell or taste, heart palpitations and other effects. 

More than a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, doctors and researchers are giving more attention to long COVID, which affects more than half of the 236 million people who’ve contracted the virus, according to a recent study from Penn State University. 

Earlier in the pandemic, “COVID long haulers” complained of being dismissed by doctors. Since then, the World Health Organization established a clinical definition of long COVID. Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health said it would spend over $1 billion over four years investigating long COVID, or “Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

Even with a formal diagnosis, doctors and patients are still piecing together the puzzle of long COVID. Arriving at a long COVID diagnosis can require a battery of tests and carefully listening to patients to map out the virus’ damage. Long COVID clinics have sprung up in Oregon that include specialists spanning multiple disciplines and treatments. With some trying and failing, patients and doctors are finding ways to treat long COVID.  

With some persistence, Watson finally found specialists, medications and therapies that brought her up to 50% of where she was before getting COVID, she said. But she faces an unsure recovery. 

“It’s like being trapped in a wet sleeping bag that you can’t get out of,” she said. 

In Oregon, an estimated 75,000 people have long COVID. To help treat them, Oregon Health & Science University set up its long COVID program in March. 

Dr. Aluko Hope, medical director of the OHSU …….

Source: https://www.thelundreport.org/content/what-long-covid-looks-and-how-oregon-doctors-are-treating-it

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