There's an actual term for the continued maladies of people recovering from coronavirus illness. It's called Post-Acute Covid-19 Sequelae or Long COVID. People ain't just dyin' out there. A well-written recent piece in the Spokesman-Review out of Spokane, citing Cell magazine, Nature, and the CDC, among others, delineates some of the maladies the walking wounded go around with::
Ear-splitting headaches. Persistent loss of taste or smell. Difficulty breathing. Brain fog and forgetfulness. Dizziness and inability to walk without assistance"One study reviewing research about long COVID found that the presentations of long COVID are vast and varied..."The dominant manifestations of post-COVID-19 syndrome are pulmonary, neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal," researchers wrote recently in a Nature article.
One of the biggest complaints you'll hear in a typical VA, after some vets get over the fact that yes, the nurses are pretty, and you can't have some, is that they have been forgotten, they are left to linger in their languor -- the folded up triangular flag GIs getting all the kudos for their ultimate sacrifices, yada yada yada for nada nada nada.
They're still working on the more precise figures for the number of people who survived Covid but still go around with bad attitudes brought on by the pimpy virus, tickers once fine now weakened and ready for heartbreak or cholesterol to finish them off, lungs that are a few layers thinner and maybe prone to collapse, pulmonary embolisms, limps, tics, and assorted retardations of limb and lifestyle, social media flubs they didn't have before, cancellations of friends. Anyway, the situation is so bad with the Long COVID that even the Social Security Administration has agreed that you might be able to claim a disability pension through them -- if it meets their usual basic criterion of being a malady that will prevent an applicant from working for at least two years.
Here are some of the symptoms that could lead you to find a doctor who will acknowledge you'll be cooked for at least two years:
Examples of common symptoms of long COVID include:
- Tiredness or fatigue
- Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes called "brain fog")
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Headache
- Dizziness on standing
- Fast-beating or pounding heart (known as heart palpitations)
- Chest pain
- Cough
- Joint or muscle pain
- Depression or anxiety
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