Patients at UT Austin’s Post-COVID-19 Program are still struggling with fatigue, brain fog and a slew of other symptoms months or even years after an initial infection.
Dr. Laura Waltrip is an emergency medicine doctor who has long COVID. Because of her condition she now only treats her patients virtually.
Waltrip first noticed symptoms on Oct. 29, 2022. Nearly a year and a half later, she still has them. Since contracting COVID, she said she has struggled with shortness of breath, digestive issues, powerful headaches and irregularities with her heart rate and blood pressure. She also experiences memory and cognition issues known as brain fog.
“It was very early on in the pandemic in 2020, where we realized there is a group of people who are not getting better and having these strange, unexplained symptoms after a COVID-19 infection,” Brode said. They do an activity that would normally not be tiring — it can be a pretty small mental or physical activity, folding laundry, reading an email — and it just knocks them out and makes all their symptoms worse.Another patient in the program, Les Greenwood, is a former high school economics teacher and swim coach. Between coaching and teaching, Greenwood said it was common for him to work 16-hour days throughout his two-decade career.
After these methods have been exhausted, Brode sometimes discusses experimental options with patients. Greenwood, for instance, spends three hours each day in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, breathing in pure oxygen in a hyper-pressurized metal tube like those used by deep-sea divers. Someindicates that this treatment may help with fatigue and pain symptoms from long COVID. Greenwood also hopes it will help with his tinnitus, a persistent ringing in his ears.
“Sometimes the first part of our visit is kind of unpacking that trauma from being what they feel is dismissed or not taken seriously,” Brode said. “I think a lot of people have heard, ‘Well, everything's normal. You either don't have this or it's all in your head.’ And that is absolutely not true.” “Unfortunately, you have to be your own advocate,” Riemer said. “But it's really important to be open-minded to different out-of-the-box treatments because otherwise you're just going to be waiting.”Brode said he has felt encouraged to see that many patients with long COVID improve over time, with many feeling significantly better around the 18-month to two-year mark. Sometimes their improvement plateaus, and sometimes their condition resolves entirely.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Thousands of BCBSAZ patients out of network at Dignity Health, Aetna patients also at riskThousands are now out of network at Dignity, others at risk of losing coverage
Read more »
NFL Week 9: Eagles 29, Texans 17 — Four Winners, Four LosersThe game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Thursday night, Battle Red Day for those who had the 'first game in red helmets' circled on the calendar, was remarkable more for the environment surrounding the game than the game itself. The Thursday Night Football...
Read more »
Four astronauts from four countries return to Earth after six months in orbitFour astronauts from four countries are back on Earth after catching a ride from the International Space Station with SpaceX.
Read more »
Four astronauts from four countries return to Earth after six months in orbitFour astronauts from four countries are back on Earth after catching a ride from the International Space Station with SpaceX. Their capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle early Tuesday. NASA's Jasmin Moghbeli led the returning crew. She was joined by astronauts from Denmark, Japan and Russia.
Read more »
Four astronauts from four countries return to Earth after six months in orbitTynin Fries joined The Denver Post in 2018 as an intern. Then, she joined the team as a Digital Strategist and was promoted to Deputy Director of Audience in 2022. She is a proud ASU Cronkite alumna (godevs)! In between producing news and writing stories, Tynin is out exploring all that Colorado has to offer.
Read more »
NFL Week 11: Texans 21, Cardinals 16 — Four Winners, Four LosersWhen the Houston Texans lost to the winless Carolina Panthers in Week 8 on a last second field goal, they fell to 3-4 on the season, and the most optimistic view of that afternoon would have been to say 'Hey, it's bad loss, but maybe the Texans learned a few...
Read more »