It’s been a year since COVID-19 really hit New York. But some of the first residents to contract the virus are still experiencing debilitating symptoms that made it impossible to live life as it was – leading to job loss and the inability to read or study, let alone exercise. .
“We do not understand why the body reacts in this way,” said Dr. David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation for Mount Sinai Health, said, examining these so-called ‘long-distance’ patients. He estimated that about 90 percent of the participants in the long-term program of the hospital, who have an average age of 42, did not require hospitalization while having COVID.
‘What we are seeing now is in these less serious cases [of the virus] – much younger, disproportionately fit and healthy [patients] – there is extreme reaction to the acute [initial] symptoms have disappeared, ”said dr. Putrino told The Post.
Here, four New Yorkers – all saying they were previously healthy and not one was hospitalized with the virus – reveal the hopelessness and isolation caused by their long-distance cases of COVID.
‘I’m nervous about my brain’
A year after capturing COVID-19, Devin Russell was unable to return to work managing a wellness center and medical practice in the Hamptons. “My nervous system is royally screwed,” he said. “At night I have to alternate between icing and putting a heating pad on my head,” due to the shooting pain. “It feels like your nerves are blazing wrong, or you can’t think right.”
To soothe the pain, the 35-year-old Southampton resident spends about 90 minutes a day in a hyperbaric tank that rents for $ 549 a month and uses an oxygen tank and ozone generator to kill ‘pathogens’ and clear my head .
‘My whole life revolves around [COVID health complications], “he said.” It’s far from his previous life of constant activity – including playing in two basketball leagues, cycling, and exercising.
“I can not push myself too much. “Even half a mile could set my nervous system on fire,” said the unmarried Russell, adding that he had dropped from 172 to 150 pounds. “It’s debilitating. I’m nervous about my brain. He started CovidCastaways.org, a website with long-term transportation resources.
“When I wake up, I feel like there’s 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 can no longer keep up. “I do not have the stamina. I should rather wave goodbye in front of the door than go to the park. ”
The married Brooklynite became ill on April 2 and was unable to work part-time as a student support advisor until last week. ‘I get hives and swelling every day. I always had an Epipen and steroids with me in case my face started to swell. ‘
Neuropathy causes a relentless internal vibration throughout her body. “When I wake up, I feel like there is an earthquake every day,” she said. A doctor said it could take years if I was cured at all. ‘
‘COVID is like an abusive partner’
Marissa Oliver experienced her first ‘breathing attack’ – a ten-hour narrowing around her lungs and heart – during her initial battle with COVID last March.
Now she still fears having one. “I refer to COVID as an abusive partner, because as soon as I step out of the queue and do something … I get punished,” said the artist, 36, of Greenpoint. The seizures are discussed by symptoms, including fatigue and dizziness, and may result from stress, walking too far or even just talking. The most recent attack was caused after she received her first dose of COVID vaccine.
Now she uses an inhaler daily and regularly goes for treatments such as muscle and skeletal therapy – usually recommended for athletes and performers who suffer recurrent stress injuries – recommended by her doctor at Mount Sinai’s center for post-COVID care.
“It was the first time I talked to doctors who completely believed me and like, ‘This is what we can do for you,'” she said.
‘I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous’
“I feel like I’m still me, just less – which’s scary,” Leigh Jerome, a Bushwick resident in her 50s, fell ill on March 5, 2020.
What started with a cough and sore throat led to bilateral pneumonia – and long-distance symptoms with a week-long relapse. These include skin rash, heart palpitations, dizziness and a tiredness that completely drains her. She now takes 25 nights of medicine and supplements just to sleep. “I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous,” said Jerome, who is married without children. (A more typical dose is 5 mg.)
Before embarking on COVID, Jerome, the founder of the nonprofit Relational Space, spent her afternoons in her art studio, creating pieces of metal.
“The idea of going up and cutting a piece of metal and grinding it … just thinking about it, brings me into a relapse,” she said. “I’m at least trying to sit in the studio, which I know sounds a little absurd, but that’s part of who I am.”
From April 29, Relational Space will hold a virtual enthralling installation, “Long COVID – We Are Here!” to increase awareness and urge for more research and therapy.
“The only thing that keeps me from despairing is that I have a positive attitude,” Jerome said. “I believe I will be healed.”
“The only thing that keeps me from despairing is that I have a positive attitude,” Jerome said. “I believe I will be healed.”
“I can learn nothing”
Before Nia Raquelle Smith became ill in March, she was applying for PhD programs to study food culture. The 36-year-old Marine veteran, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, can only read three pages on a good day today.
“I do not have the ability to learn anything, and I have to realize ‘How am I going to complete my research?'” Smith said.
During the summer, she was on a panel to discuss her research, but was afraid to open her mouth due to the brain fog. “I allow everyone to lead the conversation,” Smith said.
In recent years, she said, the single Smith has experienced 57 COVID-related complications; she still experiences twitches, an alternating internal vibration and so much fatigue that just to get out of bed in the morning, she has to lie down again. She uses an inhaler and takes various medications and supplements every day.
“I don’t think most people can imagine what it’s like,” Smith said. He works in a non-profit database administration.
“I would like to be optimistic and have more days to say to myself ‘I’m going through this,’ she said. “But then when I wake up and it’s a very bad day, chances are I’m in the corner crying and wondering if this is my new normal.”