Despite taking precautionary measures, communicator Elisa Mariot was infected with Covid-19 at the end of last year. As an asthma patient it was a difficult experience, but thanks to the proper care of doctors and relatives he was able to overcome the disease, until the consequences began to be felt.
Dizziness, nausea, disorientation and forgetting everyday things such as words, names or leaving an unfinished sentence, are some of the consequences that six months later frustrate Mariot’s daily development.
“Suddenly I was in the middle of the hallway of my house without knowing where I was going; I opened the refrigerator without being able to remember what I was looking for; I was reading a book and could not identify, momentarily, some of the words or had to look at the calendar to confirm what day it was, ”says Mariot.
For the communicator it was terrifying that her mind identified an object or a person and could not say it out loud, not to mention the sensations of dizziness and mild nausea that she also suffered.
Many cases
According to neurologist Zaida Luciano, there are still no clear statistics on what percentage of patients suffer from these kinds of symptoms as sequelae, but she assures that many report the same symptoms as Mariot.
The neurological complications resulting from Covid-19 are varied, ranging from not very significant for daily life such as a momentary headache, to more serious cases such as strokes and epileptic seizures.
“They are more problems of attention than memory, which are being reported,” explains the expert, while adding that to develop these neurological conditions has not influenced the level of severity with which they suffered the disease.
However, it highlights that the most serious complications have been seen in those who were hospitalized and, according to scientific publications, up to 80% of these patients have presented these conditions.
“Patients who are hospitalized do present, but in a milder way, like this attention problem, and most patients end up recovering with weeks and months,” adds Luciano.
On his side, Dr. Francisco Taveras lists headaches, insomnia, lack of smell and memory problems among post-covid conditions.
Taveras, a doctor belonging to the Advanced Medicine and Telemedicine Diagnostic Center (Cedimat), explains that in the infectious process some patients have anxiety, so they are more susceptible to developing cognitive impairment and, consequently, affecting memory or causing neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s.
The doctor thinks that the sequelae can be reversed, but as the disease is still new, only time will be able to tell.
“There is not enough time for us to know that the sequelae can be totally reversed, what we have seen with other viruses is that there may be improvement but perhaps not have a return to how the person was before,” he says.
Future consequences
Both Dr. Luciano and Dr. Taveras do not know if the Ministry of Public Health is monitoring the trend of these cases and consider that, if they continue, they could become a problem for the health authorities.
“I think it is a problem that must already be taken into account by the Public Health authorities and, in fact, this is going to have an impact on global health, because they are people who in the long term if they become cognitively disabled can degenerate the impact of this person in a house, for example, ”says Taveras.
Likewise, it warns that if these post-covid symptoms continue to appear, absences from work would increase, the consumption of medicines would rise and the labor and social productivity of the affected people would decrease.
“Headaches must be treated because this disables the patient; If a patient has recurrent headaches, they will be a less functional patient with less physical capacity in their social environment and therefore will have a worse quality of life, the same must be with memory because it will affect their work and relations with the family ”, adds Taveras.
Strategies
Writing down the things to do, mentally reviewing the daily things that must be completed and performing mental agility exercises, are some of the activities that have helped Mariot during this process, six months after having suffered the Covid.
“The solution is to act, seek help and alternatives that allow us to be just as productive, only more cautious,” suggests the communicator, who at the same time hopes that her testimony will help those who are going through something similar to know that they are not alone. and that getting frustrated is not the answer.
FIGURES
Nine deaths.
Public Health registered in its bulletin yesterday nine deaths in the last 24 hours and 914 reported infections.
Beds.
He also reported that hospital occupancy has been declining. The bulletin presented 1,349 occupied beds of the 2,661 that the health system has.
FIA.
While 72% of ICU beds are in use, which leaves 177 available out of 646 and, with 292 out of 507, almost 60% of the ventilators occupied
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