‘People can get sick and never recover’: NH’s relentless fight for COVID long-haul

If Heidi Heath were responsible for measuring the toll of COVID-19, she would be doing more than just counting cases, hospitalizations and deaths. She would share “long haul” stories like hers.

This story originally appeared in the New Hampshire Bulletin.

“Keeping people alive is not the only measure of success,” said Heath, 38, from Exeter, whose long COVID-19 began 17 months ago with flu-like symptoms and strep throat and continues today with chronic pain that has kept her from returning. functioning. “People can get sick and never recover. “

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Heath worries that she is one of them and fears for the others given that around 40% of eligible Granite Staters are still not fully immunized. “One of the really difficult things about this is taking into account the reality that I live in the world as a chronically ill person,” said Heath, who had asthma but no other serious health issues. before COVID-19. “Don’t assume that can’t happen to you.”

It is estimated that 10 to 30 percent of patients with COVID-19 develop symptoms of “long COVID”, which are defined as symptoms that last for more than 12 weeks after the acute illness. The most common are fatigue, especially after minor exertion; cough or shortness of breath; difficulty thinking and concentrating; depression and anxiety; muscle aches; rapid heartbeat and palpitations; and headaches.

Nurse practitioner and infectious disease specialist Christina Martin has treated patients from the age of 18 through her work at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Post-Acute COVID Syndrome Clinic, the state’s only program for people living with a long COVID-19. The clinic has received approximately 300 referrals from New Hampshire and neighboring states. After evaluating the patients, the treatment team matches them with specialist doctors based on their symptoms. For some it is a cardiologist. For others, it is an occupational therapist or a neurologist. But it is never a cure because if the symptoms are known, the disease remains poorly understood.

Most studies have focused on the unvaccinated, who account for almost 98% of COVID-19 cases. However, first research indicates that the small percentage of vaccinated people who develop “breakthrough” cases may also develop symptoms of COVID-19 along. Still, medical experts say the best protection against long COVID-19 is vaccination and continued mask wear.

“I find most of my job is to validate that what they’re going through is real,” Martin said. “And in that, we can support them either with physical support or mental support. They say, ‘I feel better talking to you. I feel like it’s real, that I’m not crazy. I think that in itself is really helpful.

Like Heath, Concord’s Kythryne Aisling contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, before a vaccine was available. And like Heath, she struggled to find a healthcare provider who recognized her persistent shortness of breath, exhaustion and weakness as signs of a long COVID-19. She has joined thousands of other long haul firsts and has joined online support groups. She was one of some 3,000 members of the Long COVID Support Group on Facebook last year. Today, nearly 43,000 people have joined it.

“I joked with a friend of mine who had COVID a week before me that we were crowdsourcing for our medical care,” she said. “Doctors don’t believe us. Let’s try to research this as best we can as laymen.

Aisling said many of her symptoms still plague her to the point where she has “bad days” about 70% of the time. As a jewelry designer, Aisling is able to get around these bad days. “My clients don’t care if I work at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m.,” she said.

She considers herself lucky to have not only avoided hospitalization, but already learned to live with severe and persistent pain as a brain cancer survivor and migraine sufferer. “I’m used to being in a body that doesn’t function well,” she said.

Aisling sympathizes with people who are reluctant to get the vaccine for fear of side effects. “Yes, but it’s so much less serious than actually having COVID,” she said.

Monique Raymond of Newmarket has just started her graduate studies in Integrative and Organizational Biology at the University of New Hampshire. She is grateful for the interior mask policy and the university’s testing protocols.

Raymond, 30, and her husband contracted COVID-19 around Thanksgiving, but his extreme fatigue and body aches persisted. Its symptoms are much less common now, but can be triggered by stress, a cold, or eating and drinking certain things.

But she wonders for how long. Raymond has a pre-existing autoimmune disease. “My biggest fear is that this will be a catalyst for another disorder or disease,” she said.

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c (3) public charity. The New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact editor-in-chief Dana Wormald with any questions: [email protected]. Follow the New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.