HARTFORD, Conn. — They count as having recovered from COVID-19, even though they never fully recovered. They survived, and in many cases weren’t even hit hard, until months later.
They’re called “COVID long-haulers,” people who are suffering from long-term complications from the disease. Amy Siniscalchi is one of them. Ironically, she never did test positive for COVID. Amy said she got it so early, and her symptoms were, at first, so mild that she never got tested. The problem is, a year later, she’s still got symptoms, and they’ve gotten much worse.
“I‘m one of the lucky ones, right? I survived. But there’s a saying on the long-hauler page that we’re alive but we’re not living,” said Siniscalchi.
Amy said she used to be used to be fit, an avid biker and hiker. She said it was on a hike last March where she first noticed breathing problems…
“My husband and I went for a hike which - we’re avid hikers, we do that often - and I couldn’t make it up the trail,” said Siniscalchi, “that night, Thursday night, I received an email from a colleague saying that I had been exposed to someone who tested positive.”
Amy said she never got so much as a fever or a cough, and thought she had COVID licked, until it came roaring back like a whole new disease three months later.
“The fatigue was crushing. I couldn’t move from the couch a lot of days or the bed. My limbs were on fire,” Amy said.
Doctor Carol Karmen, who has treated Amy at Westchester Medical Center, in New York, said a lot of Amy’s story is familiar, starting with her age.
“These people seem to be younger. They were in very good physical shape beforehand with no risk factors,” said Dr. Karmen.
Doctor Karmen said the fatigue can be debilitating.
“People describe it as nothing restores their energy,” she said, “Even sleep, we call it non-restorative sleep.”
Doctor Karmen said the virus also seems to be causing issues with patients’ brains, inducing confusion, and in rare cases, psychosis.
“So they're having trouble concentrating, they’re having trouble thinking straight, reading a book they can’t remember the names of the characters,” said Dr. Karmen.
“I was using the wrong tenses of verbs. I couldn’t think of the words for things. That was really troubling,” said Siniscalchi.
And the hits just keep on coming.
“I now have a new symptom which is this electrical buzzing in my hands and feet. Peeling hands, just really awful symptoms,” she said.
Amy said it was especially frustrating to see her regular doctor baffled
“I had to leave a primary care doctor who just gave up on me,” Siniscalchi said.
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