‘COVID long haulers’ continue to look for answers months after initial infection
Posted May 13, 2021 7:07 pm.
Last Updated May 13, 2021 8:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON (CityNews) — Eight months after losing her sense of taste and smell due to COVID-19, Angelique Summers is hopeful she’s found the doctor to help her be on a path to recovery as a ‘COVID long hauler’ — those who have various symptoms persist weeks and months after no longer being counted as an active case.
“I don’t think any patient has come to see me thinking that I’m going to have all the answers because they understand this is still new,” said Dr. Richard Chan.
As the lead physician at the new Long COVID Clinic at the Edmonton North Primary Care Network in Northgate Mall, Dr. Chan recognized not every family doctor is able to stay on top of this ever-evolving and ongoing research, or connect with other specialists to manage these new symptoms.
These symptoms can include fatigue, both mental and physical, mental health concerns, and breathing issues just to name a few.
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“Some patients call it a COVID coaster where they feel really, really good for a few days, but then they crash for the next three to five days,” Chan said.
It’s still early days for researching long COVID but an early study suggests upwards of 10 per cent of those who recover from COVID-19 have some sort of long term symptom.
So, for a province like Alberta, that could mean 20,000 people or more are impacted.
CityNews reached out to Alberta Health Services (AHS) on its plans to track long COVID, in which it responded:
“The number of ‘Long COVID-19’ patients is not currently being tracked.
AHS is developing a process to track patients who present with post-COVID symptoms through its Post COVID Task Force Response Group, but because it is a collection of very different symptoms the definition remains a challenge.
AHS is also working with Alberta Health to send a survey to all Albertans who have had COVID-19 to help us understand the type and duration of symptoms that people are experiencing.”
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Right now the Edmonton clinic is taking referrals for anyone experiencing symptoms 10 weeks after being diagnosed.
“Most have not been to the hospital. And that’s an interesting thing about what we’re seeing — is regardless of how sick our patients were at the beginning, it doesn’t determine how long or how severe the symptoms are,” Chan said.
For Summers, she hopes to no longer be exhausted by simply doing her office job and hopes by sharing her story it shows others they aren’t alone, and the medical community is working to figure out how to best support ‘COVID long haulers.’
