Post-Covid clinics appear in the spring to treat people with lingering symptoms of Covid-19.
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Scientists predict an increase in neuropsychiatric cases as more people recover from Covid-19 but experience lingering symptoms, according to a recent report.
More than 67 million people have recovered from Covid-19 to date. “If even a fraction of such people experience neuropsychiatric problems, public health could be significantly affected,” the authors write in their paper, published in the journal Boundaries in Psychology. Covid-19 resuscitation clinics have emerged to meet these new needs.
People with Covid have long symptoms that last weeks to months after they get past Covid-19. The condition, also known as post-acute Covid-19 syndrome, can affect several organ systems and usually leaves people obese, fighting through brain fog.
In their paper, Sanjay Kumar, senior lecturer in psychology at Oxford Brookes University, and his colleagues looked at the range of surviving neuropsychiatric disorders, how the SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause these problems and what needs to be done about it. .
A year into the pandemic, it is clear that neuropsychiatric cases after Covid-19 are not uncommon. “Anyone can get Covid and anyone can suffer the long-term effects,” said Talya Fleming, medical director of the Aftercare Program and Stroke Rehabilitation Program at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute.
These long-lasting effects run the gamut from fine to hard. Between 20-40% of people with Covid-19 develop headaches, chills, loss of smell, loss of taste, mood disturbances or strokes. Patients may also experience fatigue, anxiety and depression. Among the more severe symptoms, an unbalanced number of Covid-19 ICU patients experience delirium compared to ICU patients with similar respiratory issues but without Covid-19. In a small subset of patients, MRI scans have also revealed structural changes throughout the brain.
“One of the most common symptoms patients have is this sense of brain fog, changes in their experience,” Fleming said. “There have even been reports that patients can get encephalitis or seizures.”
Specific SARS-CoV-2 has no ability to affect the brain or cause chronic complications. Other diseases can also cause long-term syndromes. Kumar and his co-authors write that, after the revolutions of SARS (severe respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome), 10-20% of those who survived gave up diseases account for long-term neuropsychiatric issues such as depression, memory problems and obesity. “Based on what has happened and what we are trying to learn now, we can prepare for what may happen in the future,” Kumar said.
Post-covid care
Covid-19 rehabilitation clinics have been opening nationwide to treat long Covid patients. At these clinics, healthcare providers from a variety of disciplines treat everything from gastrointestinal upset to neurological Covid-19. Only 32 states and DCs have clinics, however, which limits the number of patients receiving treatment. These clinics may be outside the price range of some uninsured or uninsured Covid long hauliers.
Fleming works at one of New Jersey’s clinics, the COVID Hackensack Meridian Health Recovery Center. “I have patients coming from not just New Jersey but New York and Pennsylvania just because this is all very new,” Fleming said.
She works with physicians, neuropsychologists, physical therapists and others to help patients regain brain functions affected by the disease. The brain is flexible, and when it comes to common psychological problems, such as brain fog, “we desperately try to emphasize the concept of neuroplasticity, which is a very flexible medical term. for how we help regenerate the brain, “Fleming said.
For patients with mental issues, such as difficulty paying attention, climbing or multitasking, “oftentimes we do things that are repetitive tasks, and what that helps the brain to regenerate, “Fleming said.” I describe this kind of how an athlete makes a certain movement over and over again to whether their brain does it automatically. “
Because clinicians do not know how Covid-19 leads to these long-term problems, they can only treat the symptoms, not the underlying psychological causes. In autopsies, pathologists have found viral particles in the brain, but the virus may cause neuropsychiatric symptoms without getting into the brain itself. Some scientists believe it may be due to damage from a lack of oxygen or from a runaway immune response.
“We’re trying to figure out psychology and treat the patients at the same time,” Fleming said. “We’re trying to fly the plane as we take it.”
Preparing for the future
Meanwhile, Fleming said consortia of doctors across the country have been meeting to find out the best ways to treat and diagnose long-acting Covid patients. “Going forward it will be very important to measure not only the extent of this overall syndrome, but to establish best practice and determine what resources are needed to deliver services. in Fleming’s health care system, “said Fleming.” If this is indeed going to be a chronic disease, as it may be, this could lead to a significant burden on public health. ”
Long Covid affects not only the individual patients, but also their families and communities, and these effects are external. “It’s not just that this person is feeling those symptoms, ”said Fleming. “As a result, can that person work as much as they used to? Do they have to work part time or are they going to be disabled now? Do they need a different group of medications that they don’t have to take beforehand? ”
Researchers have initiated projects to study the long-term neuropsychiatric effects of Covid-19 and Fleming envisions that monitor neuropsychiatric symptoms in long-term Covid patients for years, if not decades, in the future .
“There can be several types of problems after Covid’s disease and we should be willing to deal with that,” Kumar said. The neuropsychiatric problems could turn into a long – term public health problem, “and a long – term problem requires a long – term solution,” he said.