One in three COVID-19 survivors suffers from a neurological or mental disorder within six months of infection, according to Study led by Oxford University looking mostly at American patients.
Among ICU-treated patients, 7% suffered a stroke and nearly 2% were diagnosed with dementia. The researchers also found that 17% of patients developed anxiety and 14% experienced mood disorders.
“The people most at risk are the ones who were sickest, the hospitalized patients who were in the ICU. They are the ones most at risk for the most serious conditions,” psychiatrist Sue Varma told CBS This Thursday morning “The most frightening are the people who did not show symptoms of COVID or were very mild Symptoms of covid who have resolved previous or known psychiatric illnesses are also at risk for anxiety and depression. “
The study found that people who reported these neurological and mental health disorders had never experienced them in many cases.
“This is so scary, especially when you hear voices or the voices tell you that you are hurting yourself or that you are hurting other people or that other people are out to get you,” Varma said.
Varma, who is not affiliated with the study, noted that it can sometimes be difficult to separate the impacts of the virus from the impacts of the economic and other effects of the pandemic.
And, although similar symptoms may appear after other viral infections, the study found that people with COVID-19 were twice as likely to be exposed compared to people with the flu.
“Never underestimate or minimize your mental health problems, as they can be closely related to the inflammation that COVID caused in the body,” Varma said.
The sudden change in mental health has shocked many COVID-19 patients, including adventure photographer Ivan Agerton of Seattle, 50. He compared the change to a light switch after recovering from the infection.
“I felt this intense paranoia hit me,” Agerton told IS Lee of CBS News. “I couldn’t escape it: every person I saw would trigger that intense fear.”
When the former sailor first went down with COVID, he feared for the health of his wife and three young children. It was after thinking that he had recovered that he began to feel what he recognized as mental illness.
“I could hear voices outside my window. I thought I could hear people in the bushes,” he recalled. “It was absolutely the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
However, there was a turning point: after receiving the vaccination two weeks earlier, Agerton said he “started to feel really good.”
And while his new disorders are “under control,” Agerton still worries about how long they will suffer from it.