Dr. Jeanette Brown, adjunct professor of medicine and medical director of the long-running COVID-19 comprehensive clinic, shares the long-term effects COVID-19 may have on patients during a virtual conference on Thursday. (Screenshot)
SALT LAKE CITY – Even if patients with COVID-19 avoid serious illness, about 30% will still have symptoms such as fatigue, heart disease, and an abnormal sense of taste and smell that can affect them for a long time. of time, perhaps even for life in some cases, University of Utah health experts said Thursday at a virtual conference.
The University of Utah Health opened a comprehensive long-range COVID-19 clinic in mid-July. So far they have seen about 100 patients, with 300 working to schedule. They receive about ten referrals a day, both in the state and in neighboring states, said Dr. Jeanette Brown, assistant professor of medicine and medical director of the clinic.
A recent study was published showing promising data that vaccination may reduce the risk of “long COVID,” although Brown noted that the application used to collect this data is “a bit cumbersome, so which may not be completely inclusive “. That said, “protection against serious illness and becoming long-haul carriers is an important reason to get vaccinated,” he concluded.
Loss of odor, and therefore of taste, because the two senses are so interconnected, is a well-known early sign of COVID-19 that often precedes many other symptoms. Although most people regain their sense of smell within six months, it is common for it to be altered, resulting in a condition called parosmia, where odors are distorted and normal odors can become terrible.
Dr. Richard Orlandi, a professor of otorhinolaryngology at the University of Utah Health, explained that this loss experienced by 80% of patients with COVID-19 is the result of the virus directly attacking the nerves that conduct the sense of smell in the nose, causing that they run out and then grow back.
“(Parosmia) is a bit like taking all the wires out of a switchboard and putting them back together. Sometimes these connections don’t end up where they were originally. Roses can smell like rotten food or gasoline can smell like lavender., ”he said.
About 5-10% of patients appear to have a permanent loss of their sense of smell, which affects taste. But Orlandi admits that the data in this case only goes back until the cases are rediscovered, just over a year.
This loss of odor can lead to a lower quality of life and even depression, he said. But it can also be immediately dangerous in some circumstances, such as people not being able to smell a fire or natural gas and not being able to react in time to be safe.
It is possible to improve the condition through an olfactory recycling therapy, initially developed to help people who had lost their sense of smell due to head trauma or other viral illnesses. Patients smell a few different smells a day, such as coffee, peanut butter, essential oils, lavender, etc., and do so once or twice a day every day.
Dr. Kevin Shah, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Utah Health, has seen how many patients who do not have pre-existing heart conditions develop long-term chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, and dizziness in long-term COVID. 19 patients.
In more severe cases of “long COVID,” patients may develop pericarditis, inflammation of the heart sac; myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle; dysautonomy, a dysfunction of the nerves that regulates the involuntary functions of the body; and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a hyper-exaggerated response to changes in position.
It has been seen that children and young people develop myocarditis or myopericarditis and atrial fibrillation (an irregular and rapid heartbeat) has been a side effect in some cases. Cardiologists are beginning to recommend heart monitors for young people in these cases, he said.
Orlandi stated that while in very rare circumstances the vaccine can cause myocarditis, COVID-19 is much more likely to cause myocarditis and the effects of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.
Doctors recommend that everyone be vaccinated, even people who have already had COVID-19. Brown explained that the fact that you have recovered from COVID-19 once does not mean that you will not get it back or that you will easily recover a second time. Some of his patients who have received COVID-19 for the second time have ended up with even more severe cases.
“Natural immunity seems to fade and getting a vaccine after a COVID experience really boosts the immune system so you don’t get it again in the future,” Orlandi said.
Brown also noted that doctors at the clinic take extremely exhaustive stories and try to “keep an open mind” that long-term carrier symptoms could be something else. He noted that a colleague of his caught a case in which a patient experiencing fatigue had gastrointestinal bleeding, not “long COVID.”
“It’s key for us, as medical providers, to make sure we don’t forget other conditions that may manifest,” he said.
Information on how patients with symptoms of “long COVID” can be seen in the clinic can be found on their website.