Doctor: We can't cure post-covid, but we can alleviate it
The results from the post-covid clinic at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge are bleak. Most people affected by post-covid do not fully recover.
Every day, new referrals come in from Stockholm and the rest of the country.
- 'We have no cure, but we can alleviate and mitigate the symptoms,' says Christer Lidman, chief physician at the post-covid clinic.
Those who come to the clinic in Huddinge have a disability of at least 50 percent. Their experience is that most of them get better, but not fully recovered. So far, it has only been three years since the first patients were diagnosed. No one knows what will happen after more time has passed.
Postcovid causes memory problems, cognitive problems, heart problems, lung problems, fatigue, numbness, tingling and diarrhea, among other things.
- Using a computerized tomography scan of the brain while injecting a radioactive sugar solution, it is possible to see if the sugar is absorbed in different parts of the brain. About 20 of our patients have done this. It turns out that most have reduced sugar intake in the front part of the brain and in the places in the brain that are linked to the symptoms that the patient has," says Christer Lidman and continues:
- "We don't know whether the reduced sugar absorption is due to inflammation or whether the vessels are damaged and do not let the sugar through. So we are considering whether we should continue with more studies to look at the vascular flow in the brain. Is it primarily a damage to the nervous tissues of the brain? Or is this the effect of disturbances in very small vessels?
Doctors have now started taking spinal fluid from patients to see if there is inflammation in the brain. - Or to see if there are signs of early Alzheimer's or other nerve damage. 'There are those who speculate that the complications of COVID would cause Alzheimer's in the long term,' he says.
The majority of patients treated at the post-covid clinic get better. Every month there are about 80 new referrals and the waiting time is seven months. About 400 people are treated. They receive help with asthma medication, beta blockers, physiotherapy and support from occupational therapists to adapt themselves and their environment to their new conditions. But they don't fully recover.
- It's like this: If you can't read a book, you don't read a book and you think you feel a bit better. But the patients don't recover and can't run laps like they did before. It is not unusual for their workplaces to be adapted. They may be given lighter tasks and sit in a different environment so that they are not disturbed," explains Lidman.
Many of the patients were healthy, active people before they became ill. - This is a new life for them. How they manage it, I don't understand.
Facts. Symptoms of post-covid
Memory problems - They have to use notes or the phone to get through their day. If they read a book, they can't remember what was on the previous page.
Cognition - If there is too much clutter around them, they have difficulty understanding and processing impressions.
Brain fog - Thinking is slow.
Fatigue - They may be active for short periods of time and then need to rest. They lose words or see the words in front of them but can't bring themselves to say them.
If they push themselves beyond a certain limit, the heart palpitations, shortness of breath and nausea come back and can last for days or weeks. Some people become bedridden.
Palpitations - Many people have a rapid heart rate and may feel dizzy as the blood stops in their legs. Others may have chest pain.
Lung problems - Some people cannot walk half a kilometer without getting short of breath.
Numbness and tingling - Most common in the hands and feet.
Diarrhoea
Weight gain. A secondary problem. Many people become sedentary at home and gain weight. The more you lie down, the more difficult it is for the vascular system to adapt to standing up.
Source: Christer Lidman, senior physician at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge.
