Treatment as well as recovery could look different for different COVID-19 patients, going by the experiences of some patients and doctors.
“Several patients have complained of what is called post-corona recovery syndrome,” said Dr. A. Fathahudeen, pulmonologist at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, and nodal officer for COVID-19 care in Ernakulam. “Patients report that anosmia [loss of smell] persists for six to eight weeks after their test has turned negative and they are discharged from the hospital. Some patients also report diarrhoea and abdominal symptoms, chronic fatigue, and lack of energy for a variable period of time,” he said.
A doctor who was being treated at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, and was discharged after a negative test result four days ago, said that she had been experiencing chronic fatigue and, loss of appetite and taste. “This post-viral fatigue turned out to be a bad phase, which can have both physical and neurological manifestations. There’s a general apathy and disinterest towards everything now, besides some irritability and distress. I can only wait it out with vitamins, food and fluids,” said the doctor who was admitted at the hospital for 12 days.
For a 23-year-old who returned from Sharjah and was admitted to the MCH at Kalamssery early in April, it took nearly a month for the COVID-19 test to turn negative, despite experiencing only mild symptoms. “The first sample that was taken after about 15 days returned a negative result, while the second one turned positive again, which left me worried,” said the 23-year-old, who, being cautious, spent about 35 days in room quarantine after discharge, and an additional two weASeks in home quarantine before he stepped out. He experienced intense body pain after having stepped out post quarantine and frantically called his doctor, but was told it could be a result of having stepped out of the house after a prolonged period, he said.
“The recovery period and the time taken for the test to turn negative could vary and averages between two weeks and 50 days,” said Dr. Fathahudeen. “A favourable response to treatment depends on how early the patient reaches the hospital after onset of symptoms. In our experience, the most important risk factors for high mortality are age above 65, presence of morbid obesity, uncontrolled diabetes and heart disease. In such individuals, the disease course is highly unpredictable and progresses rapidly, with the patient ending up on a ventilator with cytokine storm syndrome and multi-organ failure,” he said. In the early phase of onset of pneumonia, antivirals and plasma therapy have resulted in an encouraging response, he added.
