I thought that I had an invincible immune system.
I managed to last the past few years without getting COVID, despite my run-ins with people close to me contracting it. But whenever I did hear about others having COVID, I was told that they had ‘mild’ symptoms or that while it was terrible while it lasted, it was short-lived, lasting only a week. I stayed up to date with my vaccines, but I was never actually worried about catching COVID. I’m relatively young and healthy, so how bad could it be for me?
I was wrong on multiple fronts.
Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, COVID hit me hard. Not only because I spent the holidays in isolation, but I stayed COVID-positive for over two weeks and was practically bedridden. I experienced headaches that were untreatable by medication, loss of smell, and breathlessness from minor tasks and exercise, and spent Christmas Day waiting at a hospital (the dedication of those who work at hospitals leaves me in awe and appreciation).
I tested daily while I was sick, watching the line on the test slowly fade before it finally turned negative after 15 days. But even now, a week post-recovery, I am still exhausted. I’m nervous to go back to things like weightlifting due to an elevated heart rate that seems to be triggered by simple tasks and my on-and-off headaches. I know it hasn’t even been a month yet and I don’t qualify as having “long COVID,” but I am nervous about how long this will last, and I have anxiety about reinfection.
What causes long COVID, anyway? Ongoing research seeks answers, but there is nothing concrete yet. The National Institutes of Health began a few tests to study treatments for this, but scientists still don’t know exactly what exactly causes it. A study published in “Nature Communications” on 25 September 2023 found that people suffering from long COVID have specific biomarkers in their blood. Another study published in “Nature Communications” on 4 January 2024, discovered that persistent fatigue in patients who are suffering from this have a biological cause, which is that the mitochondria in the muscle cells produce less energy than those of healthy patients. They conducted a study where twenty-five long COVID patients and twenty-one healthy individuals rode a stationary bike for fifteen minutes, and those suffering from long COVID experienced a long-term worsening of their symptoms. There were abnormalities in the muscle tissues of these patients.
Even those who suffer from a mild COVID infection may experience brain changes.
My takeaway is this: the impact of COVID varies widely and is extremely unpredictable, and assuming that just because you’re young/vaccinated/in good health doesn’t mean you won’t be hit hard. Furthermore, the risk of long COVID increases with each infection, so a mild initial encounter with COVID doesn’t guarantee the subsequent COVID experiences will be the same. Defined by the World Health Organization as symptoms persisting at least three months from the start of the infection, this can include fatigue, brain fog, and breathlessness. While ongoing research attempts to explain long covid and find treatments, my advice is this: wear a mask and strive to avoid COVID because the only real defence is prevention.