‘She just never recovered’: Some COVID-19 patients are still dealing with symptoms long after infection
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Ever since Mike Hall’s wife was infected with COVID-19 in June 2022, their lives have never been the same.
“She just never recovered,” said Hall, who has been his wife’s caregiver for almost four years.
Hall’s wife has long COVID— which is when COVID-19 symptoms persist longer than three months after infection.
March 15 marks International Long COVID Awareness Day, which according to the Canadian COVID Society is aimed at raising awareness and providing support to people with the illness.
According to Statistics Canada, 18.3 percent of adults in Newfoundland and Labrador self-reported long term symptoms after testing positive for COVID-19, between Jan. 2020 and Aug. 2022.
As well, a Statistics Canada survey found that as of Dec. 2023, about one in five Canadian adults reported long-term symptoms after being infected with COVID-19.
Hall said his wife experiences extreme fatigue, brain fog, and stomach inflammation.
“Some days it’s difficult for her to get out of bed,” said Hall. “There are difficulties in sort of going through simple things, right? Even as simple as trying to figure out how to put stuff together for supper.”
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The couple can’t do the same things they used to, like travel or eat at some restaurants because she requires a special diet, said Hall.
“Every day you’re just hoping that things will be better, and you don’t know one day to the next,” he said.
‘COVID is…not over’
Complex chronic disease specialist Dr. Iram Anees treats Hall’s wife, and is believed to be N.L.’s only doctor that specializes in long COVID.
“I have several patients … who were doing 16 [kilometre] hikes on Signal Hill, who cannot walk on level ground without shortness of breath. And these are people in their thirties, right, with no other medical illness,” said Anees.
Dr. Iram Anees is Newfoundland and Labrador’s only doctor that specializes in treating long COVID. (Julia Israel/CBC)
While researchers are working to find treatments for long COVID, Health Canada hasn’t yet approved any medications.
So Anees said she focuses on treating the symptoms.
“We are borrowing treatments from known diseases to try to take care of the symptoms,” she said. “It’s very variable. One size does not fit all.”
Health Canada does recognize long COVID as a disability, and patients with the illness can be eligible for disability benefits.
But Anees said there needs to be more awareness about the illness, especially amongst the medical community.
“We should stop gaslighting our patients as providers, we should acknowledge that these people are actually unwell and they’re not just pretending,” she said.
She also said measures to prevent COVID-19 infection need to continue, as people are still being diagnosed with long COVID.
“COVID is really unfortunately not over,” she said.
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