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covid and ptsd: 'you can’t get away from the trauma'
nightmares, anxiety and fear dim the relief of recovering from the virus.
mar 8 2021
4 minute read
some covid-19 survivors are experiencing ptsd symptoms.
getty
like thousands of other canadians, ashley comrie thought her struggles with covid-19 were over once her doctor said she could go home. she had no idea the trauma from her ordeal was just getting started.
the toronto-based social worker had just spent two months in the hospital after her husband — who crossed paths with covid-19 at a grocery store — passed the virus on to her last april. in addition to a persistent fever and the loss of her sense of taste and smell, comrie said she was overwhelmed by a feeling of disorientation that drove her to the icu. “i was just so confused,” she told ctv news . “i’d been working like 16 to 18 hour days up until that point. and i just, i couldn’t even remember my own birthday. it was such a sudden change.”
two months later — after plenty of attention from toronto doctors and a period of in-patient rehab — comrie was released to the comforts of her home. her happiness was soon tempered by the realization that something was wrong as the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder began to creep into her consciousness.
“i think you’re just so happy when you first get home, that … you don’t really want to examine the fact that you’re not the same,” she said. “(it) started with a lot of being unable to sleep and having this intense anxiety that i hadn’t had before.”
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when sleep did come, comrie said she was tortured by nightmares of drowning — a helpless feeling eerily reminiscent of the worst days of her struggle with the virus. little things would trigger unwelcome memories of her harrowing experience. “there’s nothing like living through feeling like you’re drowning in your own lungs and then sleeping through it every night after that when you’re no longer in that danger,” she said. “i was unable to read anything about me having covid — so any of my patient file stuff — without just sobbing. which is not my normal at all. and i just realized it was all of the stuff was piling up.”
comrie’s experiences highlight the need to pay close attention to patients during “the post-covid phase,” said delfina janiri , a psychiatrist in italy and the lead author of a study on the psychological trauma experienced by severely ill covid patients. janiri’s research into 381 patients at a hospital in rome concluded that as many as one-third of those overcoming severe covid illness may be in line for ptsd, with the majority likely to be women.
“this is definitely concerning,” janiri said of comrie’s symptoms. “post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by alteration, not only in cognition and mood, but also in arousal. hyperactivity, (nightmares) about the traumatic event, and flashbacks and avoidance of stimuli.”
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it can be difficult for these ptsd sufferers to find a sense of refuge because the source of their trauma is a worldwide event. “you can’t ever get away from that trauma, so it’s everywhere, it’s in the public zeitgeist, it’s on tv shows, it’s on the news,” comrie said. “on social media, it’s all everyone’s talking about right now. and that can be really hard because you don’t ever get a break from the trauma that you’re trying to recover from.”
the thought of returning to the hospital — a necessity for comrie to deal with post-covid complications — filled her with fear. “and so that’s when i realized that i was i was having a lot of ptsd symptoms and that i needed more help than what i was accessing at that point.”
it is an increasingly common realization that sarah bush, a psychiatrist at the toronto western hospital , said extends beyond the patients themselves. “i’ve seen caregivers of patients who had covid who are actually also developing ptsd-related symptoms,” she said. “worrying that their loved one in bed next to them will not wake up in the morning, will have challenges breathing at night. and so, i think the scope is even greater. not just our patients with covid, but also loved ones who are affected. and not to mention health-care workers as well.”
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for comrie, the road to recovery involved overcoming the stigma of addressing mental health issues, something she said she found difficult, even as a social worker. she said she hopes that by speaking out about the issue, she can help others find their voice and get the help they may need. “i realized that if that’s how i feel, as a professional, and that’s what i was worried about, imagine all of the people who are even more scared to come forward and to talk about it.”
speaking up helped comrie gain access to the medicine she needed to cope with her nightmares and anxiety. “and that was such a huge relief to start having those,” she said. “it lets me do the work i need to do to recover and to kind of get those coping skills back in place so that i can move forward with my life.”
dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca
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