inspiring canadians to live better.

healthing leaf

inspiring canadians to live better.

healthing leaf
mosquito-borne diseases affect up to 700 million people each year. learn more
powered by: valneva canada inc.
home / 世界杯决赛2022

post viral fatigue, lingering symptoms for covid long haulers

"i would expect that these long-term things, they're probably ratcheting up on the priority list because i think it's becoming more apparent all the time that there's substantial numbers of people affected by this."

by lynn giesbrecht

nov 2 2020
read time 4 minute read
join the conversation
cordell hilderman, a pharmacist in saskatoon, has been struggling with lingering covid-19 symptoms for seven months. cordell hilderman / submitted
seven months after first testing positive for covid-19, cordell hilderman is not able to work and struggles with severe fatigue, decreased kidney function and an abnormally fast heart rate — making him one of many people around the world who have become known as “covid long haulers.”
hilderman was one of the first people in saskatchewan to test positive, receiving his diagnosis in mid-march after being exposed to someone who had already tested positive.
“when the positive test result came back, i was shocked. i couldn’t believe it,” he said in a recent interview, noting that he had not experienced any symptoms at that time. just a few days later, however, the symptoms set in: shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, fatigue and joint pain.
for two weeks, hilderman said he did little more than sleep and his memory started to have noticeable gaps.
as a pharmacist and manager of a saskatoon pharmacy, hilderman was eager to return to work since his staff were working hard to navigate the early days of the pandemic. in early april, he was declared recovered and felt good enough to head back to work, although he was still experiencing periodic gaps in his memory and struggling to concentrate.
powered by
canadian centre for caregiving excellence

advertisement

a month and a half later one of his pharmacists had to self-isolate and hilderman began working overtime to cover for his co-worker. he became run down, and that’s when his symptoms made a noticeable return.
fatigue and mental exhaustion quickly set in, making it impossible for him to work more than three or four days a week, even though he was napping every day.
he began searching online for potential explanations and began finding stories of other people around the world who were having similar challenges. this group became known as “covid long haulers” and hilderman even found social media support groups created specifically for those experiencing these long-term symptoms.
after a week of holidays at the end of june failed to bring any feeling of life back to him, he decided to seek medical help.
a meeting with his doctor led to an appointment with an infectious disease specialist in july.
“she classified it as a post viral fatigue,” he said. “typically it’s three to six months to kind of come out of that. so, i mean, six months from mid-may when i had that recurrence of symptoms is going to be mid-november.”
regina resident gillian isabelle tested positive for covid-19 on march 13 after experiencing shortness of breath and fatigue. isabelle said she was told she was the first person in the queen city to test positive.
powered by
obesity matters

advertisement

for a week, she had a fever, body aches and had no sense of taste or smell.
“it was really scary,” she said in an interview. “it was so new and so unknown.”
regina resident gillian isabelle is still experiencing covid-19 symptoms seven months after being diagnosed with the infection.
regina resident gillian isabelle is still experiencing covid-19 symptoms seven months after being diagnosed with the infection. gillian isabelle / submitted
in those few days, isabelle went from being an active, healthy person to someone who was easily out of breath and tired quickly. even now that she has been deemed recovered and is back at work as a dental assistant, she comes home at the end of every day exhausted.
“it didn’t used to be like that. at least i had enough energy to run some errands after work,” she said. “i’m just so tired all the time.”
“my sense of smell is pretty much back to normal, but my sense of taste is just so off. there’s a lot of times where i cannot taste what i am eating or drinking,” said isabelle.
“my energy levels are not what they used to be. now that it’s cold, just walking my dog around the block i get winded.”
isabelle has not sought medical help for her lingering symptoms, saying she is not convinced it would do her any good at this point.
hilderman is still pursuing medical help, and said his blood work shows his kidney function has declined. he also suffers from tachycardia — an abnormally fast heart rate — and is undergoing testing on his heart.
“those are things that, aside from this post viral fatigue, those are separate organ systems that we don’t know if they’re going to resolve or not,” he said.

advertisement

hilderman has been off work since the end of june and he still naps nearly every afternoon. he said it has been difficult for his wife and three children to see him changed so drastically.

a recent study done by united kingdom health science company zoe in partnership with king’s college london found there are likely hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are struggling with these long-term covid-19 symptoms.

the study, which surveyed more than 4,000 people who had tested positive, found that 13 per cent of people had symptoms lasting at least four weeks, five per cent had symptoms lasting at least two months and around two per cent still had symptoms after three months.
if those numbers accurately reflect covid-19 sufferers around the world, more than 60 people in saskatchewan who have already tested positive will experience these long-term symptoms.
the study also divided covid long haulers into two categories: those who had lingering respiratory symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath and fatigue, and those whose symptoms moved to other parts of their body like the brain, gut and heart.
hilderman knows that research is still limited on the long-term impacts of covid-19. in the meantime, he hopes the province will begin to track how many people in saskatchewan who test positive are experiencing these long-term symptoms, changing the current statistical categories from just recovered, active and deaths.

advertisement

“i think we have to get away from just having recoveries versus deaths. i mean, there’s such a huge area in the middle there that’s being ignored, and that’s the morbidity,” he said.
“i would expect that these long-term things, they’re probably ratcheting up on the priority list because i think it’s becoming more apparent all the time that there’s substantial numbers of people affected by this.”
lgiesbrecht@postmedia.com

comments

postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. we ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. we have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. visit our community guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.