They call themselves long-haulers, and they number in the thousands across the country.
Many have been unable to return to their normal daily activities.
One studyfound that 75 percent of hospitalizedCOVID patientsstill had symptoms six months after discharge.
“I was like, Look, I’ve gotten through it, and I’ll have antibodies now.
I’m going to get myself healthy again, Hutchison recalls.
Then, in early May, new symptoms appeared: A deep, hacking cough.
Swelling in her feet and lymph nodes.
Vertigo so bad she had to sleep sitting upright.
“It was like an energy reserve had just been pulled out of me, she says.
A constant tightness gripped her chest.
Her heart rate skyrocketed at unexpected times.
I’d be terrified, thinking I was going to have a heart attack.
Hutchison saw many different doctors, who ordered a variety of tests.
She was examined, scanned, questioned and medicated.
One night in November, she awoke drenched in sweat, pain stabbing between her shoulder blades.
She thought it was heartburn, but she also felt nauseous and vomited.
Recognizing those as classicsigns of a heart attack, Hutchison drove herself to the ER.
But her chest X-ray, EKG and other tests all turned up normal.
It’s now been almost a year since she was first infected.
Hutchison says some of her initial symptoms have disappeared, but new ones have emerged.
Her legs sometimes twitch erratically, and she gets migraine-like headaches.
It can be a struggle to concentrate and think of words.
Sometimes she even has enough energy for a walk around the block and some yardwork.
On the bad days, however, she can barely get out of bed.
For Hutchinson, who is normally a high-energy person, it has been devastating.
I feel like I’m disabled, she says.
I can never run more than 85 percent of normal.
This virus has aged me 20 years in a year.”
