WE’VE just passed the four-year mark since COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill and killed millions of people during the pandemic.
While many who’ve had COVID have fully recovered, some have been left with persistent symptoms and debilitating health problems, for which there is no cure.
This is what we now know as Long COVID.
According to the World Health Organisation, Long COVID refers to symptoms and health problems that continue, emerge or persist three months after recovering from acute COVID-19 infection.
Other medical experts define Long COVID as not one illness, but rather an umbrella term to describe a wide range of symptoms, conditions and diseases, which may vary from person to person.
Long COVID symptoms commonly include extreme tiredness, brain fog, joint pain, dizziness, headaches, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal problems.
This week, one of my missions at work was to find out whether there was another, more silent pandemic going on with Long COVID.
There was both a professional and deeply personal interest in looking to turn up the latest data.
I was diagnosed with Long COVID in September last year.
I had most of the aforementioned symptoms when I presented myself to a GP in late August.
I had been mainly battling extreme tiredness, sore joints and brain fog (although some may argue I’ve long had that) since about March last year.
It followed my second bout of COVID.
I’d been living in this vicious cycle of starting my day with burning joints after a nine or 10-hour sleep the night before, then trying to get most of my stories done before lunch, when I was going home for sleeps of up to 90 minutes.
I’d then return to work till late afternoon before going home, often falling asleep on the couch before I’d cooked dinner, and then squeezing in a meal (often takeaway) before going to bed.
I knew something bad was wrong and ended up resigning from Sunraysia Daily on the eve of the footy and netball finals.
I returned to the family home in northern NSW, where a GP sent me for a series of tests (what she termed a “process of elimination”) before I was diagnosed with Long COVID.
I was off work for six months before the editor, Jason Shields, kindly offered me a job back in the Daily’s newsroom.
What a journey of recovery it was before blood and heart tests last month finally showed I was ready to ease my way back into work.
Before I tell you about what I learnt about the illness on a broader scale this week, I’ll give you an insight into my recover methods in the absence of any medication.
I don’t blame my GP, but the only real message I was getting in terms of recovery was to “eat well and exercise regularly”.
I’m an impatient bugger, so I searched for a better solution than that.
I turned to YouTube to watch videos of American medical experts talking about the best ways to get over long-term illnesses like Long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome, which are similar conditions.
The magic bullet for me came in the form of water fasting, where once you’d reach the 72-hour mark, the body’s cells would be regenerating.
The first three-day fast was hard going in October, but the ones I’ve done since then, in combination with long walks and some sprint work (I hadn’t done that for 20 years since my rugby playing days!), have been life-changing.
I’ve lost the 7kg I put on last year and now feel more energised than I have in years. I haven’t had a lunchtime sleep since early January, the joint pain has largely disappeared, and things have become clearer in my mind.
So, to this week’s fact-finding mission on Long COVID.
I wanted to see whether the number of reported Long COVID cases around the nation was on the increase.
In short, there was very little data to back up the anecdotal information I’d picked up from social media that the problem was only getting worse around Australia.
The Victorian Department of Health referred me to its federal counterparts, where it was clear the government is finally getting its act together by releasing a first national plan on how to deal with Long COVID last month.
The Victorian department did throw a few scraps of data my way.
It referred to a Victorian Agency for Health information survey last year that showed one in seven (14.2 per cent) of respondents who contracted COVID met the criteria for having Long COVID at the time of the survey.
“Respondents who had COVID later in the pandemic generally reported better outcomes,” the survey results showed.
“Compared with those who contracted COVID between January 2020 and December 2021, respondents who had contracted COVID between January and October 2022 were more likely to be fully or mostly recovered three months after their COVID infection and less likely to report new, persistent symptoms at the time of the survey.”
Wider research is showing that Long COVID is not one disease, but rather has many and varied impacts, with multiple symptoms, affecting multiple organs, requiring multiple treatments.
According to the Federal Government, there is “still uncertainty about the prevalence” of Long COVID in Australia.
In 2022, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated that 5-10 per cent of COVID-19 cases may develop long COVID.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster said she was “yet to see research papers on the topic”.
“Right now, there is not enough information about Long COVID,” Dr Webster said.
“However, as Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health, I have been pushing for better access to primary care in regional Australia for those suffering from chronic conditions such as Long COVID to receive more consistent care and better health outcomes.”
I really feel for others who are dealing with the debilitating effects of Long COVID.
Running on empty every day is no fun.
But thankfully, my tank has been topped with positive energy and drive to do job the job I love, and to be a crusader once again for public good in the region.
I am an old-school journo in that respect.
Look forward to seeing you out and about in the days ahead.
