The pulmonologist, Pr Claire Andrejak, recalls that physiotherapy sessions are essential to relearn how to breathe when suffering from symptoms of long Covid.
- The term “Covid long”, used to evoke persistent symptoms of the coronavirus, “is not the most appropriate”, according to the pulmonologist.
- When the symptoms persist beyond six months or a year and “the patients do not recover”, we can speak of post-Covid sequelae.
- Over time, the symptoms improve. However, patients must learn to breathe so that it becomes a reflex again.
“Covid long”. This term was created and used by patients and then taken up in the literature to qualify the presence of symptoms beyond several weeks or months after a coronavirus infection, according to the High Authority for Health. According to Professor Claire Andrejak, pulmonologist and specialist in respiratory infections in the pulmonology and resuscitation department at the University Hospital of Amiens, this term “is not the most appropriate”.
“He would mean that all the symptoms the patients have are related to Covid-19. (…) Are these associated with the coronavirus? To another disease that was aggravated by the infection or to something else altogether? We do not know. It’s not in the definition, which is why I prefer to talk about persistent post-Covid symptoms. Moreover, no one knows after how long one should consider it pathological to still be ‘symptomatic'”, she continued.
Do not put patients too quickly in the “Covid long” box which is “stigmatized”
According to the specialist, it is possible to speak of post-Covid sequelae, when the symptoms persist beyond six months or a year. “to make sure they are properly installed and that the patients do not recover”. In some patients, pathology “not necessarily diagnosed” appeared before the Covid-19 infection and was exacerbated. “Others already had symptoms, but they didn’t pay attention to them because they were used to them. After being infected with the virus, they wondered if they were not suffering from a long Covid. “
Pr Claire Andrejak indicates that in some patients, no sequelae or underlying condition has been identified, but they still suffer from hyperventilation which causes the occurrence of several symptoms. “We must not label the patients too quickly and put them in the Covid long box, which is unfortunately stigmatized. First, it is necessary to eliminate the sequelae and the underlying pathologies which can cause the same symptoms”, she added.
Symptoms “will subside, but it takes time”
The pulmonologist reassures patients about the development of symptoms. “They will get better and subside, but it takes time. So it takes a lot of patience. It’s probably going to come down to rehabilitation for dyspnea (i.e. shortness of breath) and anosmia (i.e. loss of of smell)”. During physiotherapy sessions, patients learn to breathe so that it becomes a reflex again. “It’s difficult for them, because usually we don’t think about breathing, it’s automatic and it happens on its own,” specifies Claire Andrejak.