3 years later, how are we dealing with long COVID?

After treating patients with long COVID since the pandemic began, the University of Utah Long Covid Clinic has released an update to care for patients after reviewing what they have learned.

According to the clinic's director Dr. Jeanette Brown, the University of Utah opened a clinic to help people who were experiencing several symptoms after recovering from COVID-19.

"We didn’t know how long we would need, but here we are three years later, with still new patients rolling in,” said Dr. Brown. "Fatigue and muscle aches, difficulty concentrating, lot of folks refer to that as brain fog, headache, trouble sleeping, memory issues, chest pain, cough."

In March 2020, Lisa O’Brien said her life changed forever.

"I literally contemplated going and sleeping in my car in the parking lot of the emergency room, just because my body, I couldn’t trust my body to behave like it was supposed to, anymore," said O'Brien.

After falling sick from COVID, and testing negative later, O’Brien said she wasn’t well – from erratic heart rates to cognitive issues and even memory issues.

"There was a recovered statistic that came out every day and as soon as you past the 14 days, you automatically moved into that recovered statistic. And there were tons of us who weren’t really recovered," she said.

O’Brien was already receiving treatment when the U clinic opened, but said many others found the place helpful.

"It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Dr. Brown. “We've been really lucky to have some amazing patients that have taught us.”

The clinic helps people from across the state – and patients from out of state too, doing clinical trials and using different devices to help patients.

"For so long, you feel broken,” explained Crystal Pederson, a patient at the long covid clinic. “Like something that is horribly wrong with you and you have no idea what is happening to you, and then to have your problems diagnosed, it’s like this euphoria, yes that’s it!"

O’Brien said it's a tough process even if most days she felt better.

"It’s still on going. There’s still people struggling four years later… I’m one of the lucky ones to have regained much of my health back."

She started a Facebook group called Utah COVID-19 Long Haulers to help others with long covid find a community and get help. It has over 4,000 members now, and O’Brien wants to continue to be able to help those who are in need and might feel isolated.