I, Lab Rat
- Erica Taylor
- Oct 24, 2020
- 2 min read
One question that I have gotten a few times once I tell people about my list of symptoms is what is the treatment.(click here for more about my symptoms)
Most long-haulers will tell you that there is no easy answer. A lot of what is going on with us is still being researched and understood. Most of the research is being driven by us advocating for ourselves and each other.
Doctors are starting to put together long-covid care centers around the country. But unfortunately, there are no clinics near Georgia yet. My guess is that it will be quite a while before there is a clinic around here.
So, for most of us long-haulers, what is left for us to do is to go to a variety of doctors, do a variety of tests, mix that with vitamins and homeopathic methods, and pray for the best.
This is made even more complicated by the fact that a lot of health care providers still don’t even believe patients who come in to their offices and complain about their symptoms. A lot of patients are being “gaslit” into thinking that their suffering is all in their head by doctors who don’t know what to do and aren’t willing to search for answers.
I’m lucky. So far, my doctors do believe that something is wrong and are working with me. But, it’s still an uphill battle.
To date, I have been to the emergency room 3 times. I have had 3 chest x-rays, 2 ultrasounds, 2 CT scans, 1 echo cardiogram, 1 stress test, and multiple blood tests. I’ve also been to my PCP multiple times, the hemotologist, the cardiologist, and the pulmonologist.
Don’t get me started on the doctors bills. That’s a subject for another time. Also don’t get me started on the frustration of having to go to the ER multiple times because the 1st time, they don’t catch something that you know is wrong and you end up doing the test all over again just for them to find the problem the 2nd time. That’s also a topic for another time. (UPDATE: SEE POST HERE)
Up next for me is an appointment with the neurologist, an MRI of my head, another ultrasound of my leg, and a lung function test.
I also do brain teasers everyday, take vitamins everyday, and I will soon be trying a program for fatigue called “pacing” and attempting a new diet (which of course is made more difficult by my troubles with cooking. For more on that, see my previous blog post).
So, to those wondering what the treatment is, this is my complicated answer. For those wondering about prognosis, the answer is “who knows.” And for those worried that I wasn’t doing anything to try to help myself, I assure you that is completely inaccurate.
No one is more interested in me getting better than me. But, there are no easy answers and the road to recovery is not made any easier by also having very little energy and a busted brain.
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