While there has been a rise in hospital admissions in the new wave of COVID-19, on the other hand, many people are recovering well and coming back home and some are even successfully defeating the virus at home. Although recovered, there are many issues that people are facing post-recovery and one of them is weakness. Weakness, lethargy, and sleepiness throughout the day is what people are complaining about. In a conversation with ETV Bharat Sukhibhava, General Physician, Dr. Sanjay K. Jain, MBBS, MD (Medicine), associated with Apple Hospital, Indore, discussed more about the reasons behind the prolonged weakness and how to deal with it?
Why Are People Having Post-Recovery Weakness?
Dr. Sanjay says that there can be many reasons that are causing weakness even after recovery from COVID-19 and some of those reasons include:
- Post-viral weakness
All viral diseases cause some amount of weakness. But, since the virus, SARS-CoV-2, responsible for COVID-19, is very virulent, it is affecting people severely and causing more and prolonged weakness in the patients. - Effects of heavy drugs
Since the infected patients, especially people who are affected severely, are being given very heavy drugs like antibiotics, antiviral drugs, etc. and even steroids. Therefore, a combination of these medicines given to the patient affects him/her a lot. - Low appetite
During the treatment, the food intake of a person is not up to the mark, appetite is low and people may also experience loss of taste, which makes them unwilling to eat much. After recovery as well, fatigability can be seen, and regaining the normal appetite, may sometimes even require 4-6 weeks. - Co-existing conditions or co-morbidities
Sometimes, the weakness can also be because of certain other conditions that came up alongside COVID-19, like hepatitis, uncontrolled blood sugar levels due to the drugs, or pre-existing diabetes where the sugar levels have gone very high and the patient requires higher doses of insulin. - Exhausted body
Once the virus enters our body, our body makes every possible effort to fight against it, which is exhausting and the virus affects our body so much that our immunity is also lowered. - Mental health
Our mental health too reflects on our physical health. The new strain has brought with it a lot of fear, panic and anxiety. Also, there is a lot of negativity around us, the numbers may be scary for some and recovering from a dreadful disease can be mentally exhausting. All this can greatly add to the weakness.
How To Deal With It?
As we say that the weakness in COVID-19 patients is prolonged, it may last even after a 14 days recovery period. Therefore, here is what Dr. Sanjay recommends to cope with post-recovery weakness:
- The most important thing is to boost up the patient and surround them with positivity. “Whenever I go for checking-in on patients, I remind them that they are alright and that they will be fine soon. I do not want the disease to take over a person’s psychological state.”, says Dr. Sanjay. Therefore, reassurance and mental positivity are a must, especially for a better recovery.
- Post-recovery, the person needs to start taking a normal diet, targeting a high protein diet, which is required for the recovery of the lung tissue. Therefore, milk, cottage cheese/paneer, nuts, etc. are given, apart from the routine diet. Also, according to the state of a person, the vitamin and zinc supplement doses may be given for a longer time.
- Exercise too is important. Spirometer devices (can be identified as a device that has three balls) for exercise can be used and pranayama is very helpful to increase lung capacity.
- Stay away from the negativity around you. Stop reading newspapers or watching news channels for a while. Cut off from social media and instead, watch some movies or TV series, read a book or do something creative to keep your mind calm, relaxed, and positive. Do not talk about anything sad or depressing to the patient, it can hinder their recovery.
