Fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms continue to plague more than 5% of Wisconsin residents<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BY\u00a0MEL HAMMOND<\/a>\u00a0, JULY 9, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms continue to plague more than 5% of Wisconsin residents<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/strong>It was like somebody flipped a switch,\u201d Tim Gittings says, describing the onset of his long COVID symptoms. \u201cI got nauseous and dizzy and disoriented. It felt like my batteries wouldn\u2019t hold a charge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a core company member<\/a> at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Gittings was accustomed to working long days and nights, rehearsing multiple shows at the same time, and leaping across the stage with a sword. But when these new symptoms appeared in June 2022 \u2014 more than two years after his first suspected COVID infection \u2014 his body could no longer keep up with the demands of the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would be in rehearsals and get a wave of [symptoms] and have to lie on the floor for a couple hours,\u201d Gittings says. At one point, an EMT on staff thought he was having a heart attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gittings had to drop out of shows and take less physically demanding roles, which APT was supportive of. But he says it was frustrating to work at a lower capacity than he was used to, especially when that meant putting pressure on other members of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Physical therapist Autumn Bonner also struggled to keep up with her job responsibilities when her long COVID symptoms appeared. She experienced a mild case of COVID in July 2022, but when she returned to her private physical therapy clinic<\/a> after a 10-day quarantine, she didn\u2019t feel recovered. \u201cI would work with a patient and then find myself more tired than normal. I was coming home at night, and the not-feeling-well would linger well through into the next day. I\u2019d be exhausted and have headaches. That was the beginning of the long COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gittings and Bonner are two of an estimated 247,000 Wisconsin adults currently experiencing long COVID, according to the latest available figures from the CDC<\/a> \u2014 about 5% of the population. Of those people, about 73% experience activity limitations because of the disease. The most common symptoms<\/a> include fatigue, brain fog, and post-exertional malaise, which refers to symptoms that get worse after even light activity. But experts have identified more than 200 symptoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aurora Pop-Vicas<\/a> is one of the few physicians in Madison who specializes in treatment for long COVID. As a UW Health infectious disease physician, she became interested in learning everything she could about the COVID virus during the pandemic. \u201cWe soon realized that it\u2019s not quite the same as other upper respiratory viral pathogens. It\u2019s very different. It doesn\u2019t affect only the respiratory tract but, in fact, it can affect any of the organ systems in the body. It doesn\u2019t necessarily end after the acute infection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For people struggling with such a diverse array of symptoms, getting a diagnosis can be difficult. Pop-Vicas calls long COVID a \u201cdiagnosis of exclusion.\u201d There\u2019s no test for it \u2014 instead, clinicians must rule out other underlying conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bonner, for example, struggled with symptoms for a year and a half without a diagnosis, during which time her private physical therapy practice suffered. \u201cI wasn\u2019t reliable in showing up for my patients, sometimes late canceling with an hour notice, due to becoming suddenly faint, or feverish, or having flank pain,\u201d Bonner writes in a blog post<\/a>. \u201cIn conversation with my administrative assistant or with a patient, I\u2019d suddenly forget what I was saying and would have to pause for 10-20 seconds to collect myself. My hands would shake by the end of helping someone and I would try to hide the tremors.\u201d When the long COVID diagnosis came, she realized she wasn\u2019t going to get better. \u201cThe decision to close was probably one of the hardest decisions I\u2019ve had to make,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The condition is much more than <\/strong>just a personal health struggle, Pop-Vicas stresses. \u201cIt takes out of the workforce millions of people every year,\u201d she says. And though the Americans with Disability Act<\/a> does consider long COVID a disability if it limits major life activities, the illness is so new that \u201cproving\u201d a long COVID disability can be difficult when applying for benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closing her practice took a huge financial toll on Bonner\u2019s life. \u201cThings had been basically going down in the dumps in terms of my earnings from July 2022 until December 2023,\u201d she says. Though she made a personal disability insurance claim in December 2023, the insurance company denied it. \u201cThey did not have enough medical evidence, even though I had the long COVID diagnosis.\u201d Bonner finally found a Meriter physical therapist who performed a disability evaluation, proving through objective measurements like heart rate and timed tests that Bonner was no longer able to perform her job responsibilities. Her claim was finally approved in June 2024. \u201cWe\u2019d basically just been holding our breath and waiting to hear back from them,\u201d Bonner says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of long COVID\u2019s huge, multi-faceted impact, addressing the crisis will require more than just further research. \u201cThe management of long COVID is in its infancy in Wisconsin and in Madison,\u201d says Pop-Vicas. \u201cThis is a societal problem, not just a medical problem. Society should respond by providing community-based services that help with reducing some of these stressors, especially things that improve well being, like financial assistance.\u201d She also notes the importance of partnering with community-based patient advocacy groups to make sure that Wisconsinites living with long COVID have input in the response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For folks living with long COVID, life looks a lot different than it did before 2020. This spring, Gittings enrolled in the Post-COVID-19 Care Clinic at the Mayo Clinic<\/a> in Rochester, Minnesota, where he\u2019s learning to better manage his condition. \u201cThe big takeaway was that I have to stop pushing through things,\u201d Gittings says. \u201cYou don\u2019t necessarily recover with rest.\u201d That\u2019s been a hard adjustment to make for an actor who\u2019s always lived by the philosophy of \u201cthe show must go on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nAutumn Bonner struggled with long COVID symptoms for a year and a half before a diagnosis.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n