TORONTO -- While the majority of Canadians who contract COVID-19 survive, some do not fully recover and are left with lingering symptoms that can potentially last for months.
Ruth Castellanos from Troy, Ont. contracted a suspected case of COVID-19 in mid-May 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. Upon testing for the virus, her results came back negative, but she was later clinically diagnosed with a post-viral syndrome.
More than seven months later, her health is still suffering.
“It can change your life. I don’t wish this upon anybody,” Castellanos told CTV News Channel on Saturday.
Castellanos said she developed an unnerving tremor in her hands and has trouble concentrating months after testing negative for the illness. She is no longer able to work as a college instructor.
“The mornings are really hard to just be able to get up,” she said.
She said she has also been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a condition characterized by too little blood returning to the heart when moving from lying down to standing. She is treating the condition with intravenous therapy.
“Everyday I have to choose what I’m going to have to do in terms of tasks, because I’m unable to do what I would do before,” she said.
According to a recent study from China, more than three quarters of COVID-19 patients who were sent to hospital experienced at least one symptom of the virus six months after falling ill.
The study found that among the 1,733 COVID-19 patients who were discharged from the Jin Yin-tan Hospital, 76 per cent of them continued to experience at least one of the symptoms six months later.
Castellanos said she is now seeing up to 10 doctors including naturopaths, cardiologists and neurologists.
“It’s draining on my body and it’s draining on my emotional self as well,” she said.
She wants all Canadians to not only appreciate the seriousness of the virus, but the long-term consequences the illness can pose.
“If you do catch this, it is probably not going to be a two-week illness. You can have long term effects of COVID-19 eight months after you have gotten better from the acute phase,” she said
Castellanos hopes that her story will remind people of the severity of the virus and the risks it poses to Canadians.
“Follow protocols. Follow the guidelines because nobody wants to be in the spot that I’m in and thousands of us in Canada are in,” she said.
She said that as soon as she becomes eligible, she will be in line to get vaccinated.
“Whatever I can do to not get it again, I will do that,” she said.
More than 652,000 Canadians have been infected with COVID-19 and 16,833 have died. Another 552,000 have recovered from the illness, while more than 82,000 cases are considered active.
