It was early 2020. COVID wasn’t officially “here” in Michigan, but something certainly was in the offices of The Ann Arbor News. Almost everybody came down with something at some point – sniffles, cold, flu, “the crud.”
Whatever I caught lingered – it never was terrible, but it lasted a month. Coworkers reported the same effects, many with the same duration. We speculated about COVID, but we couldn’t know for sure.
We know a lot more three years later, but as you’re about to learn we don’t know everything. Today I’m turning over this space to guest columnist Chris Machniak, chief analyst for MLive Media Group and one of those coworkers who shared the Ann Arbor office space at the dawn of COVID.
He is representative of a large cohort of people who are entangled in a frustrating mystery called “long COVID” – the people whose tangle with the virus has never ended. This is his story in his words.
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A few weeks ago, I was supposed to get my heart fixed.
Instead, I was ensconced in my bedroom at home with a case of COVID-19 and it felt all too familiar.
I haven’t been right since early 2020, where following a mysterious viral illness I have experienced recurring bouts of lung and chest pain and heart palpitations that can flare up if I exercise too much or get a cold of any type.
My doctors didn’t test me for COVID at the time because despite some scary symptoms -- I had shortness of breath and the initial cold lingered for more than a month that included bouts of fatigue, sleeplessness and a never-ending nasal drain -- I otherwise was functional, a blessing for that crisis time. They advised staying home and hunkering down just like most of us were.
And so now three-plus years later, I share because I believe journeys like mine shouldn’t become invisible even as some move on or would like to -- myself included. To us, the pandemic has been about a recovery that seems elusive.
That means I sometimes still wear a mask in public. We crack open windows whenever we have visitors and I have a HEPA air filter running 24/7 in our living room. I know I may still get sick (I just did), but I would like to reduce my risk while otherwise leading my life as a 40-something husband and father of two.
LINGERING SYMPTOMS
Early on, I didn’t know what to think. Initial tests couldn’t find anything or confirm that it was COVID. So what was wrong? My doctors explained there wasn’t a test for this. They could treat specific symptoms but overall I likely had some form of post-viral fatigue, maybe now better termed Long SOMETHING in my case, and that it should eventually get better over time.
Such post-infection illnesses are not new and have often accompanied major pandemics, including the 1918 flu and one in 1889 that some suspect was also a coronavirus. Before COVID the most well-known were perhaps Lyme disease or, chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), both conditions that’ve puzzled doctors and patients alike.
As time passed, I made progress, but it seemed like I had an exercise ceiling far lower than I ever had. I previously could run marathons, but now I needed to walk-run. At times, I would feel great during a workout and then have burning lungs hours later or have odd heart rhythms where my head also would throb. Recovery hasn’t been linear.
Two years in, some aspects worsened: My heart rate could spike to 210+ while exercising. My chest could seize in pain as I tried to shovel snow. I felt dizzy doing the dishes. The pain got so bad once last summer over a three-day stretch I ended up in the ER.
MAYBE IT’S THE WIRING
My heart’s plumbing, more tests showed, was good. It perhaps was the electrical system that was the problem, which they could fix with a catheter ablation. That’s where they snake wires up your veins from your groin to your heart and if they can find what’s causing the irregular heart rhythms, they burn or freeze the tissue to help the heart back into a more regular beat.
Doctors said the cause remains unclear. It could be my recent viral illnesses or something happening in parallel. The heart condition, called Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), isn’t life-threatening but can become a problem if other parts of my health were to falter. The other chest symptoms also could be related but could be a form of something else entirely called dysautonomia.
But a case of COVID two days before my scheduled procedure wasn’t on my bingo card. And so far, this illness is similar to how I felt three years ago, except perhaps it was more cough and snot and no shortness of breath on the front-end. In the weeks since I stopped testing positive, I’ve felt similar fatigue, increased palpitations, chest pressure and some rashes that don’t want to go away.
People ask how I feel now and I joked the other day that I’m back to “abnormal.”
UNCERTAIN ROAD AHEAD
Still, I’m grateful that I’m now hopefully on the road to recovery (again), and if the last three years taught me anything the road ahead will likely be bumpy. I still plan to get my heart fixed, but I now have to wait at least a few months before I can get the operation.
The tragic reality is I’m one of perhaps millions of Americans who have yet to fully get better from a post-viral illness. The best thing we can do is be kind, understanding and supportive to each other. Most people who know my situation have been great.
But some may think they know better. On St. Patrick’s Day, I was leaving a restaurant wearing a mask, when a man sharpened his eyes as he strode past:
“You look committed.” he said.
“I have a heart condition.” I shot back.
“Sure you do.”
“I have surgery in 2 weeks.”
At the same time, a woman from across the parking lot shouted: “Good for you.”
After a short pause, the man said no more and entered the restaurant.
“What was the problem?” the woman asked as she walked toward the entrance.
“I think he didn’t like my mask.”
I wish he could understand that I don’t really like it, either.
MORE ON LONG COVID AND POST-VIRAL ILLNESS
What to know about Long COVID
Unexplained post-acute infection syndromes
Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.
