Rehabilitation for the price of a rest at the resort: how to survive after covid

At the same time, the rehabilitation of such patients today is an inaccessible luxury.

Irina Mishina

A study by American scientists, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, had the effect of a bomb exploding. It describes the long-term complications of COVID-19. More than 87 thousand patients with coronavirus took part in the study. The control group turned out to be impressive: more than five million patients from the US federal database. Statistics have shown that the risk of dying in those who have had covid within six months after suffering a disease is more than twice as high as in those who did not have coronavirus.

"These late deaths due to long-term complications of infection are usually not counted in the statistics for deaths from COVID-19. These numbers suggest that deaths directly from viral infection are just the tip of the iceberg", - explains the lead author Dr. Ziyad Al-Ali (Ziyad Al-Aly) from Washington University in St. Louis.

Scientists predict that after a pandemic, humanity will face a surge in diseases such as diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other mental disorders. Numerous studies are already showing that the coronavirus affects the brain. As a result, almost all seriously ill patients have various neurological disorders: depression, headaches, confusion, memory loss, chronic fatigue syndrome. But in clinics, patients who complain of similar symptoms either do not understand or refuse to help them.

“When I was discharged from the hospital after coronavirus pneumonia, I could not orient myself in space for a long time, I forgot where it was in the apartment, I didn’t remember how basic household appliances worked. And the usual viewing of television programs led for some reason to shortness of breath and a rise in blood pressure. They were worried about weakness and exhausting headache, and then suddenly it smells of tobacco where there is not a single smoker within a kilometer radius”, - Natalya, who has suffered a coronavirus, shares on Facebook.

“Patients who have had coronavirus, as I have noticed, become very forgetful and dull. They repeatedly ask which office to go to, what to do, although everything is explained and written. Many people lose their hair and teeth after covid. All chronic diseases are aggravated in my patients, many complain of osteochondrosis, joint pain. From experience I can say: the patient himself cannot cope with post-covid complications", - said the head of Department of Physiotherapy of the Chita Central Regional Hospital Angelica Chernigina to Novye Izvestia.

Doctors analyzed the data of patients treated in the red zones of the Sechenov Medical University hospitals from April to July 2020. Were interviewed 2 649 patients, the average age of which is 56 years. Many have suffered mild to moderate viral pneumonia. Six months after being discharged from the hospital, most of the respondents said that they continue to experience some kind of unpleasant symptoms. Most often they complained of fatigue (21%), shortness of breath (14.5%) and forgetfulness (9.1%).

The symptoms that plague those who have had covid are varied and often unusual. But there are no harmless ones among them. The famous singer Antita Tsoi, who had recovered from coronavirus pneumonia in the summer of 2020, recently announced that due to complications she is preparing for an operation. “I had a medium-weight covid. 52 percent of lung damage... It was a terrible night when I could be transferred to intensive care”, - says the singer. “Now my shoulder is frozen due to post-covid syndrome. I wanted to spend the May holidays with kebabs, with friends, with a garden, but nothing will work out for me. Different doctors from different countries confirmed that the deterioration did occur", - Rambler quotes the artist.

As explained the head of the department of cognitive impairments of the Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnology of the FMBA of Russia, Doctor of Medical Sciences Anna Bogolepova, according to scientific literature, about a third of patients with COVID-19 report neurological symptoms. The most common are headache, dizziness, muscle aches and loss of smell. However, there can be extremely serious complications - acute disorders of cerebral circulation, acute encephalopathy, Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system affects the peripheral nerves of a person. “To date, some experimental data have been obtained showing the negative effect of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, on a number of mechanisms underlying diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. During the COVID-19 illness, many people develop respiratory failure, which results in cerebral hypoxia”, - said Anna Bogolepova, MD.

What is the reason for such strange and serious complications? According to biochemists, the virus enters the receptors and blocks them. “Platelets contain receptors that are sensitive to coronavirus, which is why the most common consequence of covid is the formation of blood clots. The virus clings to receptors that are found in all organs - in the heart, in the kidneys, in the pancreas. This gives me reason to believe that covid is a vascular disease. In principle, absolutely all blood vessels are affected by the coronavirus”, - biochemist and scientific columnist Veniamin Zaitsev told Novye Izvestia.

After being discharged from the hospital after viral pneumonia, the patient usually finds himself one-on-one with his problems. After "shock doses" of dexamethasone, antiviral, which have to be drunk in the hospital, literally by handfuls, most of them lose heart, liver and kidneys fail. It is not an easy task to start breathing normally after viral pneumonia. The author of these lines, after 70% lung damage, for a long time could neither speak, nor eat normally, nor even yawn - there was not enough air. Completed 100 steps seemed unbearable physical exertion. But in the district polyclinic, doctors only extended the sick leave and sent for standard tests and examinations. Today there is no rehabilitation in Moscow polyclinics: physiotherapy departments were liquidated in the capital back in 2016. “I don’t know of a single physiotherapy procedure that cured someone”, - said Leonid Pechatnikov, the deputy mayor of the capital for social affairs, a former doctor himself. Administrators from medicine heard him: polyclinic physiotherapy ceased to exist. Now this decision can be called murderous in the literal sense of the word. Thousands of people who have recovered from coronavirus pneumonia are left without qualified help.

This Moscow problem looks especially strange against the background of the situation in other cities of Russia, where physiotherapy was not considered "useless". On the contrary, in many regions, physiotherapy departments were strengthened during a pandemic. Here, for example, is how things are going in the Chita Central Regional Hospital. “Since the beginning of the epidemic, we have been working on a rehabilitation program from 8 am to 8 pm. It all starts with an appointment with a physiotherapist, we study the discharge from the hospital and draw up an individual program for each patient. Our physiotherapy department is located on 3 floors, there are several rooms. Instructors conduct individual breathing exercises, the patient should not do this on his own - he can harm himself. There is a laser, or UHF-therapy, which helps to relieve pulmonary edema after viral pneumonia, to eliminate the so-called “frosted glass”. These procedures also improve the properties of the blood, promote its thinning without pills that put stress on the liver. We also conduct trainings on simulators, drainage massage after pneumonia is required. The kinesiotherapy room is open from 8 am to 8 pm - 9 groups for an hour, with 15 minute breaks. We treat more than 140 people per month. Treatment is free, compulsory medical insurance", - told the head of the Department of Physiotherapy of the Chita Central Regional Hospital Angelica Chernigina to Novye Izvestia.

And what about Moscow? As you know, there is no rehabilitation in the capital's polyclinics today. In the district clinic, you will most likely be advised to undergo rehabilitation at the private clinic MEDSI. Having called there, we learned that in order to get into the post-covid rehabilitation program, we must first make an appointment with a therapist, then with a physiotherapist. Each appointment is paid. After that, you will be offered just a complex of breathing exercises. Full-time of them, only one, all the rest are online. Price - 12 thousand rubles for 10 virtual lessons.

But real, full-fledged rehabilitation can be done only at the resort. Knowledgeable people advised us to post-covid rehabilitation at the Rus sanatorium in Kislovodsk. According to the reviews of people who passed it, who had had viral pneumonia, their condition has improved significantly. We called the Rus sanatorium and asked to calculate the cost of the voucher for at least 10 days. But the staff of the sanatorium discouraged by the fact that the nearest free date is only June 19, and the cost of 1-bed accommodation in a standard room for single occupancy is 9,360 rubles. per day.

After easy calculations, you can calculate the cost of a 10-day rehabilitation: 93 600 rubles. So staying healthy after the coronavirus is a luxury not available to everyone today.