“Covid-19 after effects?”
So I just recovered from covid-19 about 3 weeks ago and after I recovered I've noticed that I still have blood in my sinuses. For the last 3 weeks, I have had a sharp kidney pain in the right side of my body to which now my left one is starting to hurt as well. Should I go to the ER and seek help or is it something I can drink water and recover from? It's been 3 weeks of my right side hurting and now progressed into my left side just would like some advice.
Male | 30 years old
Complaint duration: 20 days
Medications: None
Conditions: None
2 Answers
The symptoms could be related to Long Covid. Long Covid is defined as symptoms from COVID lasting over 30 days and these symptoms vary in each patient.
There isn’t one body system that COVID-19 hasn’t left a mark on.
Why? Because organs have doors called ACE2 receptors. The little spikes on the COVID-19 virus are keys to these doors. It takes about 10 minutes for COVID-19 to open the door and make a cell its home. Once in, the virus starts multiplying eventually killing the cell (and sometimes even killing all the cells in the organ). On top of this, our immune system then “overreacts” to these cells dying causing even more problems. We have these COVID-19 doors on almost all of our organ systems. This leads to short- and long-term health problems (yes, among young and healthy individuals too).
Lungs: Lose the ability to pass oxygen to the blood and remove carbon dioxide. This leads to distress (and sometimes requires ventilation). The type of pneumonia often associated with COVID-19 can cause long-standing damage to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The resulting scar tissue can lead to long-term breathing problems. We’ve also seen long-term lung function abnormalities.
Heart: Chest pain, heart racing, and heart attacks. 20-30% of patients have heart damage. Imaging tests taken months after recovery from COVID-19 have shown lasting damage to the heart muscle, even in people who experienced only mild COVID-19 symptoms. This may increase the risk of heart failure or other heart complications in the future. Pericarditis and myocarditis with clinical stability are frequent long after SARS-CoV-2 infection, even in presently asymptomatic subjects. In one study Isolated pericarditis was diagnosed in 4 (3%) participants, myopericarditis in 15 (11%), and isolated myocarditis in 36 (26%).
Nervous System/Brain: 33% of patients experience neurological or psychological “COVID-19 fog”. Even in young people, COVID-19 can cause strokes, seizures, and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Break-in communication between the nerves and muscles, causing MS-like symptoms (tingling, numbness, weakness). Smell and taste problems (10% of people aren’t getting their smell back long term) sleep issues, difficulty with concentration, memory problems
Kidney: 78% of patients in ICU develop kidney injury.
Skin: rash, hair loss
Digestive system (stomach, pancreas, gallbladder): 33% report diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain. 17% have severe pancreatic damage leading to chronic disease
Blood: COVID-19 can make blood cells more likely to clump up and form clots. While large clots can cause heart attacks and strokes, much of the heart damage caused by COVID-19 is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle. Extensive clotting in the veins and other small blood vessels has also been seen in patients’ kidneys, liver, brain, and lungs. Lymphopenia- the mass destruction of WBCs our immune fighting cells and sometimes bleeding disorders can happen due to depletion of coagulating factors
Psychological: Mental health issues lead to struggling with words, simple math, or just trying to think. Simply surviving mechanical ventilation can make a person more likely to later develop post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, and anxiety.
We can help if suffering from Long Covid symptoms, please see https://text2md.com/long-haul-covid-19-treatment/
Best,
Dr. Antonatos
There isn’t one body system that COVID-19 hasn’t left a mark on.
Why? Because organs have doors called ACE2 receptors. The little spikes on the COVID-19 virus are keys to these doors. It takes about 10 minutes for COVID-19 to open the door and make a cell its home. Once in, the virus starts multiplying eventually killing the cell (and sometimes even killing all the cells in the organ). On top of this, our immune system then “overreacts” to these cells dying causing even more problems. We have these COVID-19 doors on almost all of our organ systems. This leads to short- and long-term health problems (yes, among young and healthy individuals too).
Lungs: Lose the ability to pass oxygen to the blood and remove carbon dioxide. This leads to distress (and sometimes requires ventilation). The type of pneumonia often associated with COVID-19 can cause long-standing damage to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The resulting scar tissue can lead to long-term breathing problems. We’ve also seen long-term lung function abnormalities.
Heart: Chest pain, heart racing, and heart attacks. 20-30% of patients have heart damage. Imaging tests taken months after recovery from COVID-19 have shown lasting damage to the heart muscle, even in people who experienced only mild COVID-19 symptoms. This may increase the risk of heart failure or other heart complications in the future. Pericarditis and myocarditis with clinical stability are frequent long after SARS-CoV-2 infection, even in presently asymptomatic subjects. In one study Isolated pericarditis was diagnosed in 4 (3%) participants, myopericarditis in 15 (11%), and isolated myocarditis in 36 (26%).
Nervous System/Brain: 33% of patients experience neurological or psychological “COVID-19 fog”. Even in young people, COVID-19 can cause strokes, seizures, and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Break-in communication between the nerves and muscles, causing MS-like symptoms (tingling, numbness, weakness). Smell and taste problems (10% of people aren’t getting their smell back long term) sleep issues, difficulty with concentration, memory problems
Kidney: 78% of patients in ICU develop kidney injury.
Skin: rash, hair loss
Digestive system (stomach, pancreas, gallbladder): 33% report diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain. 17% have severe pancreatic damage leading to chronic disease
Blood: COVID-19 can make blood cells more likely to clump up and form clots. While large clots can cause heart attacks and strokes, much of the heart damage caused by COVID-19 is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle. Extensive clotting in the veins and other small blood vessels has also been seen in patients’ kidneys, liver, brain, and lungs. Lymphopenia- the mass destruction of WBCs our immune fighting cells and sometimes bleeding disorders can happen due to depletion of coagulating factors
Psychological: Mental health issues lead to struggling with words, simple math, or just trying to think. Simply surviving mechanical ventilation can make a person more likely to later develop post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, and anxiety.
We can help if suffering from Long Covid symptoms, please see https://text2md.com/long-haul-covid-19-treatment/
Best,
Dr. Antonatos
I am glad that you recovered from COVID. Blood from sinuses can be from the dryness of the inside of your nose, for which you can use over-the-counter saline nasal spray. As for the pain in your right and left side, you better see a doctor, mainly because it is not getting better and rather getting worst.
