After contracting a COVID-19 infection, Nate Freeman lost hope as symptoms of long COVID lingered well after his infection.
A support group for long COVID patients that began meeting this year gave him hope for the first time since he fell ill.
As many struggling with addiction go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to find community, Freeman sees parallels between addiction recovery and long COVID recovery.
“You have to recognize that I’m dealing with something that I can’t control,” Freeman said. “I need to get help. I need to ask for help. I need to not do it alone.”
The Long COVID Informational, Discussion and Support group meets for two hours monthly in the Longs Peak Conference Room at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, 2500 Rocky Mountain Ave., in Loveland. The group’s facilitators welcome virtual attendees with an understanding that some people may not be able to attend in person.
Dr. Matthew Light, a pulmonary disease and critical care medicine specialist for UCHealth Pulmonology Clinic in Greeley and Loveland, manages patients in northern Colorado with long COVID. Hearing his patients’ individual long COVID stories made him think about the benefits of putting a group with shared experience into the same room.
Light then decided to start the support group, acquiring the help of Michaela Martinez, a registered nurse and clinical educator with UCHealth. The two have long COVID themselves, so they can relate to and understand what patients are going through.
By the first meeting in February, patients and facilitators openly discussed their symptoms, remedies and different paths to recovery while also sharing information on the latest, often limited data on long COVID.
The facilitators allow attendees to suggest topic discussions through an online form that Light then researches and presents at future sessions.
Light and Martinez brought in registered nurse Maggie Hinz and Chaplain Ryan Wooley to help run the group, forming a team with a mix of perspectives to help bridge the gap through ideas, experiences and resources.
The Long COVID Informational, Discussion and Support group is the only group of its kind in Colorado, according to a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment page.
The many faces of long COVID
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long COVID as a chronic condition that transpires after a coronavirus infection and remains present for at least three months.
Symptoms from a COVID infection can linger or worsen for weeks, months or even years. More than 200 long COVID symptoms have been identified, according to the CDC, including chronic fatigue, neurological problems, shortness of breath, muscle aches, joint pain and more.
Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States infected with COVID-19 will develop persistent symptoms classified as long COVID, according to the CDC.
A CDC Long COVID Household Pulse Survey found more than 15% of Colorado adults report having experienced long COVID. The data only calculates those who have recognized their condition as long COVID or received an official diagnosis, meaning the percentage of people suffering from the aftermath of a coronavirus infection could be much higher than reported.
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Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
