Some COVID patients struggling with lingering effects months later

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    Boston, MA (WBZ) — Researchers are still trying to figure out COVID-19. One of the big questions or discrepancies is why some people get over it with no long-term effects while others are plagued with health issues for months.

Zach Whitman is one of those still feeling the effects seven months after being released from Winchester Hospital. “The things that have really stood out are the constant migraines, the brain fog, and then like heart arrhythmias,” he explained. “I like to describe it as my heart’s having a panic attack but my body’s not.” And the fatigue, which doctors can’t readily explain.

But then there’s the case of Curtis Akins. The 49-year-old spent almost two weeks in the ICU at South Shore Hospital and was one step away from a ventilator and today he’s fine. “No breathing issues,” Akins said. “I can breathe fine, I can walk. I can do so many things that I wasn’t able to do.”

Curtis says his only health issue now is the ribs he broke in April from coughing.

Doctors can’t tell Whitman there is light at the end of the tunnel. “We don’t know when this will go away,” Whitman said. “We don’t know when you’ll be able to exercise or carry on your life the way it was pre-COVID.”

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