Quynh Huong’s seven days with Covid-19 passed gently, but her fear started when she got a negative test result, as many people said she should be careful with the post-Covid situation.
Initially, this 40-year-old woman in the Cau Giay district didn’t really care when her friends said it was an infected person with few symptoms who was more prone to lung damage, poor health, stroke, memory loss and even death. sudden death.
Two days after the negative test, Quynh Huong is still coughing and short of breath that is most pronounced when climbing stairs. He confirmed that he was post-Covid-19 and started buying a series of lung tonics from Japan, swiftlet’s nest, cordyceps, vitamin and mineral supplement capsules… A total of 5 million copper.
But Huong didn’t stop. She participates in the group “cure post-Covid-19 at home”. Beneath each post asking for advice are dozens of comments offering medicines from Germany, Russia, Poland, Korea… from oriental medicine to western medicine, priced from a few hundred thousand to a million dong per dose. “If a drug is used by many people, I will order it,” he said.
According to a reporter’s survey VnExpressThere are hundreds of post-Covid-19 counseling groups on social networks, the largest of which have nearly 130,000 members, at least 30,000. Each day, the group had 5 to 35 articles asking for advice on symptom treatment after Covid-19, with lots of ads for medicines and functional foods.
dr. Quan The Dan said, Quynh Huong and many people confuse Covid symptoms with post-Covid symptoms. Once the test is negative, they allow themselves to be cured, but when they see that they are still suffering from cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing, they panic and think they have a “post-Covid” problem. Even though at that time the patient was still in the process of contracting Covid, he had not fully recovered,” said dr.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the majority of people with Covid-19 will make a full recovery, with only 10-20% having symptoms of what is termed “post-Covid” or “prolonged Covid”. WHO defines “post-Covid” as a disorder that persists after three months of illness. If the condition goes away after a week or a month, the patient is not considered to have persistent Covid-19.
A patient is taken by relatives to Thanh Nhan Hospital, Hanoi, for a post-Covid-19 check-up on the morning of March 14. Photo: M N
Hoang Thuy, 29, in the Tan Binh district of Ho Chi Minh City said he was afraid that post-Covid-19 would be “overwhelmed”. The female office worker contracted Covid-19 at the end of February, the symptoms of the disease stopped at a mild fever, chills, shortness of breath, and fatigue. A week later, negative, he suddenly coughed and had a severe headache. He quickly booked an appointment for a lung scan and post-Covid-19 checkup at a private hospital at a cost of nearly a million dong, fearing the sequelae.
There is no underlying disease, symptoms are mild and X-ray results show his lungs are normal, he is advised by doctors to practice breathing three times a day, eat moderately to recover quickly. But the information being shared about “a young patient who developed Covid-19 with mild symptoms, a few weeks after his illness became severe, was diagnosed with lung damage and died”, frightened Thuy.
To reassure herself, she attempted to buy post-Covid medicine online, even though she was warned she did not have a prescription for post-Covid-19 treatment licensed by the Ministry of Health. According to the advice of “people with post-Covid experience”, Thuy purchased a portable lung tonic from Germany, a body detox bottle extracted from herbs with a “virus-eliminating” effect along with bird’s nest, cordyceps. Herbs increase endurance. The total cost of the drug is more than 6 million VND to treat coughs, shortness of breath and headaches, after two weeks of negative rapid tests. “The effect is not clear, but just weight gain and a full stomach,” says Thuy.
There are no more symptoms of illness, but Nguyen Lan, from the Hoang Mai district, is also so obsessed with post-Covid-19 that she can’t sleep. With a history of drug allergies, the 50-year-old woman was advised to supplement with portable functional foods from abroad that have a tonic and lung detoxification effect. “Anything you drink is nutritious” was his thought. In addition to the oral medication, he ordered more Korean ginseng and abalone to increase resistance.
Seeing his wife abusing functional food, Hung and Lan’s husband tries to stop her. But she was upset that her husband wasted money and didn’t care about his wife’s health. “His illness is sometimes psychological. His health is normal, but he thinks he is sick,” he sighed.
According to the advice of Mr. Dr. Nguyen Thu Huong, Head of the Covid-19 Prevention and Control Unit, Thanh Nhan Hospital, functional foods and tonics are more or less effective for health, but not specific drugs. Therefore, the best advice is if you notice any abnormal health, you should go to the hospital for a checkup. Based on the actual conditions, the doctor has additional prescriptions, absolutely do not use the assortment, it is easy to cause unnecessary harm.
But some people are so afraid of sequelae that they don’t get sick and still use Covid-19 drugs, functional foods. As in the case of Manh Truong, in the district of Nam Tu Liem. In order not to get infected, the 30-year-old man ordered a box of Molnupiravir and two bottles of functional food with Korean words, introducing extracts of seaweed, ginseng and cordyceps for almost 3 million dong. take one pill a day.
“Prevention is better than prevention, but to get infected and then treat after Covid-19 costs a lot of money,” he said.
A 62-year-old patient in Hoang Mai district, went to the doctor after Covid-19, on the morning of March 14, when he had symptoms of chest tightness and cough, but taking antibiotics did not help. Photo: M N
Vietnam has no statistics on the sequelae of Covid-19, but has recorded many people with lung damage after recovering from the disease. According to Bach Mai Hospital, about 50-60% of patients have abnormal lung lesions. Thanh Nhan Hospital receives about 100 people who come to check for Covid-19 sequelae every day.
But not everyone with Covid-19 develops lung damage. Most of the patients are over 60 years old and have an underlying medical condition. There are only a few young patients, the general symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, shortness of breath, reduced physical strength, loss of concentration, sleep disturbances, some people have digestive disorders… for a long time.
Experts emphasize that in cases where X-rays are taken and lesions are found, it is usually the person who has lung disease. When suffering from Covid-19, these lesions are more severe. “Maybe they haven’t tested it, so they don’t know, it doesn’t mean the lungs of healthy people are naturally white after contracting Covid. This is unreasonable, unscientific, causing confusion in public opinion,” said Dr Quan The Dan. positive.
To avoid being intimidated by unsubstantiated information, doctors recommend that people only see a doctor post-Covid-19 after one month of recovery if they experience persistent symptoms; people who have had lung disease; older people; or people with impaired immunity. On the other hand, a person recovering from an illness only needs to work lightly, eat easy-to-digest food, drink enough water, take vitamins, stay energized, get enough sleep, avoid excessive anxiety, and need time to practice breathing. .gently to restore respiratory function.
Trusting in the guidance and advice of doctors, Ms. Minh Hang, Ngo Quyen district, Hai Phong calm before the tonic “matrix”. About a month after recovering from her illness, the 45-year-old woman’s health recovered, she slept soundly, shortness of breath and shortness of breath when climbing stairs disappeared.
Especially for Quynh Huong, after a week of using functional foods, the symptoms reduced. “I’m not sure if it’s medicine or the body’s recovery itself. But as long as health gradually stabilizes, I’m happy,” he said.
Quynh Nguyen
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
