Senior citizens who’ve survived COVID-19 may suffer lasting symptoms during recovery, including brain fog and delirium.
Not only is COVID-19 deadly for older people, but it can also leave them with lasting health issues. One of these issues is “brain fog.” If you experience brain fog, you’ll tend to forget things. You’ll have trouble concentrating, and you’ll have trouble putting a thought together.
COVID-19 Brain Fog
According to CNN, many experts say that brain fog is common among older adults who’ve survived COVID-19. Dr. Zijian Chen noted that older patients have trouble planning their daily activities. They also have problems in organizing themselves. Moreover, they end up forgetting a lot of things.
Dr. Chen is the medical director of Mount Sinai Health System’s Center for Post-COVID Care. If you’re an older adult, you’ll also face more troubles. You still have nerve and muscle damage to worry about. Also, you have to work at improving your breathing. Since COVID-19 saps you of all strength, you also have to regain your strength and stamina.
How Dangerous is COVID-19 to Seniors?
Experts say that most seniors do survive COVID-19. However, they will feel its effects for a while. Even though COVID-19 is more likely to kill people 85 years old and above, only 28% of them pass away.
So, older adults should survive the disease, but their quality of life might decrease by a significant margin.
Effects of COVID-19
Dr. Chen says that younger adults also experience the same effects after surviving COVID-19. However, he notes that older people suffer from worse symptoms. Moreover, Dr. E. Wesley Ely said that recovery from COVID-19 would take months and years. He adds that full recovery won’t happen even after a year.
Dr. Ely co-directs the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.