From diabetes, TB to stress and infections: Post Covid complications in recovered patients
Two days after Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar spoke about TB found in patients recovered from Covid, doctors said due to drugs and also the Covid infection, diabetes, stress TB, and other diseases are found in some patients. Doctors said to look out for symptoms and suggest ways to manage it.
FollowFor Asima Banu, Professor of Microbiology from Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), Medical Education Department, the smell of onion is difficult to bear. She said that after  second wave of Covid, she has lost the smelling sense of this particular vegetable.
She claimed that many patients have complained about irregular menstruation and also a slight variation in Hbalc count that determines the sugar levels after they recovered from Covid in both the first and second wave. A lot of them also have stress that has led to other complications like loss of weight, hair fall and concentration deficiency and others.
Symptoms:Â According to her, she first lost smell and taste when she was down with Covid and after her recovery, she noticed that onion that causes tears has failed to impact her nostril.
Among some of her patients with menstruation issues, they have either heavy flow and irregular post-Covid recovery. Cramps in the tummy, headache, body pain, tiredness, mood swings are some of the symptoms patients have listed.
The patients have been told to do light exercise, meditation, have a healthy diet apart from medication for symptoms have been suggested.
Covid medicine side effect, patients complain of diabetes post recovery:
Similarly, Dr Mukesh, Consultant Endocrinologist at Lotus Hospital said one of the major factors found in Covid's recovered patients after the second wave is diabetes. From short-term to long-term impact is recorded. "Due to heavy steroids to patients to suppress the Covid virus, patients after recovery have come back with diabetes. Some are short-term and some have long-term impacts and at present, I am treating about 6 patients who got heavy diabetes after Covid. Nearly 50 per cent of patients who were administered heavy drugs may have diabetes issues if they did not have it in the past," said Dr Mukesh.
In addition to Dr Mukesh's claim, Dr Niyaz Ahmed, General and Laparoscopic Surgeon BMRCI said he has found young patients in the age group of 20 to 25 coming up with scrotum infection. "The infection was found in them after they recovered from Covid infection. Scrapping of the infected part was done and the patients were on medication for weeks before they recovered," he said.
Symptoms:Â Frequent urination to frothing during urination, tiredness are some of the symptoms that people should not ignore as these are the indications among diabetic patients noted after they recovered from Covid.
Treatment:Â From regular medicines, insulin, 35 minutes of exercise a must to diet with five times a short meal and avoiding a heavy carbohydrate and protein-rich diet, avoiding red meat are the golden rules set as a treatment to manage diabetes.
Covid recovered patients are prone to secondary infections like tuberculosis:
The Covid virus's chief characteristic is to attack the lungs and as a result, many patients reached pneumonia stage
According to Dr Suhas HS, Consultant Pulmonologist, Manipal Hospital Sarjapur, although most patients recover quite well after Covid-19, some of them may have symptoms that persist beyond 4 weeks. All these symptoms are collectively called long Covid or post Covid syndrome.
"As the second wave saw predominantly Delta variant, many patients required admission and had significant lung involvement. In severe cases, extensive fibrosis of the lung was seen which mandated them to be on Oxygen for the long term. The development of secondary infections like tuberculosis, fungal infections has been quite common," said Dr Suhas.
Symptoms of TB post Covid: Cough, persistent fever spikes, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, tiredness, difficulty in thinking or concentrating (brain fog), fast beating of the heart (palpitations), headache, joint pains sleep issues are some of the symptoms and experiencing any of these would require a visit to physician/pulmonologist for appropriate assessment and treatment.
Treatment:Â Once a person has TB, he or she would require a six months treatment with a combination of four drugs. This apart the patients must stick to a good diet with high protein and leafy vegetables and hydration.
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