Member of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Health Prof. Dr. Tevfik Özlü stated that they are getting new information about the coronavirus every day. Özlü said, “Prolonged health-related problems that arise after the coronavirus may not only be related to the lungs. We have patients with different problems in different organs. For example, let me tell you about the complaints that I have seen in my own patients. The most forgettable thing I’ve ever seen. There are patients who have a serious forgetfulness problem after the coronavirus,” he said.
Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Farabi Hospital Neurology Specialist Prof. Dr. Sibel Velioğlu also drew attention to the fact that 10 percent to 20 percent of patients suffer from forgetfulness after coronavirus. prof. Dr. Velioğlu said, “The world has been dealing with this pandemic since the early 2020s. We have had very active periods of the disease, but it still continues. However, after the disease, our patients come to us with some findings and complaints that some systems are affected. From a neurological perspective, how do our patients feel? There is forgetfulness. Brain fog is described as a feeling of fullness in your head, inability to pay attention, restlessness, inability to concentrate, and a feeling of heaviness. In fact, it has been looked at as to why this is. Some mild but long-lasting complaints have started. We see them in 10 to 20 percent of our patients who have had Covid. The World Health Organization also draws attention to this picture these days. Because as time passed, it started to see the complaints of patients after 2.5 years. We were seeing this from the beginning. but now we are getting to know much better. Is that enough, no. We have to gather more research and scientific evidence. However, when we look at the evidence obtained so far, these patients have been experiencing these complaints since the day they started to have the disease, or that they appeared after the disease was healed, or that it could fluctuate after the disease; I mean, it comes out, then it goes away, it comes out again. We call this the post-Covid situation in the scientific literature today,” he said.
‘It can happen to all of us’
Pointing out that post-coronavirus forgetfulness can be seen even in children, Prof. Dr. Velioglu said:
“It can take a long time in some patients. If you ask how long it takes, they showed us that it occurs within 3 months after Covid and continues for at least 2 months, so that we can say that this picture exists. In other words, the post-Covid situation is mild but takes a long time, it is necessary for the person to do his daily activities. Well, if you ask who gets this disease or who is in the 10-20% group, the studies done in the first period would be related to the severity of the disease, age, and gender. But the latest data, multiple studies that we call meta-analysis showed us that the coronavirus “The prolonged condition after the post-operative period is unrelated to the person’s gender, age, having a severe Covid disease or whether there is an underlying disease, so it can happen to all of us. There are cases even in children. The World Health Organization has planned an action plan in Europe nowadays.”
‘COGNITIVE EXERCISES CAN BE DONE BY LEAVING YOUR BRAIN CLEAN’
Stating that there is no medical treatment yet, Prof. Dr. Velioğlu said, “First of all, we must return to normal life. For example, what can be done; where you forget, you can take notes. First of all, you should pay attention to your biological nutrition as health. Metal exercise, cognitive exercises should be done. Operations such as doing mathematics can be done. “It may be in this memory, we recommend that he exercise accordingly. Cognitive exercises can be done by leaving his brain calm.”
(DHA)