Incidents of confusion, depression among post-Covid patients on the rise, say doctors

Sector 29 resident Nisha Jha has not been able to focus on her work even a month after she recovered from Covid-19

Sector 29 resident Nisha Jha has not been able to focus on her work even a month after she recovered from Covid-19. The 27-year-old works at an IT firm and tested positive for Covid on May 15. She underwent treatment in home isolation for about 20 days and, on June 5, she tested negative for the virus. But since then, she is plagued with confusion, forgetfulness and a lack of focus.

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“Not just work, I am unable to focus while driving as well. Often, I find myself forgetting familiar routes or even conversations that I may have only a couple of days ago. I told my doctor about this and was suggested to consult a psychiatrist,” said Nisha.

But doctors say Nisha’s is not an isolated case. They say several people in Gautam Budh Nagar are dealing with psychological issues post recovering from Covid.

Dr Abhay Tomar, psychiatrist at Government Institute of Medical Science (GIMS), Greater Noida, said his department is currently seeing at least hundred such people since mid-May.

“Depression, anxiety, restlessness, sleeplessness, confusion, mood swings, forgetfulness and brain fog are some of the issues that people who recovered from Covid-19 recently have reported. Our department has seen over 100 such patients in the past one and half months,” said Dr Tomar.

He said doctors are searching for a neurological correlation to such issues being reported in recovered patients. “Patients say that they find themselves lost and unable to understand what is happening around them. We are studying such patients and looking for neurological correlations to Covid-19,” he said.

Dr Manu Tiwari, head and senior consultant psychiatrist, Fortis hospital in Noida, agrees that there has been a rise in such cases since May.

“We have been seeing around four to five patients daily since May. While some cases are follow-ups who have been discharged from the hospital, others are those who come as new out-patients. We have seen that in such patients, the brain’s limbic system is inflamed due to which they face cognitive issues. Some patients have also reported panic attacks, trauma and anxiety spectrum issues,” said Dr Tiwari.

Dr Kunal Kumar, professor and head, department of psychiatry, Sharda Hospital in Greater Noida, said many such patients do not realise that they need psychiatric care.

“Often, it is the general physicians who treat such patients and when the patient complaints of psychological issues, they are referred to the psychiatric department. In some cases,there is resistance on the part of patients as they think they are being termed as ‘mentally unstable’. Whereas, they are in need of immediate attention,” said Dr Kumar. He added that their department has consulted at least 50 such cases since mid-May.

“In post-Covid cases, psychiatric care is the second stage of follow-up after the pulmonological care to restore a patient’s respiratory strength,” Dr Kumar said.

Dr DK Gupta, chairman, Felix Hospital, Noida, said some studies have shown that in a few recovered patients, there is a loss of grey matter. The hospital has seen around 20 such patients in the past 15 days.

“Grey matter deals with the cognitive functions of a person such as memory and analysis. There have been studies that have found that brain neurons were damaged due to the coronavirus infection,” said Dr Gupta.