Cardiovascular Disease Even After Mild COVID-19 Is Real
Although Relatively Uncommon, It Can Be Very Debilitating
Eleanor, a friend who is vaccinated and boosted, was always very careful about contacts with others. She met with a small group of friends for a holiday dinner, each of whom had also been vaccinated and boosted. A few days later one friend called to say that he had been diagnosed with Covid-19. She went to the local county health department and was tested and found to be negative. But a few days later fever and fatigue developed, the latter lasting about 10 days.
Afterwards she was fine but two months later, when getting out of bed to go to the bathroom, her heart rate jumped up to about 130 bpm. She laid back down but it persisted. Episodes like this occurred nearly every time she moved about and were very scary. On one occasion her heart rate got up to about 200 bpm. “I thought I was going to die.”
She saw her primary care physician at a time when her heart rate was normal. The physician did a history, exam, electrocardiogram and all was normal. She had no idea of what had happened and had no further suggestions. “If it recurs, come on back.” The symptoms did recur the next day and she went back to see the physician. This time she was sent for a cardiac echo and a CAT scan. Both were normal. [The history of recent Covid-19 should have…
