SINGAPORE - Madam Loh Luan Kim has lupus, an autoimmune disease, but medication has kept it at bay to the extent that no one knows she has the disease.
The 50-year-old Malaysian, who works as a cashier in a massage outlet, got her Covid-19 vaccination the moment she could.
All was well until she was infected with breakthrough Covid-19 on Nov 2.
Now, almost two months on, and more than a month after she became free of the virus, the after-effects of the disease still linger.
She suffers from long Covid, a name coined for the extended suffering by some people following a Covid-19 infection that could last for weeks, months, even a year or more.
International data says as many as half the patients suffer some form of long Covid. In Singapore, one in 10 people infected suffer long Covid for more than six months.
Some lose their sense of taste or smell, tire easily, have muscle and joint pain, loss of appetite, or like Madam Loh whose lungs were affected, become easily breathless with minor exertion.
This can happen not just to people who had severe illness, but also those with just a mild bout.
Dr Mark Chan, divisional chairman for integrative and community care and a senior geriatric medicine consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), said long Covid may affect people without pre-existing medical conditions, although older patients and those with existing medical conditions are more likely to suffer from it.
Madam Loh was one of those with a pre-existing medical condition.
An X-ray following her Covid-19 infection found black spots in her lungs, and she was in TTSH for a week.
She still needed about two litres of oxygen a day even after her body was clear of the virus and she had been moved to TTSH’s Covid-19 treatment facility (CTF) at Ren Ci Community Hospital to recover.
"When I walked, my heart beat very fast. It was like I couldn't breathe," she said in Cantonese. "It was usually worse in the morning, and better in the afternoon."
The second week she was at the CTF, a nurse taught her how to start exercising, with frequent rests in between.
She recalled: "Even going to the toilet, I needed to rest. I was very worried when I got so tired just going to the toilet.
"But the nurses kept saying I would recover, so I was not so concerned, not so depressed, even though I saw older patients in their 80s and 90s who did not need oxygen."
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2021-12-26 12:30:00Z
CBMigQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zdHJhaXRzdGltZXMuY29tL3NpbmdhcG9yZS9oZWFsdGgvaXQtY291bGQtYmUtYS1sb25nLXJvYWQtdG8tcmVjb3ZlcnktZXZlbi1hZnRlci1wYXRpZW50cy1nZXQtYWxsLWNsZWFyLWZyb20tY292aWQtMTnSAQA
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