![]() The syndrome is known by medical professionals as postacute sequelae of COVID-19, or PASC. Her early infection and ongoing symptoms make her one of the first people in the country with “long COVID,” a condition where symptoms persist for at least three months after the infection and can last for years. She still spends most of her days off resting in the dark or going to her many doctors' appointments. Ghormley and her husband, who have relocated to a Los Angeles suburb, once spent their free time visiting their “happiest place on Earth”-Disneyland-but her health prevented that for more than a year. She gets exhausted quickly, her heartbeat suddenly races, and she goes through periods where she can't concentrate or think clearly. “I could have done without being first at this,” she says.Īlmost three years after apparently clearing the virus from her body, Ghormley is still suffering. But in March 2020 she got infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus-just the 24th case in the small, coastal central California town she lived in at the time, near the site of an early outbreak in the COVID pandemic. She went on to complete a rigorous training program and build a successful career as a veterinary internal medicine specialist. She finished at the top of her class in high school, graduated summa cum laude from college and earned top honors in veterinary school. To develop a personal plan of care, a speech-language pathologist will meet with you to better understand the impact of brain fog on your daily life and to administer a cognitive assessment that helps identify issues with attention, memory, problem solving and language.Tara Ghormley has always been an overachiever. That’s where our team of certified speech-language pathologists come in: Ochsner’s speech therapists have been working with patients affected by post-COVID brain fog throughout the pandemic and have forged a pathway for rehabilitation. Clearing your mind and getting rid of brain fog can seem overwhelming to tackle alone. Many people begin to notice these changes around the time of diagnosis or onset of symptoms, but for some, these affects can appear several months after other COVID symptoms have cleared up.Ĭhanges in language, wordfinding and metal processing affect all aspects of a person’s home and work life. Issues managing problems as they arise or feeling overwhelmed. ![]() ![]() A feeling of not being able to “keep things straight” in the mind.Forgetting plans or trouble following up on priorities.Consistently losing personal items, such as keys or a cell phone.Losing track of or forgetting what you’re in the middle of doing.Trouble remembering conversations with family and friends.Suffering with shifts of attention, or a feeling of “zoning out.”.Inability to tune out the “background noise” of daily life.Difficulty returning to work or completing tasks that were doable before COVID-19 infection.Inability to focus either at work or at home, or sometimes both.A feeling of knowing the right word, but not being able to think of it.Difficulty finding the right words to express oneself clearly.A feeling of remembering - then forgetting - a word before getting it out of your mouth.Our team of speech-language pathologists have seen brain fog manifest in COVID patients in several ways, including: Language Processing Scientists are still researching how COVID impacts the nervous system and the brain, helping us to better understand the causes and impacts of brain fog. What we do know is that even though COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory disorder, it is known to affect many other bodily systems and organs. Each of these symptoms can affect a person’s language processing and speech, causing difficulty completing basic daily tasks as well as hindering strategic thinking and problem-solving.īecause COVID-19 is rapidly changing, scientists are still unclear on exactly how much the virus affects neurological function. For those who are COVID long-haulers – people who experience symptoms long after the typical duration of the disease – these changes in communication could also be affected by a diagnosis of post-COVID “brain fog.”īrain fog can be considered a collection of cognitive symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating, slower thinking, general fatigue, loss of memory or reduced accuracy and sharpness. From mask-wearing to Zoom calls and social distancing, the way we communicate has changed. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic brought on changes to many aspects of daily life, including how we communicate with one another.
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