The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hospital serves patients still suffering weeks, even months, after having COVID.
Stamford Hospital unit serves patients suffering weeks, even months, after contracting COVID
STAMFORD — After fighting COVID-19 symptoms for weeks on end, the only place where Melissa Wynne could find solace was on social media, through the COVID Long Haulers Facebook group.
Her chest constantly felt tight, breathing was difficult, and the 31-year-old sometimes lost feeling in her extremities. Still, she tested negative for coronavirus twice shortly after she fell ill in April. Doctors latched onto that negative test and attributed her ailments to other things.
Even the cardiologist who diagnosed her with acid reflux dismissed the possibility of having contracted the virus, despite the fact that she complained of severe chest pains.
“He didn’t believe I had COVID either,” said Wynne. “He said that I should just try meditation.”
As doctors continued to tell Wynne that something else had to be wrong with her, she found the long haulers group. The experiences shared by others who still struggled with symptoms long after falling ill made her feel sane in the face of medical professionals.
Then, someone in the group mentioned a doctor helping people recover from the virus. He was based out of Stamford’s Tully Health Center, near where she’d grown up.
The combination of lingering symptoms and a newfound online community led Wynne across the country — back to her parents’ home in Greenwich and straight to the first medical professional to take her complaints seriously: Dr. Joseph Feuerstein.
Just as COVID-19 ravages the country once again, many patients from the first wave of infections still struggle to feel healthy and normal. To help aid their recoveries, Stamford Health has launched a new program through its Center for Integrative Medicine to lead patients towards a healed future.
Dr. Marc Brodsky, along with Feuerstein, cares for patients at the center’s Wellness Post-COVID-19