TRI-CITIES, Wash. – If you’ve had COVID-19 you probably know how difficult it can be to work or even think with the virus. For people like Mindy Jackson, the virus has had a long-lasting impact.
The CDC defines long COVID as having symptoms three months after being diagnosed.
It’s website says 7% of people that have had COVID develop long COVID according to the latest data from 2022.
“I mean, I don’t want to get emotional, but it has absolutely upended and changed who I am. Like, I don’t even feel like I’m the same person anymore,” Mindy said.
After working as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for years Jackson has had to slow down due to the multiple conditions afflicting her.
She said the struggle comes from the aftereffects of COVID-19 on her body – including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, fatigue, brain fog, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome also known as POTS.
“The heart, my heart rate, like when I would brush my teeth would go up to like 180 or 160, you know, just from standing there,” she said. “When I would look for a shirt to wear in the morning and I’m going through my closet, you know, (my heart rate would) just skyrocket. And then I started fainting.”
Medication helps with POTS, but she’s still had to learn how to faint safely.
She said if she couldn’t work from home, she’s not sure she could work at all.
Her husband Willie Jackson said he does what he can to do seemingly little things like clean up around the house to help her avoid expending energy.
“She’s so used to being Wonder Woman. She’s so used to being the one for everyone. And now it’s she’s having to rely on someone,” he said. “It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate it. She just doesn’t like being in that position.”
Mindy advocates for change in the way long-term COVID is seen and understood by medical professionals and said she hopes people who are feeling the long-term impacts of COVID don’t feel crazy.
She also said she hopes awareness of the impacts of COVID-19 with nationally recognized days like Long COVID Awareness Day will make a difference.
“There are ways to mitigate getting COVID, so be careful and use those because you don’t want to lose yourself,” she said.
