Many people who get infected with COVID recover after a few weeks of illness, but there are some who experience health problems that stretch on four weeks or more after their initial infection. Even people who were asymptomatic during their COVID-19 infection can experience these health problems, collectively known as the long-haul or post-COVID syndrome
While the symptoms of post-COVID syndrome vary from person to person, they generally include fatigue, cough, stomach pain, brain fog, headache, heart palpitation, and muscle and joint pain. For COVID “long haulers” with impaired pulmonary function, many of them experience lingering shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest pain—symptoms typical of asthma.
If you are now experiencing the symptoms of asthma even if you never had it before your COVID-19 infection, the information provided below aims to give you a crucial insight into how the virus wreaks havoc on your pulmonary system, resulting in the pathogenesis of asthma.
Development of Asthma After COVID
In healthy people, after air passes through the bronchial tubes, it travels into the alveoli, which are the tiny, balloon-shaped sacs at the end of the bronchioles. From there, oxygen goes through tiny blood vessels (capillaries), where it is transported to the other parts of the body.
This may not be the case when you get infected by a pathogen like the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The oxygen that you breathe in tends to have a harder time entering your alveoli and capillaries. That is because when your immune system comes in contact with a pathogen, it can launch an inflammatory response to ward it off, causing your airways to narrow, swell, and produce excess mucus, and the muscles around them to tighten up. When this happens, mucus builds up, resulting in the onset of associated symptoms—cough, chest pains, wheezing, etc.
Researchers try to make sense of post-COVID syndrome with a theory that after a person recovers from COVID-19, fragments of the virus could still remain in their system, thereby disrupting the body in some way even if these can no longer infect the cells. Another possibility is that within the first couple of weeks of the infection occurs a massive inflammation, causing the immune system to go haywire and take quite a long time to recover. The latter could explain why some people experience symptoms of asthma weeks or months after their initial COVID-19 infection.
Asthma Treatment Weatherford TX
Whether you have developed asthma after contracting the novel coronavirus or have always had it, visit us here at Lung & Sleep Specialists of North Texas. Our highly qualified pulmonologist Dr. Olusegun Oseni will perform a thorough evaluation of your lung health and function with pulmonary function tests. Based on the results of your assessment, Dr. Oseni will devise a personalized treatment plan to help you effectively manage your asthma, so you can breathe better and live well with it.
If you want to set up a consultation with Dr. Olusegun Oseni, call us today at (817) 594-9993 or use our secure appointment request form. We will get back to you as soon as possible to confirm your visit.