I apologise if this question is beyond the scope of this forum. I also understand there is a lot we do not know about COVID, but my question could possibly be answered based on what we know about other conditions. I would really appreciate any advice you could give on this worrying matter.
I am a 23 years old male. No prior health conditions. Smoked for a few years but quit this NYE. I had a heavy disease on February 28. The doctor who visited me at home diagnosed it as influenza, saying “this doesn’t look like COVID”. I had heavy, dry cough, 39+ c fever, chest pain, unbelievable fatigue, blacked out once, breathing difficulties, the whole thing. I live in the Netherlands and I was refused testing for “not having been to a high risk region”. Since community transmission was denied, the number of cases in the country known to be COVID was quite low at the time, so I don’t know on what basis the doctor was so confident.
In any case, two class mates got sick with the same symptoms a week after and lost their sense of smell and taste for weeks without nasal congestion. My temperature was back to normal on March 5 but extreme fatigue lasted 2-3 weeks. After that I was able to have decent but short workouts at home with a kettlebell and bodyweight. The problem is, I have had brain fog and short term memory problems ever since. In addition, on some days I wake up with a numb scalp which goes away quickly. It feels exactly as if I lay on my arm and restricted blood flow.
16 days ago I came back to my home country Turkey. A week after I had an unexpected surgery for varicocele and lipoma removal. Before that I had two separate antibody tests, both of which came negative. I also had a check up. Blood tests, lung X-ray, EKG were all normal. Here I do not need referral from a GP to see a specialist, so I went to see a neurologist and a pulmonologist as well. Brain MRI with contrast, EEG and lung CT were all normal.
The questions I want to ask are:
- What can an MRI miss? Can I be confident that I do not have neuronal damage? Can an MRI reliably detect grey matter lesions?
- What other examinations do I need?
- What are the chances that this is post viral fatigue?
In short, based on this info, should I be worried that my cognitive deficits are permanent?
Thank you very much and take care,
Eren