A new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center is looking at the possible long-term effects of COVID-19 to your brain after hospitalization.
Doctors are trying to find out if those hospitalized develop cognitive impairment, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
News4 spoke with Mike Carlton who recovered from the virus.
“I’ll have lapses where I’ll just lose train of thought. It’s not debilitating, but it’s frustrating,” Carlton said.
It’s been nearly four months since Carlton was in the hospital. He beat the coronavirus after spending eight days there.
“I had never been treated like people were afraid of me before and you’re isolated. You can’t see family,” Carlton said.
Dr. Jin Han is helping with the VUMC study.
“Is isolation, does that lead to poor cognition, higher rates of PTSD, higher rates of depression and is this something we need to look at more closely weighing the risks and benefits of isolation?,” Dr. Han said.
Dr. Han said they’ll be checking in with patients a year after they were in the hospital.
“I think this will help us inform how to best take care of these patients, COVID-19 survivors, and any pandemic survivor in the future,” Dr. Han said.
For Carlton, he describes what he’s feeling lately as noticeable and different. He compared it to coming out of anesthesia.
While he’s not worried about PTSD or depression, he understands how someone could develop it.
“That’s probably my version of PTSD is that I don’t understand why people are making a conspiracy out of it. I had it. I wasn’t part of a conspiracy. I was sick. It’s a real virus,” Carlton said.
