The POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME is a real disorder. Fear, anxiety, social distancing, public health actions and ending home isolation from this most recent pandemic and this new disease can be more overwhelming to some than others.
How you have responded to this recent pandemic can depend on your background, your social support from family or friends, your financial situation, your health and emotional background, the community you live in, and many other factors.
A syndrome is a recognizable complex of symptoms and physical findings which indicate a specific condition for which a direct cause is not necessarily understood. The terms “syndrome”, “disease” and “diagnosis” are sometimes utilized improperly and ambiguously, increasing the clarities of medical knowledge representation.
Although universal in medical and lay discourse, the term “syndrome” has no unambiguous, generally accepted definition. However, most of those using this term allow themselves the comfortable delusion that everyone knows what it means.
Combining its two Greek roots, syndrome means basically “running together”. So when diagnosing a condition or disease, doctors tend to look for a group of symptoms existing together. As long as a set of symptoms remains mysterious, it may be referred to as a specific syndrome. But if that name is used for a while, it may become the condition’s permanent name, even after an underlying cause has been found.
Nearly 125 million people in the U.S. live with some form of a chronic condition, disorder, syndrome or disease. Many of these abnormality “issues” have overlapping symptoms, which often make it difficult for researchers to diagnose the specific “issue” in a given patient.
Usually, researchers discover a previously unknown chronic condition, disorder, syndrome or disease by studying several patients with similar symptoms, then search for a gene or multiple genes that may play a role in causing the issue.
There is only a sparse and fragmented literature that could be found regarding this issue.
What is POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME?
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME is a set of concurrent things, such as emotions or actions, that form an identifiable pattern. It can mean something different to each person who has experienced this or is experiencing this.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME may cause Brain Dysfunction
Due to the fact that we don’t know who is infected, and all the “experts” keep changing the way we can become infected. This new virus seems to almost be an “invisible threat”. This ambiguous threat conflicts with our wiring and our innate need to understand and to plan. “Our brains hate not knowing things”. “Our prefrontal cortices are set up to plan, and they need accurate information to plan. They also need precedent because we plan for future events based on past events.”
Located at the front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex is involved in high-level functions like planning, reasoning, and decision-making. Through its connections with other parts of the brain, it helps us focus our attention and regulate our emotions. But stress flips the switch on the prefrontal cortex; when it goes offline, the brain’s emotion and habit centers take over and our minds spin out over every possible “what if” scenario. Your mind is in a constant state of anxiety and concern about your safety.
Anxiety motivates us to change our behavior and adapt to challenges.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME also damages our Central nervous system flooding your nervous system with hormones and chemicals designed to help you respond to a threat. Adrenaline and cortisol are two examples. Long-term exposure to stress hormones can be more harmful to your physical health in the long run. For example, long-term exposure to cortisol can contribute to weight gain.
Long-term anxiety and panic attacks can cause your brain to release stress hormones on a regular basis. This can increase the frequency of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and depression.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can also damage your Cardiovascular system by the nonstop flux in rapid heart rates, palpitations, and chest pain. You may also be at an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. If you already have heart disease, POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME may raise the risk of coronary events.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can also affect the digestive systems by causing stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea, and other digestive issues. Loss of appetite can also occur. There may soon be a connection between POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME and the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after a bowel infection. IBS can cause vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can also affect your Immune system because you repeatedly feel anxious and stressed or it lasts a long time, your body never gets the signal to return to normal functioning. This can weaken your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to viral infections and frequent illnesses. Also, your regular vaccines may not work as well if you have anxiety.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can affect your Respiratory system. This latest virus called COVID–19 is more likely to go deeper than viruses like the common cold. Your lungs might become inflamed, making it tough for you to breathe. This can lead to pneumonia, an infection of the tiny air sacs (called alveoli) inside your lungs where your blood exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The virus moves down your respiratory tract. That’s the airway that includes your mouth, nose, throat, and lungs. Your lower airways have more ACE2 receptors than the rest of your respiratory tract. Therefore COVID-19 is more likely to go deeper than viruses like the common cold.
If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you may be at an increased risk of hospitalization from POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME-related complications.
Other effects
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can cause other symptoms, including:
- headaches
- muscle tension
- insomnia
- depression
- social isolation
If you have PTSD, you may experience flashbacks, reliving a traumatic experience over and over. You might get angry or startle easily, and perhaps become emotionally withdrawn. Other symptoms include nightmares, insomnia, and sadness.
POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can be identified with three key features of stressful situations: we feel uncontrollable, unpredictable, and sustained. The POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME checks all three boxes and when all three of these features are present, it can overwhelm our ability to manage our life.
Although you are staying home, washing your hands more frequently, wearing a N95 fitted mask, and practicing social distancing, all of which can reduce your chances of catching the virus or passing it on to others.
But, outside of measures to keep ourselves safe, there’s actually little within our control. We can’t take the coronavirus away or make others change their behaviors.
Study design: surveillance and case–control studies
To determine the impact in terms of frequency, a reliable and international surveillance platform for POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME should be in place to define the background incidence and to detect an increase in cases. The international community may benefit from introducing a POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME surveillance for all ages specifically.
A cohort study with a case–control design is necessary. A predefined research protocol should be developed that is feasible in different healthcare infrastructures and easy to activate and use, to ensure a high-quality study within a limited time frame. Critical requirements for the study include clear case definitions for POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME and the collection of data on the clinical and electrophysiological phenotype, as this can be associated with a specific infectious agent and may provide evidence of an association. To study the impact for patients, outcome of at least 6–12 months with validated outcome measures should be recorded.
Challenges and opportunities in diagnosis and management
In case of a sudden increase in patients with POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME, clinicians with limited expertise in POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME may need to manage these patients, and availability of facilities and resources may run out. We expect limitations mainly in health care providers who understand, treat and give the necessary rehabilitation care. These limitations are especially important in low-resource countries that often have suboptimal or malfunctional healthcare systems, and a lack of health professionals.
Guideline for management of POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME
Diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME can be complicated as patients may present with non-specific symptoms and vary with respect to clinical severity, treatment response and outcome. Furthermore, there are several chronic conditions, disorders, syndromes or diseases. Many of these “issues” have overlapping symptoms, which often make it difficult for researchers to diagnose the specific “issue” in a given patient. This can be difficult to distinguish from POST-PANDEMIC SYNDROME.
Pandemics in the past century
We have experienced seven notable epidemics like COVID-19 since 1918. Some of these epidemics have been classified as pandemics, and all of them have had a serious effect on the human population in some way.
1918 flu pandemic (H1N1 virus): 1918–1920
The 1918 influenza pandemic took the lives of anywhere from 50 to 100 million people around the world.
The so-called “Spanish Flu” was caused by an H1N1 virusTrusted Source that spread from birds to humans. People ages 5 and younger, 20 to 40, and 65 and older all experienced high mortality rates.
Overcrowding in treatment areas, poor sanitation practices, and nutritional deficiencies are thought to have contributed to the high death rate.
1957 flu pandemic (H2N2 virus): 1957–1958
The 1957 influenza pandemic took the lives of roughly 1.1 million peopleTrusted Source worldwide.
The “Asian Flu” was caused by an H2N2 virus that also spread from birds to humans. This strain of the flu affectedTrusted Source people primarily between the ages of 5 and 39, with the majority of cases occurring in younger children and teenagers.
1968 flu pandemic (H3N2 virus): 1968–1969
In 1968, the H3N2 virus, sometimes called “Hong Kong Flu,” was another influenza pandemic that took the lives of around 1 million peopleTrusted Source around the world.
This flu was caused by an H3N2 virus that mutated from the H2N2 virus from 1957. Unlike previous flu pandemics, this pandemic primarily affected older people, who had the highest mortality rate of the outbreak.
SARS-CoV: 2002–2003
The 2002 SARS coronavirus outbreak was a viral pneumonia epidemic that took the lives of over 770 people worldwide.
Swine Flu (H1N1pdm09 virus): 2009
The 2009 Swine Flu outbreak was the next influenza pandemic that caused the deaths of somewhere between 151,700 and 575,400Trusted Source people around the world.
The Swine Flu was caused by another H1N1 virusTrusted Source variant which originated from pigs and eventually spread through human-to-human contact.
It was discovered that a portion of people aged 60 and older already had antibodies against this virus from previous flu outbreaks. This led to a higher percentage of infection in children and young adults.
MERS-CoV: 2012–2013
The 2012 MERS coronavirus caused a disease characterized by severe respiratory illness that had a 34 percent mortality rateTrusted Source and took the lives of 858 people, primarily in the Arabian Peninsula.
The MERS outbreak was caused by a coronavirus that spread from an unknown animal source to humans. The outbreak originated in Saudi ArabiaTrusted Source and was contained primarily to the Arabian Peninsula.
The MERS outbreak had a much higher mortality rate than the previous coronavirus outbreak.
Ebola: 2014–2016
The 2014 Ebola outbreak involved a hemorrhagic fever epidemic that took the lives of 11,300Trusted Source people, primarily in West Africa.
The Ebola outbreak was caused by an Ebola virus that is thought to have been initially transmitted from batsTrusted Source to humans. Although the outbreak started in West Africa, it spread to eight countries in total.
COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2): 2019–ongoing
The 2019 COVID-19 outbreak is a viral pandemic that’s currently ongoing. This is a new illness caused by a previously unknown coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The infection rate, mortality rate, and other statistics are still developing.
Preparing for a pandemic is a community effort that we can all take part in to lessen the impact of the illness on our communities and around the world.
lastly, we need to make sure that there isn’t an underlying disease that has a specific cause and a specific treatment. We need to be careful and to be humble with our labeling of diagnoses and syndromes, as giving people a label may make them cause to think of themselves as diseased or abnormal. We need to help people cope with their symptoms holistically, working on their emotional, physical, and social health while being careful not to over-treat their symptoms. And we need to keep learning and pursuing research that will help us and our patients understand the causes and the best therapies.
Audrey Childers is a published author, blogger, freelance journalist and an entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in research and editorial writing. She is also the creator and founder of the website the hypothyroidismchick.com. Where you can find great tips on everyday living with hypothyroidism. She enjoys raising her children and being a voice for optimal human health and wellness. She is the published author of : A survivors cookbook guide to kicking hypothyroidism booty, Reset your Thyroid, The Ultimate guide to healing hypothyroidism and A survivors cookbook guide to kicking hypothyroidism booty: the slow cooker way. You can find all these books on Amazon. This blog may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.
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