“Who am I with Long COVID?” When Kaelyn Lynch caught COVID-19, she was a multimedia journalist, filmmaker, mountain climber, weightlifter, and roller derby enthusiast. That changed when Long COVID crashed into her life.

After two back-to-back COVID infections, she had frightening symptoms – numbness, a racing pulse, and crushing fatigue so severe that sometimes she couldn’t even feed herself or speak. And if she tried her old exercise routines, her symptoms got worse.

How does an athlete destress when she can’t exercise? And how does a young professional survive without work? We talk with Kaelyn about her experience, and hear from Dr. David Putrino, Director of Rehabilitation Innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, about how he diagnoses and treats Long COVID. 

Putrino comments, “You don't fix that [Long COVID] by putting them on a treadmill and saying, no pain, no gain. You in fact run the risk of making them much, much worse if you try and fix an energy production problem, a cellular energy production problem, by smashing them up against the wall and hoping for the best.”

“One of the hardest parts for me,” Kaelyn said, “and I think for a lot of people, is I have always been someone that very much defines myself by the things that I do … I had to really try- and I'm still trying- to answer the question of, who am I when I can't do any of the things that I enjoy.”

How is Kaelyn figuring out who she is with Long COVID? And what can medical science tell us about how exercise interacts with Long COVID as well as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and post exertional malaise (PEM)? Tune in to learn more about Kaelyn and how Long COVID affects health, wealth, and identity.

My Body Odyssey is a Fluent Knowledge production. 

Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

Show Notes:

Experts:

David Putrino, PhD

• Dr. David Putrino: Mt. Sinai


• Putrino Lab


• Dr. David Putrino TEDx Talk: “We don't treat patients, we train superheroes”

Resources

Organizations:

• Long Covid Families


• Longhauler Advocacy Project


• Long COVID Alliance


• Long COVID Kids


• Long COVID SOS


• Long COVID Support


• Long COVID Physio


• Long COVID Association Inc


• Dysautonomia International


• Bateman Horne Center


• Massachusetts MD/CFS & FM Association


• Washington State Hospital Association Post-COVID Recovery Resources


• ReCOVer Long COVID Clinic


• UW Newsroom


• U Michigan Post COVID-19 Clinic


• Stanford Post-Acutre COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS) Clinic


• UVM COVID-19 Recovery Program


• Beaufor Memorial Long COVID Support Group


• Stony Brook Medicine Post COVID Support Group


• The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Post-COVID Recovery Program


• Resource Center for Independent Living


• Cedars Sinai COVID-19 Recovery Program


• The EPIC Foundation


• Open Medicine Foundation


• American Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Society


• Invisible Disabilities Association


• Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) San Diego


• ME/CFS & Fibromylagia Self-Help


• Patient-Led Research Collaborative


• Dartmouth Health Post-Acute COVID Syndrome (PACS) Clinic