Does ‘remember to forget’ after contracting COVID-19 cause brain damage?

Doctor Nguyen Huy Hoang, Viet Nga Hyperbaric Oxygen Center, Ministry of National Defense said that the symptoms are not concentrated, remember to forget and forget after infection. COVID-19 is brain fog after COVID-19 infection. Previously, patients who came to the center when they had symptoms of “brain fog” accounted for about 20-30%, mainly older people over 50.

However, nowadays, doctors encounter this phenomenon in many young people. On average, Doctor Hoang treats 5-7 patients with symptoms of brain fog a week.

These cases are all young people, sitting on school chairs. After contracting Covid, these young people were affected in the acquisition of knowledge.

After being infected with COVID-19, the patients who come to the clinic report feeling that it is difficult to absorb the lessons in class, taking exams and taking simple tests was fine before, but now it is impossible to do, even very difficult ones. easy. The writing speed is also much slower.

Some patients have accompanying symptoms such as poor sleep, anxiety, stress, feeling of heavy head.

“Brain fogis a term for symptoms related to cerebral ischemia and disorders of the autonomic nervous system, affecting thinking and memory, sufferers may feel lack of clarity, difficulty concentrating, taking a long time. more time when remembering someone’s name or often suddenly forget what you intend to do…

The cause of brain fog may be related to viral invasion of tissues and cells, and diffuse inflammation (including the nervous system) as a result of COVID-19“, Dr. Hoang said.

Brain fog is also thought to be caused by patients suffering from anxiety and stress, leading to poor sleep and eating, thinking a lot, affecting mood and behavior. In addition, when infected, blood vessels, especially small blood vessels, are damaged after COVID-19, causing poor blood circulation to the brain, thereby leading to autonomic dysfunction. cerebral circulatory insufficiency, which aggravates the condition of “brain fog”.

In severe patients, the lack of oxygen will affect brain tissues, leaving sequelae “brain fog”. Besides, other causes may be due to side effects of sedative drugs, drugs in emergency resuscitation treatment for critically ill patients.

According to experts, after infection with COVID-19, immune responses are still persistently activated, which can cause inflammation in blood vessels or cells. Chemical mediators released by inflammation can become toxic, especially to the brain, causing “brain fog”.

Besides, there are also many theories about autoimmune conditions, when antibodies mistakenly attack nerve cells. Symptoms such as numbness and tingling in the limbs can occur when damaged nerves send wrong signals to the brain.

Doctor Nguyen Huy Hoang said that there is currently no unified treatment regimen for brain fog, which is completely based on experience, judgment and encirclement. Doctors mainly choose methods to help patients increase blood volume to the brain.

For people with “brain fog” with mild symptoms, it can be overcome by doing a lot of exercise to help the body function, reducing stress such as walking, playing light sports.

Doctor Hoang advises, patients should increase their brain activity more such as: read books, play intellectual games (chess, crosswords, etc.), should limit watching TV and listen to music or radio. Supplementing drugs to enhance cerebral circulation, blood-active drugs for better blood circulation.

In terms of nutrition, it is necessary to supplement daily with foods such as vegetables, fruits … limit the use of red meat and stimulant drinks such as alcohol, coffee.