Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve learned a lot about the dreaded virus. We all know the main symptoms to watch for like the back of our hands: Fever, cough, fatigue. If we have any of those, especially if we were in contact with others, symptomatic or not, it’s important to get tested.

However, what we don’t know much about, still, is what happens in the long-term after you’ve already contracted the virus. The weird thing about COVID-19 is that the intensity of it affects everyone differently. Some people display only mild symptoms and others are in the hospital for weeks.

However, once you’re recovered, you’re recovered…right? Unfortunately, that might not be the case. It turns out that whatever kind of symptoms you experienced, you may still experience lingering effects even after you’ve been on the mend.

For example, one seemingly healthy 27-year-old named Caitlin was diagnosed with COVID-19 after working in a nursing home. But though she’s been recovered for six months, she still doesn’t consider herself fully recovered.

“We call it the corona-coaster, because one day could be okay, and the next day I’m on the floor having convulsions thinking I’m having a heart attack,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re going to drop.

Caitlin is so weak that she can barely walk on her own. Fatigue is just one of the symptoms that COVID-19 “long-haulers,” as they’re deemed, have been experiencing. Others include rapid heart rate and even loss of brain cognition.

There doesn’t seem to be a clear indicator of who experiences symptoms post COVID—all kinds of patients have expressed post-virus symptoms, whether they’re male or female, old or young, of a healthy weigh or not, of different cultural backgrounds, etc.

“You’re not protected if you’re young and healthy, unfortunately,” says Dr. Zijian Chen, Medical Director of Mount Sinai Center for Post-COVID Care.

The hospital’s center currently has more than 500 long-hauler patients in its care. There’s even a waiting list to get in, with an “impending tsunami of patients,” waiting to implode, according to Dr. Chen.

Caitlin is just one person who has shown symptoms after recovering from the virus, but clearly there are many, and even more to come. To hear Caitlin’s experience and symptoms post COVID-19, as well as Dr. Chen’s and other experts’ views on post-virus life,

check out the video below.

Did you know that long-term symptoms were a thing when it came to COVID-19? Do you know anyone who has recovered from the virus and is experiencing similar symptoms?