ATLANTA — As people begin to shift back into normal routines that were altered by the pandemic, not much has changed for COVID-19 long haulers who are going through unchartered territory.
A Georgia woman, Tina Fann, said the fact everyone else is moving on just makes her feel worse.
She sent 11Alive a photo of herself from before she caught the virus to give us an idea of what her life was life prior to COVID-19.
Fann said she feels the effects of COVID-19 every day.
"I get horrible rashes. There's GI issues, fatigue is horrible," she said.
She also is experiencing symptoms that leave her feeling confused and alone.
"I get hot spots on my feet, it feels like they're burning from the inside out. My tongue is burning, it's swollen," she said.
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Fann was diagnosed in June of last year and she said every day since then has been brutal. She has a 9-year-old and a 2-year-old to care for and she wants to go back to work.
"A lot of people still don't believe it exists. People think this is a gimmick, I would much rather be working," she said.
Fann said she took a leave from her job because the symptoms were debilitating. She said she has documentation from her doctor, but she can't get approved for disability because she said many people still don't understand what long haul COVID looks like.
"I didn't have the income to pay to go to the COVID clinic, I didn't have the income to buy any kind of medicine," she said.
Fann was devastated when she heard Gov. Brian Kemp was ending the extra $300 federal COVID unemployment benefit early.
"The pandemic unemployment was for people directly affected by COVID. Not for people who didn't want to work. There are people drawing unemployment who were never working in the first place, she said.
"Why is he making us suffer? They need to step it up, they need to enforce guidelines, they need to make sure the ones who are drawing really are the ones affected by COVID," Fann added.
She said her doctor told her they don't know when or if she'll get better.
A new study from researchers at Georgia State University and Georgia Tech found people who had severe COVID cases had decreased gray matter in the frontal lobe of their brain.
Fann said she's encouraged that people are working to find out more about the effects of COVID.
"I don't understand what's happening, what's wrong with me," she said.
She said she's found comfort online from other people suffering from long-haul COVID, but she wants more people to understand what they're going through.
"I thought I was going crazy because I wasn't getting better. I didn't know there was anyone else out there like me," she said.
Fann said every day when she wakes up, she feels like she's spinning the COVID wheel. Some days she'll feel alright, and other days, she won't be able to get out of bed at all.