Doctors Worry That Memory Problems After COVID-19 May Set The Stage For Alzheimer's

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/26/ [login to see] /doctors-worry-that-memory-problems-after-covid-19-may-set-stage-for-alzheimers
Before she got COVID-19, Cassandra Hernandez, 38, was in great shape — both physically and mentally.

"I'm a nurse," she says. "I work with surgeons and my memory was sharp."

Then, in June 2020, COVID-19 struck Hernandez and several others in her unit at a large hospital in San Antonio.

"I went home after working a 12-hour shift and sat down to eat a pint of ice cream with my husband and I couldn't taste it," she says.

The loss of taste and smell can be an early sign that COVID-19 is affecting a brain area that helps us sense odors.

Hernandez would go on to spend two weeks in the hospital and months at home disabled by symptoms including tremors, extreme fatigue and problems with memory and thinking.

"I would literally fall asleep if I was having a conversation or doing anything that involved my brain," she says.