Lungs, congestion and coronavirus; seems like three mates in the same boat. It's just that the former doesn't know congestion, and covid don't come with good intentions toward him. Let's redefine and break it down for you.

COVID-19 damages your lungs, not just while it is a guest at your hostage but also after it leaves.

COVID-19 Pandemic

As 2019 came to an end, it brought along a farewell gift called the COVID-19, as you might be pretty well aware. The year 2020 went by adjusting and getting to know the unwanted bestowal. However, in 2021 we're finally keeping up with the COVID as we discover new actualities about it every other day.

Along with many other updates, one speaks about how it negatively brings destruction to our lungs that might impair them for the rest of our lives.

COVID-19 and Your Lungs

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease; this, of course, entails its link with your lungs. The coronavirus is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2.

Shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing are symptoms of this disease, worse for those with asthma issues and heart problems.

As the coronavirus enters your body, it attacks your mucous membranes, covering your nose, mouth, and eyes. Next, the virus enters a healthy cell and uses it to reproduce its offsprings. The virus multiplies and spreads in the neighbouring healthy cells.

Your lungs consist of your windpipe called the trachea, which splits into smaller branches. These branches have air sacs at their ends called alveoli. Here gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) are exchanged.

The mucous lining gets inflamed and sometimes also infects your alveoli.

COVID-19 can cause Pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS, Sepsis which causes lasting harm to your lungs.

COVID-19 and Pneumonia

The lungs, in Pneumonia, fill with fluid. As they get inflamed, it builds up to breathing problems. For critical patients (old or people with asthma or other medical issues), these breathing complications can worsen so that they might need to be rushed to the hospital with oxygen to a ventilator.

COVID-19 pneumonia attacks both lungs. Alveoli in the lungs fill with fluid, leading to shortness of breath due to less gas exchange space. This predicament makes you cough raggedly.

Most healthy people recover from COVID-associated Pneumonia without much damage to the lungs. Although, in some cases, it might take you months to improve.

COVID-19 and ARDS

COVID-19 causes a potentially fatal disease called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), impacting your lungs dangerously. ARDS is the deadly stage of COVID pneumonia.

The alveoli are over-filled, and blood vessels in the lungs start leaking the fluid, and every breath is a task of challenging work. This stage is a red alert for the incoming ARDS.

ARDS have symptoms including shortness of breath, quick breathing, dizziness, increased heart rate, and extreme sweating.

ARDS can lead to lung failure and a condition where ventilator support is necessary to help you breathe.

Survivors of ARDS from COVID-19 may have lasting pulmonary scarring.

COVID-19 and Sepsis

Another fatal probability of a COVID repercussion is Sepsis. Sepsis transpires when the infection spreads in the bloodstream, damaging tissues wherever it travels.

Lungs, heart, and other body systems are a framework that works together, depending on each other. Where one fails, the other is bound to fail.

Since Sepsis spreads through blood, attacking tissues, it shuts down organs made of tissues. Once the lungs fail, so does the heart and, consequently, all other body organs.

Even when survived, Sepsis can leave a patient with lasting marks on the lungs and other organs.

Superinfection

COVID-19 makes the immune system fight for its life against it. However, with all its attention toward the enemy at hand- COVID-19- it leaves it blind to other infections. This situation means the body and immune system are left weak for other viruses and bacteria to strike- a superinfection.

Hence, the more infections, the more lung damage.

Other Factors Affecting Your Lungs

Those with a mild case of COVID-19 are not as likely to suffer as much; they end up with less liver damage. Lung damage can be proportional to the severity of the disease, dependent on existing health problems.

However, one must get proper treatment as early as possible to minimize lung cancer.