MT. ZION, Ill. (WAND) - COVID-19 patients can often recover with no issues. But for some, the effects of the virus linger long after a positive test result.

"I have daily headaches, dizziness, the fatigue is worse whenever I do any strenuous activity- even going to the grocery store is sometimes a challenge," Samantha Turner, a COVID-19 long-hauler, told WAND News.

Turner is a Mt. Zion woman still dealing with long COVID-19 symptoms a year and a half after being infected.

"I was a runner, obstacle course racer, worked out in the gym for an hour or so every night, working 40-60 hours a week- and now I can't do any of that," Turner explained.

She was first infected in October of 2020.

"It started out with a cough. I had done a competition that weekend, Oct. 3 I believe it was. I started coughing afterwards and I just assumed it was from running out in the cold," Turner told WAND News.

But days later, she tested positive for COVID-19. She battled a severe infection at home for three weeks. Turner even ended up in the emergency room with pneumonia before starting to recover about two months later. But then new symptoms started to show up.

"Probably the end of January, I started having random blackouts when I would get out of breath. The headaches, the dizziness, the trouble concentrating," Turner said.

Dr. Raja Subramaniyam with HSHS St. Mary's said this is common among those who had severe COVID-19 infections.

"Fifty percent of people have this compliant of fatigue, extreme fatigue. The second most common symptom that has people complaining is a headache," Subramaniyam explained.

He said about 40 percent of patients in the same published study reported brain fog and shortness of breath. But some are dealing with much more severe side effects.

"These patients who had severe inflammation in the lung- end up having lung fibrosis or reduced lung volume," Subramaniyam said. 

There is not much doctors can do to treat these lingering symptoms.

"This needs to be approached as a multi-disciplinary approach. We need to involve more teams, lung doctors, heart doctors, also therapists - physical therapists - and neurologists," Subramaniyam added.

But simply trying to manage the symptoms, has left Turner - a former athlete - sidelined and unable to compete, work and spend time with friends as she once did.

"It was terrible. You go out with friends for dinner and sit and listen to a band, and the fatigue is so bad the next day, you can't get off the couch," Turner explained.

Subramaniyam said this study has found 50 possible symptoms of long COVID-19.

Click here to get connected to other long haulers and support groups.