Over the course of the pandemic, I received many calls from patients and their families. One of the most difficult symptoms to evaluate over the phone is abdominal pain. Most patients, whether at home or in the hospital, need a doctor’s exam to assess acuity, tenderness, peritoneal signs, distension, and incipient gastrointestinal bleeding and/or perforation.
Because the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 causes blood clotting, most venous thromboembolic syndromes are seen in both COVID-19 patients and those who took the vaccines. It is my experience that the highest-risk patients are those who have cumulatively been exposed to the spike protein via multiple injections and one or more occurrences of COVID-19 illness.
