Could you have a long Covid? Here are the common signs and symptoms

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This photo taken on November 28, 2020 shows Juno Simorangkir, an activist for Long Covid.

AFP via Getty Images Dr Kortepeter, an infectious disease and public health physician and biodefense expert, discusses the common signs and symptoms that some Covid victims have experienced after the illness.

A man recently asked me for help who told me he had been successful before, but now he was a broken man, sick, in excruciating pain, broke and out of work. His wife was even worse. He had seen several doctors and a psychiatrist, but no one could help him. What struck me was that his symptoms and those of his wife started after having Covid-19 disease. I thought if his current complaints are due to his Covid infection, he may have what is called the long Covid.

Although most people infected with Covid recover within weeks, soon after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, clinicians began to see patients who took longer to improve or failed to improve. just didn’t seem to improve at all. These individuals are called long haul. You may have heard of this. Several other names have been used to describe this phenomenon, including: post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV2 (PASC), or post-Covid syndrome.

It took a long time, but the Covid has long been recognized as a real problem. The CDC is tracking this unfortunate phenomenon. The CDC uses post-COVID conditions to cover a wide range of health consequences that are present four weeks or more after Covid-19 disease.

What are the symptoms of the long Covid?

The constellation of long symptoms of Covid is broad, can vary widely from one individual to another, and can affect many different parts of the body. This makes the diagnosis difficult, especially since there is no simple diagnostic test and Covid-19 can affect most systems in your body. Likewise, the long Covid can affect multiple parts of the body, as shown in the symptom types snapshot below, by major organ system:

– General symptoms: fatigue, sleep disturbances, altered mood

– Lungs: shortness of breath, cough, chest pain

– Heart: heartbeat, rapid heartbeat, dizziness after standing

– Nervous system: brain fog (i.e. difficulty thinking or concentrating), headache, tingling sensation, altered smell or taste

– Gastrointestinal: diarrhea, abdominal pain

People who have had a serious illness or prolonged hospitalizations can also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Long Covid is not unique, other infections can have lasting impacts

Long Covid is a real phenomenon. From a scientific point of view, it is a puzzle. We don’t know what causes it or why this specific virus is causing it; However, it is not the only virus that can cause long-term sequelae in a subset of infected people. More recently, we have also seen chronic post-infection side effects with Ebola virus. Before the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Ebola cases occurred in remote parts of Africa and there weren’t many survivors, so we didn’t recognized the problem. But the outbreak in West Africa was so large that there are now thousands of survivors, and many of them are suffering from chronic effects that share similarities with the aftermath of Covid, including muscle pain and joints, headaches, difficulty concentrating, rashes and visual disturbances. disturbances. It has been discovered that some victims harbor a live virus that lurks in certain parts of the body (the brain, eye, testes). We don’t understand why some have problems and others don’t.

This post-infection problem is not limited to viruses. The debate over the cause and appropriate treatment for people who suffer from chronic symptoms after Lyme disease (caused by bacteria) has been going on for decades. Several other infections can have long-term consequences after a person appears to recover from the acute illness.

It is clear that all of these phenomena are real, but what is frustrating is that we do not know the cause. On the positive side, the medical profession is now aware of this problem. Research efforts have started to study these individuals in an attempt to understand the etiology and their behavior over time. If we can figure this one out, maybe we can figure out some of the other post-infection syndromes that have baffled us.

Long Covid is another reason to get vaccinated

With the Covid infection, we know that certain underlying factors predispose to more severe diseases (hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, immune problems). But this is not the case for the long Covid. In fact, even someone with a mild infection can still become a long haul. It’s a bit like drawing straws. You don’t know who will draw the short straw. As the pandemic sets off on a new wave, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, if you did not have enough reasons to get vaccinated before, the long-haul phenomenon may be an added incentive. .

Most people are familiar with the challenge of preventing mosquito bites outside on a hot summer evening. Even if you smear yourself in bug juice, a pesky mosquito will find its window of opportunity in a tiny patch of skin that lacks repellant. Think of Covid the same way it searches for the unvaccinated like this mosquito, only the short and long term consequences can be greater. It will only find you a matter of time.

If you or someone you know has already been infected with Covid and has persistent symptoms or has not returned to their normal state of well-being, consider that you or they may have suffered from Covid for a long time. Ask your doctor about this. Support groups are forming now. Join one. You can share resources, information about clinical trials, or challenges you face with others who have similar experiences.

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