You’ve heard of the symptoms of coronavirus: fever, dry cough, fatigue, body aches, and more. But do you know the symptoms of Post-COVID Syndrome, which you can also get? Long Haulers—those who suffer long after the virus leaves them—have an assortment of problems that can ruin their lives. The COVID Symptom Study app, which asks users to enter symptoms into its database, has charted the most common of them. “COVID-19 is a mild illness for many, but for over one in 50 people symptoms can persist for longer than 12 weeks,” Professor Tim Spector, COVID Symptom Study lead and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology from King’s College London, said. Read on to see if you have any of the symptoms—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had Coronavirus.
“The team found that long COVID symptoms fell into two broad groups,” report the app’s researchers. “One was dominated by respiratory symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath.” This group also had two other common symptoms, detailed on the next slide.
Seen alongside the respiratory symptoms, fatigue and headaches were common. Fatigue, in fact, is the most common Post-COVID Syndrome symptom in any group. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said the syndrome “strongly” resembles Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis. Fatigue is obviously the main symptom of CFS/ME, along with joint pain, confusion and sleep disturbances.
“The second group was ‘multi-system,’ affecting many parts of the body including the brain, gut and heart,” report the app’s researchers. Indeed, Long Haulers have suffered neurological issues like confusion, delirium and hallucinations; vomiting, diarrhea and loss of appetite; and blood clots.
“Long COVID sufferers also reported heart symptoms such as palpitations or fast heartbeat, as well as pins and needles or numbness,” say the app’s researchers. At the new COVID-19 Recovery Clinic (CORE) at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, co-director Aluko Hope, MD, MSCE, said that “he’s seen at least one patient with no history of heart disease who developed postviral heart failure,” according to JAMA Network.
The app’s researchers report “problems concentrating (‘brain fog’).” And say: “People who experienced a wide range of symptoms across many body systems were more likely to need a hospital assessment.”
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“It’s important that, as well as worrying about excess deaths, we also need to consider those who will be affected by long COVID if we don’t get the pandemic under control soon,” said Professor Spector. Contact a medical professional if you have any of these symptoms. Although there is no “cure” for the problem, doctors can (try to) help treat each individual symptom. And follow Fauci’s fundamentals and help end this surge, no matter where you live—wear a face mask, social distance, avoid large crowds, get vaccinated—and to protect your life and the lives of others, don’t visit any of these 35 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch COVID.