As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is increasing attention on how to manage the consequences of the virus, with more and more survivors experiencing what has come to be known as “long COVID”. These are patients whose symptoms persist long after the infection has left their system, but is still wreaking havoc on their health. The topic of long COVID came up this week, when Anthony Fauci, MD, the White House’s top COVID advisor, spoke to the Duke Global Health Institute on February 10. “We know that there is an unusual syndrome called post-acute COVID syndrome, or PACS,” explained Fauci to the David Rubenstein, former chairman of the Duke University Board of Trustees. “We are studying this intensively with cohort studies because a certain percentage of people who have symptomatic diseases, whether they have been hospitalized or not, have persistent symptoms for varying periods of time.”
According to Fauci, certain symptoms can still be a problem “after the virus has been eliminated from the body. Therefore, they are no longer infected, but have a constellation of signs and symptoms that are quite consistent.” Read on to find out what Fauci identified as the main symptoms of post-COVID syndrome, and for more signs that you may be sick now, check if you are over 65, you may be missing this COVID symptom, study says.
1
Extreme fatigue
Fauci listed extreme fatigue as the first of the most common long symptoms of COVID. In a survey by Survivor Corps, a Facebook group of COVID-19 survivors, led by Natalie Lambert, MD, associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, the researchers talked to more than 1,500 long haulers about their symptoms to determine the 98 most common. According to their findings, 100% of respondents reported feeling fatigue. And for more information about long-term risk, make sure you don’t have a thing, you are at greater risk in the long run.
two
Muscle aches
Fauci also described muscle aches and pains as a common symptom that can persist, which is in line with what was reported in the Survivor Corps survey. Muscle pain was the second most common effect reported by long-distance researchers, with almost 67% experiencing the symptom. And to find out more about where you can expect pain, see why Ellen DeGeneres says this is the “thing they don’t say” about COVID.
3
Sleep disturbance
Interrupted sleep is also a common symptom of PACS, said Fauci. According to the Survivor Corp survey, 50% of long haulers have trouble closing their eyes. And to learn about the strangest and scariest ways that COVID can affect you, take a look at COVID’s awful long symptom that doctors are now warning.
4
Temperature deregulation
Fauci said that patients with PACS also tend to suffer from problems “where they feel cold or don’t regulate their temperature properly”. Although this is not a symptom tracked by the Survivors Corp survey, 29 percent of patients said they experienced a fever or chills long after they “recovered” from the virus. And for more COVID news sent straight to your inbox, subscribe to our daily newsletter.
5
Mental confusion
The last on Fauci’s list of long COVID symptoms is one of the most disturbing and mysterious: brain fog, “which means they have trouble concentrating or concentrating,” he explained. Among the long haulers surveyed in the Survivors Corp report, 59 percent said they had difficulty concentrating. And to learn more about the factors that affect people with PACS, see Almost all Long Haulers COVID have this in common, new studies have found.