Worldwide, more than two million people have died of COVID-19 so far. And although death is a very real and frightening prospect, patients are increasingly concerned with facing a bleak alternative: a partial recovery with persistent symptoms, also known as “long COVID”.
While most coronavirus symptoms tend to subside in a matter of weeks, some patients find that certain symptoms persist for a long time, even after the virus test is negative. A study published in the medical journal The Lancet identified five long-term symptoms that patients with COVID tend to struggle with most often.
And there are reasons to take note. In addition to naming these symptoms, the researchers also came to the surprising conclusion that persistent symptoms are more common than you might think: 76% of patients in the study reported at least one persistent symptom six months after the first symptom onset.
With 1,733 subjects and a six-month study period, the researchers believe their work is the “largest cohort study with the longest follow-up duration” to date. Using patient data from the PubMed medical database, as well as follow-up telephone interviews conducted by trained medical staff, the team compiled its list of the top five most common symptoms in long COVID. Read on to learn about these five scary symptoms, and for more signs of coronavirus, check if this part of your body hurts, you may have COVID.
Read the original article at Better life.
Fatigue topped the long-standing list of COVID symptom researchers, reflecting the CDC’s findings. According to the researchers, 63% of study participants reported fatigue or muscle weakness at the time of their follow-up calls, six months after the onset of the first symptom. And to learn more about how fatigue can affect you after recovering from COVID, check out If you have this subtle symptom, you may have already had COVID.
Muscle pain, also known as myalgia, is another common symptom of long COVID. A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that about 15 percent of “long distance” patients experience muscle pain.
According to a study published in the medical journal Clinical Rheumatology, these muscle pains sometimes include severe back pain in cases of COVID that progress to pneumonia. “Myalgia and fatigue in patients with COVID-19 may last longer than other viral infections and may not respond to conventional pain relievers,” wrote the authors of that study.
A study published in the journal Sleep Remedy recently noted that “very high rates of clinically significant insomnia” have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic – even among healthy people. So it’s no surprise that the researchers behind the original study in The Lancet found that more than a quarter of their patients with long COVID suffered from this symptom at the time of the follow-up call.
According to a question and answer with Rachel Manber, MD, director of the Stanford Insomnia and Sleep Health Program (SHIP), several symptoms associated with severe or prolonged cases of COVID can affect sleep. She explains that “depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, nighttime panic attacks and physical conditions that cause acute or chronic pain” can contribute to chronic sleep disorders. And for more information on COVID’s surprising symptoms, check out This strange symptom may be the only sign that you have COVID, says the study.
Anxiety is another post-COVID condition commonly reported after other symptoms subsided. In fact, the researchers behind the study in The Lancet determined that 23 percent of individuals continued to experience anxiety and depression six months after the onset of the first symptoms.
Of course, many experts predict that even those who have not contracted the coronavirus can fight long-term anxiety as a result of the pandemic. Steven Taylor, PhD, author of The Psychology of Pandemics, recently told the BBC that “for an unfortunate minority of people, perhaps 10 to 15 percent, life will not return to normal” due to the strain on mental health.
Likewise, it was found that depression is commonly reported after the disappearance of other symptoms of COVID. Experts believe that depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and other mental health problems are consequences of post-traumatic stress.
According to a study published in the journal Brain, behavior and immunity, this has been demonstrated in similar outbreaks, including those of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). In each of these cases, the recovered patients had high rates of mood disorders, psychosis and suicide rates a year later. And to learn more about the long COVID symptom, see The long COVID symptom “Really Disturbing” that doctors want you to prepare for.