Everything You Need to Know About Long Covid

Nearly five years ago, the word “COVID” appeared on your television, radio, and social media feed, likely for the first time. While the term itself has been around for many years, the early days of what would become the first pandemic that virtually everyone on planet Earth had ever seen changed our lives forever.

For the most part, COVID-19 has largely become a thing of the past. It’s not that people aren’t still testing positive. In fact, some reports indicate that the summer of 2024 has seen the most positive COVID tests since the summer of 2020.

However, there’s another COVID-related issue that’s plaguing people around the globe. Long COVID, which still carries with it a certain amount of mystery, is a very real problem that people are dealing with some five years after their first interaction with the virus.

Today, learn more about Long COVID, what it is, its symptoms, and more. It’s just as important to be informed as it was in 2019 and 2020.

What is Long COVID?

Long COVID is a relatively new concept for most of the population. For most people, when they contract a virus of any kind for the first time, they wait for the symptoms to pass, and then life returns to normal. That’s not been the case for people around the world when it comes to their first case of COVID.

The term “long COVID” refers to people who deal with persistent COVID symptoms long after their first positive COVID test. These symptoms often last for weeks, months, or even longer. In the most extreme cases, people who deal with long COVID experience a major impact on their overall quality of life. To make things even more alarming, anyone who has ever contracted COVID can get long COVID, even if it’s been years since their first bout with the virus.

Some of the world’s best scientists are working diligently to try to determine exactly what causes long COVID. Ideally, if they can figure out what’s causing long COVID, they’ll be able to find a way to reverse its symptoms and eventually eradicate it.

Currently, experts believe that long COVID relates to the body’s immune response to the virus and ongoing inflammation. They do believe that people who had severe cases of COVID-19 are more apt to contract long COVID, but there are numerous cases of people developing it after having mild symptoms, or even being completely asymptomatic.

What Are the Symptoms of Long COVID?

In many instances, long COVID symptoms mirror the symptoms of the initial virus. The bigger issue with this long version of the virus is that it can impact multiple organ systems. This is why some patients continue to struggle with the fallout from long COVID for a year after showing the initial symptoms.

Fatigue is arguably the most prominent long COVID symptom. Some of the scientists who are studying this phenomenon believe that the abundance of inflammation that forms when the body is battling COVID leads to increased fatigue, muscle soreness, and a general feeling of lethargy.

This isn’t a huge surprise, as intense fatigue was one of the most common symptoms of the COVID-19 virus when it was at its peak. Tragically, there are a few instances of people who deal with such fatigue from long COVID that they’re physically unable to get out of bed and carry out daily tasks.

Shortness of breath is another common sign of long COVID, which serves as another example of a shared symptom between the original version of the virus and this extended iteration. The virus was known to impact respiratory systems, which is why people with preexisting respiratory conditions were considered high-risk at the peak of the pandemic.

There’s some debate surrounding brain fog and its role as a symptom of long COVID. Some doctors believe that this decreased cognitive function relates directly to the shortness of breath that the illness causes, while others believe it’s more of a standalone symptom. However, it’s a common theme among long COVID patients, as many of them report struggling to form coherent thoughts and issues with their memories.

Joint and muscle pain are also common signs of long COVID. This is the primary reason that many experts around the world believe that this extended version of the virus is linked directly to inflammation in the body. In the most extreme cases, patients find themselves unable to move certain parts of their body, as it generally impacts the knees and elbows.

Extreme changes in sleep patterns also appear to be a prevalent symptom of long COVID. Epidemiologists are struggling to determine why this is the case, though. This is because some patients report dealing with insomnia, while others report erratic sleep patterns. Still, there are others who find themselves sleeping too much, which is a problem for those who have fatigue related to the illness.

Finally, gastrointestinal issues are a common symptom of long COVID, just like they were of COVID-19. Patients have reported a wide array of GI issues, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Who is at Risk for Long COVID?

When the COVID-19 pandemic was still part of daily lives of countless people around the world, you probably heard a lot about the most vulnerable among us. Typically, medical experts and government officials focused on the elderly and those with preexisting health conditions and comorbidities. Long COVID seems to be impacting some of the same groups, but there are some surprising additions to this list.

Long COVID impacts people who had more severe cases of COVID-19 than those who dealt with mild symptoms or those who remained asymptomatic. While this isn’t a certainty, statistics do show a greater number of patients with severe COVID experiencing long COVID symptoms.

Once again, the elderly are being impacted more by long COVID than many other groups. Generally speaking, experts point to people who are 65 years old or older as the most likely to experience this disease.

Patients with comorbidities and preexisting health conditions once again find themselves dealing with long COVID at a higher rate than others. This is especially true for patients who have respiratory issues, diabetes, or heart conditions.

Surprisingly, studies indicate that women are more prone to long COVID than males. Currently, experts are unsure as to why this is the case, but based on the numbers, there are more women with long COVID than men.

Finally, people who did not take the COVID-19 vaccine are at a significantly higher risk of long COVID than those who were vaccinated. This is believed to be tied to the added immunity to the virus that the vaccine provided.

What Should I Do If I Have Long COVID?

If you have the symptoms of long COVID, it’s a good idea to seek medical help as soon as possible. Your primary care physician will start by reviewing your symptoms and performing some routine tests to help determine if you’re one of the many people dealing with this new threat. If you do have long COVID, all hope is not lost.

Many people who have long COVID have found that taking a multidisciplinary approach to the illness seems to be effective. This may include working with a rheumatologist, neurologist, mental health professional, and your primary care physician. Since long COVID impacts so many systems within the body, it often takes the expert care of more than one doctor to effectively treat it.

Anyone who has ever had COVID is at risk of long COVID. However, as research continues to uncover new truths about this newest threat to humanity, doctors are optimistic that they can figure out what’s causing it and how to effectively treat it.