Long COVID Explained

By Dr. Samir Jamil

After a COVID-19 illness, no matter how serious, some patients are having lingering symptoms for weeks to months, and even years. This led some people to call this malady “long COVID.”

Medically, it has many names: post-COVID-19 syndrome, chronic COVID syndrome, post- COVID-19 condition, and long-haul COVID, to mention a few.

Anyone who gets the COVID-19 infection can experience long COVID, including children. Some groups of people, however, for whatever reason, are more prone to get long COVID following COVID-19 infection. These include female patients, patients older than 65, patients with a pre-existing condition such as asthma or diabetes, and patients who are not vaccinated or have a more severe COVID infection.

Researchers do not exactly know how COVID-19 infection results in long COVID, but they have some ideas. Symptoms of long COVID may include extreme tiredness, especially after activity, problems with memory (brain fog), a feeling of being lightheaded or dizzy, and problems with taste or smell.

Other symptoms could include sleep problems, shortness of breath, chronic cough, headaches, fast or irregular heartbeat, and digestion problems such as loose stools, constipation, or bloating.

The symptoms may get worse over time, stay the same, or improve. Most people with symptoms at 4 weeks of COVID infection recover by 12 weeks. Recovery is slower for those still ill at 12 weeks.

Some patients may have other illnesses that are are worsened by long COVID, such as migraines, lung disease, and many autoimmune diseases. Also, long COVID symptoms can show up weeks or months after a person seems to have recovered from COVID-19 infection. It is worthwhile mentioning that long COVID is not contagious.

There is no laboratory test that can determine if a patient’s symptoms are due to long COVID. A positive COVID-19 test is not required for a long COVID diagnosis. The diagnosis is mostly based on persistence of symptoms following infection with COVID-19, a thorough physical examination with further investigations when needed, and exclusion of other possible causes of their symptoms.

Because patients with long COVID can have multiple symptoms, there is no single treatment for the condition. Patients should work with their health care providers for the optimal management of their symptoms.