Long COVID can have serious health consequences: 5 symptoms that need early medical attention

The effect of the coronavirus can continue long after the initial recovery. And the post-COVID complications can be as severe as the infection itself, and sometimes such syndrome can even turn fatal if it is taken care of in the early stage. A few weeks ago World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out that long-term effects of the coronavirus can be critical, affecting every part of your body. WHO official Dr. Abdi Mahamud said, “When people talk about COVID, they think of it as an upper respiratory disease, but it is more of systemic disease. Literally, it was affecting every part of the cardiovascular system one year down and later.”

What is long COVID?

Long COVID is usually diagnosed many weeks after a bout with COVID-19. Any long-lasting effects typically appear about 90 days after symptoms of the initial infection go away. 

Overall, some estimates suggest more than a third of COVID-19 survivors will develop some symptoms of long COVID, as per WHO data. 

What are the common long COVID symptoms? 

Some of the most common long COVID symptoms that need early attention are nerve damage, heart ailment, tingling sensation in the body, depression and brain fog. 

Nerve damage: 

Studies revealed that long covid can damage peripheral nerve fibers “and that damage to the small-fiber type of nerve cell may be prominent,” said lead author Anne Louise Oaklander, an investigator in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Hence, the nerves that control things like our breathing, blood vessels, and our digestion can be are damaged by long COVID. 

Cardiac ailments:

COVID can cause severe heart diseases, several studies have shown. “COVID-19 is a perfect storm for the heart", the World Heart Federation (WHF) had said at the beginning of the pandemic. A recent study has also pointed out the risk of heart attack increases 8 times within a week after being diagnosed with COVID. 

Tingling sensation: 

This syndrome may seem comparatively minor but studies prove otherwise. 

"Chronic numbness or tingling can be a symptom of any number of disorders: stroke, tumor, multiple sclerosis - to name a few," says a report by University of Michigan.

Brain fog: 

A recent study by Oxford University showed that cause brain shrinkage hampering several cognitive activities. And many suffer from issues like fatigue, lack of concentration, brain fog etc.

Depression: 

Studies also show that people who have been infected with COVID-19 are three times more likely to experience anxiety, and nearly twice as likely to experience depression, and 2.6 times more likely to have both conditions, than people who have never had COVID-19