Dr Amer Sheikh | Private GP

Units 10 & 11 Horizon Business Village

1 Brooklands Road, Weybridge, Surrey. KT13 0TJ.

8am - 7pm Weekdays

9am - 12pm Saturdays
01932 504999
  • About
  • Consultations
    • Clinic Consultation
    • Telephone & Online Consultations
    • Home Visits
    • Fees
  • Pain management
    • Pain management
    • Acupuncture
    • No painkillers recommended in NICE guidelines for chronic pain
  • Weight Loss Clinic
    • Weight Loss Clinic
    • Why calorie counting doesn’t work
    • Lose weight and regain health
    • Semaglutide for weight loss
  • Book Appointment Online
  • Doctor’s Blog
  • Contact Us

What is long COVID and do you have it?

Home » General » What is long COVID and do you have it?

By Dr Amer Sheikh • April 15, 2021 • No Comments

Share this:
long-covid

What is long COVID and do you have it?

Around 10% of people have a slow recovery from COVID-19 infection that lasts longer than 3 weeks (UK COVID symptom study). Most people will recover within 12 weeks. People who do not recover within this time-frame may have Long COVID if their symptoms are not explained by another illness.

The likelihood of developing long COVID is not linked to any particular symptoms, the severity of the initial illness or if hospital admission was needed. The symptoms of long COVID can affect any part of your body and can change over time.

What causes long COVID?

The short answer is that we do not know what causes long COVID to occur. We do know that similar symptoms have been found in patients suffering from other coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS.

There are likely to be a number of causes of long COVID rather than just one in particular. These include a persistently high viral load, inflammatory or immune reactions, physical weakness and psychological factors such as PTSD.

For people who continue to suffer symptoms, the NHS has a great website to advise on symptom management.

What are the symptoms of long COVID?

General non-specific symptoms

  • Tiredness
  • Fever
  • Pain

Fatigue

Tiredness can occur after any severe infection as the body recovers. For example post-viral fatigue is fairly common.

The tiredness in long COVID can be severe and be similar to that in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME (Myalgic Encephalitis).

Psychological symptoms

  • Anxiety
  • Low mood
  • Depression
  • Poor sleep
  • PTSD occurs in a minority of people, often healthcare workers.

Persistent chest symptoms

  • Persistent cough
  • Breathlessness

Blood clots

Having a COVID-19 infection increases the risk of blood clots. This might present with breathing difficulties, chest pain, or palpitations.

Heart symptoms

20% of people admitted with COVID-19 have obvious heart involvement, but probably a greater proportion have undetected heart involvement. Symptoms include:

  • Chest tightness
  • Chest pain
  • Palpitations

Neurological symptoms

  • Brain fog, loss of concentration
  • Headache
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Pins and needles in arms or legs
  • Dizziness
  • Stroke
  • Seizures
  • Encephalitis
  • Cranial nerve neuropathy

Older people

  • Loss of muscle mass and weakness
  • Reduced appetite and malnutrition
  • Depression
  • Delirium
  • Chronic pain

Other symptoms

  • Musculoskeletal: joint and muscle pain
  • Gastrointestinal: abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea
  • ENT: tinnitus, earache, sore throat, dizziness, loss of taste/smell
  • Skin rashes

Which symptoms need urgent attention?

You should seek urgent medical attention if they have the following symptoms:

  • shortness of breath
  • chest pain
  • severe psychological distress or ideas of self-harm
  • severely ill child

What should you do if you suspect you have long COVID?

You should seek medical advice and discuss the nature of your symptoms with the doctor. The first thing of course is that you should have a history of having COVID-19 infection, or have had symptoms that were suspicious of a COVID-19 infection.

Long COVID is a diagnosis of exclusion. That means that other serious medical problems should be excluded before assuming that the cause is long COVID.

A relevant examination should be done according to the symptoms and may include the pulse, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Tests may also be useful to make a diagnosis and can include blood and urine tests, chest x-ray and ECG.

Take home message

Symptoms of long COVID can affect virtually any part of the body or more than one body part at a time. The condition my fluctuate and last for long periods of time.

We are just beginning to see these cases for the first time and therefore have limited experience of what treatments might work. Most of the evidence currently comes from consensus of medical professionals or individual cases that they have seen.

Long COVID is a diagnosis of exclusion so other medical problems need to searched for. You should not automatically assume that your symptoms are due to long COVID as they may be due to another problem. That is why it is important to discuss the problem with an experienced medical professional and why a number of tests may have to be done to arrive at a diagnosis.

Share this:

Related Posts:

  • Terms of Service
  • COVID-19 Combat Kit
  • Why calorie counting does not work
  • 'Cure' your high blood pressure
  • The real symptoms of COVID-19
  • Hay fever is nothing to sneeze at!
Categories:General
Tags:COVID-19

Dr Amer Sheikh

Connect with Dr Amer Sheikh

RSS

Connect with Dr Amer Sheikh

Subscribe to Dr Amer Sheikh by Email

Recent Posts

  • Semaglutide for weight loss
  • Why calorie counting does not work
  • No painkillers recommended in NICE guidelines for chronic pain
  • What is long COVID and do you have it?
  • Does vitamin D protect against COVID-19?

Archives

  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2019

Categories

  • Aches and Pains
  • DIY Health
  • Ear, Nose and Throat
  • General
  • Lifestyle

Company Details:

AIS Health Ltd

Registered Office:

Tricorne Stables

15A Sandy Lane

Wokingham

Berkshire

RG41 4DD

Companies House

Registration No. 09835294

Currency & Cards Accepted

£ GBP

Merchant Equipment Store Credit Card Logos

Terms & Conditions

Terms of Service

Refund Policy

Privacy Policy

 

RSS BBC Health News

  • Candida auris: The superbug sweeping US hospitals March 23, 2023
    A drug-resistant yeast fungus has been detected in more than 30 countries. What do we know about it?
  • NHS Tracker: Find out about hospital waiting times in your area this winter March 23, 2023
    Flu, staff shortages and Covid backlogs are putting the NHS under severe strain, find out what's happening in your area.
Copyright © 2015 AIS Health Ltd | Design by TallyThemes
  • About
  • Acupuncture
  • Appointment
  • Basket
  • Book Appointment Online
  • Book Now
  • Booking Submitted
  • Checkout
  • Clinic Consultation
  • Consultations
  • Contact Us
  • Doctor’s Blog
  • Driver Medicals
  • Fees
  • Health screening
  • Healthy aging
  • Home Visits
  • Homepage
  • My account
  • Pain management
  • Privacy Policy
  • Private GP Services in London
  • Private GP Services in Wokingham
  • Private Prescriptions
  • Refund Policy
  • Reliable New Coronavirus Test (COVID-19)
  • Reverse chronic disease
  • Shop
  • Telephone & Online Consultations
  • Terms of Service
  • Weight Loss Clinic
  • worldpay
  • Worldpay 3DS Shortcode Page