what are the symptoms of long covid?
not much is known about long covid, but the most common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, regular pain, sleeping problems, and difficulty with concentration.
3 minute read
according to health canada, there's no "universally agreed-upon" way to diagnose or treat long covid. getty
long covid still isn’t fully understood. but it’s very real, and can be devastating — both in terms of its physical and psychological symptoms, and the stigma that accompanies the illness.
much like it was with the virus in the early days of the pandemic, experts don’t yet know enough about the symptoms that, for some, come after infection and can last weeks, or even months, to make very many definitive claims. but the information that is available paints an alarming picture of a condition that’s not only alarmingly common, but also frightening for those experiencing it.
what is long covid?
many people who contract covid-19 are sick for a period of time and then they recover. but some people experience physical and neurological symptoms even 12 weeks after getting the virus — some of the most common ones in adults being fatigue, shortness of breath, regular pain or discomfort, sleeping problems, difficulty with concentration and memory, and anxiety and depression. children with long covid also experience fatigue, shortness of breath, sleep problems and lack of concentration, but may also experience headaches, stomach aches, pain in the muscles or joints, and disorientation. sometimes the symptoms go away for awhile and then come back.
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who gets long covid?
long covid can happen to anyone, health canada reports: adults, children, people who were hospitalized during their infection, even those with only very mild symptoms. and though it tends to be more common in people who had complications when they were sick, according to the cdc, it’s definitely not limited to this group. studies have also found that while those who has first and second doses of the covid vaccine can also experience long covid, the symptoms were less than for those who weren’t vaccinated.
people with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (mis) — a rare condition that causes inflammation in the body including the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, skin, eyes and gastrointestinal organs — are also at risk of developing long covid.
symptoms that continue “long after” covid
a statistics canada survey released in october found that 14.8 per cent of canadians who reported a covid infection between january 2020 and august 2022 reported either symptoms can continued “long after” a covid infection, or symptoms that returned after they had otherwise recovered. that equates to 4.6 per cent of the adult canadian population, or 1.4 million people.
the survey also found that long covid was slightly more likely in women than men (18 per cent versus 11.6 per cent, respectively), and that it was also more common in people who had had severe covid. fewer people reported long covid following the emergence of the omicron variant, which became the dominant strain in december 2021.
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how is it diagnosed?
according to health canada, there’s no “universally agreed-upon” way to diagnose or treat long covid. the canadian agency for drugs and technologies in health (cadth), which provides recommendations to canadian policy makers about health, suggests that canadian physicians follow the guidelines set by the cdc and the u.k. national institute for health and care excellence (nice). those guidelines recommend diagnosing “based on symptoms, suspected previous covid-19 infection, and ruling out other potential causes of symptoms.” that means the hospitalization, or even a positive covid test, aren’t necessary for a long covid diagnosis.
how is long covid treated?
because the condition isn’t yet fully understood, long covid treatment involves a lot of trial and error, npr has reported.
“there is absolutely nothing anywhere that’s clear about long covid,” dr. steven deeks, an infectious disease specialist at the university of california, san francisco, told the outlet. “we have a guess at how frequently it happens. but right now, everyone’s in a data-free zone.”
treatments generally involve attempts to mitigate a patient’s symptoms — a focus on diet, for instance, or pain management.
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“we don’t currently have a cure, but we’re treating symptoms and seeing improvements,” dr. angela cheung, a senior physician scientist with toronto’s university health network who helped establish 18 long covid clinics across canada, told maclean’s. “if a patient has fatigue, resting and pacing themselves is important. if a patient is coughing — and their chest x-ray is normal — we give them steroid inhalers. for congestion, we give nasal sprays. long covid isn’t something that goes away in a day or two.”
readers looking for support for long covid can check out long covid canada, or several other support groups suggested by health canada.
maija kappler is a reporter and editor with healthing.
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