Highlights
- There is yet to be a formal medical diagnosis for long COVID, as researchers are still studying it.
- Long COVID has a wide range of symptoms, some of which can be treated.
- BidRX can help you get the best price for medication to treat long COVID symptoms.
As COVID-19 moves from being a novel virus to an unfortunate fact of life, a new concern is emerging. Long COVID, where one or more symptoms last after the infection ends, is impacting the health of millions. Here’s what we know so far about long COVID, its treatment, its prevention, and what the future holds.
What Is Long COVID?
There isn’t yet a formal medical consensus on what we call “long COVID.” Informally, it’s the continuance of at least one symptom after the infection has passed. While people with mild infections are at lower risk, there have been reports of long COVID symptoms even in people who had a COVID infection with no obvious symptoms.
How Is Long COVID Diagnosed?
As there’s no formal medical definition of long COVID, it’s largely diagnosed in the absence of any other explanation for the symptoms, called a diagnosis of exclusion. This raises questions as to whether long COVID is a unique post-infection syndrome or unrelated issues finally being diagnosed and reported. As we develop a better understanding of those issues, a formal diagnosis should come into focus.
What Are the Symptoms of Long COVID?
There’s disagreement over what should count as a long COVID symptom. The most widely reported symptoms are memory concerns (called “brain fog”) and fatigue severe enough to interfere with daily living.
Other commonly reported symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Lost or distorted sense of smell
- Breathing difficulties such as persistent cough or shortness of breath
- Neurological concerns such as tingling in the extremities
- Sleep disorders
- Muscle pain
- Changes in menstrual cycle
- Depression and anxiety
How Common Is Long COVID?
As research is ongoing, there is no consensus on how prevalent long COVID is, with claims ranging from 5 to 50 percent of infections. There are several reasons for this lack of agreement.
Diversity of Long COVID Symptoms
Long COVID is defined by one or more symptoms enduring past the infections. The CDC alone lists 19 possible symptoms, and other medical bodies add many others. This raises questions without easy answers. For example, if a person’s sense of smell is permanently altered but they have no other symptoms, should that be classified in the same way as a person suffering from fatigue?
Common Nature of Symptoms
Symptoms such as dizziness, persistent cough, and depression are widespread on their own, but they are also common symptoms of other diseases. Depression, for example, is commonplace and is prone to the “chicken and egg” question: Is depression caused by long COVID, or do the circumstances of long COVID cause depression?
Aggravation of Chronic Conditions
COVID-19 has shown a tendency to worsen chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and these conditions can make a COVID infection more severe. Sorting long COVID from chronic conditions has presented a challenge to doctors. What patients group into long COVID may be sorted by doctors into many different diagnoses over time, as we better understand how COVID affects various organs.
Trauma From Hospitalization
Life-saving procedures can have long-term effects on health. For example, higher incidence of airway trauma and post-removal risks have been reported due to intubation, a common lifesaving procedure for COVID survivors. How many of these effects are caused by COVID and how much by trauma is an open question.
The Changing Nature of the Virus
Early strains of COVID-19 primarily attacked the respiratory system, but as it has evolved, COVID has attacked a wide range of organs. In addition, infections can attack tissues throughout the body, causing a broader range of symptoms.
How Dangerous Is Long COVID?
The risk of long COVID depends on the patient. An otherwise healthy person may face serious concerns about quality of life, such as being able to work, but currently there’s no evidence they’re at increased risk of death in the short term. In the long term, we simply don’t know.
Someone with a potentially life-threatening condition may be at higher risk because long COVID will complicate long-term care and potentially make that condition worse.
What Are the Risk Factors for Long COVID?
So far, the following risk factors have emerged among reported long COVID patients, although more possibilities are emerging:
- Age. People over age 50 are more likely to experience long COVID, according to current data.
- Gender. Women are less likely to develop severe COVID symptoms, but they seem more likely to develop long COVID.
- Number of symptoms. People reporting five or more symptoms from their initial infection are more likely to report at least one of them continuing.
- Asthma or other chronic respiratory illness. People with asthma are reporting more long-term symptoms, usually due to lung damage caused by COVID infections.
- Body weight. Obesity is considered a factor in long COVID at the moment, but this may change because obesity can be a symptom of other health issues.
How Can I Prevent Long COVID?
The only known way to prevent long COVID is to avoid COVID-19 exposure as much as possible, and if you do get infected, to manage it quickly.
- Get vaccinated, if possible, and remain current on boosters.
- Mask indoors and in crowded outdoor situations.
- Avoid poorly ventilated areas.
- Practice social distancing when possible.
- Test when you believe you may have been exposed.
- If infected, contact a doctor immediately and use medications that limit the severity of symptoms.
How Can BidRx Help Me Treat Long COVID?
Right now, treatment of long COVID is focused on reducing symptoms where possible. Fortunately, as many symptoms of long COVID are common, you can treat them using commonly available medications.
BidRX can help you get the best prices on medicines for your chronic conditions and long COVID symptoms. Enter a bid on our website and pharmacies across the country will put out their best price, with medication shipped to your door. Especially for people who need to plan their day to avoid fatigue or are concerned about exposure, it’s a safer way to get your medication. Get started with BidRX now!
