Survived COVID - What about aftercare? The long term complications of COVID are now starting to be seen and the condition “long-COVID” is being described. Post-COVID 19 Syndrome or long COVID is where symptoms last for >12 weeks.
These symptoms include: pins and needles, dizziness, fatigue, mental confusion, headache, nausea, shortness of breath, palpitations, chest pain, exhaustion, joint pain, diarrhoea, loss of smell, myalgia and body aches.
There are over 400 studies in the literature of “long-COVID”.
People with long COVID have significant risks for multi-organ impairment (Dennis et al Oct 2020)
The proposed pathophysiology may include: persistent viraemia because of immunodeficiency; inflammation; post-traumatic stress disorder; organ damage; nerve damage from prone position in ICU or lung damage from prolonged ventilation (Greenhalgh et al BMJ Aug 2020).
