This is one of a series of posts reviewing how long COVID effects last, and focusing on the predominant symptom fatigue. We are guided by information provided to BBC Future by Melissa Heightman, a post-COVID-19 clinic manager in London. Half her patients that did not admit to hospital, made good recoveries after a few months. But the rest may have had the fatigue trauma of non-hospitalized COVID for over a year.
Symptoms of Fatigue Trauma among Non-Hospitalized COVID Patients
We are learning COVID fatigue is not a tunnel symptom. Of Melissa Heightman’s 3,762 long COVID patients:
1… 77% still have fatigue after 6 months
2… 72% still feel uncomfortable after light exercise
3… 56% still have cognitive dysfunction ‘brain fog’
4… 33% of women still have menstrual cycle issues
Moreover, These Symptoms Come and Go in Three Separate Waves
BBC Future advises her COVID patients, who did not admit to hospital have three separate surges of fatigue syndrome, as follows:
1… The pattern of non-hospitalized COVID begins with a dry cough and fever
2… Dysautonomia begins affecting autonomic body functions shortly afterwards
3… A month after the initial infection a third wave of symptoms appears
4… Those symptoms include skin rashes, muscle pain, new allergies, and brain fog
5… Meanwhile, the third wave peaks after four months, but may also become worse
6 … However, the dysautonomia peaks after two months, and then tapers off
Why Have Some of These Patients Not Recovered After a Year?
The fatigue trauma of non-hospitalized COVID patients is clearly debilitating, and affects their daily functioning. Therefore, we need to understand why this is happening, and equally importantly how to treat it. The reasons vary between individuals. We examine the variety of underlying triggers causing this condition in the next post.
Related
Persistent Symptoms of the COVID Long Tail
Numbing Effect of Enduring COVID Fatigue
Preview Image: Three Confusing Waves of Fatigue
