New Symptoms or Symptoms That Last Much Longer
As mentioned earlier, post COVID symptoms can also be seen in people who might have had a mild illness or if they have no major, significant symptoms. In post covid complications, people might experience symptoms that could prolong for weeks or months. Following are the symptoms that people experience, and different individuals might experience different levels of severity:
- Having difficulty breathing or having shortness of breath
- Experiencing tiredness or fatigue
- Symptoms that get more severe or worse after physical or mental activities. This is known as post-exertional malaise
- Brain fog, wherein you might face difficulty in focusing or concentrating
- Cough
- Chest or stomach pain
- Headache
- Heart palpitations, wherein your heart beats very fast
- Joint or muscle pain
- Pins-and-needles feeling
- Diarrhea
- Having difficulty with sleep
- Fever
- Experiencing lightheadedness or dizziness on standing
- Getting rashes
- Experiencing mood swings
- Experiencing changes in the sense of smell or taste
- Changes in menstrual cycles
Multiorgan Effects of COVID-19
There are cases and instances where after experiencing severe illness because of COVID, people tend to experience post covid complications like multiorgan effects or autoimmune conditions. Multiorgan effects tend to affect bodily systems and organs including the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys or the skin. People experience autoimmune conditions when their immune system goes on an overdrive and starts attacking the healthy cells of the body leading to inflammation or tissue damage in the body. In some rare instances, some people, especially children might also experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) either during or immediately after contracting the COVID-19 infection. This condition results in the inflammation of the different body parts.
After Effects of COVID-19 Illness or Hospitalization
Severe illness or hospitalization caused to COVID can result in the patient experiencing issues such as exhaustion or weakness either during or post the recovery period. An individual might also experience post covid complications like post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) wherein he/she might face difficulties with thinking and judgment, might experience weakness or might experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
Despite an understanding of these symptoms and conditions, it can be difficult to ascertain if a person is experiencing symptoms because of long term effects of the virus or because of the after effects of hospitalization or because of one’s mental health struggles in relation to the pandemic because of isolation, stress, anxiety, etc.