Long-Haul COVID Symptoms Common

Initially, COVID-19 was identified as a primarily respiratory illness, which typically have a short, concentrated recovery course that can be tracked quite well.

But, in the long-hauler patient population, symptoms have persisted as long as 10 months. For example, the common symptoms of early infection include fever, cough, loss of smell or taste, shortness of breath, muscle aches, nasal congestion, headache and fatigue. These patients who experience long-term symptoms have been termed "COVID-19 long haulers."

Dr. Nina Bhupathiraju, physiatrist with Franciscan Physician Network in Indianapolis, is board-certified in brain injury medicine, as well as physical medicine and rehabilitation - making her a resource for patients who are suffering much past the expected recovery period.

Dr. Bhupathiraju and her colleagues work to distinguish between COVID-19 and other potential culprits.

"The COVID long haulers didn't really get identified until about May, in New York, when they started noticing that more patients were having lingering symptoms," she said. "When we look at patients who are complaining of fatigue, myalgia, body aches, fevers and chills, and we've ruled out everything else like the flu or allergies, we treat them as COVID long haulers."

Treating Long-Haul COVID Impacts

As a physiatrist, Dr. Bhupathiraju looks at treating disease processes - whether they be neurological in nature or musculoskeletal. It is truly a multi-disciplinary approach, involving physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. If needed, neuro-optometrists and endocrinologists are also enlisted.

"That's just how we think about recovery from any disease process. When we started seeing that these patients were having lingering symptoms, we wanted to see how we could treat that in our program. What we found is we can definitely treat them in our comprehensive therapy program," she assures. "We feel it's the best way for these patients to recover, get back to work, enjoy their normal activities, and just regain some independence again."

Initially, medical questionnaires being used to track incidence of long haulers relied simply on symptom identification. For example, "Do you have any body aches? What are you really describing?" From those surveyed, it was reported that an approximate 2:1 ratio of females to males were describing symptoms - or at least more likely to identify symptoms and present them to their primary care physician.

"Traditionally, what we've seen so far is that women are more likely to report these symptoms, but I don't know if they are more prone to having long-hauler symptoms or just that they're reporting it more. It's hard to say right now," notes Dr. Bhupathiraju.

As time goes on, researches expect to have a more definitive answer.

Long-Haul Symptoms And Severe COVID-19

For people who've suffered through a bout of COVID-19, their misery is too often not over. New research shows that a wide variety of "long-haul" symptoms are common, and the risk rises along with the severity of their case of COVID-19.

In what may be the largest such study to date, "the findings show that beyond the first 30 days of illness, substantial burden of health loss - spanning pulmonary and several extrapulmonary [non-respiratory] organ systems - is experienced by survivors of the acute phase of COVID-19," according to a team led by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, of the VA St. Louis Health Care System, in St. Louis.

As reported April 22 in the journal Nature, the new study tracked outcomes for over 73,000 non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients and almost 5 million without the illness. It also compared outcomes for nearly 14,000 Veterans Affairs (VA) patients hospitalized with COVID-19 against those of a similarly sized group of VA patients who'd been hospitalized with the seasonal flu.

The bottom line, said the researchers, is that in the six months after onset of their illness, COVID-19 survivors had a 59% increased risk for death compared to people who hadn't had the illness, and a 20% higher odds of needing to go back for some form of outpatient care.

The COVID-19 patients also had raised risks for "several conditions in almost every organ system," ranging from respiratory illnesses to nervous system symptoms, to mental health issues, heart troubles, gastrointestinal issues and simply "poor general well-being," the St. Louis team reported.

What's more, the odds that COVID-19 survivors would encounter long-haul symptoms rose along a "risk gradient that increased across [the] severity" of their initial symptoms as they encountered the illness, Al-Aly's team said.

Finding Relief From Long-Hauler Symptoms

For any individual who is experiencing long-hauler symptoms, one good option for finding relief is the day rehabilitation program at Franciscan Health.

"When New York started identifying these COVID long-hauler patients, especially at Mount Sinai hospital, we looked at how they were treating them, and we realized we already had that same infrastructure here," shares Dr. Bhupathiraju.

The day rehab program entails physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, along with a neuropsychologist. A case manager operates under physician oversight, and physicians frequently meet with therapists to help patients who are in the program in order to identify possible barriers to their recovery.

If you have lingering symptoms that are affecting your quality of life and function, whether it be emotional, mental, psychological, physical, or neurological, it's time to call on your primary care physician.

"At Franciscan, we've discussed this with our primary care physician team to really help get our patients in the program earlier. Sometimes, they may not need therapy. They might just need a better sleep-wake cycle adjustment. They might need a little help with coping and behavioral health. But, our goal is to help with function and return to quality of life. There's a way we can do that, and that's what patients are seeking. I think it's definitely worth it to investigate further on the patient's end," urges Dr. Bhupathiraju.

HealthDay News contributed to this article.