Long COVID: What impact does it have on Carenity members' daily lives?

What is Long COVID? 

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been almost 32,000,000 cases of COVID-19 in the US. Researchers estimate that just over 20% of Americans had contracted the virus. Among the people infected, some have experienced acute symptoms while others have experienced little-to-no symptoms at all. 

From the start of the outbreak, two forms of COVID-19 have been talked about in the media. These are: 

• A mild form: This corresponds to a case of illness lasting about 14 days, from the onset of symptoms to recovery.
• A severe form: In this case, the patient usually needs to be hospitalized between the 5^th and the 10^th day, and he or she experiences more or less severe complications. 

But as the pandemic has progressed, another form has emerged: Long COVID. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has defined Long COVID as: "a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection."

According to a study published by the CDC in July 2020, 35% of patients who had tested positive for COVID had not fully recovered 2-3 weeks after infection. Additionally, 1 in 5 young adults (aged 18-34) who had been previously healthy had not returned to their usual state of health. Additional research published by the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington found that nearly one-third of COVID patients had lingering symptoms a median of 6 months after initial infection.

"Long COVID" is the name that patients have given to the phenomenon of experiencing symptoms that persist well beyond the "normal" duration of a COVID-19 infection. According to Professor Clair Andrejak, a pulmonologist at the Amiens University Hospital: “The normal duration of a COVID-19 infection varies from one person to another. Let’s say that if symptoms persist beyond one month after the first symptoms, it’s not completely normal”. 

In addition, a patient with a severe form of COVID-19, who has had to be hospitalized or even admitted to intensive care, will need more time to recover from the infection than someone with a mild form.

However, the majority of Long COVID patients, often called "long-haulers", initially reported the mild form of COVID-19.

Nevertheless, to date, Long COVID is not considered to be a long-term illness. Numerous associations such as Long Covid Support in the UK, the Long-COVID Alliance in the US and #AprèsJ20 in France are campaigning worldwide for recognition of the disease.

What are the symptoms of Long COVID? 

The most common symptom reported by patients is fatigue. This is a long-lasting fatigue that makes patients need to rest regularly.

Other symptoms are regularly noted, such as:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath,
• Feeling of tightness in the chest,
• Dizziness on standing
• Loss of taste or smell,
• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (brain fog),
• Digestive issues,
• Fast-beating or pounding heart (heart palpitations),
• Joint or muscle pain,
• Depression or anxiety.

Long COVID symptoms often appear in “flare-ups” or “waves”, alternating between symptomatic periods and periods of remission. The duration of these waves varies from one patient to another. Patients living with Long COVID improve with time as the waves pass.   

How is Long COVID diagnosed? 

There are three criteria that are typically used to diagnose patients living with Long COVID. They are the following: 

• Having presented a symptomatic form of COVID-19,
• Having presented one or more of the initial COVID-19 symptoms in the 4 weeks following the start of the illness,
• The presence of these symptoms cannot be explained by another diagnosis. 

The persistence of symptoms after a COVID-19 infection is not always considered to be Long COVID. This is because COVID-19 may have revealed an underlying medical condition. 

Patients should therefore meet with their doctor, who will make a diagnosis of elimination by verifying that:

• That there is no unknown pre-existing condition that has been revealed by the COVID-19 infection.
• That it is not a complication of COVID-19. It may no longer be the virus itself that is acting but a complication of COVID-19 that is causing new symptoms.
• That it is not a sequela (after-effect) of COVID-19 (such as respiratory after-effects, for example).  

What do Carenity members living with Long COVID have to say about it? 

We went through the “Living with Long COVID” forum on Carenity US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany looking for testimonials from members affected by Long COVID. Here is what they had to say: 

“I tested positive on November 9th, but I had had symptoms for 2 weeks prior: intense muscle aches and major fatigue, trouble focusing and memory issues. But no fever, no cough, no loss of taste or smell. This lasted for 6 weeks. The aches and pains have stopped for the most part but return from time to time, for 24 hours. I'm still very tired, I still have trouble focusing and getting my memory back. I now have pain in my chest and lungs and I feel discomfort when I breathe. A scan shows bilateral bronchiectasis!”  

"I had COVID in March and I still have symptoms. I'm tired all the time. I feel like I've moved mountains with the slightest effort. I also have intestinal problems that never stop. Pain in my stomach and diarrhea for several days that stops and starts again.”

"I was intubated and placed in a coma for two weeks. I was hospitalized for 28 days in November 2020. To this day I still have breathing problems, talking makes me breathless, excessive fatigue at the slightest effort, my taste and smell have returned but not like before."

"For me, the worst thing is my head. From the beginning I had terrible headaches and this constant feeling of like being on the verge of losing my mind because I can't concentrate or understand things well. That part comes and goes fortunately. The fatigue, on the other hand, is constant and prevents me from having a 'normal' life. It's terrible."

“I got COVID in mid-March with a relapse in mid-April where I was hospitalized. Today, the after-effects are still there and I am trying to improve my respiratory issues with a pulmonologist and intestinal issues with a gastroenterologist. I don't recognize myself anymore. My employer terminated my contract while I was in hospital.”  

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