As the pandemic continues to pluck on , it ’s now exculpated that Covid-19 is often much more than a coughing and a fever , but can imply a wide array of symptoms that lurk long - after the worst of the contagion resolves . Among the many symptoms this entails , from expectant chests to cephalalgia , it appear that a substantial number of people are continuing to lose from a dawdle feeling of “ mind fog ” after recover from Covid-19 .
It ’s still too former to say how common this experience might be , although a turn of case studies have suggested it could be surprisingly prevalent . One studyasked 120 people who were hospitalized with Covid-19 how they feel over 100 day after being first admitted , concluding that one-half of the recuperate patients felt fatigued and over a third say they were experiencing memory going . A late preliminary studyfrom South Korea surveyed 65 recovered Covid-19 patient and find that 91.1 pct of them were suffering from at least one lasting side - effect , most often weariness followed by want of compactness or " brain fog " .
Part of the difficulty in understand brain fog is that it can appear to bear upon people in different way , but it ’s loosely delineate as a worn-out feeling involving fatigue , low mood , memory loss , confusion , and difficulties with concentration . As explained by the sick person of this unusual condition , it can take a literal toll on their everyday aliveness and well - being .
“ I jest , ‘ Well , Covid has run through my brain , because I ca n’t remember how to remember words , keep rail of medication . ’ My brain just feels like there ’s a haze , ” Hanna Lockman , a 32 - twelvemonth - old from Kentucky who suffered from after - effects of Covid-19 for at least five months , told theJournal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA ) .
“ I experience like I have dementedness , " Lisa Mizelle , a 53 - year - one-time nurse practitioner from Alabama who fell sick with Covid-19 in July , toldThe New York Timesin a recent narration . “ I leave the way and I ca n’t remember what the patient just say . ”
However , like many of the long - condition effects of Covid-19 , brain fog is a bit of a enigma to scientist .
Some have propose it might be kindred to post - viral tiredness syndrome . multitude recovering from other cruddy infection often report feeling hard fatigued for week or even months after recovering , as if the consistence is demand time to go back from its straining battle with the illness . Although this might be a likely suspect , many of the finer points surround post - viral weariness syndrome are not agree upon by researchersnor wide understood , let alone when it ’s in the context of Covid-19 .
Others suggest the mystery of brain fog could go profoundly . Covid-19 is strange because SARS - CoV-2 can transgress the stemma - brainiac roadblock and infect neuron , causing damage to the brain . Perhaps , as somehave alluded to , the symptoms of fatigue and memory loss are somehow linked to hurt , swelling , and firing of encephalon tissues .
One studypublished earlier this month even argued that footle brain fog and other neurological symptoms after Covid-19 retrieval may in reality be due to post - traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) . They reviewed data from the premature SARS and MERS coronavirus outbreaks and find that survivors had a heightened risk for PTSD , leading them to suggest that this could perhaps excuse the persistent cognitive and emotional difficulties found in Covid-19 survivors .
The cause , for now , remain unsure . In the meanwhile , those who have battled brain fog have stressed that it ’s crucial that the symptom – and the many other experiences seen by “ Covid longsighted haulers ” – is recognise by both the medical world and lodge as a whole .
" This clobber is literal . People are sick . Doctors need to block up diagnosing this as anxiousness . We have mess up before , lets ’ not do it again with foresightful terminus covid-19 sickness , " Paul Garner , a prof at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who suffered from hang on symptoms for calendar month post - Covid , write in a web log post for theBritish Medical Journal ( the BMJ ) .
