When the world saw the dramatic reactions happening in China during the earliest days of the pandemic, the medical, research, science, and pharmaceutical industries responded quickly to understand the virus. It appeared to be a mysterious disease with grave consequences. It has been approximately 2 years since the first reports. This represents a relatively short period of time, yet some progress has been made.
Through the middle of November 2021, there have been over 48 million cases in the United States. Most people with the virus survived, although 790,000 Americans have died. Age and pre-existing conditions are likely the underlying factors for most of those infections that resulted in death, but not all of them.
Most people infected with COVID-19 experience symptoms that eventually subside over several weeks. Still, health care providers have become aware of a subset of patients who have symptoms that continue even after their COVID-19 tests come back negative.
Are your COVID symptoms stubborn?
Certain symptoms such as lingering cough, shortness of breath, and body aches, can linger for a while after an infection. This is especially true for a person who required hospitalization. A significant number of people experience continuing brain-related symptoms like:
- Lost of taste and smell
- Intense fatigue
- Brain fog or difficulty thinking clearly
- Concentration and memory problems
- Headaches
- Sleep problems
- Depression or anxiety
At first, many doctors ascribed these ongoing symptoms to be a result of the psychological stress of having COVID-19. Not much research was conducted. However, with so many survivors having lingering symptoms, the scientific and medical community has recognized the severity of the problem. COVID long-haulers is now a term in our lexicon.
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