Long Covid symptoms: What is brain fog? What does it feel like?
LONG Covid symptoms have plagued some people for months after contracting COVID-19. What is brain fog, and what does it feel like?
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Long Covid has emerged as an unexpected consequence of contracting COVID-19. The term describes months worth of debilitating symptoms following infection with the disease, ranging from a nuisance to disabling. Anyone can experience long covid, according to the NHS, and for varying lengths of time.
What is brain fog?
Most people who contract Covid-19 improve within a matter of days, and feel back to their old selves weeks later, depending on the severity of their infection.
But according to the NHS, anyone can experience long-term Covid effects, whether their experience was mild or severe.
Long covid causes a range of symptoms, which tend to vary for everyone.
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Some of the most common long-Covid symptoms include:
- Extreme tiredness (fatigue)
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain or tightness
- Difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
- Heart palpitations
- Dizziness
- Pins and needles
- Joint pain
- Depression and anxiety
- Tinnitus or earaches
Some people may also experience nausea, diarrhoea or headaches and a sore throat alongside the now landmark changes to smell or taste.
Most of these follow traditional symptoms caused when a virus provokes the immune system.
But some people may be unfamiliar with one of them, known as brain fog.
Brain fog isn't a medical condition and refers to a reduced ability to think or concentrate.
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The symptom has several potential causes, ranging from pregnancy to medication.
Long-Covid sufferers have described varying severity of brain fog, among them Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Hollywood actor described how her symptoms had impacted her in a post on her website.
She said her long Covid experience included “brain fog” and “long-tail fatigue”.
She added she had discovered the long-tail effects of the disease after tests earlier this year.
Ms Paltrow said: “In January, I had some tests done that showed really high levels of inflammation in my body.
“So I turned to one of the smartest experts I know in this space, the functional medicine practitioner Dr Will Cole.
"After he saw all my labs, he explained that this was a case where the road to healing was going to be longer than usual.”