Long COVID, i.e. h Cases of persistent symptoms of the virus: It was an aspect of COVID-19 that confused and worried doctors during the pandemic. And with a long list of possible symptoms, we expect there are still many unanswered questions about this condition. Now, a new scientific review provides insights into symptoms for people with long-term COVID experience, including internal vibrations and buzzing sensations.
Heanalysis, which is pre-printed and not peer-reviewed, describes the symptoms of hundreds of people with long-term COVID-19, who have described having "shivering and shaking" since testing positive for COVID-19. Review researchers worked with Survivor Corps, a popular COVID-19 patient advocacy group, to collect 140 emails and 450 Facebook comments from people who reported having these symptoms.
The document contains some of the comments, and they are intense. "Sometimes my whole body feels like it's buzzing and shaking," wrote one person. "It's like sitting on a giant speaker with the volume turned up. Over the past few months, the whole body buzz has subsided, but it still happens 5-8 times a month."
Another patient said he started feeling "internal vibrations" about three weeks after contracting COVID-19. "They started on my back and thighs," they wrote. "I felt like I was sitting in a vibrating massage chair. They never went away, but they varied in intensity. In February 2021, I had a restless left arm before bed, which caused my left arm to shake until I was awake." By [May 2021] he had progressed to full-body myoclonic jerks lasting up to 30 minutes." (Myoclonic is a word used to describe rapid, involuntary muscle spasmsmayo clinic).
Some people have also described intense pain from these vibrations. "During that week of persistent spasms, my body could barely move. Paralyzed," wrote one person. "I've had 3 miscarriages. I couldn't fake 10/10 pain like that. I'm giving up." break and my right arm was completely dislocated and twisted out of joint.
How common are the long-term effects of COVID-19?
co-authored studyDr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, says he and other researchers decided to study these vibrations after Heidi Ferrer, a television and film writer who suffered from tremors following COVID-19, committed suicide in May 2021. . "It seems clear that there is a large group of people who have these long-term symptoms after infection, who defy all the patterns we've seen before and don't fit any clear established diagnoses," says Dr. Krumholz . "We had to listen to them and try to organize their feedback."
The "lives of these patients fell apart," says Dr. Crumbs. Many are now "horribly disabled" and "are going through the hardest periods of their lives," he says. "They're looking for answers that currently don't exist," he continues. "We wanted to try stepping in and see if we can help."
What is long COVID again?
Long-term COVID, also known as post-COVID conditions, is a term used to describe a wide range of new, recurring, or ongoing health problems that people may experience four or more weeks after first becoming infected with COVID-19. 19.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION). Symptoms of post-COVID conditions can vary, but include shortness of breath, fatigue, mental confusion, cough, chest or abdominal pain or headache, among others, according to the CDC. In particular, post-COVID conditions are now considered a disability under theAmericans with Disabilities Act.
Long-term COVID can be difficult to diagnose, he saysDr. Thomas Russo, Professor and Chair of Infectious Diseases at the University at Buffalo, New York. "It's a diagnosis of exclusion," he says. This means doctors are encouraged to test patients for a variety of other health conditions to try to rule out other causes of their symptoms. "With all the long-standing COVID symptoms, it's important to make sure nothing else happens," says Dr. Russian.
Why do some people with long COVID experience tremors and vibrations?
It's not clear why tremors could be a long-term effect of COVID-19, but according to Dr. Krumholz, there are a few theories. “One is that these people have never been able to get rid of this virus in their bodies and it could still be wreaking havoc,” he says. "Although the initial acute phase has passed, it continues to cause damage." Another possible reason is that the "immune system overdrive" is causing "friendly fire damage" that continues to cause these sensations, he says. (
Half of COVID-19 patients have persistent symptoms for six months, study finds
The tremors and vibrations "are likely due to inflammation affecting the nervous system, which occurs in a small number of patients," he says.dr. Amesh Adalja, Principal Investigator at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. This can happen with other viruses, including West Nile virus, says Dr. Adalja, but not common in respiratory infections.
Dr. Amit Sachdev, medical director of the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University, also cites inflammation as one of the reasons for the tremors, noting that it can cause something called small-fiber neuropathy, in which the smallest nerve endings in the skin become damaged or irritated. “With COVID-19, there are situations where the inflammation that the infection has brought into the body causes these nerve endings to be damaged and people have tingling, fluttering, numbness and many other sensations throughout their body,” he says. "I've seen about 150 of these cases."
Ultimately, however, no one knows the cause of these sensations at this time, says Dr. Crumbs. "Affected people are the real experts on this disease," he says. "They're the ones who live with it every day."
What kind of treatment is there for this?
Finding a way to treat the symptom can be difficult. To find an effective treatment, it's often important to first understand what's behind a condition, he says.Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “Long-term COVID is real, but researchers are still trying to figure out how a virus can cause these prolonged symptoms,” he says. "It's not easy to determine."
There are no obvious specialists in the medical system for these patients, says Dr. Crumbs. "His symptoms are clearly not neurological, rheumatological or cardiovascular," he says. "These patients are discharged very often because no one has seen them before." (
What should you do if you have asymptomatic COVID-19?
dr. Sachdev says he has noticed that the patients he has seen with these sensations often improve over time. "These nerve endings are very sensitive to inflammation, but they can often repair themselves," he says. "After six months to a year, many patients feel better." For people who experience sensations close to the skin's surface, he recommends creams containing 1% lidocaine or capsaicin. "It stops the nerves in the skin from producing sensations," he says.
For those experiencing lower vibrations, Dr. Sachdev recommended "brain acting" oral medications such as gabapentin or duloxetine. "These types of drugs are often used for neuropathic pain," he says.
dr. Krumholz and his research team are now working to build a community of people with similar symptoms and test their immune systems for signs of abnormalities. Ultimately, Dr. Pero Krumholz is publicizing that people suffer from these symptoms, she says. "It's helpful for those affected to know they're not alone."