Is Long COVID Real? What We Know So Far

What is "Long-Covid"? What does it mean? The list of symptoms for “Long COVID” last long after you've healed from the illness. But the more we learn about it, and how it is similar to other post-infection syndromes, the better we can help those who suffer from it. Find out more with Hank in this new episode of SciShow!

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[princesskatie]

Back in 2017, I caught a summer flu and was sick for weeks. Even months after, I felt fatigued, had brain fog and terrible headaches, and couldn't remember things as well as I used to be able to. But, every doctor I went to dismissed me as perfectly healthy and all my tests came back perfect. I felt like I was making it all up. Luckily, these symptoms eventually got better, but it took at least a year and I'm still not really back to where I was before. Learning about long covid made me feel a little more validated that maybe I wasn't making the whole thing up.

[angelaburrow]

I have severe ME/CFS for 36 years, been bed-bound since 2008. When Covid first appeared, I turned to my wife & said that I expect the number of people with ME/CFS to skyrocket. I wish I'd been wrong. I wouldn't wish this condition on my worst enemy. I spend all day, every day in silence in a darkened room. When I'm well enough, I watch videos or read, for short periods of time. Most of the day I'm simply just lay there & daydream, anything else stresses my body too much.

I was a healthy child but caught chicken pox, I was diagnosed on my 18th birthday, & I never recovered. I managed to get good qualifications although my first degree took 2 attempts: I crashed in the first year & lasted 9 months before having to take a year off from studying. Everything I've done in my adult life has been a fight, & I'm so tired of fighting. I want my life back, but I know it's not coming back. I keep on holding out for an efficient treatment plan. I don't want to lose hope, but I know there's no point holding my breath. It's not a sexy disease that will bring researchers fame & glory. It's only in recent years that medical staff have agreed there's anything wrong: for decades we were called hypochondriacs, malingerers or attention seekers. You don't get that will any other illness, do you?

[TaylorOlivia_]

Thank you for making this video. I am in this boat with long Covid. Im a 23 year old female with no major health issues before Covid also not a smoker. When I got Covid almost two years ago now I was extremely sick and hospitalized for two weeks on 4 liters of oxygen. After Covid I lost 80% of my hair, I now have sensory issues, I have chronic nausea, I was just diagnosed with tachycardia my heart rate sits at 140 and jumps to 180 randomly with no activity. (Blood pressure is good btw) I have breathing problems, I can’t take deep breaths. It’s been a constant battle. Im exhausted 24/7. My daily around the house chores are now difficult to do. It’s incredibly difficult to live with and i swear there’s something new happening everyday that I never had issues with before. My heart goes out to all of the people with long Covid, I know how you feel and you’re not alone 💚

[jocelyhelland]

I had Covid in September and now suffer from “Long Covid”. I have several symptoms but my memory loss (long term and short term), brain fog, and fatigue are the most debilitating. I no longer can do my job. I’ve fallen into deep depression and I mourn my memories daily. I spend everyday going through old pictures, emails, and texts to try and remember who I used to be. I’m hoping this will pass at some point. Thank you for speaking on this topic because I don’t think it’s talked about enough. Prayers for everyone still suffering from this.

[scottrobinson]

My girlfriend caught a viral infection in August 2016, was sick for a couple of weeks.
She had a relaxed September, but was still a bit tired and ill from the infection.
We started our 2nd year of university Physics in October 2016.

From day 1, she was struggling to wake up. Struggling to make the 10-minute walk to lectures. Struggling to stay awake in the lectures she did manage to attend. Struggling to stay awake when she got home. Struggling to wake up from her frequent naps for her 2 evening shifts/week in a local pub. She rapidly gained weight, and was on the brink of failing the whole year of university.

It took the better part of a year to get her a diagnosis of post-viral fatigue, and later a full diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME). Her parents wouldn't take it seriously, just calling her 'lazy'. Her friends said the same.

She re-took that 2nd year two times (for a total of 3 attempts to pass 2nd year Physics) - every time her fatigue got the better of her and she couldn't make it through.
At the height of it, she needed 12-16 hours of sleep per day to function.

That was nearly 6 years ago. In 2022 she's still fatigued - maybe at 75% of the peak-fatigue she experienced in the past.

Things are only significantly better today because she's learned the limits of her body.
Some days she'll barely make it out of bed. Other days she might manage a 20 minute walk or a weight session at the gym.

She's barely holding down a job working 4x 8-hour days. She works, she has a 4-hour nap after work, eats dinner, talks to me for a couple of hours, goes to sleep again.
The 3-day weekend is to rest and get some chores/life things done, as well as do a little work towards finishing her degree online.

At least the fatigue/brain fog aspect of "long-COVID" seems to be very similar to what my girlfriend is living with.

I would not wish the illness on my worst enemy. It is crippling. It is drastically life-altering. It's been deeply upsetting watching her life go from a healthy and capable girl, to some who is fundamentally disabled and incapable of performing many everyday tasks.

[melanieaveryeasthope]

In 1981 I had a respiratory infection. 11 years later I was finally given the diagnosis of post viral fatigue syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Now. 40 year have gone by and I’ve never fully recovered. Thank you for this.

[EmptyMTYT]

I'm diagnosed with CFS and fibromyalgia. I developed both after a bout of the flu. Since the start my doctor has agreed that it was probably the flu that triggered it. We're not just overlooked, we're willfully ignored by doctor, governments and everyone else.

[francescagreetham]

To hear 1 in 4 experience long covid makes me feel so comforted to know I wasn’t crazy. I got covid in Feb 2020 and was having pain and was not back at full with breathing capacity for nearly a year and felt like I really wasn’t believed because it was so new. Luckily better 2 years on but I feel even better knowing it’s being taken seriously now for people struggling.

[armerls]

My mom has had ME/CFS for the last 20 years (most of my life) and this is the first time it feels like anyone cares and is trying to help. I’m devastated for people with long COVID, but I’m also really hopeful that this attention will bring about treatments for everyone with post-viral disabilities

[Cepar.]

While its extremely comforting to watch such an accurate breakdown of the condition, there are people who already lost 2 years of life to long covid, myself being one of them. I've lost 2 years to suddenly being disabled at the peak of my late twenties, being an athlete and healthy individual at the time, just like many other sufferers out there. Was gaslit by doctors, people, and even friends countless times and am witnessing how slow the progress is. This looks nice on video, but my honest thoughts are that its gonna take a long long time for this to be properly understood and treated. Not trying to be a downer, its just that having no expectations helps me to cope with the fact that my life is gone as it was. I am unable to sleep, think, work, drive, have romance or socialize like I could not a long time ago. Basically every aspect of living and functioning is impaired. One thing this has taught me is that we are extremely fragile and nothing is guaranteed in life. Maybe one day this will just be a cool story of overcoming ultimate adversity. Stay strong sick fam

[joleenick]

Shout out to another post infection syndrome, POTS! Another syndrome that more people are getting diagnosed with after COVID.
Really hope they can find some better treatments to improve our quality of life 💕

[placebfication]

I have CFS/ME (and fibro, among other things) and I'm too tired to express how much this video means to me. Thank you and sorry for all the long haulers joining the ranks of the invisibly disabled... ❤️

[fionabremner]

OMG, Hank/SciShow, I thought I couldn't love you more, and then you made this video.
10 years ago at the age of 8 my otherwise healthy son got a bad Norovirus infection along with a bunch of other kids and then our whole village. Everyone else recovered but a month after, my son got all the severe symptoms again, then 4 weeks later the vomiting and diarrhea were back again. This continued over a year or two until it was 6 days out of 7. He slept on the toilet for a full year and then on the floor of the bathroom for a further year. During the day he was pressured to go to school and it was hard for teachers to understand why he couldn't. He was exhausted and in pain. All regular causes were ruled out. I did research and found a disease called Eosinophilic GI Disease that fit many of his GI symptoms including choking on food and sure enough he was diagnosed with that. Meanwhile after several years of malnutrition from the constant vomiting and diarrhea he had stopped growing and a bone age scan revealed he was 2 years behind his birth age (after a new medication at age 16 he suddenly went from 5'4" to 6'1" in 18 months).
But back to his tween years, again after research I had read about MCAS causing more nocturnal symptoms so did a trial of H1 and H2 antihistamines which was successful so he was prescribed Ketotifen, a mast call stabilizer which stopped the vomiting almost overnight.

He's now 18, diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis, MCAS, POTS, IBS (C&D), migraines and many more. He's had over a dozen procedures done in the OR, had NasoGastric tubes, had several hospital stays including a month long one to try to live with the pain since they just can't treat it adequately.
He has missed so much schooling that he went from a very bright future of studying biomedical engineering to a goal of eventually finishing high school some time in the future. At 18 he has only completed 4 courses so it's going to be a long time. As if the exhaustion of the diseases and post infection syndrome wasn't bad enough he also has exhaustion and brain fog from all the meds he needs to keep him functioning (he is on over $40, 000 worth of medications every year). He is currently undergoing a cardiac rehab program to try to get his fitness and tachycardia to be in a better place but it's proving exhausting too.
There has been so little hope or interest in his case, especially from the school and medical systems (some doctors would drop him because he couldn't attend appointments in person while have a severe stomach bug like symptoms).
I can only hope that the awful occurrence of Long Covid will also draw attention to cases like my son and help ensure that other kids and adults don't have to go through what he has.
He Doesnt Forget To Be Awesome though and recently won a community volunteer award in our city!

[Hall_Meli]

Honestly, as someone who's been suffering from similar symptoms from other auto-immune issues since 2016, I'm hoping people pushing for more support for long covid will help those of us with the same issues from other issues. It's tough.

[loverrlee]

Thank you for this video. When I was a teenager, I had a particularly nasty ear infection that caused my entire body to shut down. I had to go on multiple rounds of antibiotics and fell into a dark depression because I was basically just passing out during the middle of the day from exhaustion. Somehow despite my physical symptoms, I was told it was somehow all in my head and that I should just magically get over it. Fast forward to adulthood and college nearly killed me. I barely graduated, and when I started working I could only work a part time job and still wound up passing out dead tired after only a 4 hour shift, needing the entire rest of the day to recover. It wasn’t like I didn’t have ambitions and hobbies, but I never had any time to complete any projects I wanted to do because working took 100% of my energy. Little did I know that this wasn’t normal and that other people had an abundance of energy I could only dream of. I wasn’t lazy! My body simply wasn’t keeping up with what my mind wanted to do! I luckily had a colleague who had been experiencing similar symptoms and that’s where I first heard of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I unfortunately think it’s possible I got a very early case of Covid (before testing was even available) which only made my fatigue, brain fog and forgetting words even worse than they already were, and I officially caught Covid in January 2022. I’m thankful that long covid has finally shined a light on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but I’m also super sad that people who were suffering with these symptoms were basically being gaslight and told it was all in their head, until people who never had to experience this debilitating condition experienced it for the first time ever post Covid. I hope people take this more seriously now!

[JeffreydeKogel]

As someone who is actually suffering from Long COVID, this video is greatly appreciated!
When I first contracted COVID, I just had a fever and flu-like symptoms for a couple of days, but almost half a year later, I'm still struggling with extreme fatigue and breathing problems.
It's cool to get some more insight into this stuff, because it's been having a pretty siginificant impact on my personal and professional life.

[timoluetk]

Thanks for making this video! I've struggled with ME/CFS for years now and its great that some more attention is drawn to these kind of diseases. As sad as its reason might be.

[YochevedDesigns]

17 years ago I got EBV, and it developed into CFS/ME, and I also got severe fibro. Over time I have been slowly trying to claw my way back to health, and had made some small improvements, when I got Covid. I was so sick, I really thought I was going to die. My only concern at the time was who was going to feed my pets. The hospitals were full and wouldn't take me (which probably saved my life.) I've had Long Covid ever since. Any progress I'd made towards healing my ME has disappeared, and I'm worse off than ever. I am so weak, and so tired, and so confused most days. It's pure torture.

[rajneeshtyagi]

As per my experience as a long hauler there are some points for which we are worried:
1.Breathlessness
2.Palpitations
3.Fatigue
4.Brain fog.
5.Chest tightness and pain with tenderness on deep breathing
6.Blurring of vision.
7.Anxiety, and the fear whether i would be normal again( This is the biggest worry for all of us.)

I myself is a doctor and suffered with severe infection in april 2021 and still struggling with post covid symptoms.Every day is a fight woth some good and some very bad days.I have many radiologist and chest physician friends.According to them post covid changes in lungs ie scarring getting healed gradually unlike idiopathic fibrosis which is a good news.The recovery is very slow but fortunately many ppl are recovering.So we must be positive and let the time heal the body.I know its not that easy to live with these symptoms daily and going to bed daily exhausted but these are temporary and we ll be normal again. ALL THE BEST EVERYONE

[Shizukanexen]

I have been dealing with long covid issues for almost two years now and having more people talk about this brings me to tears because I don't feel so unseen. Thank you so much for talking about this.