Some form of brain injury could be behind the symptoms reported by those with long COVID, according to a new study, and adapting tests and treatments to match could aid progress in tackling the condition.
Analyzing 203 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or its associated symptoms, and comparing the results with 60 people without the infection, researchers noticed elevated levels of four brain injury biomarkers – key signs of biological change – in those infected with COVID-19.
What’s more, two of those signs of brain injury persisted into the recovery phase, suggesting that they continue even after the COVID-19 infection has gone. Levels of these two biomarkers were even higher for people who also experienced neurological complications with COVID-19.
In 2020 during COVID, it often presented strangely with patients on 100% oxygen, no respiratory distress, but still having low O2 sats. They’d sit there for a week and a half with sats in the 70s and were only intubated once they decompensated from there. That 10 or so days of low sats hits every organ in the body but the consensus was to intubate once they were in distress. For those that survived, long covid makes a lot of sense
I got long covid after what was the equivalent of a bad cold. My o2 never dropped below 95%, and my temp never got above 101F.
I’m definitely not the only one, so oxygen deprivation isn’t the only source of damage.