A strange phenomenon has happened to many people who’ve recovered from COVID. What may have been a mild infection is just not going away (BMJ, 2020).

Many people are suffering from a profound fatigue, shortness of breath, or maybe a cough that just won’t subside. The list of post COVID symptoms is as long as it is worrying, to those that have it (BMJ, 2020).

Although this is not everyone’s experience, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s a real thing that affects many people across age, gender and economic circumstances.

Post COVID-19 conditions happen in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed COVID-19 infection, usually 3 months from the start of COVID-19 with symptoms that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by another diagnosis (NICD, 2022).

Tim Spector, who headed up the Covid Symptom Study, has identified six clusters of symptoms for COVID-19, a couple of which were associated with longer term symptoms. This may act as a possible way of predicting early on what might occur (BMJ, 2020).

“If you’ve got a persistent cough, hoarse voice, headache, diarrhoea, skipping meals, and shortness of breath in the first week, you are two to three times more likely to get longer term symptoms,” he said (BMJ, 2020).

Alwan, an associate professor in public health, at the University of Southampton, explained that as someone with long COVID, “you learn your patterns, learn what brings on utter exhaustion or the other symptoms, and try to avoid those things” (BMJ, 2020).

Trisha Greenhalgh, a professor of primary healthcare, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, and a practising GP, has said that although many patients who are referred to long COVID clinics were slowly getting better, some were not and urgently needed referring from primary care (BMJ, 2020).

“It should be a story of gradual improvement, and if it’s not, consider [going to a doctor],” she advises (BMJ, 2020).

Feeling flu or COVID like symptoms? Get tested for free at home!

Epicentre’s in house lab pathology testing expert has made a targeted package to identify common issues created by a past COVID infection. Learn how you can test for long COVID.

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