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Long COVID is associated with serious neurological and neurocognitive impairments for many people. This phenomenon is also referred to as neuro-COVID.
many people. This phenomenon is also referred to as neuro-COVID. Long haulers suffering from Neuro-COVID, or long-neuro-COVID, experience the lasting neurological symptoms after acute infection with SARS-CoV-2. The most common symptom of neuro COVID is brain fog, which is the inability to think clearly.
COVID-19 damages the brain in various ways. Some of these can be devastating, including encephalitis, strokes, and lack of oxygen to the brain. Whereas, other effects are more subtle, like persistent impairment.
Along with direct effects on the brain, COVID-19 has long-term effects on other organ systems as well. The long haulers have lasting symptoms including fatigue, body aches, unable to exercise, headache, and difficulty sleeping. These problems may result from permanent damage to your lungs, heart, kidneys, or other organs. Damage caused to the organs or the symptoms alone can impair thinking and memory and cause brain fog.
Long COVID Brain Fog
PASC (post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 infection), Long COVID, or post-COVID syndrome involve physical and/or cognitive symptoms at least 6-12 weeks after having a positive test for COVID-19 or symptoms of acute COVID-19 infection.
People suffer from neuro-COVID after COVID infection experiencing the acute manifestations of COVID-19 in the brain. These symptoms include headache and loss of smell along with some of the rarer problems, such as stroke, encephalopathy, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Neuro-COVID in long-haulers causes lasting neurological symptoms after acute infection with SARS-CoV-2. People with neuro COVID usually complain of brain fog that is the inability to think as clearly as usual.
Brain fog is the problem with thinking, memory, and concentration, but for some people, it can be challenging to describe.
Brain fog after COVID could be caused by various reasons, including:
Lack of oxygen causes lung damage.
Inflammation damages the brain cells.
An autoimmune disorder triggers the immune system to attack healthy cells in the body.
Lack of blood flow results in swelling of the small blood vessels in the brain.
Invasion of infectious cells into the brain.
Inflammation in and around your brain would contribute to brain fog. But, other indirect ways are leading to brain fog after COVID-19 infection. Various factors are contributing to brain fog development, which includes:
Time duration of how long brain fog would last after COVID-19 is still unclear. Some people encounter brain fog symptoms for weeks or months after the respiratory symptoms have cleared. Symptoms of brain fog may also appear as:
Walking into a room and forgetting the reason to be there.
Losing your thoughts.
Difficulty finding the right words.
Difficulty remembering anything you just read.
Taking a long time to complete tasks.
Forgetting things while cooking.
Leaving lights or appliances on unintentionally.
Forgetting things after becoming distracted.
These symptoms emerge after patients recover from the medical emergency and go back to work. Sometimes, patients even have trouble functioning on the job or managing daily responsibilities that negatively impact their quality of life.
