Omicron: GP explains ‘overwhelming’ science behind vaccines
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
One of the main symptoms of the virus is myalgia.
While this term will be unfamiliar to many, it is the technical term for an aching body, one of the main symptoms of COVID-19.
Other symptoms of the virus include:
• A high temperature
• A new, continuous cough
• A loss or change to sense of smell and taste
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling tired and exhausted
• A headache
• A sore throat
• A blocked or runny nose
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Feeling or being sick.
While a continuous cough ranks highly on the NHS’s list, it is becoming an increasingly common symptom.
Instead, COVID-19 is causing symptoms closer to that of a cold.
Furthermore, attention is turning towards the longer-term impact of COVID-19.
This is not in the economic but in the virological sense.
In the UK, there are currently around two million people living with a form of long Covid , the prolonged experience of Covid symptoms.
In recent months, there have been growing calls from the long Covid community for more work to be done on treatments for chronic illness.
One of how this being highlighted is through high profile figures speaking out about the condition.
This includes four-time Tour de France champion Christopher Froome.
The now-recovered cyclist said in a statement that the disease took a long time to recover: “I came out of the season not feeling good. I feel I really needed a break. Covid really knocked me for six.”
“I just wasn’t able to come back from that. I never felt like I had lots of energy on the bike. I went to the Vuelta to build through the race but all the way through I felt flat, flat, flat.”
Froome added: “There’s definitely a heavy impact on the heart, having COVID. It’s not just like having the flu, like a lot of people think, especially for pro riders,
“From those I’ve spoken to within the peloton, a lot of guys are really struggling with after-effects two or three months down the line – feeling fatigued, feeling as if they don’t have the same energy levels, strange heart rate readings as well.
“It was good to go to Israel, do a whole load of physiological tests, go and check VO2 max, which was definitely affected by having COVID.
“So some heart checks which was important as well just to check that everything was all right.”
Froome’s concerns about his heart aren’t just one sportsman’s frustrations, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has written about the impact Covid can have on the heart.
They wrote: “Some people are experiencing heart palpitations or changes to their heart rate as a symptom of long Covid. According to an analysis of several studies involving 48,000 people with long Covid, more than one in 10 of them (11 per cent) experienced heart palpitations.
“In some people with long Covid, heart palpitations may be caused by a problem with their autonomic nervous system (which controls things such as your heart rate, breathing and blood pressure).
“This condition is called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). We don’t know for sure how common this is among long Covid sufferers, but it may be a significant proportion of those who get palpitations or dizziness when they stand up.”
Source: Read Full Article