Doctors and researchers at University College London have discovered that long Covid can have more than 200 symptoms.
After researching thousands of patients. it was discovered that the side effects can cause problems in 10 vital organ systems, including the brain, lungs and skin.
3,400 people were surveyed online who had confirmed or suspected Covid infection from 56 countries with the findings published in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine.
The most common symptom was fatigue with 98.3% of patients suffering from this.
Elsewhere, Sensorimotor symptoms overall, post-exertional malaise, overall cognitive dysfunction symptoms and brain fog were also the other most frequent conditions.
With over 200 symptoms listed, researchers ascertained that Covid can present itself in a variety range of ways, including hallucinations, memory loss and sexual dysfunction.
Some of the other ways in which Covid impacted people was diarrhoea, anxiety, slurring words/speech, early menopause, change in penis size, inability to yawn, inability to cry and aggression.
Senior author Dr Athena Akrami, a neuroscientist at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL, said: “In this unique approach, we have gone directly to ‘long haulers’ around the world in order to establish a foundation of evidence...
“This is the most comprehensive characterisation of long Covid symptoms, so far.
"Memory and cognitive dysfunction, experienced by over 85 per cent of respondents, were the most pervasive and persisting neurologic symptoms.
She adds: “Headaches, insomnia, vertigo, neuralgia, neuropsychiatric changes, tremors, sensitivity to noise and light, hallucinations, tinnitus, and other sensorimotor symptoms were also all common, and may point to larger neurological issues involving both the central and peripheral nervous system.”
