Smaller penis, early menopause and inability to cry… long Covid has more than 200 symptoms, docs find

LONG Covid can trigger more than 200 symptoms, doctors have discovered by questioning thousands of sufferers.

Researchers led by University College London found these debilitating problems affect 10 organ systems, including the brain, lungs and skin.

The most common symptom was fatigue, affecting almost every patient (98.3 per cent).

Following was post-exertional malaise (the worsening of symptoms after physical or mental exertion), affecting 89 per cent, and brain fog, medically known as cognitive dysfunction (85.1 per cent).

The top three most debilitating symptoms, affecting daily life, were fatigue, breathing issues and brain fog. 

Long Covid manifests itself in a huge range of ways, including visual hallucinations, tremors, heart palpitations and memory loss.

Other problems flagged were sexual dysfunction, itchy skin, changes to the menstrual cycles, bladder control issues, shingles, diarrhoea and tinnitus.

And some of the least common and bizzarre were early menopause, change in penis size, “inability to yawn”, “inability to cry”, sensation of brain “on fire”, and aggression.

The study sheds more light on how coronavirus infection, which usually lasts for around two weeks, impacts some for months more.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest one million people in the UK are currently battling the persistent symptoms.

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This is rising fast in line with the growing third wave. Experts estimate 500 new cases of long Covid per day.

The ONS have estimated that one in seven people have some symptoms 12 weeks after a positive test result.

There are still many unknowns about “long haulers” – who is most at risk and how best to treat it, for example.

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.”

200+ symptoms

Almost 3,400 people with either confirmed or suspected Covid infection from 56 countries responded to an online survey.

From there, researchers identified a total of 203 symptoms in 10 organ systems, according to the findings published today in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine.

Dr Akrami said neurological symptoms were particularly prevalent.

“Memory and cognitive dysfunction, experienced by over 85 per cent of respondents, were the most pervasive and persisting neurologic symptoms”, Dr Akrami said.

They were equally common across all ages, and with substantial impact on work.

Dr Akrami said: “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.”

Of the thousands of respondents, only 233 had said they had recovered.

Two-thirds (65 per cent) had been suffering for six months, and were still experiencing and average of 14 symptoms in month seven. 

Agony for months

Along with the top three symptoms, the most common were sensorimotor symptoms (difficulting moving or feeling sensation), headaches, memory issues, insomnia, heart palpitations and muscle aches.

Some 96 per cent had persistent symptoms for at least 90 days (three months), plagued by an average of 17 symptoms.

The majority of participants (89 per cent) had “relapses”, mostly triggered by exercise, physical or mental activity, and stress.

Almost half (45 per cent) said they had cut down on their work hours, while over a fifth (22 per cent) were not working at all at the time of the survey.

The research team, who have all had or continue to have long Covid, fear there are many long haulers “suffering in silence”.

They are now calling for expanded clinical guidelines on assessing long Covid so that more diagnoses are made and a national screening programme, accessible to anyone who thinks they have long Covid.

It comes after a study reealed that only a minority of long Covid cases were being recorded by GPs.

Previous research estimated that as many as two million people in England are suffering ongoing symptoms.

But experts led by Oxford University found that only 23,273 cases (1 per cent) were formally recorded between February 2020 and April 2021 at GP practices.