Once you stain one of your favorite outfits, no matter how many wipes or effort, a small patch will always stay. Like residuals and remains of a colony. A similar situation can be seen with COVID. Several survivors claim to be going through related or new symptoms once they recover. Brain Fog is one of them.
It is like once COVID made a place, there’s no way you can get it completely out of your system. People have reported feeling slower in their mental processes. Their thinking capacity is seemingly less sharp and quick. Memory is weak and they tend to be forgetful about the most recent things. One of the most frequent issues that patients of all ages bring up to me these days is this “brain fog.” One of the numerous potential causes is a post-COVID-19 syndrome, often known as “Long Haul COVID.”
What is Brain Fog?
Brain-Fog isn’t exactly a clinical term. But it is something many people experience- related or unrelated to COVID. It slows down a bit when your brain goes through pressure, stress, or any related and tiring phase. After flu, jetlag, or overexertion your mind can slip into this state where it is a bit foggy and slow. All you can do is wait for your brain to get back to its normal state.
The only hiccup when it comes to Brain fog that is accompanied by COVID is people claiming their brains never got back to their normal state.
COVID-Induced Brain Fog
To generate neurologic symptoms, COVID-19 either worsens already present symptoms or results in the emergence of brand-new symptoms. A case of COVID-19 may exacerbate any existing nerve pain brought on by neuropathy (a broad term for nerve malfunction) or a spine injury. Similarly, a person who has modest memory loss due to aging will probably see a considerable drop in cognitive skills for several months after getting over the initial sickness.
According to the researchers’ study, which was published on Wednesday in the Lancet Psychiatry, the risk of acquiring diseases including psychosis, dementia, “brain fog,” and seizures is still higher up to two years after contracting Covid-19 infection than it is after other respiratory illnesses. However, while mental disorders like anxiety and sadness are more prevalent right away after receiving a Covid-19 diagnosis, they are only temporary, becoming no more likely to occur after two months than after a similar infection like the flu.
According to recent scientific research, two to three months after infection, 20 to 30 percent of persons have cognitive fog. Up to 80% of individuals with extended Covid also have mental fog. It has been hypothesized from recent studies that Covid may generate substantial and chronic inflammation in the brain that dysregulates brain cells and would be predicted to contribute to cognitive impairment, even though the specific etiology is not yet fully understood.
Manage Your Symptoms
The first and most crucial step is to visit your doctor and discuss all of your persisting symptoms with them. The list should also include issues like shortness of breath, palpitations, and unusual urine or stools, as well as your brain fog and other neurologic symptoms (such as weakness, numbness, tingling, and loss of smell or taste).
- Stay hydrated
- Get enough sleep
- Take regular exercise, ideally outside
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet
- Keep to a healthy weight
- Try meditation
- Take regular breaks
- Do things you enjoy – for example socializing with friends and family
- Stick within low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines
- Stop smoking if you smoke
