Yes, Long COVID Is Still a Thing—but Don’t Let the Symptoms Lead You Astray

With healthcare and mainstream media devoting so much energy to raising awareness of long COVID, it could be easy to write off some of the telltale signs—cognitive difficulties, headaches, pain, dizziness, fatigue, and others—as exactly that and look no further into alternative diagnoses. That could be a costly mistake for a patient’s wellbeing, though, as a new article published by the European Journal of Neurology reveals that some patients with those characteristic symptoms could actually be experiencing a functional neurological disorder (FND). And the research that’s been conducted previously, since the dawn of the pandemic, is part of the problem. After evaluating 102 studies, the authors found that “neurological symptoms were insufficiently characterised in order to support or refute a diagnosis of FND. Moreover, only 13 studies specifically focused on long-COVID after mild infection, where the impact of confounders from the general effects of severe illness would be mitigated.” Consequently, patients with FND may wind up being misdiagnosed with long COVID initially, delaying the correct diagnosis and subsequent treatment. The bottom line for urgent care providers is, consider long COVID where the symptoms fit, but don’t let it distract you from considering other etiologies.