No, it's not just you.
At this point in the pandemic, the common symptoms of COVID-19 are
more than familiar, but some very alarming symptoms are not getting attention
when they should be. "How many people are at risk of developing long
COVID? We can only guess," says Anthony L. Komaroff, MD. "Early
studies indicate that one in ten people with COVID-19 may develop long COVID
that lasts at least a year. Ultimately, how long these illnesses last remains
to be determined. For this and many other reasons, the strain on the American health
care system and economy from the pandemic will not end soon." Here are
five COVID-19 symptoms no one talks about but really should. Continue reading
1. Erectile Dysfunction
There is growing research connecting COVID-19 with erectile
dysfunction—one study shows that men with the virus are over three times more
likely to be diagnosed with ED than those who aren't sick. "The receptor
that the coronavirus binds to is abundant on the penis and testes," says
Joseph Katz, D.M.D. "The virus can bind to those areas. And research has
shown that COVID can reduce the amount of testosterone produced. The loss of
testosterone has been shown to put someone at risk of having a more severe
outcome from COVID-19."
2. Long-Term GI Issues
Some people find themselves dealing with gastrointestinal issues
for several months after even a mild case of COVID-19, doctors say.
"Gastrointestinal symptoms and bowel issues, such as diarrhea, can cause a
loss of appetite," says Devang Sanghavi, MD.
3. Personality Changes and Rage
Long-term COVID can cause severe personality changes, according to
experts. "Several people came out of the experience [of severe illness]
with PTSD," says Adam Kaplin, MD, Ph.D. "And when they went home,
they were irritable and not their normal selves, and didn't understand why they
didn't just bounce back to being the way they were before… It's not the virus
that's the problem; it's the virus's immune response that's the problem. But my
strong message would be that it's not a personal weakness, you're not crazy,
and there's a biology to this, in both directions."
4. Obesity
COVID-19 has long-term implications for people who are overweight
or obese since it directly impacts fat cells. One study shows that obesity is
directly linked to ongoing complications. "To our knowledge, this is the
first study to suggest that patients with moderate to severe obesity are at a
higher risk of developing long-term COVID-19 complications after the acute
phase," says Ali Aminian, M.D., director of Cleveland Clinic's Bariatric
& Metabolic Institute and the study's principal investigator.
5. Significantly Lower IQ
There is growing evidence that COVID-19 may cause IQ to drop
substantially. "By coincidence, the pandemic escalated in the United
Kingdom in the middle of when I was collecting cognitive and mental health data
at a huge scale as part of the BBC2 Horizon collaboration with the Great
British Intelligence Test," says Adam Hampshire, an associate professor in
the Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory at Imperial
College London. "We need to be careful as it looks like the virus could be
affecting our cognition. We do not fully understand how, why, or how long, but
we urgently need to find out. In the meantime, don't take unnecessary risks and
do get vaccinated."
6. How to Stay Safe Out There
Follow the public health fundamentals and help end this pandemic, no matter where you live—get vaccinated or boosted ASAP; if you live in an area with low vaccination rates, wear an N95 face mask, don't travel, social distance, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you're not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, and to protect your life and the lives of others.