Long COVID: More Than “Figments” of Your Imagination

Do you have an unrelenting mental haze that turns simple daily tasks into impassible hurdles…  

Or a frustrating inability to pull up common words or names on cue?  

Or maybe you experience sudden blanks mid-conversation that completely steal your train of thought.  

If you or a loved one have these long COVID neurological symptoms, science now clearly justifies your experience as a very real physiological injury—it’s not all “in your head.”  

Let’s take a look. 

In a troubling revelation about SARS-CoV-2’s extensive impact, researchers discovered that hospitalized COVID patients still showed cognitive deficits, brain atrophy, and mental health declines ONE FULL YEAR after infection! 

Using blood biomarkers, cognition assessments, and MRI scans, investigators identified unmistakable hallmarks that indicated moderate viral brain damage.  

Areas tied to memory, multitasking, and attention shrank well outside normal aging patterns. Patients also scored substantially lower on cognitive exams compared to uninfected counterparts. 

Most alarmingly, surviving a severe case of COVID was equivalent to aging 20 years in terms of cognitive function! Now try remembering, concentrating, or making decisions through that fog. Small wonder patients report persistent struggles. 

Yet, too often clinicians dismiss “brain fog” complaints as imaginary.  

The identifiable brain changes and patient disabilities prove the real struggles with long COVID brain fog. There’s no longer reason for skepticism. Proof of lasting neural damage is clearly there. 

Early evidence suggests oxygen deprivation and inflammation are potential driving forces rather than the virus directly attacking the brain. This means calming the overactive immune response could help alleviate symptoms for some.  

Now that there’s concrete proof of these neurological issues, if you or someone you know have long COVID—you need customized care plans in order to rehabilitate completely. This includes speech therapy for trouble finding words, occupational therapy for regaining daily function, even mental health attention to address anxiety and depression. 

You deserve full support for these very real long-term afflictions—not dismissed doubts. If your doctor waves off your symptoms, it’s time for a second opinion. 

To beating long COVID, 

Rachel Mace
Editor, e-Alert with contributions from the research team 

P.S. Learn more about a potentially NEW health crisis… (Hint: It’s not COVID). 

Sources: 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/new-evidence-suggests-long-covid-could-be-brain-injury-2024a10002v0?ecd=wnl_edit_tpal_etid6300821&uac=220764MT&impID=6300821