There are over 100 symptoms experienced by patients suffering long COVID. With new variants, have come new primary symptoms, shifting away from respiratory complaints into the neurological realm. Fatigue, headache, confusion, dizziness, and sleep disturbances have taken over several of the top 10 spots on the most common complaints list. Acute COVID infection and long COVID are now endemic and here to stay. While newer variants are resulting in fewer hospitalizations and deaths, long COVID continues to impact a percentage of those infected. While slow rehabilitation is helpful, long term chronic neurological symptoms may persist for years and may require the care and expertise of neuroscience nurses to manage these symptoms. This talk will review the data from Alberta and other jurisdictions, review the relevant literature on neurological symptoms, biomarkers, and treatment options, and explore four new hypotheses for why and how long COVID occurs.
