There is an audio option. https://www.hcplive.com/view/the-long-covid-patient-journey-a-complex-and-uncertain-road News Article December 10, 2024 The Long COVID Patient Journey: A Complex and Uncertain Road Author(s): Sophia Abene Listen Key Takeaways Long COVID symptoms, including fatigue and cognitive impairment, persist post-infection, complicating diagnosis and treatment. The condition often overlaps with ME/CFS, presenting diagnostic challenges due to similar symptom criteria. Current treatments are off-label, focusing on symptom management, with a pressing need for FDA-approved therapies. Experts emphasize the need for better diagnostic tools and research to bridge gaps between research and clinical practice. Leading centers like Mayo Clinic and UT Health offer specialized care, providing hope and recovery pathways for Long COVID patients. SHOW LESS Navigating the long road of Long COVID requires more than just recovery from an infection, it demands specialized, multifaceted care to address persistent and often invisible neurological symptoms. ------ About Us HCPLive® is a comprehensive clinical news and information portal that provides physicians with up-to-date specialty and disease-specific resources designed to help them provide better care to patients. At HCPLive®, you'll find breaking news, video interviews with physician experts, in-depth conference coverage, practice management updates, insight and analysis from physician contributors, and more.
The ME/CFS Overlap and Diagnostic Complexities3 A central theme in the discussion was the overlap between Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Verduzco-Gutierrez noted that many Long COVID patients exhibit symptoms that closely mirror ME/CFS, such as post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, autonomic dysfunction, and cognitive deficits. This overlap presents a diagnostic challenge, as the criteria for both conditions are similar. She said, “Some patients, their manifestation of Long COVID is a picture of ME/CFS as well, because they have the criteria for that, because a lot of the criteria also are some of very similar to Long COVID symptoms, because they have post-exertional malaise, they have unrefreshing sleep, some of them have autonomic dysfunction, cognitive deficits as well.” Blitshteyn confirmed that studies show at least 50% of Long COVID patients meet the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. She stated, “We have a number of studies that showed that at least 50% of patients with Long COVID qualify for the diagnosis of ME/CFS,” reinforcing the complexity of diagnosis and treatment. Ganesh added that infections beyond SARS-CoV-2, including Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and chronic Lyme disease, have long been linked to the development of ME/CFS, suggesting that Long COVID may be another post-infectious syndrome that triggers similar chronic conditions. “Taking care of ME/CFS before Long COVID, we knew even then that about 70% of all cases of ME/CFS were related to an infection of sorts, and we have seen it with different infections, most commonly EBV, chronic Lyme, reported mold exposure, and after Zika,” he said.
