‘I caught Covid for a second time and now my foot is numb’
The first time I caught COVID-19 I used to be in little doubt about what my signs meant.
I used to be sipping on a bottle of water after I realised, “This literally doesn’t taste of anything!”
Other basic indicators of the an infection shortly adopted together with muscle aches, chills, a cough and breathlessness.
Due to the restrictions on the time I spent a grand complete of 11 days inside my house.
Fast ahead nearly two years later and I used to be about to check constructive for Covid but once more, nonetheless, it was preceded by some very completely different warning indicators this time.
It was a Monday night after I seen an odd sensation (or lack thereof) in my left foot – it had gone partially numb.
At first I thought of it might simply be pins and needles however all through the night time it continued to worsen till, by the morning, nearly your entire foot was with out feeling.
In medical phrases this is named peripheral neuropathy, which may additionally discuss with numbness within the palms in addition to the ft.
It will be brought on by various well being points, together with diabetes, nerve injury and sure vitamin deficiencies.
Having been poor in vitamin B12 up to now I briefly thought of that this may very well be the trigger.
However, all through the night time I additionally developed a grating sore throat – one of many extra conventional indicators of Covid.
By Tuesday morning this was accompanied by a headache, fatigue, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
The latter three signs weren’t ones I had skilled with my 2022 run-in with Covid however they’re listed by the NHS as indicators of the illness.
A lateral stream check, which instantly produced a strong purple line, confirmed that I ought to keep inside and keep away from contact with my housemates.
Luckily I had been inadvertently self-isolating in my room since Monday anyway as a result of truth I didn’t really feel effectively sufficient to enterprise exterior.
It took a strong six days to recuperate this time, with the gastrointestinal signs taking longer to shake than the others.
Just beneath every week later I additionally produced a damaging lateral stream check ending my confinement.
A number of weeks on, nonetheless, and the sensation in my left foot has not but absolutely returned.
Is there a hyperlink between Covid and numb ft?
Despite not being a generally recognized symptom, a lack of feeling within the ft or palms was famous as an indication of coronavirus again in 2020.
One case report, printed within the British Medical Journal that yr, detailed how some sufferers with Covid additionally expertise Guillain-Barré syndrome on the identical time.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a critical however uncommon dysfunction the place the immune system assaults nerves within the physique, usually beginning with the peripheries.
The report, submitted by workers at Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Essex, concluded: “At least four cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome have been reported in the literature with concurrent COVID-19 illness in whom respiratory signs appeared a few days after the onset of neurological signs.
“With the incubation period for COVID-19 respiratory symptoms believed to be up to 14 days, it is possible that neurological symptoms could develop before respiratory and other symptoms.”
Last yr, researchers on the Washington University School of Medicine, discovered that ache, tingling and numbness within the palms and ft have been maybe extra frequent with a Covid an infection than you would possibly count on.
They analysed information on greater than 1,500 individuals who have been examined for Covid in the course of the first yr of the pandemic.
They discovered that those that examined constructive for the virus have been about 3 times extra prone to report ache, numbness or tingling of their palms and ft as these with damaging checks.
In a college launch, senior investigator Simon Haroutounian defined: “Several viral infections — such as HIV and shingles — are associated with peripheral neuropathy because viruses can damage nerves.
“We found that nearly 30 percent of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 also reported symptoms at the time of their diagnosis, and that for six percent to seven percent of them, the symptoms persisted for at least two weeks, and up to three months, suggesting this virus may have lingering effects on peripheral nerves.”
So whereas my different signs have cleared up judging by these findings I is perhaps left with a numb foot for just a little longer.
According to the NHS, the commonest indicators of Covid embrace:
- A excessive temperature or shivering (chills)
- A brand new, steady cough
- A loss or change to your sense of odor or style
- Shortness of breath
- Feeling drained or exhausted
- An aching physique
- A headache
- A sore throat
- A blocked or runny nostril
- Loss of urge for food
- Diarrhoea
- Feeling sick or being sick.