COVID-Brain: The Lasting Impacts You Haven’t Heard About
Two months after beating COVID-19, a 60-year-old woman was experiencing extreme fatigue and depression so severe she was contemplating suicide. In an article for the BBC, the patient’s doctor said the woman experienced ongoing confusion among other bothersome symptoms. The woman told her doctor, “COVID has killed me.” It hadn’t physically taken her life, but it had stolen her mind and left her with no will to live.
While most people are worried about the threat of respiratory failure from the novel coronavirus, there is another invisible risk that could have more lasting consequences for survivors.
Some in the medical community are calling it “long-haul COVID,” but here at Amen Clinics, we call it COVID-Brain.
WHAT IS COVID-BRAIN?
According to a 2020 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 36.4% of COVID-19 patients develop neurological symptoms. Another 2020 study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at 64 consecutive COVID-19 patients in France found that 84% of them exhibited neurological symptoms.
Amen Clinics defines COVID-Brain as the cognitive and psychiatric problems the virus causes that attack the brain and steal the mind.
Amen Clinics defines COVID-Brain as the cognitive and psychiatric problems the virus causes that attack the brain and steal the mind.Among the symptoms seen in patients with COVID-19 are confusion, headaches, loss of smell and taste, tingling sensations, strokes, aphasia, and seizures. But these acute symptoms aren’t the only ones associated with the illness.
A February 2021 editorial in The Lancet Psychiatry reported that “there is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is bad for mental health.”
In a November 2020 study in the same journal, researchers found that 1 in 5 COVID-19 patients with no previous history of psychiatric illness developed a mental illness within the first 90 days of their diagnosis. The most common psychiatric issues noted? Anxiety disorders, insomnia, and dementia.
For this large-scale study, researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 69 million people in the US, including 62,354 with a COVID-19 diagnosis. The COVID-mental health connection wasn’t a one-way street. People who had a psychiatric diagnosis in the previous year had a higher risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Other studies have pointed to additional negative outcomes from COVID-19. In the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, a 2020 study reveals that long-term consequences of COVID-19 may include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Memory loss
- Poor attention
- Insomnia
- Psychosis
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Accelerated brain aging
Some research points to subsequent learning problems in both children and adults. The findings are so disturbing some experts are warning that a second pandemic of neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric problems is on the horizon.
HOW DOES COVID-19 ATTACK THE BRAIN?
In order to better understand the aftereffects of the illness, scientists are using brain imaging to look for abnormalities. Emerging research suggests COVID-19 can cross the blood-brain barrier, a lining that typically protects the brain from viruses and other foreign invaders. Once inside the brain, it can cause damage in a variety of ways.
For example, a 2020 paper in Acta Physiologica, has found that attention problems and memory deficits following infection with the virus are linked to damage in the hippocampus and cortical regions. The hippocampus is involved in mood, memory, and learning.
Brain imaging tests performed on 11 of the patients in the New England Journal of Medicine study mentioned above revealed low blood flow in the frontotemporal lobes in all of them. On brain SPECT imaging, hypoperfusion in the frontal lobes has been associated with inattention, distractibility, impulsivity, and forgetfulness.
Other scientific findings suggest the virus may disrupt the production of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. These neurochemicals play an important role in mood control, motivation, and attention span.
The Alzheimer’s Association is partnering with scientists worldwide on a study to better understand the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on the brain and cognitive function. It remains to be seen if COVID-19 may cause neurobiological changes typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
THE CHRONIC EFFECTS OF COVID BRAIN
As devastating as the pandemic has been so far, it could leave a lasting legacy of brain dysfunction. With over 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and many more to come, this could mean millions of Americans will be left with brain issues that can impair every aspect of their lives. Considering the brain is the organ of thinking, feeling, and loving, it could impact the ability to learn in school, achieve success at work, and maintain healthy relationships.
How can you counteract this impending tsunami of brain-related problems?
The authors of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease study on the neurobiology of COVID-19 mentioned earlier suggest it would be helpful for survivors who are experiencing lingering cognitive issues, brain fog, or poor attention to undergo neurocognitive testing.
“Patients with low scores in certain cognitive domains can consider receiving brain rehabilitation in order to return to their baseline level of cognitive capacity. By doing so, they would reduce their risk for developing a worse case of age-related cognitive decline later in life,” they write.
Similarly, anyone who has had the illness should be aware of any new or worsened symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD, or PTSD and be screened by a mental health professional. Considering that COVID-19 attacks the brain, it is critical to look at the brain as part of the screening process. SPECT, a functional brain imaging technology that measures blood flow and activity in the brain, can detect abnormal brain patterns associated with psychiatric conditions and cognitive dysfunction. Getting evaluated by an integrative or functional medicine physician can also help. These medical professionals can perform labs to see if chronic infections or inflammation are contributing to issues.
When COVID-Brain strikes, getting a comprehensive evaluation and a personalized treatment plan and ongoing support from the world’s leader in brain health is the key to getting your life back and feeling like yourself again.
COVID-Brain is real, and the mental and cognitive health issues that linger following a COVID-19 diagnosis can’t wait. At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. Dr. Mark Filidei, the Director of Integrative/Functional Medicine at Amen Clinics, is treating patients with COVID-Brain and long-haul symptoms. In addition, we offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or visit our contact page here.
