{"id":14029,"date":"2026-01-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=14029"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:29:04","slug":"there-are-8-patterns-for-long-covid-symptoms-heres-what-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=14029","title":{"rendered":"There are 8 patterns for long COVID symptoms. Here&#8217;s what they are"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Herb Scribner<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are eight different ways people experience&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/05\/07\/what-we-know-long-covid\">long COVID<\/a>&nbsp;symptoms, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health&#8217;s research initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The big picture:<\/strong>&nbsp;The new study represents one of the most substantive findings on long COVID from the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) project, launched&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/news-events\/news-releases\/nih-launches-long-covid-clinical-trials-through-recover-initiative-opening-enrollment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">by the NIH in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The findings, released on Nov. 17, come as scientists and medical experts warn that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/11\/18\/nih-clinical-trials-funding-cuts-impact\">President Trump&#8217;s cuts to the NIH<\/a>\u00a0last spring would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.medscape.com\/viewarticle\/long-covid-cuts-imperil-treatment-progress-researchers-warn-2025a10008ah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">severely impact<\/a>\u00a0the initiative&#8217;s research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong>&nbsp;In the new study launched in 2023, the researchers found that participants experienced long COVID in eight different ways and lengths of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The study, published in the journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-025-65239-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nature Communications<\/a>, featured 3,659 participants, 69% of whom were female, and 99.6% were studied during the Omicron variant era of the pandemic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The researchers measured long COVID experiences from three to 15 months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Here&#8217;s what to know.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Long COVID symptom timelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The researchers found<\/strong>&nbsp;that people experienced symptoms in different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some felt many symptoms quickly for short periods of time, while others felt symptoms rarely for long periods of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here are the eight patterns<\/strong>&nbsp;outlined by the study:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Symptoms remained high at all times with &#8220;persistent, high symptom burden.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symptoms fluctuated and only sometimes met the threshold for long COVID.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symptoms decreased over time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID symptoms started low for three months and then became nonexistent at six months.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symptoms increased over time with a &#8220;worsening, moderate symptom burden.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symptoms started low for three to 12 months, then increased after 15 months, likely driven by a &#8220;post-exertional malaise.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Symptoms started generally low, but grew higher between three and 15 months without ever reaching the threshold for long COVID.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some experienced symptoms so infrequently they never met the threshold for long COVID.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying:&nbsp;<\/strong>The researchers said the identification of these paths is &#8220;critically important&#8221; for understanding long COVID and developing strategies to fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common long COVID symptoms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There are still many<\/strong>&nbsp;unknowns about the condition. This new study traces the trajectories of long COVID, but researchers are still unclear about the biological underpinnings of what even causes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yes, but:<\/strong>&nbsp;Plenty of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/fullarticle\/2805540__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!gN0zHy5RiIzIecKJecNiV_IH9i1VQ_o90GPGXtwVJiSjz3RjE_AfHxYHZlKOcU5wlfnI7Af-ZJPkAAYn$\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">research<\/a>&nbsp;has been done on which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/seattle\/2023\/06\/14\/most-common-symptoms-long-covid\">long COVID symptoms&nbsp;<\/a>have emerged since the pandemic began, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exertion and fatigue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Brain fog.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dizziness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gastrointestinal symptoms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Heart palpitations and chest pains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changes in sexual desire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Loss of smell or taste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thirst.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chronic cough.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Current state of COVID and variants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/health\/coronavirus\">COVID<\/a>&nbsp;activity is &#8220;growing&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>around the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Nov. 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>19 states are seeing an uptick in COVID infections, per the CDC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>COVID-19 cases are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/covid\/php\/surveillance\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">generally<\/a>\u00a0lower than the levels seen in 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The CDC says&nbsp;<\/strong>the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nwss\/rv\/COVID19-variants.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">viral activity level<\/a>&nbsp;in wastewater is &#8220;very low&#8221; with the XFG variant \u2014 otherwise known as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/08\/08\/covid-19-stratus-variant-symptoms-cases-cdc\">Stratus variant<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 being the most common version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Herb Scribner There are eight different ways people experience&nbsp;long COVID&nbsp;symptoms, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health&#8217;s research initiative. The big picture:&nbsp;The new study represents one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289,561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-long-haul-disease","category-symptoms-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14030,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14029\/revisions\/14030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}