Long COVID

The London Psychiatry Centre, together with Dr Bernadette Coker and Dr Robin Roberts has established a long COVID clinic for sufferers of COVID-19.

Most sufferers of long COVID experience significant symptoms which impair their quality of life. We provide a functional medicine/integrated approach which allows us to address and treat all aspects of the condition to help you get your normal life back again as quickly as possible.

What Is Long COVID?

‘Long COVID’ is a term commonly used to describe the symptoms that continue after one month of having COVID-19 or develop after acute COVID‑19. Long COVID can affect your ability to work and significantly impact your quality of life.

What Is The Long COVID Clinic?

1 in 5 people with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (whether mild, moderate or severe requiring hospitalisation) have had a psychiatric diagnosis within three months of being diagnosed.

We have an experienced and multidisciplinary team of physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists which allows us to provide exceptional care and support to our patients.

Your experience at our long COVID clinic will begin with a medical assessment in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines to provide a diagnosis and assessment of symptoms.

Additional investigations may be required for complex cases but this will be discussed after the assessment.

Once a diagnosis is established, a long COVID treatment and rehabilitation plan will be recommended. This will be tailored to the individual and may include:

• Psychological and psychiatric support: This will include an assessment of the extent of cognitive dysfunction and treatment using the latest technologies as well as psychotherapies to aid patients in managing their symptoms and improving overall function.
• Help for sleeping problems: Issues sleeping commonly affect patients after COVID-19 infection.

Symptoms Of Long COVID

Symptoms of COVID-19 vary widely between individuals. The most commonly reported symptoms include (but are not limited to) the following.

• Breathlessness
• Cough
• Chest tightness
• Chest pain
• Palpitations
• Fatigue
• Symptoms of depression
• Symptoms of anxiety
• Joint and/or muscle pain
• Brain fog
• Loss of concentration
• Memory issues
• Sleep disturbance

Some patients may also experience skin rashes, dizziness, abdominal pain, nausea, generalised pain, fever, headache, pins and needles, and other symptoms.

Research to evaluate the long-term health and psychosocial effects of COVID-19 is continuing, but what is already clear is that its effects are far-reaching and drastically impact quality of life. An international study of 56 countries showed that most sufferers of COVID/long COVID had significant symptoms impairing their quality of life. The study highlighted 205 symptoms across 10 organ systems with 66 symptoms traced over 7 months. Almost all respondents (96%) reported symptoms beyond 90 days.

• 77.7% reported fatigue at 6 months
• 72.2% reported post-exertional malaise (mental or physical effort)
• 55% experienced cognitive dysfunction (impairment of memory, attention, concentration, executive function, and ability to form tasks)

Just under half (45.2%) required a reduced work schedule compared to pre-illness and 22.3% were not working at the time of the survey because of their health.