Strange Long COVID Symptoms: Tremors & Vibrations

One of the more mysterious complications of the COVID-19 pandemic is the condition known as long COVID. Doctors sometimes call it post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC) or Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS). They don’t understand it very well. Long COVID symptoms can be incredibly debilitating. More about that momentarily. There is a really odd new complaint that no one knows what to do about. Some victims describe it as a feeling of internal vibrations. Others say it feels like buzzing, humming or tremors emanating from inside the body.

Weird Long COVID Symptoms:

To get the perspective from the patients themselves, one group of researchers turned to a patient advocacy group called Survivor Corps (medRxiv, Dec. 3, 2021). These patients provided emails and Facebook comments about one distinctive aspect of their experience: internal tremors or sensations of vibration. Some patients refer to it as whole-body buzzing.

Here is how some “long haulers” describe these feelings:

“Tremoring” makes it hard to focus:

“Sometimes my entire body feels like it’s humming and trembling. It’s like I’m sitting on a huge speaker with the volume all the way up. Through the progression of the last few months, the complete body humming has slowed down, but still happens 5-8 times a month. My hands and legs also began tremoring about the same time as the whole body. My legs bop up and down aggressively at times.”

A healthcare professional shares these long COVID symptoms:

“I contracted COVID from an ICU patient in May 2020. A few days later terrible headaches, loss of smell, lung, cardio, eye damage. Ongoing problems fatigue, Headaches, Migraines, Imbalance, Dizzy, Vertigo, SOB, COPD, Brady/Tachycardia, SVT, chest pain, Gastric, swallow, voice, cognitive, exercise intolerance, several leaves of absences off work.

“Then few months later unrelenting Neuro issues vibrations, ripples, tremors, became intense foot cramps, painful ankle, foot drop, leg spasms started mostly r foot. I had to wear ankle brace use cane. Very difficult to sleep. Husband could see ripples under skin and feel the vibrations at times.”

The Long COVID symptoms are 24/7 for some:

“Now here at almost 8 months post-covid, I have dealt with these horrible tremors daily. They are constant, they don’t come and go. They are 24/7. I feel them more when I am still and resting or at night and early morning, or during naps.”

Other Long COVID Symptoms:

These patients all were ill with COVID earlier in this pandemic but developed lingering symptoms afterwards. Many report extreme fatigue and trouble exercising, even if they were athletic before their infection. Frequently they have episodes of extreme pain. Others have difficulties with memory or concentration, sometimes termed “brain fog.”

Here is a partial list of long COVID Symptoms:

• • Breathing problems, cough
  • Overwhelming Fatigue
  • Difficulty concentrating, cognitive dysfunction (sometimes called ‘brain fog’)
  • Head pain
  • Neuropathy (nerve pain, numbness and tingling
  • Problems with smell and/or taste
  • Balance problems, dizziness, fainting
  • Irregular heartbeats, rapid pulse
  • Chest tightness and/or pain
  • Muscle pain, weakness, joint pain
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Sweating
  • Anxiety, fear, depression

Doctors have not been able to find effective treatments for these long COVID symptoms. Even more troubling, many patients have found it difficult to get health care providers to take their symptoms seriously, especially the strange vibrations and tremors.

The authors conclude:

“Overall, these patient narratives described intense suffering, and there is still no diagnosis or treatment available.”

Final Words:

A visitor to this website recently called COVID-19 a “scamdemic.” He has apparently never talked to someone who is suffering from long COVID symptoms. These people have had their lives turned upside down. Many were healthy and athletic before catching SARS-CoV-2. Now, they can barely climb stairs or perform routine activities.

If you would like to read more about long COVID, here is a link.

If you would like to learn about some strategies to deal with long COVID, this podcast may be of interest.

Do COVID vaccines prevent long COVID? Find out at this link.

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