#Covid headache series

Headache can be one of the most disabling symptoms of long COVID and may manifest alone or in combination with other symptoms. Here, we adopt the term long COVID in recognition of the patient-researchers who first described the entity in spring of 2020. Different names have been used to describe the syndrome, among them post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID condition, COVID-19 consequences and post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection. This syndrome is characterized by a wide range of health problems including “brain fog” with cognitive disturbances, fatigue, dyspnea, myalgia and muscle weakness, depression, and persistent headache.

Moreover, part of the people who recovered from acute COVID-19 suffer from a spectrum of symptoms persisting for weeks and even months after the acute infection is gone. Before the development of an effective vaccination campaign which led to the immunization of a large part of the world population, COVID-19 was associated with a high risk of mortality, mainly due to acute respiratory failure. The years 2020–2022 have been marked by a severe pandemic from a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which affects mainly the respiratory system. The present report, a collaborative work of the international group of the Junior Editorial Board of The Journal of Headache and Pain aims to summarize the most recent evidence about long COVID headache and suggests approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder. As there are virtually no treatment studies, treatment currently is largely guided by the existing guidelines for primary headaches with the corresponding phenotype. Persistent activation of the immune system and trigeminovascular activation are thought to play a role. It can manifest with a migrainous or, more frequently, with a tension-type-like phenotype. It often presents together with other long COVID symptoms, most frequently with hyposmia. Long COVID headache can present in the form of worsening of a preexisting primary headache, or, more specifically, in the form of a new (intermittent or daily) headache starting during the acute infection or after a delay. The knowledge on long COVID headache is still limited, however growing evidence is defining the features of this novel condition, in particular regarding clinical characteristics, some pathophysiological mechanisms and first treatment recommendations. 2020 40(13):1432-1442.Headache is among the most frequent symptoms persisting or newly developing after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as part of the so-called long COVID syndrome. Phenotypic characterization of acute headache attributed to SARS-CoV-2: An ICHD-3 validation study on 106 hospitalized patients.

López JT, García-Azorín D, Planchuelo-Gómez Á, et al.

#Covid headache series

Case Series of Headache Characteristics in COVID-19: Headache Can Be an Isolated Symptom. Neuropathogenesis and Neurologic Manifestations of the Coronaviruses in the Age of Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Review. Zubair AS, McAlpine LS, Gardin T, et al.The unusual course of a migraine attack during COVID-19 infection - Case studies of three patients. For 64% of the participants, headache intensity was considered severe. For 19% of the study’s participants, headache was their most bothersome symptom. In another study in Cephalalgia of 130 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who reported headaches, 25% experienced headaches that met the diagnostic criteria of a migraine. Their headaches appeared suddenly and were severe and unrelenting while they lasted. Most of the patients in the study recovered from their headaches within 3 days, which is the typical timeframe for a migraine headache.

In one study of 13 people with mild cases of COVID-19 in Headache, all reported headaches that shared migraine-like features, including: Headache is often one of the initial symptoms felt by patients with COVID-19. The headaches may not be easily relieved by standard pain medications. Headaches associated with COVID-19 tend to be felt across both sides of the head (bilateral) and may be described as pressing, pulsating, stabbing or dull. In 3 case reports reported in the Journal of Infection and Public Health, all patients reporting migraine with COVID-19 had previously been diagnosed with migraine without aura before COVID-19. While the prevalence of headaches among COVID-19 patients has been estimated to range from 10 to 70% in various reports, it is unclear how many are migraine-like. Headache is a common symptom of COVID-19, and the headaches experienced by some patients may resemble a migraine.