This Bizarre Symptom May Be a Sign of Long COVID, According to COVID Experts

The pandemic may be officially over, but many people are still being affected by the COVID virus. Not only are people continuing to get it (in fact, the Food and Drug Administration may greenlight updated COVID vaccines this week), some people are experiencing lingering symptoms that just won’t go away.

Of the six in 10 adults who have had COVID, an estimated one in three report having had long COVID at some point and 1% report still experiencing long COVID. Some of the symptoms of long COVID you may expect, like fatigue. But others are unexpected. For example, one TikTok video says that excessive snot can be a symptom of long COVID. 

Is there any truth to the claim? We spoke with experts specializing in long COVID to find out.

Related: 8 Sneaky Symptoms That You Might Not Realize Are Signs of Long COVID

Why Do Some People Get Long COVID While Others Recover Quickly?

Part of what has made COVID so baffling from the beginning is how drastically different the experiences are of people who are infected with the virus. Some people have no symptoms at all or bounce back in just a few days. Yet as the above statistics show, others experience persistent symptoms that won’t go away.

“The technical diagnosis of long COVID is that it is ‘any symptom lasting over three months’ after COVID infection,” says Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, author of the new book You Can Heal from Long COVID. 

“Long COVID is a bit of a misleading term, but has become the common name for what is called ‘post-COVID conditions.’ COVID can cause a lot of damage to your body, and even though you fought the virus off, you have to deal with the long-term effects of what it did to your body,” explains Dr. Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, REHS, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’s School of Public Health.

Related: A Huge New Study Finds This One Super-Simple Thing Can Slash Your Risk of Long COVID By Up to 50%

Both experts explain that, like other illnesses, COVID impacts people differently, in part depending on how their overall health was before becoming infected. “Women, people of Hispanic origin, older people with underlying health conditions, people who are unvaccinated and those with more severe disease are more likely to develop long COVID, but we can’t explain why yet,” Dr. Labus says.

While the very best way to avoid getting long COVID is to avoid getting COVID in the first place as well as getting vaccinated, Dr. Teitelbaum says that some other preemptive habits can help lower your risk. This includes staying hydrated, getting enough sleep and making sure you’re getting all the nutrients your body needs—all of which helps support the immune system. Additionally, taking the medication metformin early in the COVID infection has been shown to decrease the risk of getting long COVID by 41%.

Related: Here’s What You Need to Know About the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

Is Excessive Snot a Symptom of Long COVID?

Is the TikTok video true stating that one symptom of long COVID is excessive snot? Both doctors say it certainly can be. “The body will increase the production of nasal secretions, aka snot, to wash out many infections, including this virus,” Dr. Teitelbaum says.

Dr. Labus adds to this saying, “COVID is caused by a virus that multiples inside the cells of your body. You can find it in your mucus, and this is one way it gets out of your body and spreads to other people, but it doesn’t multiply in mucus.” He explains that mucus isn’t bad. It helps protect us from infection by catching some of the things in the air that could harm us. “When you get infected with COVID, your respiratory system can become inflamed and the result is more mucus,” he says.

While excessive snot can be a symptom of long COVID, both experts say it’s not the one that’s most worrisome or even the most common. Dr. Teitelbaum says that there are dozens of symptoms of long COVID and some of the most common ones are exhaustion, widespread pain, brain fog, shortness of breath, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, having a racing heart and dizziness.

“If long COVID was just a runny nose for a long time, it would be annoying but we wouldn’t be all that concerned about it. In reality, long COVID is a complex and often debilitating chronic issue. Over-the-counter medications are generally designed to deal with temporary issues, not long-term ones, so the best approach to long COVID is to seek professional medical care,” Dr. Labus says.

If you are experiencing long COVID, Dr. Teitelbaum recommends a protocol he developed called S.H.I.N.E., which has been scientifically shown to improve energy levels and overall quality of life in more than 90% of people who tried it. “S.H.I.N.E. addresses Sleep, Hormones/Hypotension, Infections, Nutrition and very mild Exercise as able,” he says, pointing out what each letter in the acronym stands for.

Long COVID can be debilitating and frustrating, but Dr. Teitelbaum is hopeful. “Long COVID is a very treatable, yet complicated condition,” he says. He encourages people who are experiencing long COVID to seek out a doctor who is knowledgeable about it and working with them to manage and treat their symptoms. With time, he is hopeful that you will recover, whether your main symptom is a constant, runny nose or something even more horrible.

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Related: How Long After Having COVID Are You Actually Protected Against Infection? Here’s What To Know

Sources

• Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, integrative medicine doctor and author of the new book You Can Heal from Long COVID
• Dr. Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, REHS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at University of Nevada Las Vegas’s School of Public Health