{"id":624483,"date":"2022-01-17T03:52:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T03:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/hallucinations-and-headaches-seven-ways-covid-can-affect-your-brain-new-york-post\/"},"modified":"2022-01-17T03:52:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T03:52:47","slug":"hallucinations-and-headaches-seven-ways-covid-can-affect-your-brain-new-york-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/hallucinations-and-headaches-seven-ways-covid-can-affect-your-brain-new-york-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Hallucinations and headaches: Seven ways COVID can affect your brain &#8211; New York Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Covid is largely thought of as an illness that mostly affects your lungs, with the effect it can have on the brain less known.<\/p>\n<p>But as well as causing obvious physical symptoms, the virus can also spark neurological ones too \u2014 and these are the ones that tend to last longer.<\/p>\n<p>In what is traditionally a respiratory illness, medics were surprised when people began complaining of headaches, delirium,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/news\/3409490\/people-had-covid-substantial-drop-intelligence-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brain fog<\/a>\u00a0and loss of smell or taste at the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>And in the more seriously ill, things like strokes and blocked blood vessels in the brain were soon being reported.<\/p>\n<p>A string of\u00a0hugely positive studies\u00a0show Omicron is <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/22\/omicron-is-milder-than-delta-uk-study-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">milder than other strains<\/a>, with the first official UK report revealing the risk of hospitalization is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/health\/4329965\/omicron-mild-disease-boosters-work-report\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Covid booster jabs protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.<\/p>\n<p>The Sun\u2019s\u00a0Jabs Army\u00a0campaign is helping get the vital extra vaccines in Brits\u2019 arms to ward off the need for any new restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>One in five Covid patients could suffer with cerebral vascular events, according to Professor James Goodwin.<\/p>\n<p>He explained<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/health-fitness\/body\/covid-does-brain-can-do-prevent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00a0in the Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0this is because infections send our immune system into overdrive, and in some people who have a huge viral load, it can cause an uncontrolled response.<\/p>\n<p>This is the release of a large amount of inflammatory molecules \u2014 known as a cytokine storm \u2014 to the infected area.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain3.jpg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain3.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"MRI brain scan\" class=\"wp-image-20853598\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><\/a><figcaption>Other organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys can be damaged by COVID-19 due to low oxygen.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It mainly affects the lungs, and can spark acute respiratory distress syndrome, failure and sometimes death.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not only the lungs that are hit by an immune system in overdrive \u2014 other organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys can be damaged due to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/news\/2447005\/covid-could-starve-brain-oxygen-terrifying-side-effect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">low oxygen,<\/a>\u00a0inflammation and blood clotting.<\/p>\n<p>The brain can also be hit by this too, and become injured in the body\u2019s attempt to fight back against the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Goodwin said medics now know that Covid gets into the brain through tightly sealed blood vessels which surround the organ.<\/p>\n<p>Spikes in the virus grab onto receptors, replicate inside them and then move on into the brain.<\/p>\n<p>With the body in panic-mode an inflammation response tries to defeat the virus by breaking down the blood vessels, causing damage which also impacts the immune system.<\/p>\n<h2>7 neurological events caused by Covid:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Headaches<\/li>\n<li>Brain fog<\/li>\n<li>Delirium<\/li>\n<li>Strokes<\/li>\n<li>Blood clots<\/li>\n<li>Loss of smell<\/li>\n<li>Hallucinations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After recovering some people can then experience serious neurological, behavioral or psychiatric disorders, due to the (often temporary) scars left in the brain.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain2.jpg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain2.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Digital illustration of macro Covid-19 cells floating over a human brain.\" class=\"wp-image-20853597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/covid-brain2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><\/a><figcaption>People have reportedly experienced hallucinations and hearing sounds after getting Covid-19.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These can include hallucinations and hearing sounds that aren\u2019t there, as the brain reconfigures itself after the virus.<\/p>\n<p>And you don\u2019t have to have been struck down terribly badly to experience mild neurological issues or brain fog while recovering from Covid.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/health\/4405691\/full-list-20-omicron-symptoms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brain fog is probably quite a common feeling for people emerging back into the world after the illness<\/a>, even with milder Omicron.<\/p>\n<p>It is simply from the virus having invaded \u2014 or tried to invade \u2014 your brain and the damage done to the cells in the subsequent battle.<\/p>\n<p>But this doesn\u2019t need to be a frightening read, as research shows the cells repair quickly and efficiently, as well as being pretty resilient.<\/p>\n<p>It might just mean a few days, weeks, or months in some unlucky cases, of feeling not quite as sharp as normal \u2013 as your brain bounces back.<\/p>\n<p>However if you or a loved one starts to display unusual behavior or hallucinating, get medical help as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/health\/4473758\/covid-affects-the-brain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Sun<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and was reproduced here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/01\/16\/seven-ways-covid-can-affect-your-brain\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":624484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nmprofetimg-2436.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayheadline.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}