“Long colds” are a thing,like long covid say experts

“Long colds” can be a thing in the same way that “long Covid” is, with some people experiencing prolonged symptoms after an initial infection, according to a UK study.   
Common long cold symptoms included a cough, stomach pain and diarrhea.   

The findings come from 10,171 adults who completed questionnaires.  

More work is needed to understand who is at risk, how bad it can be and what can be done about it, experts say.   

The idea that a respiratory virus - or indeed other viral infections - can cause longer-lasting illness is not new, but the recent Covid pandemic has brought fresh attention to the phenomenon.   

The researchers behind the new work say the results provide validation for patients who experience problems like this. Investigator Prof Adrian Martineau, from Queen Mary University of London, told the BBC: “People really can feel very run down after a virus. It’s not in their imagination and it is a recognized thing.”   

The study, published in The Lancet’s eClinical Medicine journal, asked people to report any respiratory illness and other symptoms they had in the first two months of 2021 - when the Covid pandemic was entering its second year and vaccines were starting to be rolled out.   
All of the participants were yet to have their Covid jab.   

Out of the 10,171 in the study:1,343 said they had recently caught Covid472 said they had been infected with another respiratory virus, such as flu or a cold   
Not everyone recovering from a bout of illness had persistent or new symptoms.   
But, compared with those who said they had no recent respiratory illness, those who said they had Covid or flu or a cold in the weeks before were more likely to experience certain symptoms in the month or so after.   

Those symptoms included: diarrhea stomach problems muscle or joint pain sleep problems memory problems/difficulty concentrating dizziness/feeling lightheaded coughing   
People who recently had Covid were more likely to report problems with smell and taste, brain fog, dizziness and sweating than people who had prolonged symptoms after a cold or flu.