Aug. 14 -- Scientists at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom have reported finding an unusual symptom of long COVID – blue legs.
The study published in The Lancet focused on a 33-year-old man whose legs reddened after he stood for about a minute and then became increasingly blue. The blueness became pronounced and over 10 minutes the man’s legs felt heavy and itchy. When he sat down, the normal color in his legs returned.
The symptom is called acrocyanosis – the venous pooling of blood in the legs.
“This was a striking case of acrocyanosis in a patient who had not experienced it before his COVID-19 infection,” Manoj Sivan, MD, associate clinical professor in the University of Leeds’ School of Medicine, said in a news release.
"Patients experiencing this may not be aware that it can be a symptom of Long Covid and dysautonomia and may feel concerned about what they are seeing. Similarly, clinicians may not be aware of the link between acrocyanosis and Long Covid.”
Dysautonomia is a group of medical disorders caused by problems with the autonomic nervous system. The patient in the U.K. was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is a common form of dysautonomia in which a person’s heart rate goes up when they stand.
Sivan said medical practitioners need to be more aware of dysautonomia in long Covid so that they can manage patients properly.
Some of the better-known symptoms of long COVID include fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, stomach upset, heart palpitations, issues with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic coughing, chest pain, and abnormal movements.