Markers for ‘long Covid’ in a general full blood count?

[Candiscophonous]

Are there any? Is ‘long Covid’ evident in the general type of full blood count you’d have with a GP? What would be noticeable in the results?

Just bumping...

I'm not sure but would be interested to know. I have been to GP regarding long covid and he sent me for bloods; I heard him say full blood count but not sure what they included.

I'm interested too. I am currently positive but am wondering if I had worse covid last march.

I have a blood test booked for a couple of weeks time dur to chronic fatigue I had already.

Marking place...

I’ve googled quite extensively but can’t seem to find any answers , I’d be so interested to know.

@OneTwoStep when did you test positive? I am coming up to 4 weeks since I became symptomatic and after slowly improving I have got a lot worse in the last few days. It's getting a bit worrying and I'm wondering if I should think about asking for bloods/chest x-ray.

I’d like to know because I became horribly ill after an international flight (slightly pre uk covid, not China ) and was terribly ill thereafter with severe symptoms. I had many many gp visits, blood tests and x rays (though no other imaging) and although there were some anomalies in the results , they were only came to light after I requested copies for my own reference. The gp wasn’t too interested. Since I have them I’d be interested to compare with typical ‘long covid’ results (even though obvs I know post viral fatigue etc is common anyway) .

DH had three and a half months bedridden with long covid. Bloodwork showed it with cell counts showing low and proving body was still recovering from infection /post viral. Scan on heart showed more evidence

It depends what you mean by a “full blood count”. FBC is a specific test showing haemoglobin levels (ie checking for anaemia), cell size (helps differentiate types of anaemia), white cell count broken down by type (so raised levels may indicate viral or other infection, but may well be normal) amongst other things. But do you mean standard basic bloods (often seems to be described as a full blood count or screen on MN) which might include inflammatory markers, kidney function etc. Here the CRP might well be raised in active infection. But bloods may well all be normal.

You can request them to check for ANAs (anti nuclear antibodies) which are markers for autoimmune disease. Read a report recently that a significant number of long Covid patients had those, and some experts suspect the condition is related to autoimmunity.

ANA panels require extra blood and a longer turnaround time so it’s not included in a standard full blood count. It’s possible to be very ill but have a normal standard blood test, but other markers (like ANAs) which aren’t normally tested for are off the charts.

@Fiadh79 I tested positive in October but was only mild symptoms but have felt breathless, chest pains, fatigue after about a month. Bloods were normal so I'm being referred for heart scan and chest x-ray. It's definitely worth contacting go

IME, it's very important to get copies of tests and not be just told "normal".

Over the years, I discovered that drs often look for abnormalities where something is severely outside the ranges and borderline results are described as normal.

Some of my ds's results in the past (not covid) were described as normal but on paper some were significantly deficient (below normal ranges).

Absolutely @YogaLite
I only asked for copies because I’ve moved countries a few times, and having copies of results/ scans etc to hand when seeing a new doctor was very useful , if not essential.
So back here I’ve learned to ask for them for any future records, which has been a revelation because on one occasion some pretty significant findings were never mentioned to me by my GP.