After more than a year and a half of the pandemic, the danger of Corona is well known – and not only during the acute illness. Long Covid symptoms are not to be trifled with either. In Japan, a somewhat curious late effect has now been discovered: the restless anal syndrome.
Exhaustion, diarrhea, tinnitus, reduced lung volume – the list of long-Covid symptoms confirmed so far is long. It was already more than 200 in July of this year. A new, quite strange symptom of Long Covid has now been discovered in Japan – apparently a 77-year-old man suffered from the so-called restless anal syndrome after surviving the disease. The case is reported in the journal BMC Infectious Diseases.
Anal problems after corona disease
Covid-19 has many faces and sometimes also brings with it unusual and fortunately rather rare side effects. «Covid nails», «Covid tongue» and a deadly fungal disease are just three of them. Now the category “anal problems” will probably be added. A Japanese senior developed this after he was discharged from the hospital. He had to be treated there for Corona for 21 days and was released after his respiratory function had normalized.
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The case report of the 77-year-old Japanese man
BMC Infectious Diseases has now published the 77-year-old’s case report.1 This states that the patient continued to have sleep problems and anxiety symptoms after being discharged from the clinic. Weeks later, symptoms in the anal area were added. So the man had restless, deep anal discomfort, which was about four inches from the perineal region. He felt an essential urge to move in the intestinal region, which worsened when he was resting and in the evening. It got better when he moved. In other words, the Japanese suffered from Restless Anal Syndrome, a variant of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).
Doctors in Tokyo made this diagnosis after doing numerous tests. They were unable to find any abnormalities and ruled out diabetes or iron deficiency as the cause.
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Restless Anal Syndrome – a variant of Restless Legs Syndrome
Restless Anal Syndrome is related to Restless Legs Syndrome. As the name suggests, this is also about a feeling of restlessness, but in the legs. This suddenly spreads to the limbs and causes the legs to twitch and wriggle. This can be particularly painful in the evenings, when those affected cannot sleep because of the syndrome. In addition to the urge to move, some patients also feel a stinging or burning sensation in their legs. RLS is hardly known, although according to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians it affects up to ten percent of the population – women significantly more than men. The first symptoms usually appear in middle adulthood, i.e. between 30 and 40 years of age. But it can also happen in children.
The good news: RLS can be treated. Incidentally, that was also the case with the variant that now appeared with the Japanese due to Corona. His doctors were able to help him with the help of the antispasmodic clonazepam and relieve the long-Covid complaints caused by restless anal syndrome.