COVID illness may cause what doctors describe as “restless anal syndrome”.
It’s as bizarre as it sounds, causing a person to feel they constantly need to move in order to relieve the “restlessness” in their anus.
Doctors in Japan reported the problem in a 77-year-old man, the first to be medically recorded in a journal.
Writing in BMC Infectious Diseases, they said the older male, who has not been named, was treated for “mild” coronavirus at Tokyo Medical University Hospital.
During this time, he suffered insomnia and anxiety which did not budge once his acute illness had gone.
“Several weeks after discharge, he gradually began to experience restless, deep anal discomfort,” the doctors said.
“Before affecting Covid-19, he had never experienced anal restless and discomfort.”
The symptoms were mostly centred about 10cm above his perineum – the area between the genitals and anus.
This pain was worse with rest and in the evening, and gave the man a constant urge to move – hence the word “restless”.
Going to the toilet did not relieve the symptoms.
“Exercise such as walking or running and enthusiastically playing the television game made the symptoms relief, while taking a rest made the symptom worsen,” the report said.
The man had to take sleeping pills in order to get a sound night sleep free of pain.
An examination revealed the man had haemorrhoids (piles), which are lumps inside the anus sometimes with no clear cause.
The doctors diagnosed the man with resting anal syndrome as a variant of the condition restless legs syndrome.
Restless legs syndrome causes someone to feel an overwhelming urge to move their legs due to a fault in the nervous system.
Covid survivors have developed restless legs syndrome in the weeks following their illness, the doctors said.
It has been recognised as one of hundreds of symptoms of long Covid.
The male patient had all the features of this condition, just in a different location – the arms, face, mouth and other areas have previously been affected.
The paper said: “Because he had never experienced anal restless and discomfort before affecting Covid-19 and the anal restless symptom developed after Covid-19, we considered that these anal restless symptoms were suggested the Covid-19 related syndrome.
“This virus may spread to the central nervous system through several potential routes.”
The team noted several neurological symptoms have been seen with Covid, from loss of taste and smell to confusion in elderly patients.
Typical restless legs syndrome medication worked to relieve the poor man’s symptoms, and he was still cured after 10 months.
Some neurologists believe restless legs syndrome may be caused by a problem with how the body handles a chemical called dopamine, the NHS says.
Dopamine is involved in controlling muscle movement.
