Some of those claiming long COVID could be just having anxiety..so wouldn't be surprised if their is overlap. But it is very real. My wife was getting 'brain zaps' for about a month straight which wouldn't allow her to fall asleep out of fear. These were physical, not mental. She still feels buzzing in her head every night, but to a lesser degree. She cannot fully exert herself yet without feeling out of breath, to this day. That's only a couple of the symptoms, including tingling in the hands/feet, and basic nerve issues.
We have Abnormal EEG's to back it up, and a myriad of other elevated test results like Cytokine panels..but it's still hard to prove a connection literally, other than it all happened after a mild case with flu like symptoms last March and a tight chest. However, as you should be aware..viruses can trigger downstream effects, like auto-immune reactions that are indirectly brought out by a virus. This one
I read a few theories that the OG Covid (alpha, (the virus that likely escaped the Wuhan Lab) seems to have caused most of the long-covid patients..and perhaps the mutated versions have not resulted in as many long-covid patients. I don't know why though.
I will say she has also had a swollen throat for the past two months. We initially thought it was allergies, but doubtful given the medication hasn't worked.