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Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

thetimes.co.uk

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Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#51

Post by noduerme »

antiSingularity wrote: post #42
noduerme wrote: post #24

Some guy says it's overblown and this is ranking on HN? Personally, I know several people who are not normally complainers or full of shit who have had some wild effects for 9-12 months after a bout of covid, including visual disturbances, extreme exhaustion, and loss of focus or mental acuity. I really don't doubt my friends who've suffered this. They're not the kind of folks who think they have made-up diseases or…

If we're going to throw anecdotes around, a very close relative of mine has had a severe reaction to the Covid Vaccine (AZ, I believe), and has been off work for 6 months and counting with a variety of health issues.

did the Russians invade HN when Facebook shut down, or what?

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#52

Post by antiSingularity »

noduerme wrote: post #51
antiSingularity wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're going to throw anecdotes around, a very close relative of mine has had a severe reaction to the Covid Vaccine (AZ, I believe), and has been off work for 6 months and counting with a variety of health issues.

did the Russians invade HN when Facebook shut down, or what?

Just goes to show the validity of anecdotes thrown around anonymously online, right?

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#53

Post by noduerme »

antiSingularity wrote: post #48

As a parent of two small kids, I would struggle to notice if I had "Long Covid". Most of the symptoms sound like my every day experience! ps. In my subjective opinion, Long Covid is completely overblown. I know even fewer people that have suffered from it (0) than people who have had symptomatic Covid (2).

I know three people who continue to experience it and, again, they are not malingerers. If you've never had a debilitating disease that knocks you off your feet, it might be difficult to comprehend. Imagine having kids AND not being able to walk to the bathroom without losing your breath and getting dizzy.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#54

Post by nuerow »

noduerme wrote: post #41
nuerow wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some guy says it's overblown and this is ranking on HN? The guy quoted for said statement is a professor of medicine of a reputable university, so he does have the authority thing sorted out. Also, I feel the quote means something different than the original interpretation. After reading the article, it seems that John Bell simply states that a) long Covid is "more complicated than people assume", and b) it's incid…

Oh he's got the "authority thing sorted out" eh? Like every doctor who ever claimed females who were hysterical needed to be vibrated to orgasm to cure their disease...? Or is his authority just on the limited level of chiropractors who spread antivax disinformation on YouTube? Just wondering what level of trust one should place in a man who suddenly catapults into world headlines by claiming millions of people are m…

> Oh he's got the "authority thing sorted out" eh?

Yes, he's no rando posting stuff on his Facebook page, nor is he a rapper or media personality. He's an expert from a reputable university that made solid contributions to the fight against COVID-19 , and he is quoting data from the Office for National Statistics. In the very least we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Even though it's true that appeals to authority don't cut it, that does not mean you are entitled to dismiss any comment you don't like by resorting to personal attacks.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#55

Post by CryptoPunk »

noduerme wrote: post #47
CryptoPunk wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a scientific answer. Physical symptoms of stress include: Low energy Headaches Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea Aches, pains, and tense muscles Chest pain and rapid heartbeat Insomnia Frequent colds and infections Loss of sexual desire and/or ability Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing Clenched jaw and gri…

I've had all those symptoms during lockdown and I know I haven't had covid. My friends who have had it describe a much, much worse experience. I suppose stress alone can cause visual hallucinations on the order of the road twisting in front of your car, but I know these people and trust their judgment that they have experienced the after effects of a brain-damaging infection.

You cannot rely on anecdotes. I know people who claim that many of their relatives suffered severe adverse effects after taking the vaccine. We do not draw scientific conclusions from anecdotes.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#56

Post by jonahbenton »

CryptoPunk wrote: post #31
stuaxo wrote: post #14

The Times and Telepgraph have been minimising Covid since day one, even providing a platform for groups such as "us for them". Right now there are no mitigations for Covid in UK schools. One of the things safer schools campaigners are pointing out is the risk of long Covid (as well as hospitalisations etc). Example of Covid in one area of the UK https://mobile.twitter.com/DmodosCutter/status/1445303921300...

The reality is exactly the opposite. The media has so overblown the risk of COVID that 41% of Democrats now believe that you have a greater than 50% chance of being hospitalized if you contract it: https://twitter.com/PandaTribune/status/1440192783260655618?... >>Great clip of Bill Maher citing a survey in which 41% of Democrats said that if you catch COVID, the chances of going to the hospital are >50%... (the corre…

OMG stop. In that same survey 30% of non-Democrats agreed that chances of going to the hospital are > 50%. Maybe Fox News stop scaring the sh*t out of people re COVID too. Except obviously that is not what is going on.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#57

Post by antiSingularity »

noduerme wrote: post #53
antiSingularity wrote: post #48

As a parent of two small kids, I would struggle to notice if I had "Long Covid". Most of the symptoms sound like my every day experience! ps. In my subjective opinion, Long Covid is completely overblown. I know even fewer people that have suffered from it (0) than people who have had symptomatic Covid (2).

I know three people who continue to experience it and, again, they are not malingerers. If you've never had a debilitating disease that knocks you off your feet, it might be difficult to comprehend. Imagine having kids AND not being able to walk to the bathroom without losing your breath and getting dizzy.

It happens, when the kids bring back a particularly nasty disease from nursery. We recently had RSV, and that lasted a month for me.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#58

Post by noduerme »

stuaxo wrote: post #20
phillc73 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article states, "The ONS survey, published last week, found that 5 per cent of people who had tested positive for Covid reported at least one symptom 12 to 16 weeks after their infection." Only 5% of all COVID cases report persistent symptoms. And 3.4% of the general population report the same symptoms. Edit: Comment this is in reply to originally had 50%, now changed to 5%.

"only 5%" is one in twenty. Right now the UK is getting something like 30,000 new cases a day. This adds up to a lot, last time I checked the UK was only behind India on total cases. For whatever reason the people running the UKs actions are doing the opposite of protecting people.

You know, I wondered for a long time about why "mad cow disease" didn't slowly manifest in a much larger percentage of the British population. But I think it did... they're just calling it Alzheimer's.

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#59

Post by pigeonhole123 »

5e92cb50239222b wrote: post #30
shoto_io wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a very bad flu in 2017 or so and could not smell nor taste for at least 4 months after I had it.

If we're sharing anecdotes here, I've been enjoying my chronic tinnitus for close to 20 years. It has developed after a bad flu and then never left. It's not a thing you can get used to, at least I haven't been able to.

There is some newish research that suggests that tinnitus can be treated by lowering chronic inflammation. This worked in my personal experience. Going low carb weakened my admittedly moderate tinnitus to below where I rarely notice it anymore.

https://www.audiology-worldnews.com/research/3554-is-treatab...

Re: Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor

#60

Post by CryptoPunk »

nuerow wrote: post #49
CryptoPunk wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a scientific answer. Physical symptoms of stress include: Low energy Headaches Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea Aches, pains, and tense muscles Chest pain and rapid heartbeat Insomnia Frequent colds and infections Loss of sexual desire and/or ability Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing Clenched jaw and gri…

> That's not a scientific answer. Physical symptoms of stress include: I feel you inadvertently tried to misrepresent the symptoms of long Covid. Please check wikipedia's article on long Covid for an objective and we'll sourced reference on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_COVID Among the typical symptoms we have "fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, anosmia (loss of smell), parosmia (distorted sme…

>>Feeling fatigued alone does not pass off as long Covid,

That is not true. Here is a typical study purportedly showing evidence for long COVID:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/28/covid-37-of-pe...

>>One in three people infected with coronavirus will experience at least one symptom of long Covid, a new study suggests.

The most common symptom associated with "long-COVID" is anxiety..

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