Live data from Hacker News

The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

journals.plos.org

11–20 of 23 posts

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#11
post #3

I wonder if all these negative impacts of COVID-19 could also have been associated to seasonal flus in the past, had they been under the same level of scrutiny.

COVID-19 is not the Flu. Also, the Flu has been around for at least 1500 years, so humanity would have observed "Flu Brain" or "Long Flu" a long time ago. To say that the Flu has not been under the same level of scrutiny as COVID-19 is ignoring 1500 years of human history.

Long flu is a thing [0] [1]. People were talking about that for years after the 1918 flu.

There's some evidence that a prior flu outbreak, the Russian Flu around 1890, may have been an earlier coronavirus pandemic [2], but nobody could differentiate them at the time.

EDIT: The parent's question seems reasonable. Covid is not unique amongst viruses in the damage it causes. Besides long flu there's things like myocarditis [3] from the flu that may have been neglected in the past, also.

[0] https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/long-flu/

[1] https://time.com/5915616/long-flu-1918-pandemic/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34254725/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33437555/

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#12

Is there anything that talks about how to "recover" from this? This has been my chief complaint since I got covid back in 2020, my brain became "foggy" and I became increasingly forgetful about minor details. Leaving my keys behind often and forgetting what I walked into the room for. I'm relatively young (35) but I feel like after covid, my brain became different and IDK how to explain it, or what to do about it.

My wife's and my B12 levels (shown by lab tests) were in the toilet after having a 2+ week covid infection. No energy, memory wasn't great. After getting a B12 injection, our energy levels are back to normal and memory is mostly recovered and I feel optimistic it will continue. Some of the memory function is probably just retraining myself to function how I was after having my body deprived of an essential vitamin.

May not be the case for everyone, but it can't hurt to run it by your doctor and ask what they think about checking the most usual suspects (B12, D levels, Thyroid, Iron [in women and vegans/vegetarians]), etc. B12 is important for many functions in your body, including immune response.

I still take high potency B12 (Methylcobalamin) sublingually every morning. It's water soluble, so you'll expel whatever you don't use.

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#13

Is there anything that talks about how to "recover" from this? This has been my chief complaint since I got covid back in 2020, my brain became "foggy" and I became increasingly forgetful about minor details. Leaving my keys behind often and forgetting what I walked into the room for. I'm relatively young (35) but I feel like after covid, my brain became different and IDK how to explain it, or what to do about it.

There sure are talks about recovering from COVID brain fog[0] since it appears to be a common condition.

What you should do about it: fix it, obviously!

I'll tell you my personal story to inspire you.

I've had brain fog for the longest time. I'm 19, and my whole life is a huge weird fog. I don't think that I will ever find out why I am like this. Allergy, psychological trauma, complicated birth, lost electron causing a short-circuit... I don't know, and doctors don't seem to either.

However, over the course of the last year, I have found simple interventions that made my mind way clearer.

Those are the following:

- Modafinil (stimulant) - Semax (promotes neuron growth at the expense of loosing your hair) - occasional DMT (there might be no basis for this, but I've found that it's making me more mature) - good sleep (Zinc, Magnesium, Melatonin, basic good habits) - Beeminder for accountability and Complice for goal-setting - this made me way faster about gaining ground against my brain fog and other areas in my life.

My point is that while you may not be able to truly fix your condition yet, you can improve it by consistently trying out interventions. Of course, don't blindly copy mines; do your own research.

Researching interventions with brain fog is hard; I suggest that you make a list and pick something that fits your benefit-risk balance.

Getting a good sleep schedule is a no-brainer. Meds are more complicated. Personally, I've just copied them from other people and stuck with what worked. You can get a good idea of risks involved by taking notes on studies from PubMed and anecdotes from Reddit.

> Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/vrxr4k/the_sec...

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#14

Is there anything that talks about how to "recover" from this? This has been my chief complaint since I got covid back in 2020, my brain became "foggy" and I became increasingly forgetful about minor details. Leaving my keys behind often and forgetting what I walked into the room for. I'm relatively young (35) but I feel like after covid, my brain became different and IDK how to explain it, or what to do about it.

If you are sufficiently self-aware of your previous baseline to detect subsequent cognitive changes, that's an encouraging signal.

There are low risk/cost protocols which work for some people. Initially published in mid-2020, with ongoing adjustments based on patient response and evolving variants. The doctors involved have been roundly criticized, but they have successfully treated many people, which is no guarantee that their protocols will work for any specific person. See the "Long Covid" protocol for brain fog.

https://covid19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/

In a less-polarized universe, there would be many funded clinical trials attempting to replicate their claims, if only to narrow down why a protocol may work better/worse for specific groups of people. Instead, we have lawsuits, https://archive.ph/rgssI

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#15

Is there anything that talks about how to "recover" from this? This has been my chief complaint since I got covid back in 2020, my brain became "foggy" and I became increasingly forgetful about minor details. Leaving my keys behind often and forgetting what I walked into the room for. I'm relatively young (35) but I feel like after covid, my brain became different and IDK how to explain it, or what to do about it.

If you are sufficiently self-aware of your previous baseline to detect subsequent cognitive changes, that's an encouraging signal. There are low risk/cost protocols which work for some people. Initially published in mid-2020, with ongoing adjustments based on patient response and evolving variants. The doctors involved have been roundly criticized, but they have successfully treated many people, which is no guarantee…

This group is still promoting ivermectin and vitamin D supplementation for prophylaxis. I'd prioritize testing hypotheses from other groups that follow the latest research.

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are sufficiently self-aware of your previous baseline to detect subsequent cognitive changes, that's an encouraging signal. There are low risk/cost protocols which work for some people. Initially published in mid-2020, with ongoing adjustments based on patient response and evolving variants. The doctors involved have been roundly criticized, but they have successfully treated many people, which is no guarantee…

This group is still promoting ivermectin and vitamin D supplementation for prophylaxis. I'd prioritize testing hypotheses from other groups that follow the latest research.

This thread is about Long Covid treatments. State legislation was passed in Tennessee to make ivermectin available OTC.

Could you please recommend a link from any groups offering actionable protocols for Long Covid?

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#17

Is there anything that talks about how to "recover" from this? This has been my chief complaint since I got covid back in 2020, my brain became "foggy" and I became increasingly forgetful about minor details. Leaving my keys behind often and forgetting what I walked into the room for. I'm relatively young (35) but I feel like after covid, my brain became different and IDK how to explain it, or what to do about it.

If you are sufficiently self-aware of your previous baseline to detect subsequent cognitive changes, that's an encouraging signal. There are low risk/cost protocols which work for some people. Initially published in mid-2020, with ongoing adjustments based on patient response and evolving variants. The doctors involved have been roundly criticized, but they have successfully treated many people, which is no guarantee…

Why don't you use the word treatment?

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This group is still promoting ivermectin and vitamin D supplementation for prophylaxis. I'd prioritize testing hypotheses from other groups that follow the latest research.

This thread is about Long Covid treatments. State legislation was passed in Tennessee to make ivermectin available OTC. Could you please recommend a link from any groups offering actionable protocols for Long Covid?

> This thread is about Long Covid treatments.

My point was why would you expect a group promoting a long-discredited COVID-19 prophylaxis to have a reasonable long COVID treatment? There are many clinical trials in progress testing treatments supported by better-grounded hypotheses. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?recrs=&cond=long+covi...

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are sufficiently self-aware of your previous baseline to detect subsequent cognitive changes, that's an encouraging signal. There are low risk/cost protocols which work for some people. Initially published in mid-2020, with ongoing adjustments based on patient response and evolving variants. The doctors involved have been roundly criticized, but they have successfully treated many people, which is no guarantee…

Why don't you use the word treatment?

The page above has a long list of _potential_ treatments within each protocol.

> The protocols on this page represent our recommended approaches based on the best and most recent literature. The information is provided as guidance to healthcare providers worldwide and should only be used by medical professionals in formulating their approach to COVID-19. Patients should always consult with their provider before starting any medical treatment.

Re: The negative impact of Covid on working memory revealed using rapid online quiz

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you use the word treatment?

The page above has a long list of _potential_ treatments within each protocol. > The protocols on this page represent our recommended approaches based on the best and most recent literature. The information is provided as guidance to healthcare providers worldwide and should only be used by medical professionals in formulating their approach to COVID-19. Patients should always consult with their provider before start…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN