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The haunting brain science of long Covid

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Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#51

I've been saying this since the exact start of the pandemic. I already have brain issues and I simply do not want to roll the dice that are very much not in my favor. If I get covid and I live I pretty much know that the rest of my life is more fucked than it already is. But everybody's walking around the grocery store without masks on. Nobody gives to fucks about anybody else anymore. So here I am, still purposefull…

I live in Israel and only the very old people wear masks because they have compromised immune systems. It was downgraded to the cold/flu and it is no longer checked at the airport. Most of the country is vaccinated, many 'boosted' , and it I have yet to meet anyone who hasnt had COVID at least one time.

I just now visited the USA and am surprised to see people still scared or concerned. It is totally over for most of the world. I wear a mask when I am sick so I dont get others sick, but it really has nothing to do with COVID in particular. Regarding COVID, I have to agree with the Israeli health authorities, which have largely dismissed the threat.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#52

We should also consider the effects of repeat infections and how they might contribute to long Covid. The hope is that ongoing repeat infections are 'mostly harmless' as our bodies are primed to deal with the virus. However it will be a while before we can be sure. One analogy I heard was that effectively we've brought back indoor smoking. Of course you can avoid indoor smoking by not using public transport, not goin…

Smoking is a great analogy, it's distributed exactly like secondhand smoke, causes chronic inflammation in the lungs, systemic health issues, and for now most people don't believe in it! Problem is covid may be dangerous in even smaller doses than smoke.

I heard a quip that the east way to tell whether omicron is in a room was “is there air in the room?” (When omicron was new.)

Basically the new variants are so transmissible that if they’re in an area it’s like avoiding a tsunami.

Which isn’t to say individual avoidance should be given up. Do as much as you want (and I still wear N95 and gloves in certain situations). But society writ large can’t abate this level of spread.

We could see growing numbers of long covid sufferers for quite some time. Or, the virus might give us a break as sometimes happens in outbreaks. We should all hope it doesn’t mutate into something far worse, but it can’t be ruled out.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#54
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you completely sure that's due to Long COVID? Because that sounds like an extremely common story of drug addiction: someone turns their normal life, complete with career and family and a white picket fence, into homelessness and relying on petty theft to survive. It's incredible (in a bad way) how quickly fentanyl can ruin people's lives.

This, by the way, is why I don't discuss that a had long covid ever, with anyone. I don't need random strangers on the Internet that I've never met to believe me, or even believe in Long Covid (half the Internet thinks the vaccine has microchips anyway) but almost none of my friends believe me, which hurt, but fine. It's the medical professionals who didn't believe my symptoms until after there had been a preponderan…

I have history with medical doctors (neurologists) telling me that “men don’t get migraines, I don’t believe you’re in pain and have migraines.” For many years. (It’s more manageable now, but without careful treatment I’ll get a migraine every day across almost every type I’ve heard of existing.)

The medical profession has a lot wrong with it. Yes some blame for people who just want drugs and lie. But that doesn’t excuse forced suffering at denial of treatment.

Though realistically medicine isn’t that helpful. They probably don’t have a lot of medicine for long covid, for example.

Personally with my migraines I had to very intensely monitor, react, and try all sorts of odd things until good treatments existed. Including rubbing hot pepper powder up my nose daily to try to exhaust the pain transmitters in the area.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking “what about ” is inherently asking you to provide some level of consideration for those people, but calling other people pansies is clearly not embodying the consideration being asked of. I don’t really feel strong about the actual topic being discussed, I just think the hypocrisy is disgusting.

I agree that name calling is always unhelpful, but I’m not seeing any hypocrisy in the comment. It seems to be a comment about how there are a plethora of reasons that the population may be experiencing cognitive issues.

Commenting that there are alternative experiences that others have inherently asks you to consider the experiences of others. Insulting people inherently does not consider the experiences of the people being insulted.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#56
It’s interesting that COVID’s symptoms, including long Covid, are entirely the human bodies own doing. It’s all inflammatory. Long Covid is at least in part a demonstration of the connection between inflammatory pathways and metabolism. Common infection have been giving people CFS forever but finally the skeptics have been forced to shut up with Covid.

The solution to Covid will come through research on long Covid and other research on inflammation and metabolism — the reason that diabetes, obesity etc corrrlate so well with poor Covid outcomes is because those things as well as inflammation and other fundamental pathways and mechanisms are being messed up by something. When you diet and exercise, all of the above including Covid outcomes improve. That’s why kids are the least impacted — because they are the healthiest. These problems get worse with age. Once we learn how to fix whatever is at the top of the diabetes, obesity, inflammation pyramid we will make ourselves able to coexist with the virus. Besides somehow eradicating the virus, this is the only solution. It will also mean people will have very few heart attacks and cancer should be massively reduced as well. We have a lot to look forward to.

But it’s important to remember, this isn’t a Covid problem. It’s really an extension of the diabetes/obesity epidemic. The virus itself doesn’t hurt you.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What about the long term brain damage of isolating everyone for years straight Sounds like you need to learn to be more adaptable. I've had no problem meeting with friends to walk outdoors, maintaining friendships throughout the pandemic, all without ever catching COVID. a large sector of the population acting like a bunch of anxious cowards Are you a coward for wearing a seatbelt in a car? How about a helmet when ri…

The issue with this argument is that it could, just as well, be used to force people to wear bubble wrap instead of clothes to avoid falls. The question is how much we're willing to sacrifice for safety. Fortunately, most people aren't willing to go as far as suggested.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#58
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

what is largely a cold for 99% of the population Firstly, as of January, 11% of people infected with covid still have symptoms. I'm one of them. Personally I wish I'd been more paranoid, maybe I'd still be able to drink a coke without wanting to vomit from the taste or fuel my car without the smell of gasoline making me dry heave. Secondly, that value is derived from reality, i.e., a world where people did "act like…

I wish I'd been more paranoid too. I got side effects from vaccination that I was forced to take and that I didn't need at all because I had covid before.

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#59
post #44

We should also consider the effects of repeat infections and how they might contribute to long Covid. The hope is that ongoing repeat infections are 'mostly harmless' as our bodies are primed to deal with the virus. However it will be a while before we can be sure. One analogy I heard was that effectively we've brought back indoor smoking. Of course you can avoid indoor smoking by not using public transport, not goin…

They are not harmless. Studies so far show that damage is cumulative https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

“Experts not involved with the study said the VA population does not reflect the general population.”

Re: The haunting brain science of long Covid

#60
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, by the way, is why I don't discuss that a had long covid ever, with anyone. I don't need random strangers on the Internet that I've never met to believe me, or even believe in Long Covid (half the Internet thinks the vaccine has microchips anyway) but almost none of my friends believe me, which hurt, but fine. It's the medical professionals who didn't believe my symptoms until after there had been a preponderan…

I have history with medical doctors (neurologists) telling me that “men don’t get migraines, I don’t believe you’re in pain and have migraines.” For many years. (It’s more manageable now, but without careful treatment I’ll get a migraine every day across almost every type I’ve heard of existing.) The medical profession has a lot wrong with it. Yes some blame for people who just want drugs and lie. But that doesn’t ex…

Have you tried LSD or psilocybin for your migraines? I believe there is a pretty decent body of evidence that they are effective, even at small doses that don’t make you trip.
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