Long Covid is overblown and often something else, says Oxford professor • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:34 AM UTC

CryptoPunk wrote: post #40

noduerme wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you (God forbid) have covid symptoms, you'll differentiate.

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…

So to comment on one of those symptoms: chest pain. I do experience this when resting, but I get particularly strong pain when doing any kind of exercise. If it were stress related you would expect exercise to improve symptoms not make them worse.

I would also add that while I was certainly a bit depressed by the lockdown, I live in the UK where we are no longer locked down and my mental health has improved greatly. But I am still unable to participate in vigorous exercise, and tire much much more easily than my friends. And this is despite going for regular walks during lockdown.

Finally, I would comment that post viral fatigue is a well established phenomenon for other viral diseases including flu. And has also been noted to be particularly bad in other coronaviruses like the original SARS. So it’s hardly a stretch to think that cocos might have similar effects.

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

#62

Post by CryptoPunk » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:34 AM UTC

jonahbenton wrote: post #56

CryptoPunk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, the Democrats are even more misinformed. But yes, the media in general is scaring the shit out of people. That Democrats are the worse afflicted is secondary to that point.

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

#63

Post by jinder » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:36 AM UTC

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).

So you know two people who have had symptomatic covid, and you think that's enough data for you to determine it's overblown?

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

#64

Post by sAbakumoff » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:37 AM UTC

"Covid is overblown and isn't much different than flu"

US Right-wingers since 2020.

Meanwhile: 700K Covid deaths in the USA.

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

#65

Post by noduerme » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:37 AM UTC

antiSingularity wrote: post #52

noduerme wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

No, you're just throwing around disinformation. Anecdotes aside, I think your cousin made the right decision to get the vaccine. The virus would have likely done the same and worse. Unless they could have avoided it forever, the choices would be the vax or a full assault by a live replicating virus. 700,000 people have died in the US now from it. Better to live.

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

#66

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:38 AM UTC

JesseMReeves wrote: post #23

joeberon wrote: post #4

Well, I'm not sure what my sangha member had but she was perfectly healthy, a very active outdoors person, then she got coronavirus, and then was basically bed-ridden for about 10 months. Basically completely weak and chronically fatigued for that period. At least, I am quite sure that her long-term symptoms were due to coronavirus. I'm sure there are many false attributions though, as is bound to happen with such a…

Well, chronic fatigue syndrome is out there and has been suspected to be triggered by viral infections for long time. The community actually became quite hopeful when long covid came up that someone would finally listen. Maybe your friend has even found remedies among these long-term sufferers. The people in CFS documentaries look as bedridden as those with long covid to me. So why does long covid get this much atten…

> So why does long covid get this much attention, while CFS remains obscure?

I think it’s probably simply a numbers thing. A lot more people with long focus than other forms of CFS. Hopefully it will get a lot more attention in the present circumstances.

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

#67

Post by elyobo » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:38 AM UTC

noduerme wrote: post #28

gambiting wrote: post #9

Not had covid, but about 2 years ago had a Parvovirus-B19 infection which triggered a reactive arthritis, which means 2 years later I'm still having steroid injections and my joints are more or less in pain. The medical summary is basically "sucks to be you I guess" but it's a semi-common side effect of a virus infection. So yeah, all I want to say is that virus infections are not a joke, even if you got through one…

And some viruses are worse than others. Some will hide out in your spinal cord forever and make an appearance when you're under stress. If you've ever had to watch someone go through an outbreak of shingles... holy crap that looks miserable. I had Mono when I was 15 and still get what I take to be occasional, minor resurgences of that level of total body-wide exhaustion, every five years or so for a couple days. A fr…

Yeah, I did not like shingles.

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

#68

Post by garmaine » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:39 AM UTC

jeofken wrote: post #39

danjac wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is why the Times/Telegraph (and their low-IQ equivalents such as the Mail and Express) are so keen to downplay Covid. My hunch is that their owners are losing money on property investments and are desperate to get employees back in the office, who knows.

> My hunch is that their owners are losing money on property investments and are desperate to get employees back in the office, who knows. This conspiracy theory based on hunch falls with Occams Razor, as both owners and writers at newspapers likely diversify their investments like any other investor.

You must not be familiar with the intricacies of UK property ownership. Most desirable properties in London are owned by a small group of aristocratic people who really do just hold property, and things which give them political influence like newspapers. Corporate ownership of buildings is not as prevalent as, say, in New York (except in the family business sort of way).

Part of this is tradition, but also the quirks of UK property law which makes it very hard to trance ownership of property, and so these people who value their privacy prefer property over other more liquid investments they’d have to disclose.

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

#69

Post by noduerme » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:40 AM UTC

antiSingularity wrote: post #57

noduerme wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sounds like your immune system didn't handle that well, but again, imagine how much worse it would handle covid.

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

#70

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 10:40 AM UTC

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).

Having a lot of these kind of symptoms when in a highly stressful environment is normal. It’s having them even when resting or doing only moderate activity that isn’t. Imagine if you didn’t have kids, got plenty of rest, etc and still felt like you do now. Then imagine what the prospect of looking after your kids would feel like if you already felt this tired when rested.