good and long article on another neglected aspect of ME/CFS and LC quotes: For millions of people with long COVID around the world, the pandemic is not just a minor nuisance or a bad memory but a daily waking nightmare. The disabling chronic illness is taking a devastating toll on patients’ health, stopping many from working, exercising, socialising and living independently. But long COVID is also snuffing out some patients’ dreams of having children, and complicating pregnancy and parenthood for those who choose to conceive despite their symptoms and doubts about when or if they will recover. ... There’s also scant research on pregnancy and long COVID, ME/CFS and POTS, which can make family planning even harder for patients — or at least those who are in a position to consider having a baby. What if pregnancy reduces your already low baseline — not an unreasonable question given up to 10 per cent of patients report that pregnancy triggered their ME/CFS or POTS. Could your illness affect your child’s health? Will you fully recover from the stress and strain of labour? What about caring for a newborn, breastfeeding, sleep deprivation? In some studies roughly equal numbers of ME/CFS patients reported that their symptoms improved, stayed the same or got worse during pregnancy, with no clear reasons as to why. But the overall lack of data means there are no evidence-based guidelines, leaving patients, their partners and healthcare providers unable to make informed decisions. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...-snuffing-dreams-children-pregnancy/104687860
The journalist, Hayley Gleeson tweets: long covid isn't just stopping people from working, exercising, socialising, living independently. it's also snuffing out patients' dreams of having children, and complicating pregnancy for those who are able to conceive i started this story on a vague hunch and quickly found an ocean of grief and, as ever with long covid and me/cfs, an unfortunate lack of research. the pain so many families are nursing is too deep to capture in one piece. ditto the practical difficulties of parenting with lc this illness takes and takes in ways most people cannot fathom. it's so unsatisfying to arrive again at: more funding, more research, more awareness, more support. maybe some day soon the needle will shift
