One of my favourite bits -
Shockingly, some are facing difficulty being believed, or told their symptoms are secondary to anxiety or depression. The Royal College of GPs have produced a short module linking long COVID to anxiety and post-traumatic stress, but many long COVID patients would not be anxious if they felt well.
Do you remember there was a list of the most stressful things that tend to happen - bereavement, losing your job,moving house, divorce or relationship breakup etc.
How is it possible that so many people who focus in mental health have failed to understand the stress involved when you suddenly become sick and face an unknown prognosis. Worse still, it's an illness where you face routine disbelief and leaves you open to wholly unwarranted character assassination.
Not only are you struggling to come to terms with your new normal and learn to cope with symptoms but you suddenly find yourself facing many of the top stressors people can face -
Loss of income
Stress on relationships - personal and professional
Future uncertainty
Possible risk of losing your home
Then because of the diagnosis all of those are magnified by the disbelief & character judgement by those who are supposed to help.
At a time when your faith in a just world view, your health and your own abilities to cope are shaken to the core, instead of providing support the very ones who should help support you, undermine you at every turn.
Instead of viewing ME (& now long covid) patients as being weak, predisposed to anxiety & depression they should really wonder at the remarkable strength of character & resilience of patients in spite of all the considerable disadvantages and prejudice we face.
