How Long Covid Exhausts the Body, New York Times, February 2022

[Jaybee00]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...ovid-causes.html?referringSource=articleShare

Umm not the greatest. Again, Long Covid is “very similar” to MECFS. Unfortunately cites Amy Proal….

 

[Kalliope]

Also cites Avindra Nath, David Systrom and Akiko Iwasaki. I just sent it to a family member who believes Covid-19 now with Omicron is not even a minor inconvenience and has stopped with precautions.

 

[Trish]

It seems to be paywalled here.

 

[Kalliope]

It seems to be paywalled here.

I have a subscription. This link should work:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...zP4zf75Grzkw_BAZglfbcIsYZahKqA&smid=url-share

 

[cfsandmore]

“You can’t make up small fiber neuropathy by skin biopsy. That isn’t in somebody’s head,” Dr. Systrom said. “You can’t make up poor oxygen extraction to this degree. All of these are objective measures of disease.”

I wish he would talk to the BPS fanatics.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

You can’t make up small fiber neuropathy by skin biopsy.

I wish that were true. If it is the result of counting it is likely to be easily biased.

 

[ME/CFS Skeptic]

Most of the studies mentioned in the overview article are small, have not been reproduced and are of no better quality than the usual biomedical research into ME/CFS.

For example, the study on pulmonary abnormalities included only 11 Long COVID patients, the one on myelin loss only 9, the one on small fiber neuropathy 9, the one on blood cloths 11, the one on Invasive Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing 10.

The longitudinal studies that follow-up on patients from COVID-19 infection to see what factors differentiate those who go on to develop long-term symptoms seem the most interesting but they didn't use long-follow ups or strict definitions. It would be more interesting to see what differentiates those who remain severely disabled more than a year later, rather than people who still reports symptoms after 2 months.

 

[Jaybee00]

Reply from the article author re some comments I made.

" Thanks for your note. I adjusted some of the language in the piece yesterday to more clearly draw the relationship between long Covid and ME/CFS, which relates to some of the points you made:
Whatever the cause, low oxygen levels may contribute to long Covid’s most common symptom, severe fatigue. Some long Covid patients meet the criteria for ME/CFS (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome), which often starts after a viral infection. Researchers have found that ME/CFS patients also suffer from a lack of oxygen triggered by circulatory problems. That puts enormous strain on the body’s metabolism and makes simple activities feel like strenuous exercise."

 

[Ariel]

Has the piece now improved a lot? I did not see a previous version.

Frustrated by the paragraph saying what ME/CFS is because it makes it sound like "severe fatigue" and it wouldn't be that difficult to draw the connection between what some LC patients are experiencing and PEM. I still think it's good it's getting coverage though.