Long Covid in the media and social media 2022

Right at the top of the article it says "Alexander Zaitchik/February 2, 2021"

 

Possibly this latest paper out on post-infectious syndromes

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01810-6

 

Oh, my derp. I didn't look at the date. I don't remember seeing it though, but that may be because of my terrible memory.

 

I don't think so:
Robert, who is a specialist in chronic fatigue, has published an editorial in the latest issue of the journal ‘Clinical Medicine’ in which he rethinks the status of the so-called persistent covid and question whether it is a new disease.

 

Another option, more likely, is this is Dr Jordi Robert Ollala from Internal Medicine Dept, Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona

“Pandemic due to a Pandemic? in preprint, no abstract
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35525677/

 

That looks like it. Good find:

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0025775322001245
Unfortunately only a version in Spanish is available at the moment

 

Psychiatric Times: Clearing the ‘Brain Fog’ in Long COVID

A report from the 2022 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting.

"Tiamson-Kassab explained that “brain fog” is a nonmedical term used to describe what patients feel in any condition that causes confusion, memory loss, inability to concentrate or focus, and difficulty with word-finding or multitasking. It is found in many conditions, including long COVID, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, pregnancy, multiple sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as in cancer treatments and certain medications."

"The exact cause of brain fog and other symptoms in long COVID is not yet clear, however: “We have to be cognizant of the fact that, potentially, anxiety and depression could be factors that are driving the fatigue and cognitive impairment,” Roy said. “And pathophysiology can stem from numerous hypotheses, neuroinflammation, or neurotropism, but the idea is that the frontal limbic pathway seems to consistently be something that we’re hearing about when it comes to cognitive problems in long COVID.”

"Pharmacologic interventions may include medications such as methylphenidate, donepezil, modafinil, luteolin, nicotinamide riboside, vitamin C or probiotic supplementation, monoclonal antibodies, or adaptogens. Suggested nonpharmacologic interventions include cognitive behavioral therapy, graded exercise therapy, pacing, and rehabilitation.

With studies on brain fog in long COVID still new and in development, however, Roy emphasized a need for more research to improve treatment and patient quality of life. “This is definitely a syndrome that we don’t know very much about,” Roy said. “It’s something that we really need to study more in order to get a better grasp on what’s going on.”​

 

Pandemic due to a pandemic?

Jordi Robert Olalla


After two years of pandemic, to the many doubts that have arisen in prevention, vaccination and treatment in the acute phase, we now have to add the doubts being generated around the understanding and classification of the complications of the infection by SARS-Cov-2.

Until now, and without absolute consensus three clinical situations have been identified, related to, or as consequences of infection by Covid-19.

The first would be the clinical manifestations consequent on damage that in different organs have been produced by the infection by Covid-19, such as the lung, also including multisystem inflammatory syndrome. The second would be the manifestations secondary to hospitalisation, admission to ICU and treatment of the infection. Without doubt, however, the form that generates most uncertainty is that called long Covid or persistent Covid-19.

None of these excludes the others, and the same patient may be diagnosed, for example, with persistent Covid-19 with complications from prolonged admission to ICU, as in the myopathy of the critically ill.

Accepted under ‘persistent Covid-19’ is a persistent clinical pattern that can appear after infection with Covid-19, including mild or asymptomatic forms (of the acute phase). Without consensus on delayed onset, but yes, in general terms, the diagnosis is accepted if symptoms persist more than 4-12 weeks without their being explanained by an alternative diagnosis. The principal clinical manifetations are fatigue, difficulty thinking or concentrating (brain fog), orthostatic intolerance, palpitations, muscle and joint pain and headache; all the symptoms worsen with exertion. Although loss of taste is included it remains to be agreed whether this is a feature of persistent Covid-19 or a complication of the original infection.

But are we really defining a clinical entity, a new disease?

ME, also known as CFS and with the suggested name SEID has been known since 1988. Although the aetiology is unknown, historically, viral infection has been linked to the onset or development of the syndrome; special attention has been paid, without conclusive studies, to EBV, Q fever and Lyme disease. The different criteria and scales for diagnosis of CFS include physical and mental fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, orthostatic intolerance, headache, muscle pains, symptoms that limit the quality of life and ability to carry out many daily tasks, symptoms that woren with exertion that may be minimal and s=ymptoms that persist for more than six months. The diagnosis is clinical, based on exclusion of other diagnoses that might explain the symptoms.

The term fatigue merits special attention for its difficulty to be well defined. Fatigue – is it tiredness? is it debility? Just as in CFS, in persistent Covid-19 fatigue often refers to the inability to carry out daily tasks from tiredness. If the assessment is of muscle weakness the patient will need exhaustive studies to discount other cardiorespiratory or muscle diseases. Probably for such cases the term fatigue is quite inappropriate.

For those patients diagnosed with persistent Covid-19 and in those with symptoms for more than 6 months is there a difference from patients diagnosed with CFS?

Current knowledge of what is known as persistent Covid-19 may change a lot over coming months and perhapos these two questions will be definitive in the illness: are we dealing with a chronic illness that will persist or a reversible illness that is curable? And if reversible: will the cure come from the natural history of the illness or therapeutic intervention?

With answers to these questions come new questions. If we are dealing with a chronic illness are we not facing CFS linked to a viral infection, in this case Covid-19? If we are dealing with a reversible condition: will treatments used for persistent Covid-19 also be useful for CFS?

Probably, based on the data comig out in various publications, we are delaing with a persistent illness and in my opinion we may need to change the name. In this case we will be facing a massive increase in incidence and prevalence of CFS.

Perhaps out of this pandemic will emerge another pandemic, this time of an illness already known – as is CFS.

 

Short interview with prof. Mady Hornig on Long Covid and her own battle with it. I was hoping she had been improving, but she mentions several issues she's struggling with and that she's been bed bound

wbur Long COVID is far more prevalent than you might think

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1532531016778366976

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1533180951206977536

 

Missoulian Missed risk: Long COVID threat extends far beyond pandemic

The article is available as audio version as well.

quote:

In January, the journal Infection Control Today compiled other research forecasting more than 8 million Americans would develop long COVID. That’s at least three times the number of people currently diagnosed with ME/CFS (pre-COVID). The journal quoted #MEACTION editor Adriane Tilman feeling unsurprised.

“Long COVID is not a new phenomenon — there are millions of Americans who got sick with a virus and never recovered before the pandemic, and developed ME/CFS,” Tilman told ICT. “The only difference is that we are seeing this happen now in real time on a massive scale.”

That scale may envelop the ME/CFS community itself. In the same article, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Director Walter Koroshetz said that in the past cases of ME/CFS developed out of a post-infectious illness: “(The) only difference here is that we know what virus is driving it in large numbers of persons.”

The ME/CFS community started raising alarms about the potential for chronic fatigue after-effects in May 2020 — two months after pandemic lockdowns started in the United States. They already had decades of research linking viral infections with the secondary health impacts.

“Coronavirus leading to more cases of ME will happen for sure, unfortunately,” Dr. Alain Moreau of Université de Montréal wrote in the 2020 advisory. “We need to be ready for the next wave.”

 

CBS News - Transcript: Dr. Walter Koroshetz on "Face the Nation," June 5, 2022

quote:

Those people with post-infectious mononucleosis, people with post-Lyme, they've been suffering the same things. There's a condition called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that looks almost identical to what we're seeing. And these have existed for decades, we've never been able to figure them out. And yet people should have hope, because from what we've seen so far, people after COVID, even months after, still are getting better. So it's kind of targeting the symptoms and targeting the underlying biology, the two main avenues we're going after.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1533298395103756288

 

New service launched to help Wigan patients suffering from long Covid
Expert health professionals are joining forces to launch a new service for help Wigan patients recover from the lasting effects of coronavirus.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) has created the Post-Covid Syndrome Service (PCSS) for people suffering from long Covid.

It brings together a multi-disciplinary team to help people improve their physical and psychological well-being, as well as daily functioning.
Dr Dale Huey, consultant clinical psychologist and strategic lead for primary care psychological therapies at GMMH, said: “Post-Covid syndrome, sometimes referred to as long Covid, describes signs or symptoms that have persisted beyond 12 weeks after an infection consistent with Covid-19, where no alternative explanation has been found.

Service user Rifkah Cohen said: “Covid-19 has left me with longer lasting symptoms including brain fog, breathlessness, migraines and severe fatigue. The more I try to push through the exhaustion, the more I crash and the less I achieve. It's not surprising that I get frustrated, anxious and sad at times.

“Hearing about the new post-Covid syndrome service gave me hope. I think it's really important to be proactive in managing your physical health, but it can be really tiring when living with the effects of Covid-19.

“I signed up for support because it's refreshing to be able to take time for myself, to work with a therapist, taking stock and thinking about what I need to do next to support myself. I’m really looking forward to working on my recovery with the service.”
My Bolding

A few seconds on google searching for "Service user" Rifkah Cohen brings up

Linkedin
Rifkah Cohen
IAPT High Intensity Therapist (CBT) at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester Area, United Kingdom

So their "Service user" is actually an employee of the very organisation advertising this service.
Very dishonest.

https://www.wigantoday.net/health/n...an-patients-suffering-from-long-covid-3718723


ETA: I've emailed the reporter pointing this out and asking her to contact them to explain their behaviour.

This post has been copied here
https://www.s4me.info/threads/uk-long-covid-clinics.28030/

 

later in that thread

https://twitter.com/user/status/1533496760479322112


seriously!?

 

Twitter thread from Trisha Greenhalgh

"THREAD on LONG COVID for non-specialists (GPs, patients). Covers what it is, who gets it, what causes it, what to do, what the outlook is. Drawing on in-preparation paper".

No mention of ME by name that I could see, although there is "Many viral illnesses (including other coronaviruses SARS and MERS) produce prolonged illness (with fatigue a dominant symptom). But we don’t know why this happens in some people while others recover quickly.".

Muted acknowledgement that "Symptoms may fluctuate and flare up in response to triggers (physical or emotional)".

Link for those people blocked by her, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1533803118705664003.html