Rolling Stone: 'Five Years of Pain, Fatigue, and Gaslighting: Life With Long Covid' 'We've been discounted for half a decade, still sick from a pandemic the rest of the world would rather forget' 'Everyone with Long Covid — with any chronic condition, really — is grieving. We’re all mourning something, whether that’s our old body or brain, our ability to work or socialize, our financial stability and housing, relationships that are now broken or strained, or simply the person we used to be.'
Refinery29: 5 Years Later, Women Are Still Living With Long Covid Note: I added some line breaks to the quotes to make them easier to read.
Sharing front page feature today, Minnesota Star Tribune: 'Five years later, long COVID remains a frustrating medical mystery for thousands of Minnesotans' '..many continue to struggle with work and daily activities after being diagnosed with post-COVID fatigue and other symptoms' Dr. Amy Engebretson...years later, she still sleeps about half of every day while waiting for answers and hoping for better treatments.' 'Rushing back caused post-exertional malaise, and working harder, she later learned, only sapped more strength' 'A state survey earlier this year showed fatigue is common among Minnesotans with long COVID, along with shortness of breath and brain fog (disrupted memory and focus).' 'An estimated 5% to 50% of long COVID cases progress to an exhausting form of chronic fatigue syndrome known by the acronym ME/CFS. Patients in their prime find themselves struggling to get through their days and are punished if they try to return to old routines too quickly.' 'Recent budget cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration could save taxpayers money but reduce long COVID research, which has advocates concerned. The pace of discovery was too slow before cuts, especially for patients with ME/CFS, who have about a 5% chance of full recovery.." “We are five years into this health disaster. … Research is not moving fast enough for the millions suffering" 'Research is starting to map out the biological and cellular origins of long COVID, a key step before new drugs..” Grach said long COVID is at least partly linked to an overreaction by the immune system, which “doesn’t seem to be shutting off in the way that it’s supposed to” after illness. Treatments that moderate the immune system could help, but the Mayo doctor said a combination of causes are probably at work.
San Diego Union-Tribune: 'El Cajon nurse can’t shake COVID-19’s unrelenting grip: ‘I have lost relationships’' 'New cases of the debilitating syndrome known as long COVID are still being diagnosed daily' “My last day at work, I caught myself forgetting what I was doing, and I felt like I was on cold medicine, but I wasn’t,” she said. “I developed shortness of breath, a fever, fatigue, extreme bone pain, cough, diarrhea and dizziness.' 'But, eventually, her blood pressure changes in response to elevation changes arrived at POTS, an acronym for a medical condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome' 'Five years after the pandemic, Baca said, it has begun to feel like the public just is not interested in understanding the syndrome that has so permanently changed her life. While she got sick literally caring for others during a global pandemic, that sacrifice doesn’t seem to count for much these days, especially since her POTS symptoms don’t affect her outward appearance.' “I have lost relationships with family members and with friends of mine over my condition,” she said.
Mercury News: 'Q&A with a researcher fighting long COVID and searching for relief' 'Five years after the pandemic, scientist says clinical trial landscape must expand' “What we’ve learned is that there seems to be this sort of cliff you can fall off of that we call post exertional malaise,” Vogel said. “If you do too much all at once, you can really exacerbate your symptoms.” "There are probably 50 trials in the planning stages or early stages for long COVID, and I feel like we’re finally, just this year, starting to make some progress toward understanding treatments. When I first got sick, I thought, ‘OK, I’ll just need to hang on for three to five years, and then we should have some symptom management, but I feel like we’re still at that point where we’re three to five years away." "I would also work to get the Long COVID Moonshot bill passed, including substantial investment in expanding the clinical trial portfolio so that we can identify effective treatments."
The Globe (Worthington, MN): 'Five years later: Long Covid still creating medical mysteries' 'Jolene Wieneke, of rural Adrian, has had acute Covid three times, but it was her first bout with the virus that resulted in her being diagnosed with Long Covid' 'When she received her official Long Covid diagnosis in 2021, Wieneke said it was a diagnosis of dysautonomia, a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. She has since been diagnosed with post-exertional malaise as well. Her symptoms included blood pressure instability, dizziness, fatigue, chronic pain, stomach issues, heat intolerance and frequent brain fog, which made it difficult for her to process information.' Wieneke said she experienced fatigue while battling breast cancer, but it was different from the fatigue she experiences now with Long Covid. “With Long Covid you do not have the energy to get out of your bed,” she said. “There are some theories that there’s damage to our mitochondrial DNA so we have damage to our energy conversion,” she said
KSTP: 'Minnesotans still suffer from Long COVID for weeks, months and years' '“People have to be believed" “I just want there to be awareness for it. There are people suffering, and they need to be listened to,” Beelman said.
Bangor Daily News: '5 years and trillions of dollars later, we’re still unaware of the full extent of COVID' 'There is hope. Maine legislators will soon be asked to consider LR 2135 , a bill sponsored by Rep. Ambureen Rana that urges providers to seek continuing medical education focused on infection-associated chronic conditions like Long COVID and Lyme. LR 2135 could be life changing for patients and providers alike.' 'During this Long COVID Awareness Month, I implore all Mainers to consider not only the devastation wrought by this condition but also look to the hope and change that could be brought by supporting greater awareness of this and similar conditions.'
Previous post about Virax Biolabs: New press releases: 'Virax Biolabs Presents Data on T-Cell Dysfunction in Post-acute Infection Syndromes at the 19th World Immune Regulation Meeting' 'Virax Biolabs Enrolls First Patients in Clinical Study Assessing T cell Dysfunction in Post-acute Infection Syndromes'
