News about Long Covid including its relationship to ME/CFS 2020 to 2021

I suspect the honest answer is we don't really know. It's a possibility but everyone has been so busy trying to ignore the impacts of the disease for so long as far as I know there's been little to no research on ME and gynaecology, let alone in precise stages.

The MEA (I think) had a download on the issue at one point but that was anecdotal and not research based.

 

Original source
https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/stateme...nceoflongcovidsymptomsandcovid19complications

 

From hundreds of anecdotes I would say yes, and more research is definitely needed.

 

If anyone's on Twitter, do like the replies asking about ME or add your own. Slavitt was very influential in the Obama administration over health care things and is well-connected in public health issues.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1339008427029188608

 

It's still weird seeing people mostly describing ME without actually mentioning ME, or in this case rejecting the similarities, but whatever the end result will still be the same. Too bad people refused to acknowledge the same issue for half a century, lots of death of suffering should have been avoided.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1339164619064156169

 

How could they know that long-covid could last a lifetime if they are not saying it is ananlagous to, or the same, as ME?

Expertise by experience could only show them that it lasts up to about a year.

 

Investigative article in Vox on Long Covid experiences of long haulers and doctors as well as some research. Bit about relationship to ME below in quote. Quoted researcher Madeline Lancaster is a biologist and the group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.

Lancaster says viruses may penetrate the blood-brain barrier more often than previously thought. “The Covid crisis has shined a light on overlooked post-viral chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),” she says. “There’s a lot of indication that inflammation of the brain can lead to those symptoms. There’s a huge overlap between those conditions and long Covid.”

But though post-viral symptoms may linger for months or even years, it can be hard for doctors to find clues in neurological tests. While encephalitis can be seen on MRIs, damage to the cerebrospinal fluid might not be visible. (Doctors can, however, look for elevated biomarkers like cytokines.) “Unfortunately, that’s one of the reasons a lot of patients with CFS have been told it’s all in their heads. We’ve let those patients down,” says Lancaster.

(my bolding)

https://www.vox.com/22166236/long-term-side-effects-covid-19-symptoms-heart-fatigue

 

Five-minute report on NPR's flagship program "All Things Considered" on work being done at John Hopkins University on "lingering symptoms" of COVID-19:

Johns Hopkins Medicine Is Trying To Help COVID-19 Patients With Long-Term Symptoms

<<Fatigue is a common symptom; cognitive complaint, like difficulties with memory, remembering things or just thinking in general; and certainly, changes in mood.>>

There is a mention of "brain fog", "chronic fatigue" and even, remarkably, an explanation of POTS -- yet no mention of ME/CFS...
And there is a reference to brain inflammation as the cause of brain fog, as if it is an established fact:

<<What we know is that inflammation, when it affects the brain, has an impact on the parts of our brain that does things like regulate mood. This is one of the awful longer-term consequence of the infection for many people.>>

And, of course, the chosen exemplar is a woman. Another one for the Back In Your Box Now, Sweeties department?

 

It affected mine

 

Sure, me too. I don't believe there's been any rigorous research though.

I have had quite a lot of contact with a gynae over the last 5 years or so and he seems surprisingly clued up on ME & the effects of gynae interventions on ME patients. This leads me to suspect he sees quite a few women with ME.

I have no doubt there's a connection but, as far as I know, no research or in-depth questionnaires on gynae issues and ME. Let alone during different stages.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned but this appears to be an undercount as they did not take chest pain or neurological symptoms in consideration, and of course they are still in denial over PEM, no matter how they want to call it, and don't consider it a symptom. Generally speaking neurological symptoms are not acknowledged yet. Probably on some ridiculous belief over "enabling hypocondriacs" or whatever.

So this may be a conservative estimate. I don't know how they still manage to still not ask the right questions at this point but I'll just assume it's some tradition because frankly it's gotten a bit absurd.

 

Just going back to that paper by Grinker one interesting point occurred to me. At no point does he indicate the nature of his expertise on the subject. He is, of course, entitled to his views. He is entitled to express them and even publish them, if he can find a willing medium. It is however customary, in the tribe which he is apparently addressing, to expect people to make clear why any attention should be paid to them.

Possession of a PhD from Harvard is not a good and sufficient reason. Even a PhD in anthropology.

 

The BBC article:
Mental health problems including depression, anxiety and struggling to think clearly, have also been reported.

Brain fog is not a mental health problem.

It is listed as a neurological symptom in the Long Covid NICE Guidelines while depression & anxiety are listed as psychological / psychiatric symptoms. This isn't the first time I've seen brain fog lumped with depression & anxiety in a Long Covid article. Can anything be done to stop this in its tracks?

Have posted re-this in a comment to the article on the BBC website.

*Edited to answer own question

 

Not sure which thread to post this to. There is no explicit paychobabble nor mention of ME/CFS or similar.
—-
https://inews.co.uk/news/real-life/long-covid-clinics-coronavirus-locations-symptoms-months-795388

Long Covid clinics: Concern raised over staffing and funding as
patients struggle to access specialist help

£10m in funding has been promised until March 2021, but experts have
warned there isn’t sufficient capacity or money for the clinics to
properly support sufferers

By Claudia Tanner
December 16, 2020 5:56 pm
Updated December 17, 2020 9:08 am

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1339869788877807619

 

Ok, I'll bite. The first hit I get is Nick Glozier who incidentally, wrote this:
"Chronic fatigue syndrome: it’s tiring not knowing much—an in-depth review for occupational health professionals"
https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/55/1/10/1392415

 

'Long Covid' guidance urges referral to UK clinics after four weeks
Nice issues first guidelines but ME campaigners say they lack symptom management advice
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...guidance-urges-referral-uk-clinics-four-weeks



https://twitter.com/user/status/1339933016794259457

 

https://news.miami.edu/stories/2020/12/public-voices-fellows-make-themselves-heard.html

 

Tweet from a UK Lib Dem MP.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1339919505569574914

 

Could be better, could be worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJVgyT9zTeM

Although it ends on a slightly ridiculous note, with a physician advising not to exercise if LC symptoms persist past 2 weeks. Which... uh... is what defines LC. Some people are really weird.