"Updates on long Covid and the brain: Let's explore the recent flurry of research revealing Covid's impacts on the brain and cognition" 05 March 2024 By Emma Barratt https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/updates-long-covid-and-brain This includes some discussion of ME.
Long Covid is a multisystemic post-acute infection syndrome. Its symptoms can manifest in many organs and bodily systems, and often follow a relapsing and remitting pattern. Common symptoms include fatigue, post-exertional malaise (PEM), orthostatic intolerance, brain fog, and more; however, not everyone with long Covid will have the same symptoms, and several subtypes with potentially different mechanisms (several of which appear to have neural involvement) seem to exist. ... Biomedical researchers have identified issues within several bodily systems which appear to contribute to long Covid’s symptoms: overexpression of WASF3 in mitochondria, which limits energy production; amyloid build-up and microclots in skeletal muscles, affecting oxygenation of tissues; and hormone-mediated sex differences (pre-print) in symptom presentation and immune profiles, to name just a few of the more prominent recent findings. ... The latest chapter for post-acute infection syndromes Long Covid appears to share many physical traits with myalgic encephalomyelitis (MECFS, hereafter ME, also known as ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’); for example, similar patterns of dysautonomia (dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system) are seen in both conditions. Some researchers suspect that both these, and potentially other post-acute infection syndromes, may share common physical mechanisms. Like those with ME and other post-acute infection syndromes before them, people with long Covid often face significant barriers to accessing healthcare. Stigma and disbelief related to these conditions, as well as the complexity of their presentation, has been shown (in the following preprint) to leave patients with considerable self-doubt, “question[ing] their deservedness of seeking healthcare support for their symptoms.” This same study found that these factors also led UK-based would-be patients to avoid treatment, for fear of overburdening the healthcare system. Added to the toll of this sudden, often new-onset disability, it becomes easy to imagine the mental health struggles that may arise for many. Post-acute infection syndromes have historically been a “significant blind spot” for medical research. However, with the pressing issue of long Covid upon us, the medical community is now turning its attention to finding mechanisms, treatments, and (perhaps one day) a cure. Specialist readers interested in learning more about what is now known about the physical alterations in long Covid and ME may find the recent NIH MECFS Roadmap webinars helpful.
A bit ambivalent in that the discrimination (it's not stigma it's overt, clearly bigoted discrimination) originates within the medical and psychological professions. Although it would be more fair to say that medicine, especially neurology and psychiatry, have a lot more blame here than psychology, psychologists could play a big role in denouncing what happened and how failure to address has been largely a choice in the pursuit of psychosomatic ideology, and they have played a big role in the establishment of the psychosomatic model that is 100% to blame for this failure. And the health care industry being highly conservative, this is probably the closest it can get to that. Which is still very little, a mild muttering of "that wasn't ideal" isn't the proper response to the deliberate detonation of a nuclear bomb in a large city, which just about captures the scope and disaster of what has been done to tens of millions of us for decades, but although it fails to place proper blame where it deserves to be, it's otherwise pretty direct and unequivocal. Where does the BPS stand on the NICE guidelines? Of course they can't affect how MDs do their work, but they certainly could have a big impact if they chose to.
Only just seen this article now. Passed me by earlier in the year. "Where does the BPS stand on the NICE guidelines?" Very much in support of the new, out with the old. Very irritated with RCP who we do not agree with. Re BPS and ME: I am working with psychologist colleagues, several with ME, to write a good practice guideline for working with pwME. It'll be while, tbh. To ensure we include many people, including those with severe ME. Several key BPS people have left which has slowed us down - but we are on with it. And the BPS as an organisation is malfunctional. We are doing our best.
Yup. Fitting that in a field rife with overlapping questions and an out-of-control epidemic of acronyms, we also have overlapping acronyms. Edit: I like this joke a lot and thought it would land better, ah well
