Long COVID Stemmed From Mild Cases Of COVID-19 In Most People, According To A New Multicountry Study

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This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1444391
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So we now have tens of millions of people who have non-specific but disabling symptoms that are nearly impossible to quantify objectively and for which there probably won’t ever be any effective treatment.

Great. :grimacing:

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Vague symptoms that sound suspiciously like “adult life” for 60 days or so. Okay.

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Off topic, but for those interested:

Interesting reading. Stay informed as I suspect that the Republican led committees in the House will do everything to mislead the public. Same with FOX network. While neither of these are new, it helps to have access to the real information.

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I understand that damage from the insurrection, left in place as a memorial, has now been slated for repair and Capitol tour guides are no longer permitted to make reference to J6 during their tours. The GQP is intent upon erasing the history of the event because it makes them look bad and hurts their feelings.

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Nope, a friend of mine has it and hers includes debilitating fatigue among other symptoms. Let’s not be too hasty with the scorn. My friend is retired, so no employment responsibilities but has a disabled son who requires care. It’s been awful for her. She is now participating in a Mayo clinic study and is monitored.

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You’re pretty competent in your law lane.
Medicine? Not so much.

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I offer no scorn. Long covid is real. But it ought not to be vaguely subjective.

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There are something like 3 million people in the US with ME/CFS, and long covid shares many of the same markers and symptoms. People with ME/CFS have long complained that literally less than $10 million/year is granted to research its causes. More than $1B has been earmarked for long covid studies, and the ME/CFS community is hopeful that some of what is discovered will also lead to more understanding of ME/CFS as well.

My wife has ME/CFS, and a very good friend got long covid about a month into the appearance of covid-19 in the US. For each it has been entirely life altering.

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What’s “vaguely subjective” about it?
Other than the fact that you’re not an MD?

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Ever known someone with MS? Some of the initial symptoms can be quite vague and in years past some sufferers were dismissed as crazy or attention seeking. Some conditions present as vague. I am not going to argue but some diseases and conditions are not a strict checklist of symptoms.

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I neither offer nor dispute any individual diagnoses, My observation is simply that “symptoms affecting daily functioning” probably describes 50% or more of adults regardless of covid. It’s vague and totally unhelpful to describing the lingering effects of the virus.

I’m not a doctor. But I have a rudimentary understanding of the concept of epiidemiology.

ETA: Nor do I dispute any individual’s personal symptoms. My beef is the weak criteria for attributing causation.

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Ever known someone with depression? Ever known someone with PTSD? Ever known someone with addiction issues?

All of those would count as long covid by the vague and subjective criteria of this article.

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There are a number of things this article does not touch on.

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I haVe a friend wiTH MS. Before SHe was diaGnosed yeaRS later, we’d go out Drinking. She not Infrequently would lose HEr balanCe eVen thOUGh shE hadn’t haD much to Drink. AnothER perSOn i goT to knoW, I thouGHt he caME to the baR druNK. Turns OUT he had CP.

Can"t trust AcaDemic Research by MDs, PhDs, and MPHs puBLIShed by JAMA. Got To Back A lawyer to Interpret anYthing relatEd to healthcare Research.

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  1. Have you had a diagnosed case of COVID-19 Y/N?

  2. Were you tired out, bummed out, or generally feeling low afterwards Y/N?

Science!

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again, ReaD the stUDy that the ArticLE is baSed
on.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2797443

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You don’t think people are capable of noticing differences in their health status?

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Sounds like you must have poor health. Normal “Adult Life” is free of the symptoms that are described in the article. I had a mild case of COVID last January, and ever since my neck and shoulder/back muscles have been very stiff and sore (it got a bit better after seeing a chiropractor for a while)… but no problems with the spine were found, nor bad posture, or work conditions (i have used ergonomic work stations for many years). just for some reason muscle pain with no other changed factors in my life. No other illiness or problems noted in blood work. Also periods of brain fog. It was actually debilitating for work back in April, but it has slowly improved through the year although hasn’t fully gone. No other cause could explain it.

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Again, you obviously haven’t had any problems, or you are in generally bad health and don’t realize other people don’t feel that way normally. The symptoms people talk about are definite changes for the worse. They aren’t just ‘vague’ feelings. The reason they are described as ‘vague’ is that there isn’t any typically cause due to physical changes or a medical condition - so it means having to take the word as someone self reports.

It is a major issue because that isn’t how our healthcare system is set up to work. There are a new population of people who in other circumstances would be considered ‘hypochondriacs’ but are experiencing something physical and not mental. It’s like loosing your sense of smell and taste during COVID. Not everyone experiences that, but those who do report that it is strange at first because it one doesn’t normally have experience with it. And the ‘stopped up’ feeling like having a cold but without the congestion or other cold symptoms. You notice the absence more as your sense of smell and taste return and you realize that for the past couple of days or a week you haven’t been able to taste or smell food. … instead you think you just aren’t hungry, but then as the senses return you realize WHY you weren’t particularly hungry when eating…

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