Covid - Summer of 24

[agentzero]

A close friend of mine had a very mild case of covid 3 months ago and is now attending a longcovid clinic. The shortness of breath continues. He thinks it was the FLIRT variant, which seems to have higher likelihood of lung and digestive complaints at the beginning of the illness.

The longcovid clinic is lead by a team, including the doctor presenting in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mksXzAvUW8

The take away from that is that it doesn't matter if you feel damage from covid19, the damage seems to happen even if you don't experience longcovid. They won't know until some years later if most of the population have cardiovascular damage after each infection, even in patients with no symptoms or in very mild cases, like my friend.

It's a bit scary what is happening and nobody is really talking about it.

[Paddy]

I can’t fault the way A&E dealt with me however, it was apparent that the covid information and statistics were (and are) in a mess. The local hospital is taking on around 50 covid cases a day but the statistics for the entire county only shows 400 per week for 20 hospitals.

[Snooky]

A close friend of mine had a very mild case of covid 3 months ago and is now attending a longcovid clinic. The shortness of breath continues. He thinks it was the FLIRT variant, which seems to have higher likelihood of lung and digestive complaints at the beginning of the illness.

The longcovid clinic is lead by a team, including the doctor presenting in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mksXzAvUW8

The take away from that is that it doesn't matter if you feel damage from covid19, the damage seems to happen even if you don't experience longcovid. They won't know until some years later if most of the population have cardiovascular damage after each infection, even in patients with no symptoms or in very mild cases, like my friend.

It's a bit scary what is happening and nobody is really talking about it.

As a long COVID sufferer, following 3 bouts of COVID the worst of which was only like a very bad cold, I know the impact it has on your health. Extreme fatigue, breathlessness, joint & muscle pain, brain fog, heart racing, sleep problems and much more. I know plenty of people who are suffering, many much worse than me, yet friends and family look at me blankly if I ever mention it (I try not to) because they don't know anyone else with the condition.

Just like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, it has no preferred target demographic and has severely affected previously fit 20-somethings just as badly as sedentary middle-agers with poor diet & health. There is no known cure so far.

Like your friend, I've attended a long COVID clinic, which was really just an online talking shop explaining how to live with the condition rather than offering any solutions, because there are none. The best part of it was connecting with other patients and realising that I wasn't going mad, others are really going through the same thing.

As you say, it's going very much under the radar, but it's almost certainly having a significant effect on the health of the nation and many people are no longer able to work as they used to. I think this will be a long term legacy of COVID that governments have yet to take seriously.

[agentzero]

Sorry to hear that. My friend is athletic, also a marathon runner, and has no health conditions except for longcovid. I know of others who are unfit, like most of the population, and have longcovid too. The symptoms seem to go further than fatigue or inability to get out of bed, it seems to be the return of the myriad covid symptoms after exertion.

I am confident that we will one day see treatment for longcovid instead of just advice to live with it.

In the above video youtube then recommended me this video from the same doctor who was on the BBC what looks to be 3 months ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIxbiogyF38

Sounds as if her predictions have come true and more money for research is required. If this hits the predicted 10% of covid infections then we will have a lot of economically inactive people and people with reduced economic activity which would impact our economy.