The challenge with ascribing complaints of illness to underlying chronic health issues is accounting for change. It's easy for almost any person to tell that t

The challenge with ascribing complaints of illness to underlying chronic health issues is accounting for change. It's easy for almost any person to tell that they feel worse than they usually do; we all do it when we get sick. Think about how you know when you're sick: you feel worse than usual. So when someone says "I feel worse after COVID than I did before" (not just "I feel bad in general"), doctors are going to reasonably start by treating that as a real report of a significant change in health.