I don’t think it’s far fetched to get a virus, test positive for the virus, have lingering symptoms for 14 months and think it’s something related to the virus.

I don’t think it’s far fetched to get a virus, test positive for the virus, have lingering symptoms for 14 months and think it’s something related to the virus. When I first started to try to understand what I had, I thought it was burnout, caffeine, mental health, being a second time parent, and even hereditary heart problems. After getting all of that checked out, it wasn’t any of that. Yet I still had transient symptoms in my body that I didn’t have before catching the virus(2021). Weird symptoms like a week of chronic fatigue. Another like I may have a stroke or heart attack any minute. Another where I’d be out of breath for the most mundane things like getting out of the shower. All many months post infection. While I agree with your overall point that it’s very possible people get sick from other factors or even make themselves sick after a traumatic event, since I have experienced this for over a year and documented many of my days through the year, I have no problem believing that long Covid is real. I had been living it. If anything, I think it is more real than we think with current estimates, just that there’s a factor of not wanting to talk about Covid experiences openly due to shame and potential repercussions. That and there’s no known treatment when bringing up the concern without doctors writing you off(since they can’t do much here). One of the many reasons hospitals have a speak up policy although they can’t do much about it today.