7 ms·

My wife has postcovid and this is a profound effect. Yesterday she tried to add up a series of numbers by heart, and she simply couldn’t. For context, she’s pre

My wife has postcovid and this is a profound effect. Yesterday she tried to add up a series of numbers by heart, and she simply couldn’t. For context, she’s pretty mathy and used to mock me for taking out a calculator or a spreadsheet for stuff like that. She also forgets everything, which is another thing she used to be great at. It’s pretty confronting, especially now that the idea that maybe this isn’t temporary is taking shape.

TheFreim 3y ago
Could it be that she's simply out of practice?
- skrebbel 3y ago
  I doubt it. It’s not like you ever stop practicing remembering things or doing everyday math tasks. Look, this is anecdata. I’m not making a claim about this article. I just know that my wife got substantially stupider overnight 2 years ago (plus lots of other symptoms). Via a postcovid support group organized by a semi government club here in NL she knows a bunch more people with long-term postcovid and this is the one symptom they all share. Might well still be some weird sort of selection bias etc; again, I’m not saying this is generalizable science, I’m saying that my wife got noticeably less smart and it started at the same time as all her other postcovid symptoms.
  - cjk2 3y ago
    I would be careful with some of the self-help groups. They can reinforce symptoms rather than improve them. A case in point is a friend of mine who thought she had post-covid symptoms and cognitive decline. She went to a similar group and found a lot of very miserable people with depression. When talking to them they had similar stories of lost relatives, lost jobs and general social decline. But all had a common thing which was they weren't dealing with those issues in a healthy ways. It was turning into a drinking club pretty much after the event was over. Even if you had problems this would exacerbate them over time. There was a hefty dividing line among my friendship group after covid which was people who went down that route and people who went down the health and fitness route. The latter seem to be doing much better in all aspects even if they started in the former group. I was running 10km once a week before. It knocked me off my feet entirely and I don't run often now which got to me for a few months. But I fought it and can do that again now if I need to. It hurt that it did that to me but it taught me how fragile things are. Also to note I'm a qualified mathematician but some days to months I can't add numbers together and this turns out mostly to be I'm tired or not in the right state of mind rather than anything persistent. Lots of causes - best to look for the obvious ones first.
    - skrebbel 3y ago
      Yeah, well aware. Fortunately her group is an impressively can-do-attitude bunch, and she’s getting very concrete ideas from it. I think it helps that it was organized by a government-y instance who did some checking, and isn’t some facebook group turned physical or sth. (Also, no drinking. That would be madness. Nobody in that group drinks at all anymore, it would set back their recovery by a lot) For example, she had a cold last march which totally knocked her remaining bits of physical energy out of her, and she worried that she wouldn’t be able to come on a planned family trip to the zoo, because of the lengthy walking involved. She shared that worry in the group and another woman said “but then just rent a wheelchair at the entrance and get yourself rolled around most of the time! That’s kinda confronting, “I’m now a person who sometimes needs a wheelchair”, but it’s also very constructive and awesome if you get over that and it helps you get out of the house. We did that trip, it was super awkward (esp when she stood up from the wheelchair and everybody could see that well actually, her legs work fine), and we had a great time and for the first time after a big outing she wasn’t sick in bed for 3 days after. Btw, a sidenote, “just go sporting” is terrible advice for people with heavy postcovid. Look up “post exertional malaise”. You gotta build it up very carefully, never push yourself too hard. It’s very hard but it appears to work (given enough patience).
      - kadkadels 3y ago
        Don't worry about it being awkward, there are many reasons for being in a wheelchair besides not being able to walk at all. I mean, the fact that wheelchairs are provided at the entrance indicates that there is a demand from individuals who can walk to access them.
        skrebbel 3y ago
        Nice observation! Appreciate this
    - resource_waste 3y ago
      I'm pretty scared to look into many mental health issues. I know a buddy who had a super mild case of tourette syndrome but after he researched things started getting worse. On a similar note, I had some mild PTSD symptoms until I looked into it, then I started having additional symptoms(or at least I was noticing them now). On the flip side having ChatGPT4 combine my PTSD with phenomenology, positive psychology, and CBT, I think I'm close to cured. My favorite part was being able to disagree with chatGPT. When I disagree with humans, I feel like I was getting stuck in a loop.
  - nine_k 3y ago
    Cam relate. After a month of being floored by COVID in 2020 (thankfully without a need for forced ventilation), I had pretty terrible brain fog. After a year, the fog was gone, but to this day many mental tasks take more effort and time, even though I can still do them again.
sneak 3y ago
I have a very math-heavy competitive hobby which I found myself suddenly very bad at (relative to my previous performance) for 6-8 weeks after all my other covid symptoms were gone. I appear to have recovered within 90 days, but I don’t know if I was left with permanent damage or not. I had no way to objectively test.
- yyyfb 3y ago
  Your competitive performance level seems like a pretty objective way to test
  - regularfry 3y ago
    I've noticed this with bullet chess, although not with reference to COVID specifically. My rating (such as it is) is extremely sensitive to mental health issues.
  - sneak 3y ago
    There’s too much noise in the signal, and it’s also a skill gradient that I have been climbing for years. I don’t have enough samples to compare, and the samples don’t share enough similar context anymore. If covid was a bioweapon, it was a very well-planned one.
underdeserver 3y ago
How long ago was she sick? For me it's gotten better. I got sick in August 2021, the major effects (fatigue and brain fog) were most pronounced between September and February, and I've been steadily improving since. I think I'm somewhere around 80% pre-Covid capacity most days.
- skrebbel 3y ago
  Woa this is a great thing to hear actually. She got sick January 2022 so a bit over 2 years now. Our current fear is that this is the kind of thing where either you recover within ~2 years or it’s forever. Appreciate your story and will share with her. Her other symptoms, particularly the fatigue, do seem to improve (though the weather and being about to be outside impacts it a lot, so she had a huge setback 2 winters in a row now), though very slowly. I like hearing that for you the brain thing has improved over time too, thanks!
  - underdeserver 3y ago
    Happy my story can help. It's been a long ride, coming up on three years. Because of the symptoms I was prompted to invest in self improvement as well. I am much more diligent about regularly exercising, eating better, minding my mental health* and minding my sleep; and there are still bad days where I can't concentrate at all. But things are getting better overall. * Every day I don't read or watch the news I'm happier.
    - skrebbel 3y ago
      The news trick really helps huh. We do it too and wow
      - playing_colours 3y ago
        Have you tried autoimmune protocol diet? Anecdotally, but it may help.
  - pjerem 3y ago
jeffhuys 3y ago
Has she been vaccinated? How many times?
- defrost 3y ago
  Australia has a population of 26 million, longer life expectancy than the USofA, and comprehensive medical records going back many decades. With ~98% of the population COVID vaccinated multiple times any vaccine effects would stick out like dogs balls. If anyone wants to posit "vaccines cause { stupid | strokes | etc }" Then such correlations should be readily apparent in the before | after records of 26 million test subjects.
  - logicchains 3y ago
    Australia's excess death rate is still higher than pre-covid: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/mortality-rates-australia-covid-excess/103241640 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/mortality-rates-austr... . If the Australian government released the data it'd be trivial to identify whether these deaths were concentrated in the vaccinated or the unvaccinated, but so far it hasn't released such data (if it even possesses such data in aggregate format).
    - kadkadels 3y ago
      Well, in that case, good that Australia isn't the only country in the world: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsbyvaccinationstatusengland https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde... which clearly shows that all-cause deaths in England were higher among the unvaccinated. Here is a Reuters fact check: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-link-uk-excess-deaths-covid-19-vaccines-2024-02-06 https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-link-uk-exces...
      - armchairdweller 3y ago
        The UK ONS data used to have the obvious flaw that people dropping dead 3 days after their first dose were defined as „unvaccinated“. In this regard, the significant uptick in deaths in summer 2021 in „unvaccinated“ looked interesting to say the least. How are they doing their definitions now? Could not find it. Meanwhile this new Dutch data looks quite interesting, maybe someone here would like to give it a shot: https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/rapportages/2022/sterfte-en-oversterfte-in-2020-en-2021/samenvatting https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/rapportages/2022/sterfte-e... https://opendata.ecdc.europa.eu/covid19/ https://opendata.ecdc.europa.eu/covid19/ By now there is a hell lot of data pointing at issues with the novel pharmaceutical product. Meanwhile governments all over the world continue to be reluctant to issue data on e.g. „long covid“ or immune system problems in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, although this data would settle the debate once and for all if its outcome is in favor of getting the shots. „Fact checkers“ have been shown again and again to be politically biased up to active manipulation. Only people who always agree with the politics they want to push have not noticed at this point.
nirui 3y ago
Odd. I also felt that my memory is not as good as it was used to, and I experiences Doorway effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect) more frequently in recent years compare to before. But I'm not really sure it was due to COVID or just simply being old (or due to been forced to live in a confined space for long period of time).
- dguest 3y ago
  I always thought "getting old" was in part an accumulation of damage from infections and slow wear on the body.
- sorwin 3y ago
  This seems to be the issue - we're trying to study COVID, which affected literally the whole population of earth at this point, and we have no control group of people who have not been affected. People have gotten older, have gone through mass societal change, and any other number of things in between.
  - prmoustache 3y ago
    Also in every study we need a control group. How do you know for sure that the control group didn't get COVID. For all I know there is no way to know for sure you haven't been infected or sick of Covid in those 4 years, it is not like testing has been very reliable.
    - lelanthran 3y ago
      > How do you know for sure that the control group didn't get COVID. I dunno if that is relevant - it's the symptoms (brain inflammation[1]) that is hypothesised to correspond with lower cognitive function. Even if you did have COVID, but didn't get brain inflammation[1], you can still serve as a control. [1] I say "brain inflammation"; the exact mechanism is explained by a comment upthread.
    - lazyasciiart 3y ago
changelink 3y ago
My girlfriend has pretty bad post-covid, the thing that helped her most was getting on Citalopram. There's suspicions that many SSRI's have a anti-inflammatory effect on the brain, which might be the mechanism. She's currently in oxygen therapy, we're positive about the effects but since it's dominating her life (and energy) at the moment it's hard to say what the effect is.
- vertis 3y ago
  SSRIs have some nasty side effects though, including sexual dysfunction.
  - changelink 3y ago
    For sure, but so does heavy post-covid. It's a trade-off that's well worth it for her. It improved her memory and brain clarity a fair bit to the point that it's doable to get through the days hoping for a cure (or at least a way to get back to a normal life).
    - vertis 3y ago
      FWIW anxiety also results in exhaustion and brain fog, so I'm not surprised that it's had a positive impact in this way, it's just unfortunate that it's not without it's downsides.
vertis 3y ago
I watched my partner have a very bad run in with Epstein-Barr Virus (a decade ago). Wiped her out for months and months. It took years before she was back to 100%. It might not be clear what all the causes of long-covid, brain fog are but it's definitely possible for viruses to have long lasting and poorly studied impacts.
- eleveriven 3y ago
  And I think these long-term effects requires ongoing research and attention
piva00 3y ago
I got infected with COVID twice, thankfully only after being vaccinated and didn't experience heavy physical effects but the cognitive issues I had on my first infection triggered a really bad anxiety. At some point I was playing chess with my girlfriend after 4-5 days from getting symptoms, after 3 moves (so pretty much still in the beginning of the openings) my brain simply could not understand what I was trying to do, like I couldn't connect a previous thought to the next, there was an impassable barrier between these thoughts that I couldn't get through. It got worse when I realised I had no idea what I was doing and while looking at the board I couldn't remember how the pieces moved, I looked at my bishop on the board and couldn't think where it could go. I started to cry, my whole job is to think things through, connect diverging thoughts, I got extremely scared I was going to lose this basic ability that enables me to do my job... I lost the senses of smell and taste for about 10 days so definitely had neurological issues from COVID, the feeling of not being able to think properly was the worse of the feelings. The fever was ok, never broke too high and it was short-lived for about a couple of hours, feeling my heart was not comfortable but bearable and I wouldn't get too tired. I'm so glad it was temporary, and so sorry for your wife having this lingering on her, I do not wish it to anyone.
strogonoff 3y ago
There is an interesting paper (the main author seems to be from Netherlands, too) about potential mechanism of action that makes Covid infections have long-term repercussions published last year at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1150105/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10..... > Based on these data, we hypothesize that the shift to anaerobic respiration causes an acid-base disruption that can affect every organ system and underpins the symptoms of PASC. (Brain, of course, is also an organ, so brain fog and reduction in mental capabilities could easily fall under this.)
user568439 3y ago
My wife who is more than 2 years sick with Long/Post Covid, lost almost everything because of it, her body and her brain. She had almost perfect memory and spoke 5 languages fluently by the age of 30 while learning Chinese as a 6th. She had a promising career in the medicine field and was also quite a good painter and other crafts (not famous though). We were hiking regularly to very high mountains and doing a lot of activities. Now she spends most of the day in bed and the rest on the sofa and she can’t barely do anything, only crochet… maybe some cooking. Not even watch movies that have too much action, so she is watching black and white series now to have something to do without getting cognitively burnout. She lost her memory, her capacity to think, she has chronic fatigue and many other weird symptoms like easily getting senses overwhelmed by simple noises or smells. We went to a lot of doctors, tried a few “remedies” from small scientific studies and internet: metformin, nicotine, lidocaine, multiple supplements and vitamins, some antivirals and many other things. Nobody is able to help her and most of doctors don’t even try to help or know anything about this new and growing condition. Of course always the “psychosomatic” smart ass appears, but there are enough proofs already to tell them to shut up. Even the NIH director mentioned viral persistence found body tissues in a recent talk [1]. At least the awareness is growing and there are s lot of studies going on. So still some hope, but it won’t come fast. [1] https://x.com/californiacodes/status/1780099073468764415 https://x.com/californiacodes/status/1780099073468764415
- gn4d 3y ago
  >Of course always the “psychosomatic” smart ass appears, but there are enough proofs already to tell them to shut up. Yup, and, right on cue, they're all over this thread already coping. Sorry to hear about your wife's situation.
eleveriven 3y ago
My memory also suffered after COVID. Additionally, I've noticed that I become tired more quickly after reading books

TheFreim 3y ago

Could it be that she's simply out of practice?

skrebbel 3y ago
I doubt it. It’s not like you ever stop practicing remembering things or doing everyday math tasks. Look, this is anecdata. I’m not making a claim about this article. I just know that my wife got substantially stupider overnight 2 years ago (plus lots of other symptoms). Via a postcovid support group organized by a semi government club here in NL she knows a bunch more people with long-term postcovid and this is the one symptom they all share. Might well still be some weird sort of selection bias etc; again, I’m not saying this is generalizable science, I’m saying that my wife got noticeably less smart and it started at the same time as all her other postcovid symptoms.
- cjk2 3y ago
  I would be careful with some of the self-help groups. They can reinforce symptoms rather than improve them. A case in point is a friend of mine who thought she had post-covid symptoms and cognitive decline. She went to a similar group and found a lot of very miserable people with depression. When talking to them they had similar stories of lost relatives, lost jobs and general social decline. But all had a common thing which was they weren't dealing with those issues in a healthy ways. It was turning into a drinking club pretty much after the event was over. Even if you had problems this would exacerbate them over time. There was a hefty dividing line among my friendship group after covid which was people who went down that route and people who went down the health and fitness route. The latter seem to be doing much better in all aspects even if they started in the former group. I was running 10km once a week before. It knocked me off my feet entirely and I don't run often now which got to me for a few months. But I fought it and can do that again now if I need to. It hurt that it did that to me but it taught me how fragile things are. Also to note I'm a qualified mathematician but some days to months I can't add numbers together and this turns out mostly to be I'm tired or not in the right state of mind rather than anything persistent. Lots of causes - best to look for the obvious ones first.
  - skrebbel 3y ago
    Yeah, well aware. Fortunately her group is an impressively can-do-attitude bunch, and she’s getting very concrete ideas from it. I think it helps that it was organized by a government-y instance who did some checking, and isn’t some facebook group turned physical or sth. (Also, no drinking. That would be madness. Nobody in that group drinks at all anymore, it would set back their recovery by a lot) For example, she had a cold last march which totally knocked her remaining bits of physical energy out of her, and she worried that she wouldn’t be able to come on a planned family trip to the zoo, because of the lengthy walking involved. She shared that worry in the group and another woman said “but then just rent a wheelchair at the entrance and get yourself rolled around most of the time! That’s kinda confronting, “I’m now a person who sometimes needs a wheelchair”, but it’s also very constructive and awesome if you get over that and it helps you get out of the house. We did that trip, it was super awkward (esp when she stood up from the wheelchair and everybody could see that well actually, her legs work fine), and we had a great time and for the first time after a big outing she wasn’t sick in bed for 3 days after. Btw, a sidenote, “just go sporting” is terrible advice for people with heavy postcovid. Look up “post exertional malaise”. You gotta build it up very carefully, never push yourself too hard. It’s very hard but it appears to work (given enough patience).
    - kadkadels 3y ago
      Don't worry about it being awkward, there are many reasons for being in a wheelchair besides not being able to walk at all. I mean, the fact that wheelchairs are provided at the entrance indicates that there is a demand from individuals who can walk to access them.
      - skrebbel 3y ago
        Nice observation! Appreciate this
  - resource_waste 3y ago
    I'm pretty scared to look into many mental health issues. I know a buddy who had a super mild case of tourette syndrome but after he researched things started getting worse. On a similar note, I had some mild PTSD symptoms until I looked into it, then I started having additional symptoms(or at least I was noticing them now). On the flip side having ChatGPT4 combine my PTSD with phenomenology, positive psychology, and CBT, I think I'm close to cured. My favorite part was being able to disagree with chatGPT. When I disagree with humans, I feel like I was getting stuck in a loop.
- nine_k 3y ago
  Cam relate. After a month of being floored by COVID in 2020 (thankfully without a need for forced ventilation), I had pretty terrible brain fog. After a year, the fog was gone, but to this day many mental tasks take more effort and time, even though I can still do them again.

sneak 3y ago

I have a very math-heavy competitive hobby which I found myself suddenly very bad at (relative to my previous performance) for 6-8 weeks after all my other covid symptoms were gone. I appear to have recovered within 90 days, but I don’t know if I was left with permanent damage or not. I had no way to objectively test.

yyyfb 3y ago
Your competitive performance level seems like a pretty objective way to test
- regularfry 3y ago
  I've noticed this with bullet chess, although not with reference to COVID specifically. My rating (such as it is) is extremely sensitive to mental health issues.
- sneak 3y ago
  There’s too much noise in the signal, and it’s also a skill gradient that I have been climbing for years. I don’t have enough samples to compare, and the samples don’t share enough similar context anymore. If covid was a bioweapon, it was a very well-planned one.

underdeserver 3y ago

How long ago was she sick? For me it's gotten better. I got sick in August 2021, the major effects (fatigue and brain fog) were most pronounced between September and February, and I've been steadily improving since. I think I'm somewhere around 80% pre-Covid capacity most days.

skrebbel 3y ago
Woa this is a great thing to hear actually. She got sick January 2022 so a bit over 2 years now. Our current fear is that this is the kind of thing where either you recover within ~2 years or it’s forever. Appreciate your story and will share with her. Her other symptoms, particularly the fatigue, do seem to improve (though the weather and being about to be outside impacts it a lot, so she had a huge setback 2 winters in a row now), though very slowly. I like hearing that for you the brain thing has improved over time too, thanks!
- underdeserver 3y ago
  Happy my story can help. It's been a long ride, coming up on three years. Because of the symptoms I was prompted to invest in self improvement as well. I am much more diligent about regularly exercising, eating better, minding my mental health* and minding my sleep; and there are still bad days where I can't concentrate at all. But things are getting better overall. * Every day I don't read or watch the news I'm happier.
  - skrebbel 3y ago
    The news trick really helps huh. We do it too and wow
    - playing_colours 3y ago
      Have you tried autoimmune protocol diet? Anecdotally, but it may help.
- pjerem 3y ago

jeffhuys 3y ago

Has she been vaccinated? How many times?

defrost 3y ago
Australia has a population of 26 million, longer life expectancy than the USofA, and comprehensive medical records going back many decades. With ~98% of the population COVID vaccinated multiple times any vaccine effects would stick out like dogs balls. If anyone wants to posit "vaccines cause { stupid | strokes | etc }" Then such correlations should be readily apparent in the before | after records of 26 million test subjects.
- logicchains 3y ago
  Australia's excess death rate is still higher than pre-covid: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/mortality-rates-australia-covid-excess/103241640 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-20/mortality-rates-austr... . If the Australian government released the data it'd be trivial to identify whether these deaths were concentrated in the vaccinated or the unvaccinated, but so far it hasn't released such data (if it even possesses such data in aggregate format).
  - kadkadels 3y ago
    Well, in that case, good that Australia isn't the only country in the world: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsbyvaccinationstatusengland https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde... which clearly shows that all-cause deaths in England were higher among the unvaccinated. Here is a Reuters fact check: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-link-uk-excess-deaths-covid-19-vaccines-2024-02-06 https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-link-uk-exces...
    - armchairdweller 3y ago
      The UK ONS data used to have the obvious flaw that people dropping dead 3 days after their first dose were defined as „unvaccinated“. In this regard, the significant uptick in deaths in summer 2021 in „unvaccinated“ looked interesting to say the least. How are they doing their definitions now? Could not find it. Meanwhile this new Dutch data looks quite interesting, maybe someone here would like to give it a shot: https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/rapportages/2022/sterfte-en-oversterfte-in-2020-en-2021/samenvatting https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/rapportages/2022/sterfte-e... https://opendata.ecdc.europa.eu/covid19/ https://opendata.ecdc.europa.eu/covid19/ By now there is a hell lot of data pointing at issues with the novel pharmaceutical product. Meanwhile governments all over the world continue to be reluctant to issue data on e.g. „long covid“ or immune system problems in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, although this data would settle the debate once and for all if its outcome is in favor of getting the shots. „Fact checkers“ have been shown again and again to be politically biased up to active manipulation. Only people who always agree with the politics they want to push have not noticed at this point.

nirui 3y ago

Odd. I also felt that my memory is not as good as it was used to, and I experiences Doorway effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect) more frequently in recent years compare to before. But I'm not really sure it was due to COVID or just simply being old (or due to been forced to live in a confined space for long period of time).

dguest 3y ago
I always thought "getting old" was in part an accumulation of damage from infections and slow wear on the body.
sorwin 3y ago
This seems to be the issue - we're trying to study COVID, which affected literally the whole population of earth at this point, and we have no control group of people who have not been affected. People have gotten older, have gone through mass societal change, and any other number of things in between.
- prmoustache 3y ago
  Also in every study we need a control group. How do you know for sure that the control group didn't get COVID. For all I know there is no way to know for sure you haven't been infected or sick of Covid in those 4 years, it is not like testing has been very reliable.
  - lelanthran 3y ago
    > How do you know for sure that the control group didn't get COVID. I dunno if that is relevant - it's the symptoms (brain inflammation[1]) that is hypothesised to correspond with lower cognitive function. Even if you did have COVID, but didn't get brain inflammation[1], you can still serve as a control. [1] I say "brain inflammation"; the exact mechanism is explained by a comment upthread.
  - lazyasciiart 3y ago

changelink 3y ago

My girlfriend has pretty bad post-covid, the thing that helped her most was getting on Citalopram. There's suspicions that many SSRI's have a anti-inflammatory effect on the brain, which might be the mechanism. She's currently in oxygen therapy, we're positive about the effects but since it's dominating her life (and energy) at the moment it's hard to say what the effect is.

vertis 3y ago
SSRIs have some nasty side effects though, including sexual dysfunction.
- changelink 3y ago
  For sure, but so does heavy post-covid. It's a trade-off that's well worth it for her. It improved her memory and brain clarity a fair bit to the point that it's doable to get through the days hoping for a cure (or at least a way to get back to a normal life).
  - vertis 3y ago
    FWIW anxiety also results in exhaustion and brain fog, so I'm not surprised that it's had a positive impact in this way, it's just unfortunate that it's not without it's downsides.

vertis 3y ago

I watched my partner have a very bad run in with Epstein-Barr Virus (a decade ago). Wiped her out for months and months. It took years before she was back to 100%. It might not be clear what all the causes of long-covid, brain fog are but it's definitely possible for viruses to have long lasting and poorly studied impacts.

eleveriven 3y ago
And I think these long-term effects requires ongoing research and attention

piva00 3y ago

I got infected with COVID twice, thankfully only after being vaccinated and didn't experience heavy physical effects but the cognitive issues I had on my first infection triggered a really bad anxiety. At some point I was playing chess with my girlfriend after 4-5 days from getting symptoms, after 3 moves (so pretty much still in the beginning of the openings) my brain simply could not understand what I was trying to do, like I couldn't connect a previous thought to the next, there was an impassable barrier between these thoughts that I couldn't get through. It got worse when I realised I had no idea what I was doing and while looking at the board I couldn't remember how the pieces moved, I looked at my bishop on the board and couldn't think where it could go. I started to cry, my whole job is to think things through, connect diverging thoughts, I got extremely scared I was going to lose this basic ability that enables me to do my job... I lost the senses of smell and taste for about 10 days so definitely had neurological issues from COVID, the feeling of not being able to think properly was the worse of the feelings. The fever was ok, never broke too high and it was short-lived for about a couple of hours, feeling my heart was not comfortable but bearable and I wouldn't get too tired. I'm so glad it was temporary, and so sorry for your wife having this lingering on her, I do not wish it to anyone.

strogonoff 3y ago

There is an interesting paper (the main author seems to be from Netherlands, too) about potential mechanism of action that makes Covid infections have long-term repercussions published last year at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1150105/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10..... > Based on these data, we hypothesize that the shift to anaerobic respiration causes an acid-base disruption that can affect every organ system and underpins the symptoms of PASC. (Brain, of course, is also an organ, so brain fog and reduction in mental capabilities could easily fall under this.)

user568439 3y ago

My wife who is more than 2 years sick with Long/Post Covid, lost almost everything because of it, her body and her brain. She had almost perfect memory and spoke 5 languages fluently by the age of 30 while learning Chinese as a 6th. She had a promising career in the medicine field and was also quite a good painter and other crafts (not famous though). We were hiking regularly to very high mountains and doing a lot of activities. Now she spends most of the day in bed and the rest on the sofa and she can’t barely do anything, only crochet… maybe some cooking. Not even watch movies that have too much action, so she is watching black and white series now to have something to do without getting cognitively burnout. She lost her memory, her capacity to think, she has chronic fatigue and many other weird symptoms like easily getting senses overwhelmed by simple noises or smells. We went to a lot of doctors, tried a few “remedies” from small scientific studies and internet: metformin, nicotine, lidocaine, multiple supplements and vitamins, some antivirals and many other things. Nobody is able to help her and most of doctors don’t even try to help or know anything about this new and growing condition. Of course always the “psychosomatic” smart ass appears, but there are enough proofs already to tell them to shut up. Even the NIH director mentioned viral persistence found body tissues in a recent talk [1]. At least the awareness is growing and there are s lot of studies going on. So still some hope, but it won’t come fast. [1] https://x.com/californiacodes/status/1780099073468764415 https://x.com/californiacodes/status/1780099073468764415

gn4d 3y ago
>Of course always the “psychosomatic” smart ass appears, but there are enough proofs already to tell them to shut up. Yup, and, right on cue, they're all over this thread already coping. Sorry to hear about your wife's situation.

eleveriven 3y ago

My memory also suffered after COVID. Additionally, I've noticed that I become tired more quickly after reading books