Does anybody here know much about "Long Covid" and what the experts are currently saying?

[teaboyjim]

A family that are very close friends of ours all had Covid, the kids had almost no symptoms but both parents were quite ill with breathing problems. The father seemed to get better quicker than the mum but then started to act rather strangely. The mum put a pulse oximeter on him (his skin tone was grey) and it was around 80%. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and was given low positive pressure ventilation and treated with some of the new experimental drugs. He has since fully recovered but what is odd is that when he felt better, thought he was better, he was actually acutely ill and probably would have died in his sleep.

It's good that your friends are doing ok - hope they make a complete and full recovery.

 

[Notch7]

Ive heard its long

 

[JP_]

That's quite shocking - especially as he was asymptomatic - I didn't realize it could occur like this - I always assumed (wrongly) that you'd need to be in hospital before it was considered a serious threat

He wasn't, but his wife and kids were. He just had a cough, nothing else.

 

[teaboyjim]

He wasn't, but his wife and kids were. He just had a cough, nothing else.

and he was no age at all

 

[mattylad]

We can all discuss it with the experts once the pubs re open.

I think I have long covid, I have had it for the past 4 years, the constant tiredness, cant be arsed to do anything etc. lol

 

[Mottie]

Only examples I know are a mates wife (late 50's) and Mrs Motties work colleagues husband. Early 60’s. Both caught Covid last March/April. Mates wife is looking to return to work soon. Still has lung/breathing problems. Mrs Motties colleagues husband, still unable to work. Brain and lung problems.

Another story about long Covid but not as serious as those two. So far!
My niece, 31, who is getting married next month phoned her hairdresser to book in for her wedding hairdo. She, like a lot of women, has got some dark roots coming through so she wanted a colour. She’d been going to this hairdresser for years but was told she'd to do a home 'patch test' first. She reminded her that she’d been using the same product for 10 years or more but the hairdresser said a lot of people are reacting to their usual product after catching Covid. She caught Covid along with her boyfriend (a school teacher) last April. Anyway, she did the patch test and the next morning her neck looked like someone had poured boiling water over her. It would appear that Covid can change things that your body could previously cope with so getting over covid is not necessarily the end of it.

 

[JP_]

Speaking to a plumber this morning, a guy he works with never regained taste or smell.
That is really serious - when I lost me taste & smell I didn't notice when things were burning. Not good if your job sometimes involves using a blowtorch.

 

[teaboyjim]

Speaking to a plumber this morning, a guy he works with never regained taste or smell.
That is really serious - when I lost me taste & smell I didn't notice when things were burning. Not good if your job sometimes involves using a blowtorch.

Hopefully Django it'll come back - Looking at things optimistically isn't it true to say that much of the "Long Covid" was where the issues took longer to return to 100% normality so isn't it true that he could eventually have these conditions returned to normal as well so it can't be ruled out that he'll make a good recovery.
Hopefully you've regained some of your sense of smell or will do at some point

 

[JP_]

Let's hope so. When there is loss of taste it is sometimes causes by the nerve endings in the mouth and nose being damaged, and sometimes caused by nerve endings at the brain end being damaged. Seems that if mouth/nose is damaged then recovery much more likely. Mine took about 6 weeks to recover, I think, some people report 12 weeks. If it has been a year then things are not looking good.

"4.7% had not recovered olfaction at 6 months"
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/90540

 

[denso13]

FWIW I believe I am still suffering from an undiagnosed illness since March 2020. It is improving but very very slowly.

 

[Swwils]

If you are worried about long covid symptoms 4 weeks or more after having coronavirus you should contact your GP.

Defining long covid proved challenging, because of the multitude of symptoms reported for it - but its obvious its not a binary "have mild covid and recover quickly, or you be really sick and wind up in the ICU". A key one to explore is understanding the definition of "fatigue" which can be very difficult for individuals to properly explain as it is so multifaceted and isn't a single "thing".

On a more positive note; there are several very large scale research projects and population studies are now looking at the reported symptoms, why some people are affected for months and how we can treat it.

Since long covid was initially patient driven, even named by patients and are/were for a period of time the experts - I think its important for people to support each other as a first port of call - trying not to get into a vicious cycle of anxiety before then reaching out to the now better informed and prepared official resources; that can then apply the treatments when they come down the pipe as the research is done.

 

[ellal]

The ever growing list of the 'virus symptoms' and 'long covid symptoms' just about covers virtually any illness/disease known...

So the biggest danger is the overlooking of treatable illnesses/diseases through lack of diagnosis because so many 'symptoms' are now simply put down to the 'virus'!

 

[SirGalahad]

A family that are very close friends of ours all had Covid, the kids had almost no symptoms but both parents were quite ill with breathing problems. The father seemed to get better quicker than the mum but then started to act rather strangely. The mum put a pulse oximeter on him (his skin tone was grey) and it was around 80%. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and was given low positive pressure ventilation and treated with some of the new experimental drugs. He has since fully recovered but what is odd is that when he felt better, thought he was better, he was actually acutely ill and probably would have died in his sleep.

http://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/3-reasons-why-covid-19-can-cause-silent-hypoxia/

 

[JP_]

FWIW I believe I am still suffering from an undiagnosed illness since March 2020. It is improving but very very slowly.

did you try to get diagnosis? Aren't there some long covid clinics out there for people now?

 

[Brigade77]

"Long Covid" as a description of an illness only exists in the civil service, & the other 2x jobs in the UK, that have employment T&C's that gives very favourable benefits for anyone with a headache & wants a fortnite off.

The rest of you have the choice of either "man up, grin & bear it", or the food bank.