We Just Got More Evidence That Long COVID Is a Brain Injury
The exact nature of long COVID is still coming to light, but we just got some of the best evidence yet that this debilitating condition stems from a brain injury.
Using high-resolution scanners, researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford have shown microscopic, structural abnormalities in the brainstems of those recovering from COVID-19.
Signs of brain inflammation were present up to 18 months after first contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
“We show that the brainstem is a site of vulnerability to long-term effects of COVID-19, with persistent changes evident in the months after hospitalization,” the authors of the study conclude.
https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae215
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First lead, now COVID. Pretty soon there will be nothing left in the Conservative’s head except mush 😢
Not like COVID picked and chose. Plenty of people on both sides are suffering from long cov.
But one side was trying their hardest to get COVID by not using masks or trying to use fake masks that don’t actually protect, so the result is that no, one side (the conservative/republican side) had more cases of COVID-19 and thus has more cases of long COVID
I’m not debating that. My point is that statement’s pretty offensive to those who did take precautions but caught covid anyway.
Better not get vaccinated, because the vaccine kills you and covid is just another harmless flu anyway… oh wait.
Seriously though, antivaxxers already have some sort of psychological issues going on, so adding a literal brain injury to the list might not even make a big difference at that point.
I went looking for data, because my knee-jerk was to assume people who get vaccinated are more likely to live, and thus more likely to get long covid.
But here’s what I found. The researchers found that the rate of new Long COVID cases declined with each variant, and that the numbers of cases were significantly lower in the vaccinated cohorts.
I’m just adding to the discourse.
Indeed! Too bad facts don’t work when talking to conspiracy theorists. Regardless, that’s an interesting observation to the rest of us.
COVID makes you dumber, but what happens if you start out dumb?
Even lower intelligence score? As far as D&D rules are concerned, you would get knocked unconscious if your intelligence drops to zero.
Should probably also limit new max intelligence after you regain consciousness. That seems to be the case IRL.
Sounds like a fun (and terrifying) idea for homebrew rules. I asked Mistral to write suitable rules, and here’s what what I ended up with.
–
When a character contracts COVID-19, they must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 15). On a failed save, the character develops Long COVID. The effects of Long COVID are varied and can include fatigue, shortness of breath, and other physical ailments. However, the most feared complication is brain injury.
Brain Injury
Brain injury from Long COVID reduces a character’s Intelligence score. To determine the extent of the damage, the character must make a roll based on their current Intelligence score:
Roll a d20: The result of this roll will determine the severity of the brain injury. Modify the Roll: Subtract the character’s Intelligence modifier from the roll. For example, if the character has an Intelligence score of 14 (modifier +2), subtract 2 from the d20 roll. Determine Intelligence Loss:
- 1-5: Minor brain injury. The character loses 1 point of Intelligence.
- 6-10: Moderate brain injury. The character loses 2 points of Intelligence.
- 11-15: Severe brain injury. The character loses 3 points of Intelligence.
- 16-20: Critical brain injury. The character loses 4 points of Intelligence.
New Hard Maximum
Once the Intelligence loss is determined, the character’s new Intelligence score becomes their hard maximum for the rest of the game. This means that even with magical healing, potions, or other means of restoring Intelligence, the character cannot exceed this new maximum.
Oh, wait. That means that if you do drop to zero, you’ll be in permanent coma for the rest of the game without any hope of recovery. I guess I should add some exception, that allows to you recover back to 1 point, but no higher than that.
The current administration awards you a place in office.
There is no floor except the for the artificial one built out of privilege.
You get an overflow error and become a genius.
Things can always be worse.
The majority of people with Long COVID were vaccinated. (Because the majority of people were vaccinated and vaccination only slightly reduces chances of long COVID).
Also, many long COVID cases happened before the vaccines even came out.
So I don’t think your attitude of victim blaming really works here.
What’s your point? Don’t get vaccinated because it doesn’t prevent long covid anyway? Vaccination saves lives. Period. Even your own statistic pointed out a 2% difference between vax/non-vax in getting long covid, and with hundreds of millions of covid infections every year, that 2% is a significant number of people spared long covid by vaccination.
How do you know that the majority of people with Long COVID were vaccinated. This 2023 study says
Current studies suggest that covid-19 vaccines might have protective and therapeutic effects on long covid. More robust comparative observational studies and trials are needed, however, to clearly determine the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing and treating long covid.
The majority of the NIH’s Recover Cohort (the largest studied cohort of people with Long COVID) was vaccinated.
Recent literature reviews put the risk of getting long COVID at about 10% for vaccinated people and 12% for unvaccinated. So definitely it helps, but it really isn’t a miracle. And the studies showing vaccines had a therapeutic effect on long COVID itself failed replication.
Great. Send the link. Why it’s important, now more than ever, to fact check on the internet
vaccination only slightly reduces chances of long COVID
Uh huh.
Got some data to back that?
I guess I should have been more specific. People who actively choose not to get vaccinated, and get terribly ill as a direct result of their delusional thinking, can blame themselves.
If you took all the sensible precautions, like getting vaccinated, but ended up with long covid regardless, that’s not your fault. You did what you could, but some times even that isn’t enough.
Look, I know this isn’t exactly the most appropriate community to post a comment like this. I do however need to say as someone that has had debilitating brain fog for a couple of years thanks to covid: “…fuck.”
You’re fine, it’s anecdotal but perspectives are still nice to see sometimes. Quite a few people around me had the same issue, a few died. (Yes, they had refused the vaccine)
I just found out recently that a friend i kinda stopped talking to as much that went down the right wing rabbit hole and went from Obama supporter to MAGA supporter(and still is today) was antivax and got covid after his father was hospitalized with it, and was also hospitalized with it, and brushed it off as not that bad. And yes the vaccine was available by the time they got it.
hospitalized
not that bad
You do not get hospitalized for something that’s not that bad. The doctors obviously thought it was bad.
It sucks but the recovery is still possible. I imagine gaslighting and not taking it seriously by people is debilitating.
When you suffer a brain injury from a stroke everyone will be supportive and offer help but when it is long covid people will be like “what? you are probably imagining things” both aliments are recoverable but it must suck to be constantly denied and not treated seriously
That makes 2 of us. Been living with brain fog, memory loss, inability to pick out words when speaking, and now I set something down on a countertop, turn around, turn back and look and I literally can’t see the item I set there. I see everything else, even the countertop where the item is sitting. Generally I either panic or I get pissed at myself for being so stupid. And then all of a sudden, the item magically returns to view as a stare at it.
Oh, and just for fun, breathing is still hard. And all medical testing shows my lungs are just fine and there should be problem. My pulmonologist tells me I’m one of the lucky few to be so chosen-- in jest. (I had to search “lung doctor” because I couldn’t remember the word pulmonologist just now)
The inability to see something I’ve literally just dealt with after a short time has been happening to me for 45 years… since I suffered a TBI as a kid. I’ve never heard someone else talk about not just losing things but the madness of being unable to process the sensory input of something I WAS JUST HOLDING.
Thank you for highlighting this!
I’ve had covid twice now, despite original vaccinations, yearly boosters and wearing a mask constantly when around others. The firsf was likely from a careless dentist and second from an anti-vaxx family member. Thankfully no long covid to make my previously smushed brain even worse.
not a doctor: mild doses of magic mushrooms. anything that helps promote neurological connections/growth would be worth looking into. you’ll still need to retrain your brain as well but you need the cells to do their thing and you to give them the right stims.
Oh, and just for fun, breathing is still hard. And all medical testing shows my lungs are just fine and there should be problem.
autonomic issue?
deleted by creator
Well yeah, that’s where the chip goes
I prefer consuming chips orally. Potato or paint, I’m easy.
Hmmmm lead based paint…
I think it’s important for people to realize:
A very bad cold or flu can totally damage your body and is how lots of older folks go unfortunately.
Covid without a vaccine would have been a terrible sickness.
What bugs me the most is so many people who don’t understand logical fallacies kept saying just wait a year or two and you’ll see mass deaths and weakened immunity… and they are conveniently silent now, probably blaming fires on DEI or something stupid like that.
conveniently silent
Always. When the previous conspiracy theory / rapture date / return of JFK / illuminati plot doesn’t turn out to be true, there’s no talking about it or self reflection, it’s just right onto the next conspiracy theory / rapture date / return of JFK / illuminati plot.
These people are addicted to this feeling that they have discovered some secret that destroys conventional wisdom and sheds a whole new light on everything. They are addicted to this feeling that they’ve found a big lie everyone’s swallowed and they’re going to spit it out.
Every part of their worldview has to have that quality or they can’t hold onto it with their brains. There’s a great deal of straightforward, plain-as-day information that’s totally missing from their worldview because it doesn’t contain the drug their brain is addicted to.
I got walking pneumonia last year. Took some antibiotics and got rid of it, but it basically brought back my childhood asthma. I’ve been stuck with it for about 10 months now. Really eye opening to me how long it has lasted.
A very bad cold or flu can totally damage your body and is how lots of older folks go unfortunately.
That was my view of COVID at the early stages of the pandemic. A lot of people were saying that it’s just a bad flu. I thought it being a bad flu is terrifying.
An even so, having caught the damn thing three times now even through vaccines, I think my view back then was overly optimistic.
I believe the signs have always pointed to it being a one-two punch of lingering inflammation and actual lasting physical damage to the blood vessels, including in the brain. The fatigue symptoms dissipated for me after about a year, but the inability to focus and the shite memory has not and likely will not go away. Also my muscles got fucked by the rhabdo and my EDS got much worse, but hey…
Every new piece of scholarly evidence is good to have.
I need to get my booster
