What Long COVID Is Like For These 14 People

[Nevilledog]

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Fiona Lowenstein
@fi_lowenstein
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Today I have a new piece in @TeenVogue detailing how 14 people's lives have changed since developing #LongCovid https://teenvogue.com/story/what-long-covid-is-like-for-these-8-people…

This piece is part of a larger disability-focused package called #DisabilityInjustice that includes a lot of really great articles

teenvogue.com
What Long COVID Is Like For These 14 People
“It wasn’t until this year that I was able to understand my experience through a lens of chronic illness.”
11:22 AM · Sep 20, 2022

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-long-covid-is-like-for-these-8-people

The COVID-19 pandemic has been filled with unexpected and difficult health challenges, many of which researchers are beginning to understand better. But among the challenges that still remain is long COVID — a complex and often taxing illness that scientists can't yet fully explain.

Long COVID (also classified as “post-COVID conditions” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is a group of symptoms that can form a complex chronic illness, triggered by a COVID-19 infection. Symptoms of long COVID are often (though not always) multi-systemic, and can be disabling, including fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, neurological issues, gastro-intestinal symptoms, and post-exertional malaise (PEM) – symptoms worsening after mental, emotional, or physical exertion. Long COVID can persist for weeks, months, or years, and shares similarities with other chronic illnesses, like ME/CFS and dysautonomia, which are also sometimes triggered by a viral infection. Researchers estimate that long COVID may develop in as many as 30% of all COVID-19 cases (including initially mild or asymptomatic cases), though other research suggests much lower numbers. Some cases may go uncounted, and long COVID is an umbrella term that includes a range of experiences. Current COVID-19 vaccines may not prevent long COVID, according to a 2022 study, but they may reduce the risk slightly overall.

Because there's so little information on it, some people with long COVID are initially surprised to be experiencing disabling health issues. For a lot of young people, long COVID is the first time they’ve had to grapple with a chronic health issue, or the possibility of permanent disability. For others, earlier life experiences with disability have provided crucial frameworks through which to understand long COVID-related struggles, like unemployment, loss of relationships, and access issues.

Long COVID can impact everyone differently, and symptoms can be wide-ranging, so we talked to some people who are experiencing the condition. They talk about symptoms, what it feels like to have long COVID, and the many ways it’s impacted their lives. Here, 14 long-haulers describe life with long COVID.

*snip*

[CrispyQ]

1. Just read that 22% of people who get Covid will develop long Covid.

Damn. We're still masking with no plans to end anytime soon. We're in a very small minority when we go out.

[Deep State Witch]

2. Pretty Sure that I Have It

Before I got COVID (probably BA.5) in late May, I was doing great. While my weight loss was at a stall, I was working out, doing Pilates, and generally holding steady. Ever since my rather unexceptional bout with COVID, I've put on 20 pounds, am having trouble breathing, have fatigue, and heart palpitations. I've only recently consulted a doctor about it because I didn't want them to tell me that it was all in my head, and I just need to lose some weight. Anyway, the doctor that I found was sympathetic and willing to listen to me. Ran all kinds of tests. Turns out that one of my lungs has damage. I'm also seeing a cardiologist on Thursday for the heart palpitations.

[Nevilledog]

3. I'm so sorry, but I'm glad you found a good Dr.

What I see most are people struggling to find a Dr even aware that long Covid exists.

I hope get relief.

[XanaDUer2]

4. I'm so sorry

I've had it a month ago, tested negative, but still don't feel well. I worry about LC. hope you're okay

[Deep State Witch]

5. Document your symptoms

and when they started. For me, I was lucky enough to have an endocrinologist's appointment while I probably had it, but hadn't tested positive. (I started feeling sick later that day). I had blood drawn for my normal testing. I'm having it sent over to my internal medicine doctor to compare between it and the one taken two weeks ago.

[XanaDUer2]

6. Ty!

I got this at a mask-optional doctor's office! I still feel the remnants of a cold. 70-yr-old Mr X caught it and had 2 courses of paxlovid. I'm scared still.

Taste seems dulled.

[Delphinus]

7. Thank you

for this link.

Time Magazine had an article today and a short video of four or five women - odd that there were no men in it - dealing with long Covid.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

8. If it follows ME/CFS (which seems to be the same illness) more women than men

seem to be effected for reasons unknown. That doesn't mean that men are not also vulnerable, but women seem to have a higher incidence of ME/CFS and Long Covid. The illnesses seems indistinguishable from one another.

It is a hellish thing to live with.

[Deep State Witch]

9. My husband has it, too

Pretty sure that my husband has it, too. He's probably going to get the same tests that I got.

[purr-rat beauty]

10. My COVID hit the night of Labor Day

It's too early to suspect long covid but my lungs are tight and hurt, I can't clear them either

it's very uncomfortable and is frustrating as I want to ride my bike!

BUT

I am alive and need to be grateful