As someone with ADHD and COVID brain fog, the headline made no sense to me - because the symptoms are clearly different. Oh and one is something you have your whole life and the other shows up after an illness.

Then I read it, and was expecting to hate it after discovering the article is an “opinion” piece by a journalist (with an MD). I still hated it. Here’s what’s wrong with it.

1. The whole article starts admitting it’s a hypothesis looking for evidence. Nothing wrong with making a hypothesis and trying to test it, but that’s not really what’s happening. There’s no new or rigorous research here.

2. The evidence is basically “long covid and adhd both defined by a shortage of neurotransmitters… and some research (n=12, n=1) says ADHD meds can treat long covid.” Of course, the article does admit that for most people, it’s different neurotransmitters (dopamine vs seratonin), and most people who experience long covid see symptoms go away after a few months anyways.

3. The other main justification seems to be the increase in ADHD diagnoses that happened during COVID.