We Just Got More Evidence That Long Covid Is a Brain Injury | Hacker News Reader

We Just Got More Evidence That Long Covid Is a Brain Injury

sciencealert.com

41 pointsbethemoly13 comments

There are a few papers showing that the spike protein can cross the blood-brain barrier so maybe it's not even necessary for it to 'sneak in via the vagus nerve' as mentioned in the article.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35052867/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36810757/

> Signs of brain inflammation were present up to 18 months after first contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Is anyone still recovering from COVID after 3+ years? If it's not permanent is it still to be considered a brain "injury"?

> If it's not permanent is it still to be considered a brain "injury"?

I'm not sure I understand the assumptions behind this question. If I sprain my ankle, that is an ankle "injury," even though it is not permanent. What am I missing?

Sprained ankles often leave you susceptible to more injuries in that zone in the future, suggesting they may not completely heal.

I'm curious if the human brain can be expected to respond in a similar way.

It is not known what the timeline could be, so injury seems fair to me. By the same analogy it may lead to mental health problems “down the line”.

Makes sense, thank you!

> If it's not permanent is it still to be considered a brain "injury"?

Of course. Injuries include both permanent ones and recoverable ones.

I don't know if I'd call it recovering, but I have absolutely lost a certain sharpness/clarity since having a couple passes

> Is anyone still recovering from COVID after 3+ years?

Yes.

Thousands of people in the US are bedridden with long Covid.

They caught Covid, something went really, really, wrong, and they never got out of bed. They cannot bathe or feed or take care of themselves at all. Some need to be fitted with pacemakers because their hearts are unable to regulate themselves.

That's a fate worse than death. Mortality stats for COVID don't cover that.

My SO still struggles with reduced short-term memory and clarity of thought, in addition to overall reduced energy and capacity.

Her period also went from clockwork to highly irregular. It's better now but still irregular.

She managed to get COVID just after getting the vaccine shot in early 2021, so a double whammy of sorts we recon. Symptoms started after that.

Yes. I had complete lung collapse last year due to having COVID in early 2021. It's a very serious thing, and something that shouldn't be understated. Multiple emergency surgeries to save my life, relearning how to breathe and walk, took up a good bit of my life this past year. Some days are worse than others, I hide it well, but it's nearly impossible some days.

I was a skateboarder before, can't even cruise on it without gasping for breath soon after starting.

That sounds terrifying I’m sorry.

Are there any interventions that would prevent this? What was the acute cause that made the collapse happen?

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