Pfizer vaccine approved

[Horse]

Still not had it, although to be fair I can only really say I've had no symptoms as I gave up testing a long way back

Currently getting over a cold right now. Can't remember the last time I was ill. If I've had Covid, it was asymptomatic.

[Noggin]

I know I have had it twice - first because, let's be honest, I was going to get it as had transported loads of tourists in a minibus!! But also because I lost my taste and smell. The second time I tested because a friend I saw regularly was positive.

Living up here, there's a good chance I've had it more than twice, but I haven't had symptoms since that first time of losing taste and smell.

Equally, I've never had flu. I do get colds but never anything worse (with symptoms). Maybe I should avoid going out cos maybe i'm a spreader!! LOL

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had Covid back before it was cool.

I honestly would have said I'd had a cold if I hadn't known about Covid. Mrs D on the other hand lost her taste for 6 months*.

It's interesting to note how it's changed sick leave at work. Every company I've ever worked for has always said "if you're ill stay at home and keep it at home". People actually do it now. Attitudes towards WFH have changed massively obviously as well.

*Long after she married me too!

[Count Steer]

I think I had it before tests were available. Will never know but it certainly felt like I'd got long Covid for 12 months+

[asmethurst99]

I'm sure you can't make any sort of joke about a protein injection.

Genuine chuckle to this at 1030 on a Friday morning….

[DefTrap]

Attitudes towards WFH have changed massively obviously as well.

Yep, we have fair size offices in the U.S and Canada - they're all still 75% empty and there's no huge impetus to go back in. The industry we are in only really needed bums on seats to allow managers to manage the real blaggers and to allow the office-institutionalised to function. Now the playing field has been levelled WFH is no longer where people go mainly to skive or be forgotten by the office heros.

[Horse]

I'm sure you can't make any sort of joke about a protein injection.

Genuine chuckle to this at 1030 on a Friday morning….

I'm impressed that young stud Dazzle will be able to service the entire uk single 'handedly'.

And even more impressed that he thinks most of half the population will accept willingly.

[asmethurst99]

WFH being used to cope with transport strikes mainly at the moment -

[Horse]

WFH being used to cope with transport strikes mainly at the moment -

Wrong thread?

[asmethurst99]

WFH being used to cope with transport strikes mainly at the moment -

Wrong thread?

What I meant was that instead of being used in the context of infection control and self isolation the ability to WFH has been transferred to include coping with rail strikes and yes it’s probably in the wrong thread

[Horse]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... reatments/

Long COVID Now Looks like a Neurological Disease, Helping Doctors to Focus Treatments
The causes of long COVID, which disables millions, may come together in the brain and nervous system

By Stephani Sutherland on February 14, 2023
Scientific American February 2023 Issue

Tara Ghormley has always been an overachiever. She finished at the top of her class in high school, graduated summa cum laude from college and earned top honors in veterinary school. She went on to complete a rigorous training program and build a successful career as a veterinary internal medicine specialist. But in March 2020 she got infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus—just the 24th case in the small, coastal central California town she lived in at the time, near the site of an early outbreak in the COVID pandemic. “I could have done without being first at this,” she says.

Almost three years after apparently clearing the virus from her body, Ghormley is still suffering. She gets exhausted quickly, her heartbeat suddenly races, and she goes through periods where she can't concentrate or think clearly. Ghormley and her husband, who have relocated to a Los Angeles suburb, once spent their free time visiting their “happiest place on Earth”—Disneyland—but her health prevented that for more than a year. She still spends most of her days off resting in the dark or going to her many doctors' appointments. Her early infection and ongoing symptoms make her one of the first people in the country with “long COVID,” a condition where symptoms persist for at least three months after the infection and can last for years. The syndrome is known by medical professionals as postacute sequelae of COVID-19, or PASC.

People with long COVID have symptoms such as pain, extreme fatigue and “brain fog,” or difficulty concentrating or remembering things. As of February 2022, the syndrome was estimated to affect about 16 million adults in the U.S. and had forced between two million and four million Americans out of the workforce, many of whom have yet to return. Long COVID often arises in otherwise healthy young people, and it can follow even a mild initial infection. The risk appears at least slightly higher in people who were hospitalized for COVID and in older adults (who end up in the hospital more often). Women and those at socioeconomic disadvantage also face higher risk, as do people who smoke, are obese, or have any of an array of health conditions, particularly autoimmune disease. Vaccination appears to reduce the danger but does not entirely prevent long COVID.

The most common, persistent and disabling symptoms of long COVID are neurological. Some are easily recognized as brain- or nerve-related: many people experience cognitive dysfunction in the form of difficulty with memory, attention, sleep and mood. Others may seem rooted more in the body than the brain, such as pain and postexertional malaise (PEM), a kind of “energy crash” that people experience after even mild exercise. But those, too, result from nerve dysfunction, often in the autonomic nervous system, which directs our bodies to breathe and digest food and generally runs our organs on autopilot. This so-called dysautonomia can lead to dizziness, a racing heart, high or low blood pressure, and gut disturbances, sometimes leaving people unable to work or even function independently.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is new, but postviral syndromes are not. Research on other viruses, and on neurological damage from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in particular, is guiding work on long COVID. And the recognition that the syndrome may cause its many effects through the brain and the nervous system is beginning to shape approaches to medical treatment. “I now think of COVID as a neurological disease as much as I think of it as a pulmonary disease, and that's definitely true in long COVID,” says William Pittman, a physician at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, who treats Ghormley and many similar patients.

Although 16 million U.S. sufferers is a reasonable estimate of the condition's toll, there are other, more dire assessments. A meta-analysis of 41 studies conducted in 2021 concluded that worldwide, 43 percent of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 may develop long COVID, with about 30 percent—translating to approximately 30 million people—affected in the U.S. Some studies have offered more conservative numbers. A June 2022 survey reported by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics found that among adults who had had COVID, one in five was experiencing long COVID three months later; the U.K. Office for National Statistics put the estimate at one in 10. Even if only a small share of infections result in long COVID, experts say, they will add up to millions more people affected—and potentially disabled.

Most of the first recognized cases of long COVID were in patients who needed extended respiratory therapy or who had obvious organ damage that caused lasting symptoms. People reporting neurological symptoms were often overlooked or dismissed as traumatized by their initial illness and hospitalization. But as 2020 came to an end, says Helen Lavretsky, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, “we started getting to a place of sorting through what was really going on ... and it became very evident at that time that neuropsychiatric symptoms were quite prevalent,” most commonly fatigue, malaise, brain fog, smell loss and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as cognitive problems and even psychosis.

Ghormley was in her late 30s and relatively healthy when she caught the virus, but she had underlying conditions—including rheumatoid arthritis and asthma—that put her at risk for severe COVID. She spent several days at home, struggling to breathe, and then she went to the hospital, where her blood pressure soared and her blood glucose dropped precipitously. She mostly recovered from this acute phase within a few weeks, but, she says, “I never really got better.”

[Noggin]

Interesting (and a bit sad) that there's no mention of the early (ish) connection of long covid with hormone imbalance. For many women of a certain age, it was connected. But I guess unproved? Maybe it was just menopause and not long covid!

I guess these symptoms can be connected to lots of diseases.

People with long COVID have symptoms such as pain, extreme fatigue and “brain fog,” or difficulty concentrating or remembering things.

But it's interesting (probably more to me than you guys!) that they are major symptoms of menopause and for most are easily fixed. But most are misdiagnosed, so don't get the help

[Horse]

People with long COVID have symptoms such as pain, extreme fatigue and “brain fog,” or difficulty concentrating or remembering things.

But it's interesting (probably more to me than you guys!) that they are major symptoms of menopause and for most are easily fixed. But most are misdiagnosed, so don't get the help

There are parallels, perhaps in other medical issues. To pick just two: females present differently from males in autism and heart attacks.

Then there's overlap/confusion with female autism and body image issues, anorexia etc., and with autism and gender identity.


Quick Google found:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3549108 ... ng%20COVID.

[Noggin]

Also, lack of hormones can cause dementia - that does NOT get enough publicity

[Felix]

But it's interesting (probably more to me than you guys!) that they are major symptoms of menopause and for most are easily fixed. But most are misdiagnosed, so don't get the help

I remember talking to you a age ago about my wifes doctor not giving her needed HRT due to it may having a reaction to her mental health meds. He retired and new doc has had her on HRT for almost a year now. Its like living with a new woman

[Noggin]

But it's interesting (probably more to me than you guys!) that they are major symptoms of menopause and for most are easily fixed. But most are misdiagnosed, so don't get the help

I remember talking to you a age ago about my wifes doctor not giving her needed HRT due to it may having a reaction to her mental health meds. He retired and new doc has had her on HRT for almost a year now. Its like living with a new woman

That's blooming awesome So so pleased for you both


An incredible number of women are given anti depression meds or other mental health meds INSTEAD of HRT. Partly lack of knowledge on the part of the doctor and partly the incorrect headlines after an HRT study around 20 years ago. It's been proven that the risks of blood clots with body identical HRT are less than with the 'pill'. And the increased cancer risks are minimal. I am still peeved at the two pharmacists who, when I asked if a female testosterone gel was in their syste. (so I could get a prescription) said to me "why would you want a male hormone?" FFS

HRT balances hormones which protects mental health, bone health and soooooo many other things. And yet still many doctors don't want to prescribe it. I had one grandmother with a form of alzheimers and another who's bones crumbled to a point that she was in constant pain and couldn't move - pretty good probability that both would have had a much happier later life with HRT (although it was also very new back then, so maybe wouldn't have an option). With that kind of family history, I'm doing a LOT of research/reading!! LOL Oh, and the use of body identical progesterone actually helps reverse osteoporosis in a lot of (maybe most) women

[Felix]

HRT balances hormones which protects mental health, bone health and soooooo many other things. And yet still many doctors don't want to prescribe it. I had one grandmother with a form of alzheimers and another who's bones crumbled to a point that she was in constant pain and couldn't move

Wow, That is interesting. Guess who has a fecked knee and hip. Meant to be going in Hospital this Thursday for an op to fix a hole in the knee cap and take away the bit bone that has been grinding away behind it. Op has been cancelled a few times as Covid tumps all but last week was the new op date consultation. Doc doing the op got her an emergency CT scan as the two year old one already tells him the Hip wants done but he now thinks the knee may be arthritis. If so he is reluctant to go in as apparently if so it may spread FAST. He wanted an up to date scan to determine if she want a new knee also. As yet heard nothing so Thursdays OP may just be going ahead but being the NHS they will wait till we drag our arses the 40 odd miles away to the hospital for 07:30 only to be told its cancelled. She has been asking for HRT for over 20 years now. That may all have been avoidable if she got it back then. he is only 55.

[Noggin]

HRT balances hormones which protects mental health, bone health and soooooo many other things. And yet still many doctors don't want to prescribe it. I had one grandmother with a form of alzheimers and another who's bones crumbled to a point that she was in constant pain and couldn't move

Wow, That is interesting. Guess who has a fecked knee and hip. Meant to be going in Hospital this Thursday for an op to fix a hole in the knee cap and take away the bit bone that has been grinding away behind it. Op has been cancelled a few times as Covid tumps all but last week was the new op date consultation. Doc doing the op got her an emergency CT scan as the two year old one already tells him the Hip wants done but he now thinks the knee may be arthritis. If so he is reluctant to go in as apparently if so it may spread FAST. He wanted an up to date scan to determine if she want a new knee also. As yet heard nothing so Thursdays OP may just be going ahead but being the NHS they will wait till we drag our arses the 40 odd miles away to the hospital for 07:30 only to be told its cancelled. She has been asking for HRT for over 20 years now. That may all have been avoidable if she got it back then. he is only 55.

Damn. That's tough. In Ireland they do something called a Dexa scan for bone density. Not sure what it is in the UK. Maybe she could try and get one of those, then if it shows osteoporosis, do some research on progesterone benefits (some docs stil prescribe the coil for progesteroen but thats only for local protection of the womb, not for full body protection)

If she's up for reading more about it all, there's an FB page call 'The Irish Menopause' with a huge amount of info. And the Balance App by Dr Louise Newsom is pretty awesome as well. The FB page shares a lot of evidence based info - not just women saying such and such worked for me!!

I know arthritis is different to osteoporosis, but I don't know how easy it could be for it to be misdiagnosed?

Good luck to her xx