Long Covid
There has been a lot of talk about long Covid recently, with people not being well since being infected with the disease. In one article I read yesterday, it mentioned the different symptoms that people were experiencing. While most suffered extreme fatigue, others were affected with an array of other symptoms including tight muscles, achy joints, brain fog, palpitations and nausea among them. I see there are many studies being undertaken around the world to try and establish what is going on with the body to cause these symptoms. This can only be a good thing and may shed light onto some of the other conditions people have been afflicted with such as chronic fatigue. I am sure there is a similarity between these two ailments and hopefully this research will uncover a way to treat it or at the very least, understand what is happening to the body.
Chronic fatigue has been around for years. It often followed a virus, such as the Tapanui flu that occurred in New Zealand years ago. For many patients it hasn’t been an easy ride, with some doctors dismissing their symptoms as figments of their imagination or malingering. This condition has been bad enough for these people, let alone not being believed on top of it. I am sure there will be no doctor who will dismiss chronic fatigue again following the Covid experience and as I mentioned above, hopefully there will be an understanding of the process that is causing these ongoing symptoms.
But it is not just long Covid or chronic fatigue that needs more research. All the diseases lumped into the autoimmune package, such as arthritis, need looking at. These diseases have generally been labelled as being caused by the body attacking itself. I read an interesting book, Medical Medium by Anthony William. In this, he states emphatically that the body does not attack itself. He says the immune system is attacking viruses in the body instead. As viruses are harder to detect, this does make a lot of sense. He singled out glandular fever as being one of the causes. He said following that disease, the virus establishes itself in the body and goes through different stages over many years and a lot of the autoimmune diseases are actually caused by this virus. He also stated it would still be a few years off before the medical fraternity did work this out. I am sure all this research on Covid will help that process. Could it even be that the long Covid symptoms are another stage of the Glandular Fever that has been activated?
Just as an example here, when I was nursing, I had a text book that talked about a disease called non-specific urethritis. Symptoms included urinary ones, such as pain on passing urine along with arthritis. That disease is what we now call chlamydia. Back in the day, it wasn’t realised these symptoms were caused by the chlamydia bacteria. I am sure, just as we now recognize this condition, one day we will see some of these other diseases for what they actually are.
On a more personal note, both Stephen and I have not been that well since contracting Covid in March. Initially I felt ok but then realised I still didn’t have the energy of my pre-pericarditis days. I don’t know whether this is because of the pericarditis or long Covid. But whichever, at least we know there is a lot of work now being done to understand this condition.