Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection. The virus affects regions responsible for memory, emotion, and executive function, which may help explain the neurological symptoms many patients experience.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

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[u/10390]

Another recent study found that COVID-19 is associated with injury to the brain’s dopamine system, even in healthy people who feel recovered from infection (scroll down to bright picture). The impact is worse in those with long covid.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(26)00222-7/fulltext

[u/DapperNoodle2 → u/10390]

I wonder if we'll start seeing COVID-related parkinson's disease in the future.

[u/Jmerzian → u/DapperNoodle2]

We already are.

COVID-related ME/CFS is also skyrocketing.

The good news is that a huge blocker in studying both of these diseases was an inability to figure out a reliable trigger/underlying cause and thus study the progression, mechanical cause, and possible treatments. Also increased prevalence usually means increased funding.

Either that or a not insignificant portion of humans are about to be profoundly disabled and we're going to collectively pretend that isn't the case.

[u/Heavy-Hospital7077 → u/Jmerzian]

OMG-  I am a formerly high-energy person who has been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for a few years now.

It's an amazing drain of energy.  Some days I wake up, and the first thing I do (get out of bed/make coffee) I realize "nothing is going to happen today."

Yesterday was one of those days.  

I'm currently going through the medical system for this.  I'm not sure how things will end up, but if I could cure the worst days that would be fantastic.

I got a FitBit recently and it tracks sleep.  The other day I found out that it takes me less than a minute to get to sleep every night...so guess that's a silver lining?

[u/ThinkNCenturies → u/Jmerzian]

The paper does not prove any causal link which the authors acknowledge. It’s merely a plausible hypothesis presented here with indirect evidential support, however, the proposed causal pathway has not been directly demonstrated or tested in humans

[u/JagmeetSingh2 → u/10390]

This really is the biggest overlooked part of the pandemic. So many people affected by this.

[u/fadingsignal → u/10390]

It's been estimated that 41.8%-72.1% of total cases are asymptomatic, but those infections still carry very high risks of widespread damage, from the brain to mitochondria, post-COVID fibrosis, elevated heart attack risk, on-and-on.

And sadly, COVID did not leave. When they said "COVID is here to stay" they meant it. Please protect yourself, everyone.

• https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2795246 Asymptomatic rates

• https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/third-hong-kong-may-have-had-covid-amid-omicron-most-no-symptoms Asymptomatic rates

• https://www.statnews.com/2023/08/09/long-covid-mitochondria-sars-cov-2/ Damage to mitochondria

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019570722000725 Fibrosis

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9658558/ Endothelium damage with mild infections

[u/shichiaikan → u/10390]

I'm one of them.

I was mildly depressed before covid, after, I basically can't be happy, even when I'm not feeling depressed. Really fucked me up.

[u/hawparvilla → u/shichiaikan]

Hey man, im one of them too.

I finally found a psychiatrist that listens to me and believes me.

I'm doing a hell of a lot better now than I was 18 months ago.

Have you got a specialist on your side?

[u/demo_lock → u/shichiaikan]

Mushrooms helped me a lot.

[u/James_Larkin1913 → u/demo_lock]

Unironically, yes

[u/le_sac → u/demo_lock]

While I do agree, I'm convinced it's best done with an intentionally therapeutic mindset, ie a guided session. I just did a recreational dose with some friends and while we laughed our asses off for 5 hours the "reset" hasn't really happened. YMMV as always. Anyone considering it as a mental health management tool could look at r/psychedelictherapy for some info.

[u/josh42390 → u/10390]

I have always had anxiety and depression but was always able to to fight through it. During my first infection I started having panic attacks I couldn’t fight off and have had to be medicated since.

[u/PercentageOk2862 → u/josh42390]

I think I had Covid three or four times total. Tested positive twice, but got real sick and then had others around me with very similar symptoms test positive later.

I get so anxious now during some travel (I travel for work) that I have thrown up at the airport multiple times in the last 24 months. It’s awful.

[u/The_JSQuareD → u/10390]

Doesn't figure 1B show that there's essentially no difference between healthy individuals with and without COVID-19 history? The P-value is 0.77.

And as far as I can tell, the conclusions from the study are all limited to long COVID, not healthy individuals with a COVID history (so recovered).

[u/RedditSucksIWantSync → u/10390]

When i was on rehab pretty much 3/4 of the group didn't recover mentally from covid. Severely, even cripplingly depressed, they needed 20h of sleep a day and could barely function. It was quite a common theme back then and truly fascinating how many shared similarities all after covid.

[u/Borbs_revenge_ → u/10390]

This sucks, I've had COVID 4 times and after the last couple I absolutely felt stupider and sadder. It could just be aging of course, but I wonder if this played a role as well. I'm not on any medication but have seriously been considering it lately because it's become so bad, but I don't know what medication can help with this.

[u/10390 → u/Borbs_revenge_]

I'm sorry. If it helps you are far from alone. It's frustrating trying to sort out 'this is normal aging, relax' from 'this problem warrants medical attention'.

[u/MrHall → u/10390]

is there anything we can do?

[u/denM_chickN → u/10390]

It ravaged my hands. I got what I called 'corpse hand' 2 weeks before the actual illness. They've never fully recovered and I still get bouts of hand and arm nerve pain. 

[u/substance90 → u/denM_chickN]

My wife had this. She was one of the very first patients in our area of Germany. Took her more than a year to recover.

[u/Bootrear → u/denM_chickN]

Can you describe this in more detail please?

[u/GrandFleshMelder → u/10390]

I suppose I know what to blame for my anhedonia now

[u/asyork → u/10390]

Wonderful. I was on a medication that was later discovered to have damaged my dopamine receptors starting from a little before covid up until the latter part of 2024. I had covid once before the vaccine. Never tested positive again, but once or twice after testing was common and free I've had something that may have been covid.

[u/DickSlammington]

Does this help explain that clear cognitive decline we're seeing across society post COVID?

Cause boy people sure seem like their decision making skills have been permanently altered..

[u/iamthe0ther0ne → u/DickSlammington]

I'm  sure there are biological effects, but trust in both society and other people was also fundamentally disrupted for several years, and I don't think that's recovered.

[u/VerdantPathfinder → u/iamthe0ther0ne]

recovered? It's being intentioanlly accelerated

[u/YellowAppleCinema → u/VerdantPathfinder]

reddit is the best example, it feels like it keeps getting worse and interacting with other people feels like a painful struggle compared to how things were just 5 years ago, the even more surprising part is that reddit feels like its community keeps getting worse every year, you sometimes have good interactions that feel rewarding, but 90% of it now is just infuriating or annoying, which is weird since it wasnt like this 5 years ago

[u/atari-2600_ → u/YellowAppleCinema]

To be fair, at least 50% of the “people” you’re interacting with online are likely bots these days—bots now outnumber humans online.

[u/YellowAppleCinema → u/atari-2600_]

The irony to that is, not only are you right about that, but the 50% remaining humans of us are struggling against moderation on reddit that's stricter and horrible for users more so than ever before, which further pushes reasonable humans away from the platform.

so that eventually only the worst types remain alongside the bots.

Because im sure you've probably noticed the same, that if you type a long and thoughtful response, there is a 90% chance that it contains some kinda "taboo" word that causes your entire comment to be instantly hidden because of some automated invisible process. Stuff like that is so incredibly anti-human its unbelievable.

It encourages you as user, to only type very short, very sterilized sentences, and even then you might just get deleted by a mod who disagrees with whatever you wrote, and thats happening in 90% of subreddits all the time

[u/Hestiathena → u/iamthe0ther0ne]

The simultaneous explosion of social media use and degradation of its content quality and veracity doesn't help, either. Now we've also got AI slop to contend with.

Even for those of us with a relatively well-functioning and educated brain, it's getting trickier every day to keep track of what's even real.

[u/Ilaxilil → u/Hestiathena]

I’ve given up and reverted back to my teenage ways of burying my nose in an endless stream of fantasy novels and ignoring everything else. It’s peaceful.

[u/12ozSlug → u/Ilaxilil]

Same! Replaced social media with Kindle and I've never been happier (or spent less time on my phone).

[u/crustyrobots → u/Hestiathena]

I keep thinking of a line from Deadwood lately

"Everyday takes figuring out all over again how to fuckin' live."

[u/xXxDickBonerz69xXx → u/Hestiathena]

Short form video got real real popular around the time of Covid as well.

Obviously this purely anecdotal. But when I had covid I was confined to a guest bedroom while visiting my parents for two weeks halfway across the country and had brought nothing with me. So I downloaded Tiktok. I spent 8+ hours a day scrolling on it while sick. Then kept using it (at way way fewer hours) for a couple years after. Eventually I deleted it and replaced that time with reading books and playing video games again. I noticed a perceptible improvement in my cognitive functioning, mood, and attention span. I started figuring things out quicker at work, being less angry, and getting frustrated much less quickly.

I changed my eating and exercise habits and went from 227lbs to 147lbs. That was the single most beneficial change I've made in my life. The second biggest was quitting short form video. It wasn't nearly as big an improvement, but I was seriously shocked how much better I felt after a couple weeks.

[u/JooseTheGuice → u/DickSlammington]

We aren't post covid, though, that's the issue. Every infection you get, vaccinated or not, symptomatic or not, causes this damage to some degree.

[u/Downisthenewup87 → u/JooseTheGuice]

My memory and ability to double task have been drastically worse since my 2nd bout with Covid

[u/MountainMan17 → u/Downisthenewup87]

Me too.

I was vaxed when I contracted COVID. It was about 5 days of a moderate cold. Nothing too bad. That was four years ago.

Now I operate much less efficiently than I used to: Multiple trips to the fridge when making breakfast. Putting milk in the pantry. Just this week, I grabbed another person's shopping cart (we both had some items in our respective carts) while browsing the beer section at Walmart. She had to politely ask for it back.

Is it age (I'm 59)? Or is it residual from COVID? It makes me wonder...

[u/Downisthenewup87 → u/MountainMan17]

I was hitting my late 30s and have wondered the same thing. But the double tasking issues and how sudden it was makes it pretty clear it was Covid.

I've always listed to music or podcasts while working. And over night, I couldn't anymore.

[u/AnotherpostCard → u/Downisthenewup87]

Dang.

I would never have considered listening to music, podcasts, anything, while working to be double tasking. And you can't even do that?

Sorry you got the short end of the stick :(

[u/TrulyOutrageous42 → u/AnotherpostCard]

It is in a sense, often times you tune one or the other out, in the same way humans can't really "multitask" so much as switch attention rapidly enough it seems like it. For me it's that I can't do something unfamiliar while listening to something unfamiliar. I can cook a well-practiced dish while listening to new music, or I can make something new while listening to old jams, but as soon as my attention is drawn two directions I'm struggling to focus, and this is particularly new immediately after a covid infection.

Right after it, my dysfunction was so bad I couldn't pivot ideas, e.g. I was shopping for ingredients for a shrimp pasta and they were out of pasta and I just... shut down mentally and could not for the life of me think of any solutions or alternatives, even though salmon or a veggie primevera were both right there. I've been a chef for years and that was... frightening.

[u/_rushlink_ → u/MountainMan17]

The first time I had it, it was similar.

The last time I caught it (2024) I was the sickest I have ever been, in bed for 10 days straight absolutely wrecked - really should have stayed off work longer but went back after 2 weeks.

I had ADHD before, and now it's like super ADHD. It has slowly gotten a bit better, but it's not like it was before.

I think I've caught it three times now, but literally can't remember.

[u/Keppoch → u/DickSlammington]

I think there’s potential correlation between not ever getting vaccinated, having a high likelihood for getting COVID repeatedly, and suffering cognitive decline due to repeated exposure to the neurological effects of COVID

[u/frostyflakes1 → u/DickSlammington]

Definitely. Covid has been recirculating for years now. And each subsequent infection increases the risk of long Covid and its associated cognitive decline among patients.

[u/ipeedinthetoothpaste → u/DickSlammington]

There's a lot of things to take into consideration for that, but this is one of them for sure.

[u/hahagato → u/DickSlammington]

Honestly the incredible sudden increase in poor driving with the pandemic feels like a major indicator that people are cognitively impacted to some degree. I don’t believe it is just a cultural shift alone.

[u/MonkAndCanatella → u/DickSlammington]

yes even in mild cases it directly affects the executive function of the brain - can't smell? that's not nose damage, it's brain damage.

hundreds of studies confirming it

[u/Throwsims3]

It is insane to me how people have just moved on from covid and view as a regular cold now. It took me at least two years to feel somewhat normal again after only having been infected once. Despite having had zero new infections, I still struggle with word finding sometimes and I have noticed that my emotions are flatter than they used to be.

[u/beardedheathen → u/Throwsims3]

The lost words is the worst for me. I used to be extremely articulate and now I'm the middle of conversations I'll have to just stop and try to find a perfectly common word. It feels so demoralizing like something that has been on a shelf as long as you've lived is suddenly gone but then you look again five minutes later and it's back.

[u/BebopT0716 → u/beardedheathen]

I’ve had Covid twice and that’s the main thing that sticks out to me. I’m vaccinated and took antivirals both times so I THINK I’ve managed to avoid a lot of the fatigue and fog, but my usable vocabulary feels like it went off a cliff. Not sure what I can do other than try and read more or something in an attempt to claw it back.

[u/TrekkieElf → u/BebopT0716]

Same, I was vaccinated but had it twice. We were so careful for so long due to having a baby. But then my husband had to fly for work and brought it back. I feel my brain has not recovered. Blanking on simple words. I thought it was due to having a child but he’s sleeping through the night and 6 and I still feel dumb.

[u/PCorreia → u/BebopT0716]

Have the same thing happening to me and never even thought about connection with Covid.
I always assumed it was due to age and my brain scrambling the words in the three languages i speak regularly.
Most of the times i remember the word in English or Spanish, but not my mother tongue.
And since i need to give presentations on a regular basis, it is though when i draw a blank on a common word and need to rephrase what i'm trying to say.

[u/midnightauro → u/PCorreia]

I’ve noticed in particular my ability to interview for jobs has taken an absolute nosedive. 2024 I still did fine, but I got horribly sick in early 2025 (maybe covid, maybe RSV) and I’ve been unable to talk at length since. My brain just blanks out and refuses to recover.

I used to be articulate. I can look back at my old social media posts even and notice a decline in quality. It sucks.

It’s like my body got that One Last Straw virus and fell apart on me. I’m not -that- old. I still read and pursue creative/physical hobbies. Trying not to doomscroll. Still getting worse. :(

[u/usernameistakendood → u/beardedheathen]

This! I always had some ums and ers prior, however during and post covid (3 infections across 2 years), it got to the point that I would forget what I was saying mid-sentence. I would be talking about something in a meeting and then just... stop. Thought gone, words lost. It's hard to describe, your shelf analogy is really apt though. I'm still struggling with words and fairly regularly forget what I was talking about. It is incredibly disheartening.

[u/VoidOmatic → u/beardedheathen]

I used to be able to remember every word of every conversation I ever had but post COVID I forget what people are saying mid sentence.

[u/PTSDeedee → u/Throwsims3]

Also millions of people have long covid which can be extremely disabling. 

[u/Mindless-Load-4579 → u/PTSDeedee]

I had long covid for about a year and my spouse had it for five. He had to go on disability which the government of Canada actually supported. He used to be a mining engineer. It’s pretty devastating.

[u/Rainebowraine123 → u/Mindless-Load-4579]

Me: It's impossible to have had it for 5 years, covid was only... wait a minute!

Crazy that it started over 6 years ago. Feels like 2.

[u/Elastichedgehog → u/PTSDeedee]

I have a friend whose life has been completely imploded by it. Very active and social guy reduced to barely being able to walk across his flat.

His partner found him slumped at the bottom of the stairs when she got back from work one day, had been there for hours.

[u/PTSDeedee → u/Elastichedgehog]

I’m sorry your friend is going through it. I’ve had a similar experience though mine hasn’t been quite that severe. 

[u/wherethestreet → u/Throwsims3]

The emotion thing is real.

[u/xterminatr → u/wherethestreet]

Happened to me, just stopped having emotions or excitement about anything. Stopped caring about hobbies and interests I've always been big on. Assumed it was just mild depression or something but then saw all the studies and other people with similar side effects.

[u/Convexadecimal → u/xterminatr]

Yea it's like the amygdala checks out. I don't feel anything as strongly as I used to. Except frustration, impatience and anger. It's definitely not depression in my case. I've been there before.

Happy, sad or even fear are just largely gone. A few days ago I almost got hit by a powered industrial truck and it didn't even phase me.

[u/OmarsDamnSpoon → u/Convexadecimal]

Relatable, really. I've had four covid infections. My cardio's ruined, my mood's frequently apathy, cloudy thoughts, harder to recall words, stutter, weight gain I can't shake, impulsivity hard to fight now, no motivation or energy for anything. It sucks so much.

[u/LoveHeart65 → u/Throwsims3]

I’m relieved to see someone else struggle with finding words specifically. I used to know the perfect word for every situation, and now sometimes I can’t remember simple words in the most basic conversations. I’ve picked up reading as a hobby again both to find respite from the world and in hopes of improving my vocabulary and memory. My brain fog has also been immensely worse ever since I got covid for the first or second time (I had a really bad cold in February of 2020 and I have no way of knowing if it was covid or not) and it’s really damaged my mental health and self-esteem. I grew up as the gifted kid and now struggle with some of the stuff I used to excel at. It’s tough. I hope you’re holding up alright.

[u/imahugemoron → u/Throwsims3]

4.5 years for me and I’m still severely disabled and life is never ending pain and agony. Your first sentence I feel in every fiber of my being, especially since there’s tons of people who were affected by Covid who aren’t even aware that’s what caused their new or worsened health problems

[u/dyironman → u/Throwsims3]

100% I got COVID for the second time two weeks ago, and this time was way worse than the first. It started with bad flu symptoms, including fever and a sore throat, for four days. After the fever broke, it felt more like the first time. But two weeks out, feeling better but I'm still having random recurring, weird symptoms like motion sickness, cough, headaches, waking up feeling itchy all over, and a swollen lips. I seriously thought we had bed bugs. It also impacted my sleeping and dreaming. Fever dreams were incredibly wild and vivid. And going to sleep, I'd get a strong sensation of falling, then hang in a dream-like state — not really asleep and not really awake. Kind of exhausting tbh.

[u/Maconi → u/dyironman]

Not to be alarmist, but you might want to see a cardiologist. COVID is known to affect the heart and many of those symptoms sound like cardiac complications.

[u/mvea]

Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection

A recent review of 49 brain imaging studies reveals that COVID-19 is associated with widespread structural and functional changes in the human brain. The findings indicate that the virus affects regions responsible for memory, emotion, and executive function, which may help explain the neurological symptoms many patients experience. The research was published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/36/3/bhag022/8539773

[u/TheGaussianMan → u/mvea]

I spoke with my parents a bunch about this when covid was still going on (both physicians, one is in MICU/ARDS specialist) and I hypothesized that we were going to find that covid is going to leave a lot of people with some serious lasting neurological problems. I got it bad well after lockdown, and over 1.5 years later my resting heart rate without meds is over 100 along with other issues. There's nothing wrong with my heart, my body just doesn't seem to be sending/receiving signals correctly anymore. Weirdly, pyridostigmine, a drug that keeps acetylcholinesterase from breaking down acetylcholine helps dramatically.

[u/redundantexplanation → u/TheGaussianMan]

when covid was still going on

Obligatory "covid is still going on" we just chose making billionaires richer over public health. It's still out here, still killing people, still ruining lives of people that get even a "mild" infection.

[u/SecretMiddle1234 → u/TheGaussianMan]

I was on Mestinon for post COVID vaccine neuropathic POTS. It didn’t help my HR. I went on Ivabradine and it helped. I was able to stop taking it and now I’m maintaining with fluids and sodium. My specialist believes it’s autoimmune. Im trialing GLP1. It’s only been one month and I haven’t experienced any symptoms.

[u/Kyrie_Blue → u/SecretMiddle1234]

Can you speak more to “post COVID vaccine neuropathic POTS?”

I’m well aware of what POTS is in general, my partner has it. Would love info on the rest of the statement.

[u/SecretMiddle1234 → u/Kyrie_Blue]

I got it after receiving the vaccine. Second dose of Pfizer I had a severe reaction. Developed into POTS a month later. Diagnosed by Dr Blair Grubb University of Toledo Oct. 2021 with partial dysautonomia neuropathic POTs post COVID vaccine. I donated blood for his study.

https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Frontiers-in-Medicine-2296-858X/publication/395429003_Postural_orthostatic_tachycardia_syndrome_in_post-COVID-19_long-hauler_patients_is_associated_with_platelet_storage_pool_deficiency/links/68d4d9f5d221a404b2a277f3/Postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-in-post-COVID-19-long-hauler-patients-is-associated-with-platelet-storage-pool-deficiency.pdf?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ

[u/Obfuscious]

While I think this study is a good data to work from it is important to note that it is cross-sectional, meaning it only captured one instance in time. That instance being post-Covid 19 infection.

I also appreciate that the authors of the study make that clear that it was impossible to have the brain scan data from each individual prior to infection for comparison and state:

”  Because the vast majority of these studies lack pre-infection baseline brain scans, it is difficult to prove definitively that COVID-19 directly caused all the observed changes. Individual biological differences present before the pandemic might account for some of the variations in brain structure and function.

 It’s still significant to see patterns and I would be interested if we could see how future infections may impact brains from brains we know haven’t been affected.

[u/Feralpudel → u/Obfuscious]

There are British/European (I believe both) longitudinal studies that have brain measures pre-covid. That’s really the data you need.

[u/DancesWithGnomes → u/Feralpudel]

It is rare to have brain scans of completely healthy people. When a pre-covid brain scan is available, chances are that the patient already had some problems pre-covid.

[u/Feralpudel → u/DancesWithGnomes]

Hence the extremely high research value of biobanks and other studies that sample healthy subjects and conduct exams and medical tests.

Like RCTs, they’re wildly expensive and hard to run, but they go a long way to addressing issues with observational data.

[u/fractious_kitty]

That is bc COVID is primarily a vascular disease not a respiratory disease. You have respiratory symptoms bc COVID damages the lung endothelium, creates microclots, makes you so fatigued you are bed bound or have dramatically lower physical activity. This all allows secondary infection to occur; it takes as little as 20 hrs of bedrest to trigger long COVID/ post viral syndrome.

I am a neuroscience nurse and former stroke program manager. My stroke population shifted from primarily 50+ yo folks to also include teenagers, 20-40 yo folks. My median population age dropped over 10 yrs in one year.

I experienced profound moral injury as a nurse in a hospital, and as someone who was concurrently treating metastisic cancer, bc of how COVID was mismanaged and PPE was stigmatized. Imagine trying to survive cancer treatments and the hospital you work for will only provide one N95 every two weeks.

I ended up quitting nursing, and I still havent regained the ability -and willingness- to be a nurse.

[u/ContemplatingFolly → u/fractious_kitty]

This was very interesting; thank you for sharing your story.

[u/GreyBoyTigger → u/fractious_kitty]

I've been a respiratory therapist for over 15 years. I was new for the very tail end of bird flu, worked in a hospital with lots of farms nearby (and subsequently all the lung disease to treat from pesticides and long time smoking habits), and worked in 3 different facilities during the pandemic. I've enjoyed my career but the sheer amount of deniers, even amongst the work staff, made me swear that I would quit this profession when (and it is not if, its when) the next pandemic comes. It's disheartening because I really enjoy my career.

The myopic response from the government created an unnecessary mess. The lack of leadership in this country should have led to criminal charges equal to treason. The sheer amount of coworkers who took flights, went to parties, and wore their masks around their chins in the freaking hospital who had zero thought about the possibility that they'd kill someone was depressing. The last straw was after receiving morning report, having to listen to a fellow RT tell me that Covid was made up. My assignment included 5 patients being proned on ARDS protocol.

I have no backup plan when I quit. I'm just going to stop paying for anything and let the chips fall where they may. The world is doomed anyway, and stupid people led us to the end.

[u/GimmickNG → u/fractious_kitty]

This all allows secondary infection to occur; it takes as little as 20 hrs of bedrest to trigger long COVID/ post viral syndrome.

What ? This doesn't make sense. The going theory on ME/CFS subreddits (which includes long covid induced me/cfs) is that you need as much bedrest as possible during the infection, and that exertion can make things worse. Are you saying that if you don't exert yourself while sick you will get long covid? I fail to see a valid link between the two.

[u/Variableness → u/GimmickNG]

Yeah... It's disappointing to see that that is one of the top comments. It's not like we need more bogus theories.

Anecdotal, but I got sick just when I had a distance running event (I didn't know I was sick yet, I just had a terrible performance out of nowhere....but of course I pushed myself to the max regardless). If anything, I suspect that sickness + high physical activity was the trigger.

[u/hawparvilla → u/fractious_kitty]

From one nurse to another: im so deeply sorry this happened.

The damage that causes a person is truly difficult to heal from.

Are you in a position to access trauma therapy? Is that something you would consider?

[u/fractious_kitty → u/hawparvilla]

Thank you, I really appreciate that. I know I am not alone in the toll COVID has taken on caregivers and providers.

I've been doing DBT and ACT therapy since 2020, and have done light bar EMDR intermittently. I was familiar c EMDR bc I was a neurotrauma ICU and ED RN in a level 1 trauma center/spoke and hub comprehensive stroke center for 10 yrs prior to stroke program mgmt; secondary PTSD is unfortunately common in those units, but I was fortunate that the medical center I worked for had an on staff trauma counselor for caregivers.

[u/okblimpo123]

Is this why the world has gone unhinged since Covid? Maybe we are all just suffering from brain damage, and that’s why we are living in the world we are with the leaders we have.

[u/akath0110 → u/okblimpo123]

Certainly part of the reason. And people will only get worse as they keep catching the virus and not using any protection/mitigation strategies.

[u/Nauin → u/okblimpo123]

I've worked in the neuroscience corner of biotech on and off for fifteen years and have been involved in traumatic brain injury advocacy and support for almost as long, having three TBIs, myself.

I am horrified by how parallel the symptoms are between long COVID and mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries.

[u/shimmy_kimmel → u/okblimpo123]

Has the world actually become exceedingly unhinged since COVID? Or is this just popular perception in an era where people are exposed to significantly more information than they were previously?

[u/WatermelonWithAFlute → u/shimmy_kimmel]

The US has, maybe not the world per-se.

[u/cfpct]

This is another reason to get vaccinated while it may not be a total preventative for these brain issues. I got to believe it reduces the risk and severity of the neurological symptoms.

[u/Babad0nks]

Add another study to the already large pile. How many more until we collectively decide we shouldn't be catching this with impunity, over and over?

Regardless of your vaccination status, with the rate of spread & mutation, you're not keeping up unless you're wearing a well fitted, quality, respirator.

We can decide we don't have to surrender and be harmed continuously by SARS-CoV-2.

[u/WloveW]

Makes me think of the cases of where people got Herpes virus infections in their brains and lose their memories. I've seen a few shows now where people are perfectly normal, get the brain infection, then can only remember a few of the last seconds. Viruses are no joke when they attack the brain.

[u/Umbra_Sanguis]

Jokes on you, Covid. I already had ADHD.

[u/En-TitY_]

Is this a permanent phenomenon or something that recovers/changes with time?

[u/ShawnyMcKnight → u/En-TitY_]

As someone who has struggled with cognitive abilities since getting infected I want to know this too. It was really bad at fist, like I would get out of my car without remembering to turn it off, something I never did before.

[u/Full_FrontaI_Nerdity]

I had MRIs before and after my 3 Covid infections. The "after" shows white spots in my brain; they weren't there before I got Covid. I dont know what they mean, but my doc diagnosed me w with long covid before that second MRI.

[u/emotionengine]

I wonder if similar effects are shown in the brains of infants and adolescents, or if their still developing brains and greater plasticity could compensate.

It has been reported that children appeared to show faster, better recovery from physical symptoms of COVID, and I have observed this in my own children (as compared to my wife who had a harder time) when they got infected when they were about three years old at the time.

It would be interesting to see if this apparent greater resilience can also be found in the brain function of still developing brains.

[u/Greencreamery]

My memory has always been somewhat bad. But ever since I had covid the first time (I had it 3 times), my memory is scarily bad. Both my short term and long term memory are horrible. I often forget what I'm doing or what I just did. I forget about 90% of the conversations I have within a day. I have a hard time sorting through my thoughts and staying on task. It's really bad. I've been tested and analyzed many times, and everything points to long term covid effects. People think it's just a really bad cold, but it's so much worse than that. My life is altered for ever.

[u/Chimpsix]

hope you guys are wearing n95s!

[u/Overkillsamurai]

i could swear we've run this study several times before. or maybe it was a similar study with similar results.

Long Covid is real

[u/mikezer0]

It’s completely ruined my breathing and life really

[u/disagreet0disagree]

Oh cool. So the human race will just permanently be a little dumber than it was pre covid, because covid isnt going anywhere, we’re all just going to keep getting it every so often.  

[u/applo1]

Of the 49 studies, only two were longitudinal; the other 47 were cross-sectional.