this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024

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Long Covid explanation in new study possibly paves way for tests and treatments, reveals major insights on a potential cause (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 5 months ago by return2ozma to c/news

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[–] return2ozma 41 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Repeated blood samples turned up important differences in their blood: A group of proteins indicated that a part of the body’s immune system called the complement system remained activated long after it should have returned to normal.

“When you have a viral or bacterial infection, the complement system becomes activated and binds to these viruses and bacteria and then eliminates them,” said Dr. Onur Boyman, a professor of immunology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and one of the study’s investigators. The system then returns to its resting state, where its regular job is to clear the body of dead cells, he said.

But if the complement system remains in its microbe-fighting state after the viruses and bacteria are eliminated, “it starts damaging healthy cells,” he said.

[–] agent_flounder 19 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Scary. But I'm glad they're continuing the research and making progress. Article says about 14% of adults get long covid. Potentially quite a few people.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Since there's 8 billion people on the planet and pretty much everyone has caught covid, that 14% statistic means about 1 billion people have long covid

[–] NotMyOldRedditName 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

In Canada they said it was ~~1/8~~ 1/9 had it, and half of that still had it as of June 2023

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago

Do we even know if there might be reservoirs left? Maybe they are there for a reason.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 5 months ago

Why does it take so long to work this out? The complement system is one of the first things you learn about in immunology, there exist standardised blood tests for monitoring it

[–] wolfylow 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Completely anecdotal, but looking back I believe I had very mild “long covid” after my first bout - slight brain fog, slight fatigue, etc - but nothing unmanageable. (Also, I couldn’t be sure they were Covid related - I am, after all, getting older!)

However, after I recovered from my second bout of covid, these lingering symptoms completely cleared up. Like my body had a lightbulb moment “oh this is how I reset”.

So this article really makes sense, and hopefully it’s a step to a cure for all those people still suffering.

[–] DillyDaily 5 points 5 months ago

Hmm, should I try getting it a fourth time? 😂

I managed to avoid it until Jan 2023 when I was hit the first time. Completely asymptomatic, I would have had no idea I was infected if it wasn't for the fact I RAT/lat flow tested twice weekly because of my job.

Recovered fine, didn't have any lingering symptoms.

Then in May I started getting a bit run down, my lymphnodes around my neck and jaw were really swollen and inflamed, and I was chronically congested, but not with any mucus or anything, just felt like my sinuses were swollen shut, and in the first week of June I had my second covid infection, still mostly asymptomatic, no cough or anything, just fatigue and headaches.

The headache never really went away. I've had chronic headaches my whole life due to arthritis in my neck, but this was different, more pressure and in a different location.

In September I got Covid again, and since then I have felt so crook. Migraines almost every week, moderate headaches every day from the moment I've wake up to the moment I pass out from exhaustion. The fatigue never went away but I can't sleep anymore. I'll lie in bed for hours but only get ~4 hours sleep a day, sometimes I'll get 8 hours but in multiple naps. I'm thirsty all the time and can't quench it, but I'm not really peeing at all, even less than usual despite drinking more water. Some days I can't keep food down, some days food goes straight through me, there's no middle ground. My lymphnodes are still swollen and now it's all over my body, not just in my jaw and neck. I've had sinus bradycardia since September and dyspnoea (feeling like I need to yawn but can't, like the air in my lungs isn't getting in deep enough), and my nose bleeds every morning.

I've seen my doctor 8 times since June, basic tests have been run and all they can say is "it's stress and long covid"

Im fucking sick of it. I've had to drastically reduce my hours (and pay) at work, and I miss my friends and all the fun active things I used to do.

I'm still managing to get by, but I wish I had a better understanding of why I feel the way I feel. "long covid" feels just as useless as no diagnosis at all.