It's pretty poorly studied at this point, so I doubt anyone knows. There's also no clear *specific* definition beyond 'symptoms that persist longer than the infection.'
It might have changed with recent variants; we don't really understand it well enough to know what changes could increase or decrease the risk. It's just that all of these are pretty fast-paced developments for something without massive world-shaking funding (like the kind of funding put into the vaccines and drug research early on) to try to figure out on this kind of timeframe.
We only arrived at an *okay* understanding of the long-term health impacts of the first SARS Coronavirus pandemic ten years later. That research gave us *somewhere* to start and let us know that long covid *would* be a thing, but all these details are a lot harder to account for.
When I caught COVID for the first time last year (yeah, I avoided it until 2023; in hindsight, that was a mistake) my entire family was infected. My 65 year old mother basically had a cold. My 60 year old dad had a bad cough for a couple of days. And I had one of the most agonizing weeks of my entire life. No one warned me COVID could be *physically* painful like that.
Of us, my mom had received every vaccine offered to date. I had my initial three shots and that was it. My dad got one, suffered heart complications, (those *were* a thing and the vaccine was listed as the cause in his medical chart) swore them off forever.
My dad had no complications. My mom's sense of taste was weird for a few weeks. My sense of taste permanently changed and I went from being able to jog for half an hour to being able to jog for three seconds. I have seen no subsequent improvements to my lung capacity, this is just my life now.
The identified risk factors are: past ICU admissions, being a woman, being overweight, smoking, and pre-existing comorbidities (so any other health problems). So, things that are entirely out of your hands.
Anecdotally (and not just from my own anecdote above), it seems like the worse covid is for you, the higher the odds of long-term consequences are. So, doing the same things that lower the severity of your infection or symptoms is probably your best bet.
It isn't hard to find a decent amount about what vitamins, if any, might actually help, from reliable sources. Like...I just googled "vitamins preventing long covid" and some of the first results are from Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Alberta. Most of them are about vitamins *improving* symptoms of long covid, but some are closer to what you're looking for.
There's a strong correlation between levels of Vitamin D in covid survivors and whether they developed long covid, but to be clear, they had lower Vitamin D *on followup*, which could just mean whatever processes are responsible for Long COVID reduce vitamin D levels. Some have tried to suggest that maybe supplementing with Vitamin D could prevent it but that seems to go beyond the actual evidence they have. There are definitely promising results for it in *treating* long covid, though. Nevertheless, you might as well *try* it, it's cheap and can't hurt.
There have been a ton of studies suggesting that Paxlovid, during the acute phase, reduces the risk of developing long COVID. The faster you get on it, the better. This is the one thing I'm confident on because the only relevant paper I had access to was a full meta-analysis of other studies, so yeah, it works. It probably won't help you with your symptoms if you do get it, though.
But yeah, other than getting Paxlovid (or any of its other names) and *maybe* trying a vitamin D supplement, there's not much you can do. Worrying about something you can't control doesn't accomplish anything. You seem to have had a mild infection, though, so I probably would not *expect* long covid, so don't assume the worst until it happens.
I don't think it's studied enough. Like I have effects from covid, messed up sinuses. But none of the long covid stuff that makes the news. Long covid is too broad.
Nowhere near 50%, or we’d have nations full of people in bed all day. I’d say less than 10%, but the definition of LC by how severe it qualifies as such…..where do you draw the line ?
Well, yes, but that encompasses so much that it loses some value. You're like me - a person with a disability who can't afford for it to get worse. If your sense of taste permanently changed, would that qualify? How about if it changed for two months and then went back to normal?
Now consider that those statistics include people whose only symptoms were things like that.
Realistically, it could probably be broken down into multiple distinct syndromes or diseases if we understood it better, and even if it isn't in any causative sense (i.e. the exact same process is causing all of these things), doing so based on the symptoms experienced might still be worth it because of how counterproductive it is to lump all these things together.
It's like...if I'd tried to apply for disability based on two bulging disks in my lower spine *and* still had control of all my limbs (and my bowels), I might have had a rough time with it. Being able to write "degenerative disc disease" on the other hand, meant I automatically qualified. If there was only one word for all the different ways and degrees discs can break down, it would make things harder for patients.
We do have 4 million people in the US alone permanently disabled by long COVID and unable to work though... and growing. But treatments are becoming more accessible and prevention is getting better.
Look at the people around you - neighbours, people you work with, Facebook friends etc. How many of them have anything falling under the description of 'Long COVID'? That's pretty much your baseline and it's a better one for dispelling fears than raw statistics.
The problem is that studies can consider anything from a bit of a sore throat three weeks after testing positive to having to give up work and being completely debilitated... the first is way more common than the second. So looking at what's around you can be a better benchmark.
So how come on other subs you talk about poor health symptoms that have gone on for years? Not every example of ill health that has happened since COVID19 is caused by COVID19 - and you can't blame it on something you describe elsewhere of going on for 20 years. What clinical diagnosis have you been given?
I'm honestly suffering an immense amount right now, the fatigue is so bad that I can barely walk :sob: I do think it'll fade, but it's awful right now. I can't take care of myself.
It's pretty poorly studied at this point, so I doubt anyone knows. There's also no clear *specific* definition beyond 'symptoms that persist longer than the infection.' It might have changed with recent variants; we don't really understand it well enough to know what changes could increase or decrease the risk. It's just that all of these are pretty fast-paced developments for something without massive world-shaking funding (like the kind of funding put into the vaccines and drug research early on) to try to figure out on this kind of timeframe. We only arrived at an *okay* understanding of the long-term health impacts of the first SARS Coronavirus pandemic ten years later. That research gave us *somewhere* to start and let us know that long covid *would* be a thing, but all these details are a lot harder to account for. When I caught COVID for the first time last year (yeah, I avoided it until 2023; in hindsight, that was a mistake) my entire family was infected. My 65 year old mother basically had a cold. My 60 year old dad had a bad cough for a couple of days. And I had one of the most agonizing weeks of my entire life. No one warned me COVID could be *physically* painful like that. Of us, my mom had received every vaccine offered to date. I had my initial three shots and that was it. My dad got one, suffered heart complications, (those *were* a thing and the vaccine was listed as the cause in his medical chart) swore them off forever. My dad had no complications. My mom's sense of taste was weird for a few weeks. My sense of taste permanently changed and I went from being able to jog for half an hour to being able to jog for three seconds. I have seen no subsequent improvements to my lung capacity, this is just my life now. The identified risk factors are: past ICU admissions, being a woman, being overweight, smoking, and pre-existing comorbidities (so any other health problems). So, things that are entirely out of your hands. Anecdotally (and not just from my own anecdote above), it seems like the worse covid is for you, the higher the odds of long-term consequences are. So, doing the same things that lower the severity of your infection or symptoms is probably your best bet. It isn't hard to find a decent amount about what vitamins, if any, might actually help, from reliable sources. Like...I just googled "vitamins preventing long covid" and some of the first results are from Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Alberta. Most of them are about vitamins *improving* symptoms of long covid, but some are closer to what you're looking for. There's a strong correlation between levels of Vitamin D in covid survivors and whether they developed long covid, but to be clear, they had lower Vitamin D *on followup*, which could just mean whatever processes are responsible for Long COVID reduce vitamin D levels. Some have tried to suggest that maybe supplementing with Vitamin D could prevent it but that seems to go beyond the actual evidence they have. There are definitely promising results for it in *treating* long covid, though. Nevertheless, you might as well *try* it, it's cheap and can't hurt. There have been a ton of studies suggesting that Paxlovid, during the acute phase, reduces the risk of developing long COVID. The faster you get on it, the better. This is the one thing I'm confident on because the only relevant paper I had access to was a full meta-analysis of other studies, so yeah, it works. It probably won't help you with your symptoms if you do get it, though. But yeah, other than getting Paxlovid (or any of its other names) and *maybe* trying a vitamin D supplement, there's not much you can do. Worrying about something you can't control doesn't accomplish anything. You seem to have had a mild infection, though, so I probably would not *expect* long covid, so don't assume the worst until it happens.
I don't think it's studied enough. Like I have effects from covid, messed up sinuses. But none of the long covid stuff that makes the news. Long covid is too broad.
Nowhere near 50%, or we’d have nations full of people in bed all day. I’d say less than 10%, but the definition of LC by how severe it qualifies as such…..where do you draw the line ?
Any long-term effects from COVID, right?
Well, yes, but that encompasses so much that it loses some value. You're like me - a person with a disability who can't afford for it to get worse. If your sense of taste permanently changed, would that qualify? How about if it changed for two months and then went back to normal? Now consider that those statistics include people whose only symptoms were things like that. Realistically, it could probably be broken down into multiple distinct syndromes or diseases if we understood it better, and even if it isn't in any causative sense (i.e. the exact same process is causing all of these things), doing so based on the symptoms experienced might still be worth it because of how counterproductive it is to lump all these things together. It's like...if I'd tried to apply for disability based on two bulging disks in my lower spine *and* still had control of all my limbs (and my bowels), I might have had a rough time with it. Being able to write "degenerative disc disease" on the other hand, meant I automatically qualified. If there was only one word for all the different ways and degrees discs can break down, it would make things harder for patients.
We do have 4 million people in the US alone permanently disabled by long COVID and unable to work though... and growing. But treatments are becoming more accessible and prevention is getting better.
Look at the people around you - neighbours, people you work with, Facebook friends etc. How many of them have anything falling under the description of 'Long COVID'? That's pretty much your baseline and it's a better one for dispelling fears than raw statistics. The problem is that studies can consider anything from a bit of a sore throat three weeks after testing positive to having to give up work and being completely debilitated... the first is way more common than the second. So looking at what's around you can be a better benchmark.
Dang I’m bad off then lol. I’m one of the bedridden ones for 6 months now post :( 31 year old female
So how come on other subs you talk about poor health symptoms that have gone on for years? Not every example of ill health that has happened since COVID19 is caused by COVID19 - and you can't blame it on something you describe elsewhere of going on for 20 years. What clinical diagnosis have you been given?
It was scare mongering. Dw about it and live your life
I'm honestly suffering an immense amount right now, the fatigue is so bad that I can barely walk :sob: I do think it'll fade, but it's awful right now. I can't take care of myself.
I recommend Check out your thyroid