COVID-19 is causing long-term mental health problems in some patients

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/18/covid-19-is-causing-long-term-mental-health-problems-in-some-patients.html

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You see, sometimes mental health issues work for the better: this article will keep me the fuck inside for another fucking decade if needs be. Hooray introversion!

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So stay inside and go crazy, or go outside and get sick. CATCH-19.

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That already was in the blog a week ago:

Someone in the bbs said the study apparently didn’t compensate vor COVID medication that also causes mental health effects.

Just a friendly reminder that:

  • we don’t have that amount of studies for many other diseases out there, so many of them the might come with similar benefits, just we don’t know it.
  • sample sizes are often small
  • these studies need to be replicated
  • any observers long-term effects are less than a year so far
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Not going to read the previous comments or the article because I am crawling back into bed for a bit before next foray into the outside world.

Did they control for the fact everyone is increasing susceptible to mental illness right now and the people they studied happened to see a doctor?

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how we know, for example, that it can lead to long-term heart damage, even if you’re otherwise asymptomatic

It’s worse than that, it can lead to cardiovascular damage, blood clotting which can cause strokes, lung damage, and for some folks the loss in the sense of smell appears to not recover fully (and god knows what other long term symptoms i’ve missed).

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Well, if there’s anything Americans are really good at, it’s making the same mistakes over and over.

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I’'m going to bet that a whole bunch of this is due to the vascular fibrosis that it seems to cause even in “mild” cases. Damage the carrying capacity of enough small vessels in a tissue and you’re going to have dysfunction.

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Since the discussion there is closed, it is worth mentioning here that even if the ultimate cause is the medication, it still is an indirect effect of the infection. So yeah, it’s worth claiming that COVID was the cause. It does help moving forward, though. (Edit: in the sense that it helps avoiding mental health problems by knowing what exactly is causing them)

I personally hope we don’t get much of a chance to replicate these studies, that we deploy the vaccines and have them accepted fast enough to drain the sample pool.

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I’ve been self-quarantining in my basement, trying to avoid passing whatever I have to my wife and kids, for two days. I feel like I have a hell of a bad cold and got the COVID test yesterday but It may be a couple more days before I know the results. Stuff like this haunts me in the meantime.

Assuming I do have COVID, for the sake of morbid argument, what fresh hell is it wracking on my mind and body? If somebody else in my family gets it, what will I have done to them?

I’ve been careful. More so than most I think. I’ve gone out, gotten groceries, interacted with people outside, always with a mask on. Nothing that fits the threshold behavior that CDC warns of (>15 minutes, inside, …). It’s distressing.

[edited for type correction]

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I wish you all the best, and a fast and full recovery.

What helped me through several times when I was to weak to do much, but strong enough to worry about what might happen to me is audiobooks. I have a couple I could make available for download, just PM me if you think that might help.

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That is just not gonna happen. Not in a time frame to meaningfully change the current trajectory, nor for the next 6-12 months minimal, if everything goes perfectly. Now, that time frame is a damn sight better than we had previously, but still, there will be plenty of subjects available for study for a very long time to come.

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That’s very nice of you. I have distractions for now but will tuck this away for possible future need.

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Yep, I’ll bet that there’s a lot of similar symptoms (I feel them myself) that stay-at-home people are resisting going to a doctor about. Until it feels safe enough to visit a doc office and be around others, this is going to fester.

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I would think that people who might be experiencing mental health issues might also be dismissed for it not being serious enough to warrant their attention, I have a friend in the UK who has been told to her face more than a few times by different “healthcare professionals” for her to suck it up, go workout, or change their attitude to be more positive, etc. Really disgusting treatment towards someone who might lose their life in a bout of depression.

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