healthcare
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Emergency departments aren’t trained for Long COVID — and patients are paying the price
What do you call a system that doesn’t believe you’re sick until you’re dying? While emergency clinicians are trained to handle acute medical situations, many lack even a basic understanding of Long COVID and related diseases, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
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COVID-19 triggered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism that led to long-term lung damage. It took two ER trips before doctors believed me.
It started with chest pain. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I couldn’t take a deep breath. I immediately pulled up the internet to search my symptoms. It turns out, anything with the search terms “chest pain” and “trouble breathing” leads to the same advice: go straight to the emergency room…
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This surgery fuses people’s skulls to their spines to treat a condition overlapping with myalgic encephalomyelitis
A growing number of doctors agree that a minority of people with severe ME are like Brea: Some of their symptoms are caused by cranio-cervical instability linked to connective tissue disorders. Viruses including SARS-CoV-2 have been shown to degrade connective tissue, Ruhoy points out, which could be a big issue for people with Long COVID…
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“It’s like torture”: The tilt table test could be risky for many people with Long COVID
“The tilt table test is likely to be contraindicated in people with severe ME/CFS and related conditions,” Harvey said. Studies show about half of all Long COVID patients meet the diagnostic criteria for ME, a disease marked by debilitating post-exertional malaise (PEM). Harvey is not alone. A dozen people with ME and Long COVID interviewed…
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“There is no money to survive”: Long COVID pushes India’s marginalized workers deeper into poverty
While research on Long COVID in India is scarce, studies and people’s experiences suggest that the pandemic has deepened socioeconomic inequalities in the country. Among the hardest hit are marginalized workers, including daily wage laborers and cleaners, whose livelihoods depend on intense physical labor. For them, Long COVID is not just a health and disability…
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A lack of provider literacy is straining people with Long COVID. Training programs for doctors could help.
Across the board nationally, primary care providers are largely uneducated on Long COVID, and typically don’t have the time or expertise to appropriately treat it. But some medical institutions are trying to address this knowledge gap through new training programs and resources to get clinicians up to speed.
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Without clear clinical guidelines in México, people with Long COVID face gaslighting and erasure
The only explanation Jacqueline Ventura can think of is Long COVID, also called COVID persistente in México. But though Ventura accrued a hodgepodge of symptoms for two years after getting reinfected with SARS-CoV-2, doctors never diagnosed her with the disease. Every symptom had an alternate explanation. Like many around the world with Long COVID, the…
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As someone with Long COVID, I’m terrified of what could happen to the Affordable Care Act
Based on my past experiences, I fear that many Americans – including myself – may soon be deprived of the accessible, affordable healthcare we desperately need. Listen to Bobbi Dempsey discuss this essay on our podcast (timestamp: 14:20): It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) saved my life. Nearly 15…
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“Stand Together,” an excerpt from The Covid Safety Handbook
The Covid Safety Handbook is informed by the global, national, local, and neighborhood care circles coming together under the banner of Covid prevention to center science, accurate and non-judgemental information, inclusiveness, and equity in public health. This book draws strength from all the tireless variant hunters and wastewater trackers around the world who struggle to…
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Long COVID Essentials: New resources published
We are thrilled to release the next batch of resources in our Long COVID Essentials series, featuring 32 new sheets! Our first batch of resources in Spanish is now live, along with the remaining English resources. Long COVID Essentials is a collaboration between Long COVID Justice and The Sick Times. The series includes 30+ resource…
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