Yeah, it’s gotten so bad that I don’t feel like posting here anymore. Honestly may leave

I think in some ways that could work.

I think a better one may be fish living in a tank that suddenly had its filter break (fish being the brain, and the filter being the BBB).

Not exactly—although an MRI w/wout contrast may show some microvascular ischemia or cortical volume loss. Based on the study there may be some clues from secondary inflammatory markers, but those aren’t specific (other things can elevate them beyond long COVID).

I think this will likely remain a clinical diagnosis for several years until we understand more.

Bringing in a medical perspective since there is a lot of subtle misunderstanding in the comments section:

The source study is not referring to “brain bleeding” or “mini strokes” as a cause of long COVID—the results point more towards a breakdown of the integrity of the blood brain barrier and maybe micro vascular ischemia.

You can essentially think of your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as being surrounded by a very selective security system called the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). The BBB exists to prevent certain chemicals and cell signaling molecules from entering the central nervous system and messing things up. Neurons and many of the cells that support neurons do not regenerate and tolerate stress as well as other parts of the body, which is why the BBB is so important. Through the various assays the primary authors used it seems like in the setting of long COVID there is a breakdown of the BBB—it starts letting things in and out that it shouldn’t be. This leads to inflammation and damage in the brain which likely results in immediate decreased processing ability and also long-term damage (which further leads to decreased processing ability). One of the components which “leaks” in this setting of BBB breakdown are components of the coagulation cascade (the things that make blood clot) which may potentiate small areas of clotting and decreased blood flow (a thing we called micro vascular ischemia—like an ischemic stroke but in very small capillaries). This entire mechanism is similar to (but very different in nuance) “leaky gut syndrome,” where the gut endothelium starts to break down and cause inflammation. I put that out there since leaky gut is gaining more popular understanding these days and may be more familiar for some folks.

As of now there is no available treatment that restores the endothelial integrity of the BBB. Off of the top of my head this study may suggest that more treatments to modulate the inflammsome (roughly—the amount of inflammation in your body) could be beneficial—which sort of tracks since there is some scattered evidence that high dose Omega-3’s help long COVID.

Can this please be marked as some sort of spoiler? I haven’t watched Picard Season 3 yet and this was a massive spoiler bait title…

She’s not trying to do that—the corporate asshats are trying to blame this as a performance related firing as opposed to a layoff (which it was) which means she’s not entitled to the same severance and unemployment benefits. If she can get them to slip and admit that she has a legal case.

Mostly tech items like TV’s, but I saw it with some furniture, too.

I just worry that UBI won’t do enough to redistribute wealth without concomitant systematic change. I honestly think those in economic power probably need a good degree of is stripped away for society to really move on and heal from rampant, unchecked capitalism.

You can set the prices if they are well known at a federal level—look at the number of disparate vendors who charged exactly the price of a stimulus check for goods when they were being given in 2020.

The sad thing about UBI in places like the US is they further systematic change needs to happen prior to UBI being implemented.

If you have UBI added on to our current capitalist hellscape (since UBI rates will be publicly known) landlords and corporations will just hike prices to make life cost just as much as UBI—therefore forcing people to work for any scrap above that. So essentially UBI will be fed back into corporations/the elite, who will also continue to make profit on the labor the lower class does to afford anything above basic necessities.

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From the outside many people would consider me extremely successful, but I have found that my life feels like it has the most meaning and my well-being is the highest when I focus on my family and simple things. We have a society that’s quite literally sick with the idea of “chasing the grind.” I think working to better society is a virtue—but success in it may not necessarily bring you happiness.

I highly recommend the book “Four Thousand Weeks.” Speaks to some of this.

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I was fortunate and got it before the subscription. It’s only needed for the autopilot mode and will still function without it, but since I’m in the beta program I get the autopilot without monthly payments. Not sure I’d pay for the autopilot.

Yeah it’s absolutely a big investment. I would 100% pay it again though. I work a rotating shift schedule and it’s been a god send. If that’s the ransom money I have to pay for not feeling like a zombie half of the year then it’s worth it.

For the autopilot mode it requires a subscription—but I’ve had it well before autopilot was a thing and it still worked great without it.

The 8 Sleep Pod Pro Cover.

I’ve always found that quality sleep is something that is wildly overlooked by most of society, and thought it’s something worth investing in (nice mattress, etc). The 8 Sleep is essentially a liquid cooled mattress cover that adjusts the temperature (either cooler or hotter) to you and your partners preferences (there’s two different zones). I’m a former power lifter and still primarily lift as a sport—as a result I have a lot of skeletal muscle and tend to run very hot. The 8 Sleep has quite literally changed my life. My wife agrees. It also dynamically measures your HRV, HR, and RR. If you use the autopilot function it will dynamically adjust the temperature during the night based on your biometrics to maximize REM and SWS.

It’s definitely the best tech purchase over >$1K I’ve ever made, and it’s one of the best purchases I’ve made in my life. I used to wake up hot multiple times per night. I had been tracking my sleep for a year using wearables before I got it and it’s nearly doubled my nightly REM and SWS. When needed I can feel refreshed after like 5-6 hours of sleep.