Shedding new light on Long Covid
👋 Welcome back to the Daily Edition
Also today: Why are 9-volt batteries rectangular? And how not to jump to conclusions
By Jon Gluck
In April, a United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that some 17 percent of American adults, or roughly 44 million people, have experienced Long Covid symptoms. And yet, both Long Covid itself and what it’s like to live with the often debilitating and frustrating condition remain poorly understood.
On Medium, writer Emma Smith does her part to address that lack of understanding, offering a harrowing first-hand look at how difficult it can be just to get a proper Long Covid diagnosis. In November of 2020, Smith contracted Covid and recovered from the illness. Or so she thought. In September 2021, the twenty-something avid rock climber experienced a strange tingling sensation in her feet and was so fatigued she could barely get out of bed. As she writes, “Gravity was no longer weightless; it sat on my shoulders pulling me down the second my torso wasn’t parallel to the ground. My spine felt like jello, I was fighting to hold my head up.” Her story struck a nerve: It’s the most-read piece to date on the Medium publication Long Covid Connection.
Tara Haelle, the editor of Long Covid Connection, covers a study linking certain blood proteins to brain fog, the common Long Covid cognitive symptom involving memory loss, impaired thinking, and other problems. In an unusual move, Haelle notes, the authors of the study made a point of saying the presence of these biomarkers should be a reminder to doctors not to assume Long Covid patients who report cognitive symptoms are “making them up.” “I’ve read hundreds of medical studies on COVID,” Haelle writes, “and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thinly veiled directive to doctors that they basically shouldn’t gaslight their patients.”
Lastly, in “We Finally Know What Drives Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (and Long-Covid),” scientist Shin Jie Yong, MSc (Res) reports on a new study that sheds light on the causes of those two conditions (which doctors have long suspected may be related). “Importantly,” he writes, “this model identifies promising areas for therapeutic intervention and explains why some treatments might fail.” For example: Evidence that the key immune system components known as T-cells are “exhausted” by Long Covid might point to interventions, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, designed to address that exhaustion.
What else we’re reading
Why do batteries come in so many shapes and sizes? Drexel University professor Wesley Chang, who studies electrochemistry (did you even know that was a subject?), delivers a brief history of the energy cells, dating back to 19th-century Italy, then answers questions you didn’t know you had. Why are car batteries so big and blocky? How did an existing battery outduel a newer, arguably more suitable one to help fuel the EV explosion? Why are 9-volt batteries rectangular? Trick question! Because they’re really just a way to house two cylindrical batteries together!
Your daily dose of practical wisdom (about not making snap judgments)
“Most of us jump to conclusions about what we see because we’re acting on autopilot. We’re more likely to see things accurately when we teach ourselves to observe events like witnesses rather than getting emotionally involved.” — ✨ Bridget Webber, in “How to Drop Your Historical Baggage for Realistic Viewpoints”
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb, Harris Sockel, & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
