The Antidote #24: repeat COVID infections significantly increase the risk of developing long COVID as well as brain and other organ damage
That's it. That's the headline. When are people going to take this shit seriously??
The Tonic is a lighthearted, heavily resourced newsletter for folks interested in learning about long COVID, ME/CFS, and other health conditions. Come for the info; stay for the whimsy. Or vice versa.
The Tonic is free to read - Amy is so happy you’re here! There is no paid subscription option here like with other Substack newsletters. However, if you are valuing the experience and are able, please consider a show of support by sending a gift of health, wellness, or joy from this Amazon wish list. There’s something for every budget and any help is appreciated. Anyone who does gets a 📢 in an upcoming post (be sure to include a note with your gift). Thank you!
We’re off-schedule
Dear reader, you are not imagining things; I did indeed just publish a post last weekend, and now I’m back at you with another. This is for two reasons: 1) I am masking up and heading to my alma mater next weekend for a volleyball alumni weekend. It’ll be so fun to see some of my old teammates and to celebrate the retirement of our beloved coach.
And 2) I seem to have amassed an unusually high number of links within just a week, and I want to push them out to you while they are still current. There’s a ton of COVID-related research and chatter right now, so I’m going to keep this narrative portion short and leave more room for the links.
An Add-DEAD-dum
Many of you read and commented on my post last week, where I laid out why and how I created a household “Death doc,” a document that can help loved ones navigate your personal biz once you permanently peace out. If you missed it, here it is.
I wanted to share some helpful additions to preparing for your doom that some of my readers put in the comments:
I failed to mention creating a will, a living will, a health care proxy, advance directives, etc. My brain skipped over these because: brain fog, but also because we already have them and they are locked in our safe, which is covered under the “passwords/combinations” portion of my Death doc. Check out Free Will to create your own today. You can also find forms to create the other documents online.
- recommended a book called Legacero, which prompts you for all of the info to fill in - from passwords to what music to play at your funeral. Thanks, Sarah!
- added that she has written letters for her loved ones to see after she dies that she says she hopes will provide them with some peace. Very emotionally difficult, I imagine, but so thoughtful!
- is a self-professed recovering probate attorney, and their past misery is our great fortune. Here are their recommendations (with my comments in italics):
Swedish death cleaning (nothing sucks worse than losing a loved one and then having to clean their attic of abandoned shit) - yes! great advice. I recently read a book to this effect called “Nobody Wants Your Shit,” and I think it’s true. The things you find sentimental, your kids or other relatives will just think of us as clutter.
Contact info for important individuals - this is covered somewhat for me in providing the password to my phone, but your loved ones may not know who is important to you, so it’s a good idea to specify.
Social media account access, maybe - super helpful - covered for me in my “passwords” section, but good to pay attention to this as it can be a major chore to get a loved one’s account frozen or taken down.
Double-check the probate laws in your state (every state has a civil legal aid organization that should have important details online for DIY probate) - this is great advice too - my family found this out the hard way when dealing with a complicated situation involving my mother’s second husband and a daughter he abandoned as a child. Whoa, nellie.
Thank you all for these wonderful add-DEAD-da to my post. Many others wrote to thank me for nudging them to create their own Death doc, so I hope these additional tips come in handy.
The Antidote #24
Your health-related link roundup that’s filled to the brim with edifying goodies
COVID, Long COVID, and ME/CFS
➡️ IMPORTANT read for everyone: Reinfections and Long COVID risk - a study by the Patient-Led Research Collaborative on Long COVID and associated outcomes following COVID-19 reinfections. A second or third infection significantly increases your risks for developing long COVID. Take heed.
🧪 Free COVID tests - U.S. residents, order your four free tests here.
🎯 Sticking with tests: Free COVID tests are back. But there are more accurate tests for sale.
🫰🏼 And more food for thought on free tests: How 'Free' COVID Tests Could Be Costing You More Than You Think.
🫸🏽 Want to prevent Long Covid? Should You Take Metformin Or Paxlovid?
🧫 New study out: Mechanisms of long COVID and the path toward therapeutics. Do take a look as there are some wonderful, easy to understand charts therein.
🔬 R&D for long COVID is collapsing - depressing news - we need more funding!
🐒 COVID pandemic started in Wuhan market animals after all - a study suggests.
🪲 Prolonged Symptoms After Lyme Disease: What CDC Wants Doctors to Know (free MedPage Today account required). This one’s going here because there is so much overlap between chronic Lyme and LC/MECFS.
💊 RECOVER - TLC (treatments for LC) conference - here’s Health Rising with an update on this multi-day meeting that I for one did not have the stomach to attend. The Sick Times featured some great patient quotes from the meeting on their Instagram page (click on the image to see more):
📖 New novel by a famous musician inspired by his struggle with ME/CFS - by Belle and Sebastian founder Stuart Murdoch. Read about it here.
Related Substack posts
This week there was an abundance of excellent Substack posts on COVID/LC/MECFS, so I’m breaking them out into their own category.
🧠 COVID Brain:
with a science-backed post, as always.🦠 Mitochondria: two great posts to share. One by
on the metabolic impact of long COVID and another fascinating one by on mitochondrial dysfunction and bone loss, whether or not you have long COVID.🤧 Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) by
: When You're Allergic to Everything and Nothing.😶🌫️ Clean air: on the fraud behind why your school doesn’t have clean air, by
.🧑🏼🤝🧑🏽 Why Does COVID-19 Impact People Differently? This is not a new post by
, but it is excellent, and it was new to me since I just found this Substack.🗞️ COVID updates:
always has such thorough updates on all things COVID, long COVID, and other infectious happenings. This week’s is no exception.Webinars/conferences/podcasts/videos
♿ Disability insurance for chronic illness - YouTube podcast recording by the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine.
🛌🏽 Severe ME/CFS: Care, Rights, and Research - a four-part webinar series from Solve M.E. and the Bateman Horne Center. Register here for any or all of the four upcoming webinar dates.
😪 Understanding Post-Exertional Malaise - a YouTube recording by Dr. Brayden Yellman, sponsored by The ME Action Network.
🏃🏻♀️ Chronic fatigue (CFS) recovery: What I did to move from severe CFS/ME to enjoying life again - a YouTube video by Gemma of Healing Gems.
🫱🏼🫲🏾 RECOVER seminar - “Advancing Long COVID Research by Fostering Collaboration between RECOVER and the All of Us Research Program.” October 8th from 12-1:30pm EST. Register here.
🖥️ Long COVID RISE Symposium hosted by the UW Medicine Long COVID Clinic. October 12th, all day. More information and registration here.
🫁 Asthma triggers - top question to ask. YouTube video by the Global Healthy Living Foundation.
🛑 The Fastest Way to Stop Symptoms - by Raelan Agle:
Health miscellany
🚸 The Emotional Toll of Chronic Illness in Childhood: read here (free MedPage Today account required).
😣 Pain is ‘dramatically’ different in men and women. Also, how America’s health care system fails women in pain.
👩🏽⚕️ Abortion on the ballot: a graphic artist informs us which U.S. states are in play. Also, doctors go all in for Harris as they warn against Trump: ‘Elections do matter for your health’.
🤰🏾Abortion again: this headline really hits. More Women Charged With Pregnancy-Related Crimes Since Roe's End, Study Finds. “Pregnancy-related crimes” should only be a thing if criminals are targeting pregnant women (oh wait, they are - they’re just called Republicans). As evidenced in pregnancy deaths rose by 56% in Texas after 2021 abortion ban.
💊 Schizophrenia: FDA approves first new drug to treat the condition in 30 years.
🦠 Listeria: I’d steer clear of Boar’s Head products if I were you. Yikes.
😔 Suicide attempts among trans youth: this is what we meant when we said these lawmakers would have blood on their hands. It’s devastating. Anti-trans laws linked to increase in suicide attempts among trans youth.
🧠 Sexual and Gender Minorities More Likely to Have Adverse Brain Outcomes: read about it here (free MedPage Today account required).
🤕 Migraines: Patients Are Turning to Vibrators to Relieve Their Migraines. Now that’s using your (fake penis) head!
🍴 Choosing survival over healthcare: an illuminating essay on why resistance to healthcare isn’t always what it seems, by Dr. Zed Zha.
🏋🏼♂️ Iron deficiency: a very large percentage of us (myself included) are walking around with significantly low iron stores. Learn more in Absolute and Functional Iron Deficiency in the US, 2017-2020. Also, Substacker
sent me this super helpful link: How redefining 'normal' iron levels could help women's health. Thanks, Lesley!👻 Health insurance ‘ghost’ networks: I had no idea what this was until I read this.
🦟 Mosquito season: Where dengue, West Nile and EEE have been reported in U.S.
🍸 Alcohol: sorry to drop this one here, but Regularly Drinking After 60 Linked to Early Death.
👨🏽👩🏼👧🏼👦🏽 When Crisis Hits Your Family:
with a succinct and meaningful post on what to prioritize in a crisis.Now stick around for….
🥳 The After-party 🥳
Added resources, joy, tomfoolery, and buffoonery
📵 How to Stop Checking Your Phone Every 10 Seconds.
😹 Choosing my cat as my doc:
🌍 This was kind of trippy: witness 1.8 billion years of tectonic plates dance across Earth’s surface in a new animation.
📚 The 10 Most Banned Books in America. These book banning maniacs have an unhealthy obsession with queer folks.
🌈 Speaking of…take in the wisdom of ALOK on how everything is DRAG:
🤦🏻 Buffoon of the week: is Anna Delvey the buffoon, or are the producers of Dancing with the Stars for celebrating this professional fraudster? She claimed she wanted to be on the show to try to reinvent herself, to change the public’s image of her as a criminal to…some indeterminate other thing. As anticipated, she got booted off first - the fans were none too happy that DWTS put her on. But when asked what she’d take away from the experience, she looked dead ahead and said “nothing.” A graceless, sociopathic answer, belying any idea that she was truly looking for redemption.
🏆 Winner of the week: who else? It’s that global celebrity sensation, baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng!
Favorite line from the article I linked: “Moo Deng is the seventh baby born at the zoo to her mother, Jona, who is 25 years old, and her father, Tony, who is 24, the Independent reports.” Don’t Tony and Jona sound like they belong in Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer or Billy Joel’s Scenes from an Italian Restaurant? 🤣🤣
Anyway, I’m sure you’ve already seen the epic Moo Deng memes. Enjoy this sampling:
🐈⬛ 💩 And finally, it’s this week’s Cat Dump. My brood is Substack famous, y’all! Zira, Fritzy, and Birdie were featured in this week’s FloofStack! Check them out, along with the adorable Max. Don’t forget to subscribe to get some floofy goodness right to your inbox.
I hope you have so much fun at your volleyball weekend!
It’s a Link extravaaaganza!!! Can’t wait to read through these. I still mask up and still have not had COVID. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one masking these days. We went to Trader Joe’s on Sunday and we were the only ones in masks and it was PACKED. 🫠
The Moo Deng Olive Garden breadstick one!! 😭😂😭😂😭😂
I found Floofstack because of you and I’m so happy I did. The kitties looked gorgeous.
Thank you for including me (and twice! I feel so honoured!)
I'm dreadfully sorry to anyone who's dealing with MCAS as part of their illness - it's a cruel and difficult condition. I'm hoping my posts will help people learn to copy since I've been dealing with it for as long as I can remember.
Also... why didn't I think of getting a cat doctor? Probably be better than what I'm dealing with currently lol.