I am a long Covid researcher. And I have long covid

About 5% of the US-growing life estimated with a long covid-19, and one of them is the UC San Francisco epidemiologist and long covid researcher Alison Cohen, PhD, MPH.

Cohen, who had been involved in Covid 19 research since the beginning of the pandemic, was infected at the first and one time in January 2022. Weaky symptoms such as tiredness and the inability to sit or stand over long periods of time have never been gone. She has deepened her expertise as an epidemiologist and as a patient, including our scientific understanding of the disease, including the authoration of a recently carried out paper, which promises to expand the antiviral paxlovide.

But it was five years ago since the pandemic started, and there are still no medication approved nationwide that help the millions of people live with Long Covid. We spoke to Cohen to find out how to manage their symptoms and whether potential treatments are in the works.

What is long covid and what are the symptoms?

Long Covid is defined for at least three months after the acute phase of the infection symptoms. Anyone who receives a Covid 19 infection is a potential risk of developing a long covid. It is important to emphasize that with this virus we still live with this virus that has a new risk of developing long covid with every new infection.

Long Covid is a very heterogeneous disease with over 200 documented symptoms, and patients often have clusters of these symptoms. One of the most common includes what is often referred to as chronic fatigue or post -exertional discomfort. If you are tired all the time. Everything is comprehensive, even after the night has slept firmly. Cognitive symptoms such as brain fog are also common. This can be described as a cognitive equivalent of the experiment to wade through shoulder -high mud.

There are also many people with so -called symptoms of dys autonomy. Then your autonomous nervous system, which we count on to have our circulatory and nervous system function, no longer works well. Blood does not circulate as well and reactions of the nervous system do not work as before. Other symptoms were things like loss of odors or loss of taste.

How has long covid affected her life?

Long covid for many, including me, is an energy -limited disease. This means that the day have less hours to do things and there are more activities that are excluded. I can no longer do long runs. Or even long car journeys.

The only thing we know that the Long Covid worsens is re -infected. That means I work very hard to avoid reinfection. Since I was infected when wearing an N95 mask and vaccination, I know that disposable masking is insufficient for me. So I am limited to do things, make contacts or to make people, mainly outside because the universal masking is not approved in most places these days.

How do you treat your symptoms?

By observing the symptoms, I try to predict which time windows are best suited for certain activities and when I have to rest. I try to listen to my body as much as possible.

There is a concept used by many people with disabilities called spoon theory. Do you know how this glass is on the table in some guests? Imagine that each spoon represents an energy unit that can be output for daily activities. Showering will be a spoon, making the dishes is a spoon. It is a spoon to make contacts with family or friends, another spoon. There is not enough spoons to survive the day. A chronic disability therefore means rationing and priorizing your spoons. On some days you only get a spoon.

Has it also informed your research with Long Covid?

Yes. I consider it a privilege and a challenge. I have the option of applying these epidemiological methods that I examined and used, and my understanding of research – how to get subsidies and federal finance – to find out how we can use these tools for the service of research questions that emerged from the long, Kovidian community.

I have a deep understanding of how the research community works, and I also have a deep understanding of what it is like to be a patient who lives with long covid. If I describe their experiences of many other patients with long covid, I can find out where these options overlap and how we can all work together.

What does the future look like for people with long covid?

It is unlikely that there is a single silver ball. There will probably be some treatments that help some people and other treatments that help other people. It will require a multi -layered research effort to identify enough different competitors who could help the millions of Americans who live with Long Covid today and millions more around the world.

In the meantime there are many things that people can do without long covid to support people with long covid. It requires a collective effort to reduce the risk of reinfection so that you can avoid that other people get sick from masking and at home if they have symptoms. You also probably know someone who has long covid. You can check in and see what you can do to help.