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Is a formal campaign against Long Covid underway?

Mouse girl

Senior Member
Messages
579
Well, the article i saw above was in the Opinion section of the WSJ. WSJ has some great journalism but their opinions can be very off the wall. One thing about news, especially of late is the whole: "if it bleeds, it leads" now that doesn't directly apply but it can also go for the more seedy opinion gets published, the more controversy, the more, talk, the more antagonistic, the better for clicks etc. It's terrible because people get swayed by reading these things but it is the sad state of things today.

I'm really proud of the slove me thing. I even saw Dr Fauci talking about long covid a long time ago and he mentioned CFS too, absolutely saying both were very real, physical illnesses. I think in the long run, the long covid may help us.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
WSJ has some great journalism but their opinions can be very off the wall.
I agree that a lot of their reporting (they regularly carried Daniel Pearl articles in the center column, front page, which was always the first thing I read), both the softer stuff like Daniel Pearl and the news-oriented articles, was first rate.

But their editorial pge more closely reflects their extremely conservative, some might say often far-right wing, position, which of course is their right. I routinely skipped it, unless there was an editorial by someone like George Will.

And since Ruport Murdoch's News Group took over the WSJ, I prtty much skip the whole thing entirely ....
I think in the long run, the long covid may help us.
Yes, members here have been saying that since the first reportd cases of LongC and the inevitable and accurate comparisons to ME .... I've been the sad voice of dissent, and I still am. It's going to take a LOT to overcome the resistance to the realities of both Long Covid and ME/CFS, particularly in the face of the extremely dug-in resistance by everything from Drs to the powerful insurance lobbies ...


One thing about news, especially of late is the whole: "if it bleeds, it leads"
Tht's been the rule since the turn of the last century, not exactly a new development ... this isnt the only point in history where pandering to the most commonly held interests dominated for any industry that wanted to turn a solid buck ....
 

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,053
Holy crap. I want the ten minutes of my life that it took me to skim that article back. I will be sure to never give money to the Conversation in the future (used to kinda like them before COVID) for publishing such a word salad of nothingness. Thoughts and prayers to anyone who had to sit through one of his lectures and listen to him pontificate about his own unique approach (ie. the exact same approach of every doctor who wants to 'explain' chronic illnesses they don't yet understand but pretend to believe).

I recommend not clicking on his masturbatory ramblings.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
I recommend not clicking on his masturbatory ramblings.
I gave it a quick browse because I need a good, brittle, cynical laugh ....


Totally agree with your assessment @hapl808 .... what a pile of reecking shite ....

Altho he did get this part right. And for someone who has little of value to express, he writes decently ...

" It is an area in which medicine struggles to make sense of a person’s suffering,
where patients feel neglected and abandoned, and where opinion replaces
evidence. Instead of a cohesive pull towards a solution, there is confusion,
uncertainty and fragmentation. "

And this ....

"Western culture has become so steeped in its current thinking of the human body – a
simplistic mechanistic approach – that to suggest physical symptoms may not always
have a direct physical correlate in the body is, for many patients, a provocation and,
for doctors, something that is often not considered."

But then there's this, which he doesn't bother to follow with the fact that the reason for that universal presentation of depression together with other more physical symptoms (like constipation, etc) may have to do with the enteric nervous system, the second brain, that lives in our gut, where 80% of neurotransmiters like serotonin are produced. And that the treatment for depression may not be brain-and-CNS-scrambling anti-D's and anti-anxiety meds, but something as basic as feeding the good gut bacteria a better diet and a few assists like targeted probiotics.

"This is reflected in the many examples that we experience on a daily basis.
We know for example that depression commonly presents with physical symptoms,
such as headache or constipation, a finding that appears to be consistent
across different cultures."

I guess we need to buy his carefully mentioned book. And consider the fact that Pharma makes nothing off less intrusive and damaging protocols, and a whole boatload off the other stuff. Which is not to say that 'the other stuff' isnt sometimes helpful and the way to go. Just that less destructive measures might be considered first, before bringing dynamite and a crane.
 
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Oliver3

Senior Member
Messages
846
It certainly can be. Everything can be argued both for or against. Regardless of how true it is. There are always going to be people that don't get it and fight against the truth.
There is a war between the rich and poor, a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between those who say there is a war and those who say there isn't"
Always loved Leonard Cohen for writing that