Everyone’s losing their sh*t over “long covid”. Now might be a good time to consider the immortal words of Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic.
When you tell people that omicron symptoms are looking more and more cold or flu-like, and if you are vaxed, have natural immunity, or are not vaxed without risk factors, you’ll almost certainly be fine, they inevitably hit you with, “Well, what about long covid?”
Here’s the thing about that. Some of you may recall that I had a really, really nasty viral infection about six years ago. Worst two weeks of my life. I honestly believed I would never be the same again. And for many months, I was not the same.
I worried and stressed over it. It was definitely depressing. And while it took seemingly forever for all the inflammation to subside, it eventually did. My respiratory system heeled, my appetite and sense of smell and taste returned, and the brain fog dissipated.
Yes, I know, the symptoms sound very covid-like. Believe me, I’ve wondered about that myself. But that’s neither here nor there.
At the time the only available drug that helped was prednisone — a steroidal anti-inflammatory — but you can’t take it for long periods, so that was that. Keep in mind, I was otherwise completely healthy.
It’s hard to pin down exactly when but I was definitely back to normal within six months to a year.
So yes, that could happen to anyone with a bad case of covid. I’m not the least bit surprised that so many complain of lingering symptoms weeks or months down the road. But long covid appears to be solely related to bad symptoms, as I had, and that should be mitigated by vaccines, natural immunity and improved therapeutics. In other words, if you’re asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, it doesn’t make sense that persistent symptoms would be worse than those you had to begin with. So I doubt that omicron will be much of a long covid issue for the vast majority.
The long and short of it is this: worrying about long covid will do you no good. Consult your doctor, take the appropriate preventative steps for you and your family, and, if you’re smart about it, chances are you’ll be all well and good … over the short and the long haul.
Image credit Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy