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Floss said:littlemoney said:greenbee said:Thanks @Floss & @maryb - I think we sometimes need reminding that medicine isn't magic. I see plenty of people on the long-covid forums who are angry that there are no answers or cures. It's a natural part of coming to terms with something new and scary, but we need to remember that this is new, and that it will take time to understand both covid and long covid and work out how we live with them.
Employers are unlikely to be tolerant when you are off sick for longer periods than you colleagues with similar illness. Eventually employers take sanctions due to absences and finally terminate your employment. It's then very difficult to get another job as any reference from your old employer will say you were sacked due to you level of absence. As a result you are so desperate to keep your job you live to work, resting every evening and all weekend just to go back to work on Monday. No life outside work, just an existence.
I have seen this happen.
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The timing of my responses earlier wasn't great. And I missed a few in between, in particular GreyQueen. I am sorry, I probably came across as very insensitive. It wasn't my intention. GQ, I am sorry for the loss of your colleague and I hope your other colleagues recover fully. And, I hope you manage to avoid catching it and get a vaccine soon.
I must admit, if GP surgery called tomorrow and said someone hadn't shown up can you be here in 10 minutes, I'd be out the door in a flash. In grubby tracksuit bottoms if needs be!February wins: Theatre tickets16 -
No worries, hun, I didn't read it like that. My colleagues and I still can't believe the loss of one of our own. Covid is a quiet terror behind every working day and every other interaction, isn't it? I'd run out the door in my pjs and an anorak if I got a text offering me the jab, despite some reservations about possible unforeseen consequences due to pre-existing conditions.
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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I'm another one who is classed as clinically vulnerable and I had the Astra Zeneca jab à couple of weeks ago.. TBH I'm extremely grateful to get it in spite of any perceived reduced level of protection.Small victories - sometimes they are all you can hope for but sometimes they are all you need - be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle15
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I'd take the vaccine too - there are anecdotal stories (in increasing number) in the short term (so far) of some long covid sufferers finding that their symptoms are remitting after their jab.
@littlemoney - I'm sorry your experience of ME/CFS has been so negative. My experience of long covid hasn't been anything like that. My employer(s) (I changed jobs in October) have been understanding and flexible and my friends and family have been supportive - just as they were when I went through some very serious health issues about 10 years ago. My GP has been fantastic, and the whole practice are supportive - I've been tested for everything they can think of and they have been proactive in contacting me when new guidelines or research have been published. I have an appointment with the long covid clinic next week - and I'm well aware that at this stage everything they are doing is speculative and contributing to their research.
I've also had fantastic support from friends with chronic conditions - ME/CFS, MS, POTS and more - many of whom are MSE regulars, who have been generous in providing advice, insights and support. While some of them have struggled with support from the medical profession for what are no doubt complex conditions, none of them (as far as I'm aware) have been abandoned by friends and family (many seem to have very active social lives) and most have continued working even if they've had to adapt. I was talking to a friend with MS today about how she focuses on what she CAN do when she's relapsing rather than what she can't.
The other takeaway I have from all these conversations is the hope that many ME/CFS sufferers have that all the research going into the long-covid epidemic might finally shine some light on ME/CFS too. The sheer numbers of sufferers in such concentration has made it a priority, and there is already a lot of research being done and shared pre-publication. I was told in May last year that it was likely I'd need some kind of rehabilitation and that locally they were looking to expand the cardiac and chronic fatigue services to support post-covid patients. The cardiology team told me in October that they could pretty much tell who coming through their doors was a post-covid patient from our HR history. As @Floss says, while there are some similarities between long-covid and CFS (fatigue & PEM being the obvious ones) there are a lot of others (myocarditis, costochondritis, 'ground glass' lungs, 'covid strangle', tinnitus, long term anosmia and paranosmia being a few) that are different. So a lot of research to do. And I'm more than happy to be part of that research.
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My life changed in my mid 30s when I got ME. But I DID make a substantial recovery. I can't abuse my health and expect not to suffer for it but I'll take that and be glad. Yes there were times when I felt resentful that I only had the energy for the things I HAD to do and none for the things I wanted to do. But I'm not unique in thatIt doesn't matter if you are a glass half full or half empty sort of person. Keep it topped up! Cheers!17
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littlemoney you obviously had the same kind of treatment - or lack of it- that I've had with ME. I feel so sorry for the growing number of people who are forced to drag themselves through life like the living dead, in utter misery. But yes, we can have good days too and we have to embrace them xxx
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I've had ME for 35 years, from young adulthood to mid-life. Wasn't something I would have selected from the pic&mix of life opportunities, but there are worse things happening to other people. I've become downright wily and very efficient at organising life to achieve what I want to achieve. Amusingly, my peers are older and more tired too, just age and increasing responsibilities, so differences in energy between us are shrinking!
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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greenbee said:...I've also had fantastic support from friends with chronic conditions - ME/CFS, MS, POTS and more - many of whom are MSE regulars, who have been generous in providing advice, insights and support. While some of them have struggled with support from the medical profession for what are no doubt complex conditions, none of them (as far as I'm aware) have been abandoned by friends and family (many seem to have very active social lives) and most have continued working even if they've had to adapt. I was talking to a friend with MS today about how she focuses on what she CAN do when she's relapsing rather than what she can't.
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2025 Decluttering Awards: ⭐⭐16 -
Paranosmia? Oh good golly - just looked that up & am wondering whether OH has it; he 's been hunting the "foul smell" in the kitchen which turned out to be the newly-opened daffodils on the table. Not to mention him complaining that his lungs feel as if they're burning when he goes for a run, and he can only manage half the distance in his normal time... he spoke to the practice nurse and she was arranging for the doc to ring him "on a Wednesday at lunchtime" but it wasn't last Wednesday, which was nearly a week after he spoke to the nurse - sigh. But none of us have been ill, and she obviously didn't think it could be anything serious.
GQ, I'm so sorry about your colleague; I take my hat off to you and all who are keeping the whole country going despite the spectre of Covid-19 stalking their workplaces & transport. That's real courage and I thank you all for it.Angie - GC Aug25: £106.61/£550 : 2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 26/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)18
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