#covid is vascular

[pandemic-info]

nationalgeographic.com 

Article:

Now we know how COVID attacks your heart Even patients with mild COVID symptoms could face a higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke

By Sanjay Mishra

Scientists have noticed that COVID-19 can trigger serious cardiovascular problems, especially among older people who have a buildup of fatty material in their blood vessels. But now a new study has revealed why and shown that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly infects the arteries of the heart.

The study also found that the virus can survive and grow inside the cells that form plaque—the buildup of fat-filled cells that narrow and stiffen the arteries leading to atherosclerosis. If the plaque breaks, it can block blood flow and cause a heart attack or a stroke. The SARS-CoV-2 infection makes the situation worse by inflaming the plaque and increasing the chance that it breaks free.

This can explain long-term cardiovascular effects seen in some, if not all, COVID-19 patients.

...

[willowreader]

This article is on the American Heart Association web page. It's worth a look.

[liminalweirdo]

COVID is airborne. Airborne transmission is different from droplets, which are large particles containing the virus, expelled when you speak, cough, sneeze, etc. Droplets are heavy enough that they will eventually drop to the ground or nearby surfaces, meaning it’s relatively easy to contain: any physical barrier — like a cloth mask or plexiglass — will block these droplets before they can reach another person. “Social distancing” is a concept that applies to droplet transmission, under the presumption that the virus-containing droplets will fall to the ground before reaching someone 6 feet away. Sanitizing surfaces kills any viral droplets that have landed on them before someone can touch them and then touch their orifices.

However, COVID is not confined to droplets. We have known for years that it can spread through aerosol as papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Risk Analysis demonstrate going back to 2020. Aerosol is composed of much smaller particles that bounce around between air particles, and can stay suspended and infectious in the air. Picture someone smoking: the behavior of the smoke is much more akin to the behavior of viral aerosols. Can you still smell the smoke behind a plexiglass shield? How about if you’re six feet apart? In a crowded, enclosed space, how many people would breathe in the smoke of one smoker? Measures designed to protect against droplets aren’t exactly pointless against COVID, since it also spreads via droplets. But just because you’re not spewing COVID-laden spittle in someone’s face does not mean you’re keeping your germs to yourself.

[jeraliey]

I'm always so amazed at the fact that NO ONE has COVID, it's "just the flu" or it's "just a cold" when this is going on:

Source: CDC Wastewater Surveillance

I don't know if people are lying to themselves as well as me, but they should remember that viruses LOVE it when they lie. It means they get to kill more people.

[oliveasaltylife]

Well, it’s finally happening. My parents are withdrawing a portion of my monthly financial support. My husband has been out of work since early October and he finally found a job, but isn’t able to start until January.

We desperately need help to be able to make rent, pay utilities, and get food on the table on top of other monthly bills that can not go unpaid. I have spent the past 2 years begging my parents for the help they explicitly promised me when they found out my FIL gave me COVID in January 2022. I never recovered and still have a whole host of other complex health conditions that was significantly exacerbated. I still don’t have a definitive answer whether or not Long COVID is part of it because it reactivated a latent Bartonella infection that I got who knows how long ago. Not to mention the connective tissue disorder, dysautonomia, MCAS, chiari, and tethered cord I was already dealing with pre-infection, just undiagnosed and not taken seriously. My parents offered to help me financially because I had to stop working. I went back to work after my infection cleared, even though I know I wasn’t fully recovered, and relapsed very hard in May of 2022. That was when the full financial assistance from my parents really began, and they continued to try to convince me they would never turn down helping me.

For the next 6 months my mother berated me and made it known that she resents me because she wasn’t able to get “her pool” installed in the summer of 2022 because she had to help me, her eldest daughter. At one point she made me choose between my health and wellbeing or my sister’s (she is also disabled, but lives at home, and receives SSDI, which I do not qualify for). She ate her words that time. But they’ve been trying to get out of helping me ever since they offered. And now, my parents have taken it upon themselves to lower my financial assistance after my husband lost his job, and without even consulting me. They texted my husband, never made contact with me, and when I called them out on it made excuses that I don’t talk to them often enough. (Huh, imagine that. I don’t really want to contact my abusive parents, but it sure does highlight some of the abuse that’s gone on my entire life). I am not in a position to be able to turn down what they are giving me, though I can not wait until the day I can officially become no contact.

I need help. I’m exhausted from trying to fight for assistance I was promised by my own parents in addition to the extreme exhaustion that comes with living with complex chronic illness. I don’t know what to do at this point. I’m going to leave my Venmo link in hopes that maybe some of you are in a position that allows you to give assistance. If you are not able to, please share this. I don’t have a platform on any of my socials and really do not feel comfortable sharing it on Facebook where I have family members who also choose to ignore pleas for help.

[longhaulerbear]

In their hypothesis paper, Wirth, Scheibenbogen, and Paul describe how endothelial dysfunction could produce a wide range of neurological symptoms in people with ME/CFS [1]. As they and others work to refine their understanding of ME/CFS and the related Long COVID syndrome, I would encourage consideration of the possibility that endothelial dysfunction and vascular damage could also explain other symptoms, including widespread pain and inflammation and post-exertional malaise.

For the past four years, my wife and I have been caregivers for our teenage daughter, who has ME/CFS, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, craniocervical instability, Chiari malformation and several other comorbid conditions. Through observation and trial and error, I have developed a number of hypotheses on these matters that I offer here in the hope they might prompt formal research into how to effectively treat these conditions.

Discussion of endothelial dysfunction and vascular damage in ME/CFS and Long COVID generally focuses on how leakages from dysfunctional blood vessels lead to reduced blood flow, which has many consequences, including reduced oxygenation of muscles and reduced cerebral brain flow. As researchers study this phenomenon, I would encourage consideration of the additional possibility that the leaking fluid causes independent damage. Lipedema researchers have found that leakages from microangiopathic blood vessels cause an excess of interstitial fluid that stimulates the formation of subcutaneous adipose tissue [3], which generates hypoxic conditions and becomes fibrotic, contributing to pain and inflammation [4].

I hypothesize that a similar process happens when fluid leaks from faulty blood vessels in ME/CFS, possibly exacerbated by endothelial dysfunction in lymphatic vessels that inhibit the fluid’s removal, causing widespread pain and inflammation. This mechanism appears most pronounced among people with hypermobility or other connective tissue disorders, a common trait among people with both ME/CFS and lipedema.

My daughter experiences pain from fibrotic adipose tissue as well as what appears to be nerve compression from accumulated interstitial / lymphatic fluid. Manual lymphatic drainage, the squeezing of affected tissue, and the manual break-up of fibrotic adipose tissue have helped to ameliorate these symptoms.

In my daughter, I have also observed impaired drainage of fluid from the glymphatic system, both at the cribriform plate and down her spine. Could this be related to damaged lymphatic vessels or blockages from fibrotic adipose tissue?

Like many people with moderate or severe ME/CFS, my daughter struggles to recover from even small amounts of physical exertion. In addition to mitigating her pain, manual lymphatic drainage and the squeezing of affected tissue greatly accelerates this recovery process. We have observed a direct dose–response relationship: the more exercise, the more fluid is present in her tissues, and the more manual draining / squeezing is necessary for her to recover.

Based on this experience, I hypothesize that excess interstitial fluid resulting from dysfunctional blood and lymphatic vessels contributes to the experience of post-exertional malaise, with fluid literally drowning affected tissue, leading to hypoxic conditions and inflammation. Possible explanations for the increased interstitial fluid are increases in blood pressure during physical exertion, hypermobile joints going out of place, prompting localized increases in interstitial fluid, and increases in cortisol that generate an increase in fluid and blood volume. Increases in fluid leakage due to elevated cortisol levels may also explain why some people with ME/CFS feel worse when stressed or anxious. The role of cortisol (or another mediator with fluid retaining properties) may explain why cognitive exertion can also generate post-exertional malaise. When present, elevated estrogen levels may exacerbate leakage by increasing fluid volume.

[inter-volve]

April 14th 2023

[transparentbeardmentality]

Good lord!!! This is so uncomfortable to watch in the best way possible!

Watch this piece of shit politician and "health officer", Premier Jeremy Rockcliff, get savaged by Cassy O'Connor's informed Covid questioning.

It just gets better and better. Let's see how the Nuremberg defense works out for these assholes.

Wear a mask! Make it a good one.

[aalt-ctrl-del]

"UgGGHHHHHhhh... the vaccines give you myocarditis. uwu. I read one google article and now I am a professional facebook doctor."

gtfo you septic goiter.

drinking vodka can give you myocarditis. Stop bein' an Baaawww, and roll up your wool sleeve.

[volumniafox]

Great i have more symptoms now

[playingplayer2]

That moment when someone purposely does something they have been told not to because it endangers others (because literally the whole household is at extra risk) but they do it anyways because they've literally tried to kill other people in the house before.

It's fun! 🙃

[pandemic-info]

"Is anyone else's immune system totally shot since the 'COVID era'?"

Thread. Lots of informed comments, surprisingly.

The answer is yes: lots of peoples' immune systems are totally shot because that's what COVID does: attacks your entire body / vascular system / brain. It is not only respiratory. Long COVID is also a major issue with no reliable treatment.

And the idea that one should "exercise" their immune system by getting sick more is false, a misunderstanding of how immunity works.

[allylikethecat]

Sorry you’re feeling sick :( but I have been so excited and patiently waiting for the NA SATVB sickfic, and I hope both you and fictional!matty are able to get some comfort <3

When I tell you yesterday I was sitting on my shower floor just letting the water hit me absolutely miserable I was just like "wow... this is how Fictional!Matty feels sorry Fictional!Matty" 😂

I am feeling a *bit* better today even though my friend/coworker called me after our big virtual team meeting and was like "WTF Ally you sound awful are you okay" and I was like "sir this is literally the best I've felt in days" and he was like "really because this is the WORST I've ever heard you sound" and for context I have known this man for six years at this point both professionally and personally (his wife is one of my best friends) and he has seen me at some very, very low points 💀

Thank you for the well wishes though! It really does mean a lot! I don't get sick very often so when I *do* get sick I am extremely dramatic about it.

I have actually officially started the NA SATVB sick fic which is exciting! It is going to be a one shot I refuse to allow it to grow past that and I am excited to eventually finish and share it especially now that it seems as if that will be happening sooner than originally thought!

Just to make sure I'm remembering correctly though- it was the Vancouver show that he showed up with the robe and the IV right? Please let me know!!

Thank you so much for reading, the well wishes, and sending this ask! I'm so glad that there will still be a NA SATVB sickfic audience even though it took me twenty thousand years to write this fic. I hope you are having a happy Tuesday and that you have a great week!

❤️Ally

[feminist-space]

Cat in the Hat:

"The German Health Minister gave an important update on the Covid situation yesterday.

I’ve written up the section of his speech from the video below for easy reading.

It’s immensely refreshing to see a government minister warning of the harms of Covid in such a transparent way."

https://x.com/_catinthehat/status/1732092683508678954

Prof. Karl Lauterbach

Health Minister, Germany

4 December 2023

"This second (long Covid) round table was very interesting, lasting three and a half hours. It serves as a unique forum for dialogue among scientists, researchers and those affected by long Covid, facilitating the exchange of ideas.

There are many new findings about long Covid. Not all of them are good news. One piece of not-so-good news concerns the fact that long Covid is actually still a problem for those who are newly infected. One estimate that has been put forward is that the risk of contracting long Covid now, even after vaccination, is around 3%. Now you may say, "that's not such a big risk" , but there are tens of thousands of people who are repeatedly affected in a short period of time. And so, the long Covid problem has not yet been solved.

We have also established that there really are many subgroups of long Covid and that we do not yet have a cure. And it was clearly pointed out that we are also dealing with problems here that will challenge society as a whole, because vascular diseases often occur after long Covid. Throughout Europe, we are currently seeing an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in the middle-age group - from 25 to 50. This is associated with the consequences of Covid infections.

We also very often find cognitive impairment in older people. And one participant pointed out that it may well be like the Spanish flu, where 20 years after the Spanish flu there was a significant increase in Parkinson's disease and probably also dementia.

This is something we must pay attention to, as the past infection afiects how the immune system in the brain functions, as well as the brain's blood vessels, potentially increasing the long-term risk of these major neurodegenerative diseases. This is why we need to conduct very intensive research. This research has played a major role.

What is the overall assessment of the situation now?

We have to be careful. Long Covid is not curable at the moment. We also know that over 40% of those who have several manifestations of long Covid, for example, five or more, still have symptoms after 2 years, so it doesn't seem to heal spontaneously. We also know that those whose symptoms are more pronounced at the beginning are less likely to heal.

So some of what we know from the demographics of long Covid has been confirmed, and we now know more precisely which mechanisms in the brain, but also in the blood vessels and the immune system, are responsible for this. Professor Scheibenbogan will explain this briefly later.

At this point, I can only say the following - this is particularly important to me:

First of all, long Covid is a disease that stays with us and that we cannot yet cure. And we are seeing an increasing number of cases as the waves of infection continue to affect us.

Secondly, Covid is not a cold - with a cold, you don't usually see any long-term effects. You don't see any changes in the blood vessels. You don't usually see an autoimmune disease developing. You also don't usually see neurological inflammation - these are all things that we see with long Covid. Therefore, one should not assume that Covid infection is just a common cold. It can affect brain tissue and the vascular system, and we still lack an effective treatment, making these studies crucial.

Significantly, we know that the risk of long Covid decreases when you're infected but have been vaccinated. That's why it's concerning that only 3 million people have been vaccinated with the new, adapted vaccine. That is a very bad result.

Please protect yourself from severe infections.

Please protect yourself from long Covid.

Currently, the danger posed by Covid is indeed being underestimated. Nothing is worse than infecting someone at Christmas who then becomes seriously ill and may not fully recover."

Alt text is included in all images of this post.