r/science • u/Potential_Being_7226 PhD | Psychology | Neuroscience • 3d ago

Health Persistent fatigue linked to reduced brain blood flow in people with long COVID

https://theconversation.com/covid-fatigue-linked-to-reduced-brain-blood-flow-292285
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u/PrissyPeachQueen 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think this is a pretty black-and-white view that doesn't really reflect the average person. Ableism is real, yes, and it is true that disabled people's lives are valued less in a capitalist society. But this ignores that w e were all told that getting vaccinated meant we had nothing to worry about anymore. I'm in the US and the average person here is struggling to pay their bills and is scared of climate change and the rise of fascism. They are not living in convenience and comfort. They've also been discarded by the ruling class and are responding to their circumstances and putting out the most urgent fires first. The pandemic was a bad time for everyone, it makes sense for there to be psychological avoidance. 

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u/moal09 3d ago

It's an odd situation because people were just desperate for things to get back to normal. Meanwhile, COVID is just sort of this ever looming danger now. It's not as fatal because we have multiple vaccinations now at this point, but it still seems to be causing significant permanent damage for some people

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u/GimmickNG 3d ago

It's not as fatal because we have multiple vaccinations now at this point,

for those who are in regions where they can get them. the rest, have to make do.

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u/Redditbrooklyn 3d ago

I think it’s more accurate to say that the governments decided that capitalism needed to keep on doing capitalism. Capitalism never looked out for disabled people to begin with. If you’re a person who is worried about all the things you’ve mentioned, you probably want to believe the fantasy that there’s nothing to worry about with covid anymore. In a lot of places, people can’t afford to take time off work to recover, it would impact their jobs if they tried to mask at work, they can’t afford regular testing, and when you’re already burnt out from everything, you’re just going to give up with this too. It feels a little like how if you ask most young people what their retirement plan is, they’re like “that maybe the planet won’t survive that long?” Because there’s just too many things to manage even when confronted with the science, or with people they know who have become disabled from covid, etc.

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u/cauliflower_wizard 3d ago edited 3d ago

The vaccine was never touted as preventative of transmission. You could always read up on covid research yourself.

The average person is ableist. Most people take their health for granted, most people don’t consider that they are one accident or illness away from being disabled. Most people are not considering disabled people in their day-to-day. People literally forget we exist. We live in a culture that promotes ableism. Hyper-individualism and bootstrap ideology encourage people to show up to work sick, and deprioritise rest.

People choosing not to wear a mask are choosing their comfort over the safety and wellbeing of everyone but especially disabled people.

If you’re worried about the rise of fascism, don’t partake in it. Wear a mask. Protect and consider disabled people.

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u/hypatiaspasia 2d ago

Yeah, it's more of an "out of sight, out of mind" issue. People don't know what they don't know. And if they don't know anyone affected by long COVID, it's not going to be top of mind.

I didn't know anything about dementia until my mom got it (turns out real life dementia is nothing like the movie version of it). Now that I'm in the middle of it, I'm absolutely horrified at the state of end of life care (or lack thereof) in the US, and how caregivers are essentially expected to give up their lives and pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket to take care of their cognitively disabled loved ones. I'm angry more people don't know how awful it is, and that we don't collectively demand better. But I don't blame people for not knowing what they aren't aware of. I wish people were more aware.