Links: How to deal with COVID-19

[sonia]

Indefinitely Ill – Post-Covid Fatigue by Maria Farrell. via boxofdelights.

Because I really only want to say one thing; if you have had Covid-19 (tested or not), and are getting to a month or two on and still feel like you’ve been hit by a bus, please, for the love of God, rest.

CONVALESCE.

Stop what you are trying to do and listen to your body as it tells you it needs to be quiet now. You will not ‘fight’ your way out of this. It is not a test of your character or your will. You need to stop and listen to the only body you will ever have.

Linked from that essay: Covid-19 and Post-viral Fatigue Syndrome by Dr Charles Shepherd.
Which links to: Post-viral fatigue (PVF) and Post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) following coronavirus infection (8 page PDF)

Amid the Coronavirus Crisis, a Regimen for Reëntry by Atul Gawande.

The four pillars of our strategy—hygiene, distancing, screening, and masks—will not return us to normal life, but, when signs indicate that the virus is under control, they could get people out of their homes and moving again. As I think about how my workplace’s regimen could be transferred to life outside the hospital, however, I have come to realize that there is a fifth element to success: culture. It’s one thing to know what we should be doing; it’s another to do it, rigorously and thoroughly. [...]

Culture is the fifth, and arguably the most difficult, pillar of a new combination therapy to stop the coronavirus. People tend to focus on two desires: safety and freedom; keep me safe and leave me alone. What Doyle says she needs her people—both staff and residents—to embrace is the desire to keep others safe, not just themselves.

Comments

[amethyst73]

Thank you for these links!
As a society, we're TERRIBLE at convalescing after anything. There's an unreasonable pressure everywhere to come back to work ASAP, even if you're not at full strength, to do what you can do. I've done it myself on more than one occasion, and it may be why I suffer more from a night of less-than-fantastic sleep than I think I should.

[sonia]

Yeah... I'm hopeful that at least that will change a bit with this pandemic. There's so much that could change for the better!

[jesse_the_k]

Yikes.

It's possible that, given the blistering example of post-polio syndrome, as well as the encephalitis lethargica after the 1918 flu, the medical establishment won't dismiss the people who suffer from post-viral fatigue.

One hopes.

[sonia]

Yes, we sincerely hope the medical establishment gets its collective act together! Thanks for the links. I knew about post-polio syndrome (and now know more after reading the link!) but I hadn't heard of encephalitis lethargica.