I'm 44 now and one thing I've learned the hard way is that injuries DO NOT reverse themselves. You recover 90% but the remaining 10% is just lost forever.

human body: i can produce a fully functioning human being in 9 months, complete with a skeleton, brain, digestive track, the whole 9 yards!

person: great, when will my ankle start feeling better?

human body: a full year and it will never be the same

Unfortunately our bodies follow this same principle.

From nature stand point. Have kids in late teens, by mid 30s the cycle is already starting again. Repairing body beyond 30s is a luxury.

I’ve lived in areas where girls are all on 4th kid by 24. Men’s ages all over the place

Moved to “nicer” areas where 35-45 is first kid for woman. The man is at least 10 years older.

We have good friends in each side

Very different perspectives in each group.

Men aren't having kids until they're 45-55 then? That seems extreme -- how do they find the energy to deal with young kids at that age?

I was able to get a nasal swab test done in June when community wide testing finally opened up in my area, but it came out negative. The whole thing has been so frustrating to deal with because I don't know and may not ever know if this was for sure Covid related.

Also get a pulse oximeter and ask your doctor for one of those lung function devices aka an incentive spirometer (you breathe into them). Get a normal pulse ox when you feel ok and when you have shortness of breath, take your pulse ox again.

There is also evidence of chronic fatigue syndrome caused by covid.

Are these long term covid cases showing objective complaints? Are the lungs still damaged when imaged? Or are we relying on subjective complaints? I know there have been a few documented cases of myocarditis which is clearly objective in nature, but that’s all I have seen.

But I can feel a distinct difference and the shortness of breath always comes with the fatigue. It's too early to have any proper long term studies, but I think SARS gave lung damage to quite a few of the patients that lasted a long time [1].

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41413-020-0084-5

One of my mutuals on Twitter is a highly active young woman, who does things like spend time in Thailand to train Muay Thai. She's been doing what she can to recover, but it's been slow going.

Covid long-haulers are a real thing, that much I'm convinced of. How prevalent it is, is an open question.

I went into the hospital for a week for severe asthma, has coughing spells for a year and my lungs haven’t been right since. It’s not as bad and I can do some level of resistance exercise, but I never fully recovered.

I’m paranoid about getting Covid. I know how terrifying it is not to be able to breathe and how irritating it is not to be able to do slight strenuous day to day activities without giving out of breathe for a couple of years afterward.

I was exposed twice to high mold spore environment; it was an enclosed space on a neglected boat. I still feel it two years later.

Could do it just for curiosity perhaps :)

In Seattle, at least, you can just go get a free test in a drive thru with almost 0 hassle and no cost. This is the way it should be -- as accessible as possible and free. Otherwise you'll have infected folks skipping testing.

Antibody is a blood test for (potentially) detecting past infection. Its public health benefits are lower and is usually not offered in a drive-through format. But it is available free with prescription, besides being included in blood donations.

https://www.powerbreathe.com/