To think many people are still dealing with the trauma of COVID, but we just don’t talk about it?

[BluntLilacGuide]

It feels like everyone wants to act as if life has completely gone back to normal, but I don’t think that’s true for a lot of people. The pandemic disrupted lives in ways we still haven’t fully processed - whether it’s grief, anxiety, financial struggles, or just a lingering sense of uncertainty.

I see people who still struggle with social anxiety, who haven’t fully recovered financially, or who feel like they lost years of their lives. But because everything has “moved on,” there’s no space to acknowledge it anymore.

AIBU to think that COVID left a lasting impact on people’s mental health and general outlook on life, even if no one really talks about it?

As I've said I have lots of friends who worked in critical care so no, I won't crawl under a rock. Is it the pandemic that has left you with such anger or have you alway been like this?

Our critical care unit even had psychologists available for debriefs.

It isn't a competition but the ward staff had much more to deal with.

I don't deny ward staff had it hard.
Yes a psychologist came down, she put her head on one side, said how hard it must be for us, suggested we try deep breathing, Then we had to get back to it!

Just because you had friends who worked there, doesn't mean you understand what we went through, just as I don't understand what ward nurses went trough!

I think I have a lot of unresolved issues from Covid if I am honest, I have had to block it out, I can't watch or listen to anything about it.

I went in work the other day and we had to prone someone and I remember thinking I can't do this, I cannot do this again

Well as I say maybe a different clinical area would be better if you can't separate proning one person, a fairly routine procedure in ICU, with proning several patients simultaneously in a pandemic.

I'm not minimising your experience but as I said it was a pandemic it was always going to be tough but resource wise and support wise critical care did far better than most other clinical areas.

When people like @fluffiphlox reference WWII and how would we cope etc. it reminds me of when I visited Bletchley park a while ago. (Settle in, this is long.) Nice walk round, look at first computer etc and then the tour guide mentioned a death from a bomb dropped by a German bomber who got lost. Only bomb dropped in the area, shocked people in Whitehall, was it a mistake as thought or had the Germans found out about Bletchley park etc.

Anyway, on drive home, dh were talking about how weird that story was in our understanding of the war and what it was like in the UK during the war. I grew up in Manchester, grandads both were of age to fight, one grandmother worked in a factory for the war effort, other was still at school and talked about the day time raids and being glad of one just as she was about to have a maths test she’d been dreading. DH grew up in Kent in a town that was heavily bombed, and again both sets of his grandparents were early 20s during WWII so both grandads fought. We’d both lived in Sheffield and London- both places heavily bombed.

It hadn’t occurred to either of us until we were touring Bletchley park that there were huge swaths of the country that didn’t see a bomb raid. If there were no male members of your family aged between 18-40, none would have to fight. For people like this, the only way the war affected them was rationing.

“How would we cope with a war?” For lots of people, Covid had a bigger effect than a (non-nuclear!) war would have.

@Lanzarotelady the negative damages society faced from lockdown was worse

I don't need to move clinical areas! I actually moved away from critical care 2 years ago and went back to it as I missed it that much.
So yes it was the first proning I had seen in a while, and no it actually isn't that common in ICU
Like I said I had a moment, then got on with it, hardly a reason to move jobs

I never mentioned WW2. I’m more worried about WW3.

Yes I agree.

There was a spotlight on critical care, I'm not saying it wouldn't have been hard but they got everything they needed corners weren't cut, everything understandably shut down for critical care. So to hear someone thinks twice before proning a patient is a bit tone deaf tbh.

The knock effect further down the line with ward care, social care and society as a whole was far more profound imo.

You ARE minimising her experience. It's obvious it's had a traumatic effect on her.
Proning the patient suddenly triggered the feelings and memories of that time - classic trauma. Which she dealt with well by just carrying on. This gradual exposure to triggers will mean they get less impactful each time. Running away from triggers, as you suggest, will make it a bigger issue.

I'd like to add to my previous post that I am someone who was against some of the lockdown measures (though think some things should have happened way before lockdown, such as closing borders to all but supplies, banning mass gatherings). I could see then the harm lockdowns would have on society.
But I still get that working in ICU would have been insane and horrible at the time!

'But I still get that working in ICU would have been insane and horrible at the time'

ICU Drs wrote blogs with witty anecdotes such was the awfulness of it, yes gallows hunour way to cope etc etc but it gave a very clear picture of their challenges nonetheless.

I don't doubt it was hardwork but again critical care was was put on a pedestal when it came to staffing, equipment and resources. I bet ward staff with 30 deteriorating patients and 4 staff, few resources, no takeaways and no staff shipped in to help were far more traumatised.

Honest question, how often were staff dancing on TikTok?

Meh, people need to move on and stop obsessing over covid.

Lockdowns we're stupid, and supremely damaging to children and I don't doubt many children are still suffering from this. My own son was traumatised and took a long time to recover.

But adults need to get some resilience behind them, as it really was such a storm in a teacup and let's face it. War is currently much more likely to be damaging this country in our future.

If there were no male members of your family aged between 18-40, none would have to fight. For people like this, the only way the war affected them was rationing.

I must’ve imagined reading about the evacuees, the foster families, the conscription of all unmarried women age 20-30 into military support services, the Home Guard and the general massive lack of public services in general 🧐

Your son was ‘traumatised’ but other people should just get over it? What did he find traumatising can I ask?

It's almost as though people's experiences were different, and is only partially about resilience.

I'm not usually a "first poster, nails it" person, but...

yup, kudos to the first poster!

This thread is shocking. There are pp on here who were badly traumatised by it, for different, personal reasons, but the callous dismissal, almost nonchalance of others towards them is utterly disgraceful. Please pp, just because you weren't badly affected yourself, have some compassion to those who were...

Speaking as one who’s been housebound and bedbound for 18 months with LC l haven’t really got over it.

I still can only just walk up stairs and the Covid induced anxiety resulted in crisis team and was almost admitted to hospital.

l’ve had a terrible time, been unable to watch tv for 9 months. Now have a diagnosis of PTSD from Long Covid.

So no, l have t forgotten. Neither has my poor family.

And Long Covid is waiting for everyone.

I don't think it is and it is a bit scaremongering to suggest it.

I'm sorry that you've been so unwell but tbh post viral syndrome isn't anything new, many people feel wiped out for ages after flu for example. Glandular fever another one that can take months to recover from.

All we can do is optimise our health as much as possible with good diet to prevent obesity, physical activity to promote good sleep etc so we are better armed to deal with unpleasant viruses.

Actually it is. Never thought I’d get it.

Each infection raises your chance and it affects predominately females.

Totally agree.