Long Covid could be an autoimmune disease

[Ninbus]

Just read this article and thought others may be interested www.google.com/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/severe-covid-may-be-caused-by-autoantibodies-here-is-what-that-means-152053

China was hypothesising this in February

Oh great. I'll look forward to adding that to the three i've already got when I return as a primary teacher in a tier 4 area on Monday.

I am very sorry to hear that phlebasconsidered . It is very worrying isn’t it.

I'm on biologic drugs and when we had it I was less unwell than the rest of the family, possibly due to the part of my immune system being 'switched off'.

The type of drug I'm on has been used to treat some severe Covid patients I believe.

Whatever long Covid is it is awful. I've been ill since March. So many people go on about not worrying about Covid because if you're young and fit death or hospitalization is unlikely. Long Covid is life changing.

Long Covid worries me most. I believe women in their 40s are one of the most affected groups

I think the governments highest priority throughout all this is to not overwhelm the nhs. Which I suppose is important and is the immediate priority. They dont even care too much about deaths, it is just that the nhs isn’t overwhelmed and can still provide care to those who need it. But long Covid should be many peoples individual priority not to get it.

Very interesting. DH and I are sure we had COVID in March. Frankly, neither of us has properly recovered but I've now been diagnosed with Graves Disease, which is an autoimmune disease that seemed to have been triggered by my illness in March and he seems to have long COVID and is still so unwell. We are wondering if he'll ever be well. 😢

Sorry to hear that bythesea. Hopefully in the long term they will find treatments for long covid

That would make a lot of sense. I developed an autoimmune disease off the back of a virus I contracted as a teenager.

Interesting reading OP.

Really interesting article which makes total sense.
I have had long covid after getting covid in March. I wrote to my doctor in June begging for help as had so many symptoms and scary things happening and wasnt getting better. I already had a bad thyroid problem historically so was worried about getting ill.
When I was pregnant years ago I got pre eclampsia, then years later pneumonia ended up with cykotine storm. Its like my body over reacts to any bactetia/ virus so why would covid be any different for us with a over active immune system?
Now months on still very poorly. My wrists are swollen and stiff like a severe RA. I also been diagnosed with severe asthma which I never had before too. Last attack was put on steroids which I felt great on as it dampened down my crazy immune system albeit temporarily. But now its all back with a vengeance. Its like my body cant self balance/ reset. Obviously with a new virus the body goes haywire trying to kill it off but then having done its job keeps going! If you have an existing autoimmune issue just be careful of long covid. I was 49 when I got ill for context.

But isn’t the article referring to ‘severe’ rather than ‘long’ covid?

Interestingly the government have people with long term conditions - psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus as higher priority for vaccine. This is a separate category for those with suppressed immune system. So there must be concern about it