Biological Basis for Long Covid Brain Fog October 2, 2025 4:24 AMSubscribe
Researchers employed a specialized brain imaging technique to identify a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for Long COVID. posted by tiny frying pan (9 comments total)
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Good to be reminded that we're collectively still capable of miracles. posted by mhoye at 6:12 AM on October 2 [7 favorites]
I never lost my taste or sense of smell the first time I got Covid, but I did have the brain fog. It was so bad that I actually found myself narrating out loud everything I was doing just to keep focused. I'm very grateful that it cleared up in about a week and every successive time I've had covid it hasn't been as nearly as bad. posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:25 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
My most recent bout with Covid (which I was positive for an entire 10 days) was very concerning. I couldn't remember names of the people I have known forever or important to remember (interviews for a job). The last think we collectively need is feeling out of sorts or fearing larger medical issues that "brain fog" could be indicative of being. posted by hillabeans at 6:56 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
This is great news, but I'm always a bit wary of these articles. Science takes time, but news coverage seeks immediacy and quick solutions. Research groups and universities are aware of this, but there are of course perverse incentives to sprinkle every little step with some hype. And I'm sure that there are many cases where the researchers are explicit about all such disclaimers when talking to the journalist, but these are somehow lost when getting around to the final version of the news article.
Note that, at the bottom of the linked page is a reference to the following article, from February 26, 2024, also on SciTechDaily: Leaky Blood Vessels: Underlying Cause of Long COVID ¡°Brain Fog¡± Discovered.
Science takes time. All these are steps towards understanding "brain fog" and potential treatment or cure. posted by JSilva at 7:21 AM on October 2 [4 favorites]
That's why it says potential biomarker and therapeutic target. posted by tiny frying pan at 8:05 AM on October 2
The article suggests that a drug which suppresses AMPARS would be an effective treatment. I¡¯m not sure how easy or effective that would be - but it sounds like something to try stat. posted by rongorongo at 10:11 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
It's an interesting finding but I was amused at how much the authors kept insisting that the elevated MADRS and HAM-D scores in the 30 test subjects relative to the comparison cohort were not consistent with "Major Depressive Disorder" per DSM-5 and ICD-10. MDD itself is quite a strict definition and most "depression" diagnosed and treated outside of specialized psychiatric care and research does not satisfy the MDD criteria. MDD is just one of many depressive syndromes, which in DSM and ICD are merely aggregated behavioral descriptions of underlying pathophysiology. Likely multifactorial and a spectrum, with shared pathways and multiple, similar end-points.
They go to great lengths to declare that they were not imaging a depressive syndrome biomarker. Their assertion that the elevated MADRS/HAM-D scores indicated "subclinical symptoms secondary to cognitive impairment" appears free-floating and untethered to any (non)causation hypothesis. This is a single cohort study, with an unusual choice of a disconnected comparison control cohort, and so is unable to establish a temporal sequence between exposure and outcome.
We've known for some time that dysregulated AMPAR is a biomarker that can help distinguish various subtypes of mood and psychotic disorders: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. A more rigorous study would compare this cohort with a similar cohort reporting mood symptoms, possibly consistent diagnoses, and equivalent MADRS/HAM-D scores.
Excluding the four people who reported "brain fog" but did not show significant impairment on the RBANS was also a poor choice. A lot of times, people report "brain fog" but show no significant changes on testing. What if these group also demonstrated similar AMPAR findings? That would be a problematic signal for the conclusions of this paper. posted by meehawl at 10:16 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
"Brain Fog" isn't descriptive enough.
I've been dealing with LC for something like 4 years now and it's like I wake up almost every single day with a migraine and someone has wrapped a hot, wet Ace bandage around my whole head and I'm trying to breathe, talk and live through that.
I've had something between 3 and 5 cases covid, 2-3 of which were before vaccines and the original potentially lethal variant, and I swear I've lost - for lack of a better descriptive yardstick - 30-40 IQ points.
It's also basically lobotomized my executive function and ability or drive to do anything at all in addition to chronic fatigue and PEMS. Like there's just nothing there, and if it wasn't for basic needs like remembering to eat food and drink water I could just sit there doing nothing for the rest of my life because there's just nothing there in a way that makes extreme depression related anhedonism look and feel like a trip to a swinger's club on ecstasy.
Like I can't even listen to music any more because not only does it not do anything for me, not only does it sound like a foreign language, it feels like I'm doing heavy math homework and it's just fatiguing.
I'm not just foggy or cloudy feeling, it's like I'm drowning alive in hot wet sand while being electrocuted.
This is in addition to the rest of my body with neuropathy issues, extreme fatigue all the time, post exertional malaise syndrome, POTS, weird skin rashes and itching all over, thermal disregulation, circulation issues, heart palpitations and a whole list of fucked up things.
I've been saying this to anyone who would listen for a few years now but this virus is making people less intelligent on a global scale, and it's utterly fucking terrifying to me, and it's even more terrifying that people are by and large ignoring this cognitive decline.
I can see symptoms of this all around me with how people are driving, how people behave doing simple tasks in public and at work, the breakdown of politeness and the social contract, how quick people are to rise to anger and it's absolutely terrifying.
Cognition and Memory after Covid-19 in a Large Community Sample:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330#f2 posted by loquacious at 2:04 PM on October 2 [5 favorites]
Loquacious, when you express what you're going through I'm always struck that you manage to do that (express yourself, I mean) in spite of it all. I sure hope there are effective treatments soon!
Yeah, I too wonder if some of *waves hands in all-encompassing gesture* is because a lot of people are somewhat impaired now. Don't get me wrong, the trends were already there, but adding in a bunch of extra pain and struggle to think clearly probably didn't help. posted by inexorably_forward at 3:47 PM on October 2 [2 favorites]
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posted by mhoye at 6:12 AM on October 2 [7 favorites]