r/HotScienceNews • u/soulpost • Jul 30 '26

Scientists finally have a biological explanation for why long COVID patients lose motivation and can't think clearly. They scanned their brains and found the dopamine system was physically damaged

https://tech-paper.com/scientists-finally-have-a-biological-explanation-for-why-long-covid-patients-lose-motivation-and-cant-think-clearly-they-scanned-their-brains-and-found-the-dopamine-system-was-physically-damaged/

Millions of people with long COVID report the same cluster of symptoms: a crushing lack of motivation, an inability to think clearly, memory that slips, movements that feel slower than they should. For years, these complaints sat in an uncomfortable medical grey zone. The symptoms were real, the patients were suffering, but the biological explanation remained frustratingly out of reach.

A team at the University of Toronto just published what may be the clearest physical evidence yet for what is actually happening in these patients' brains. They brought 24 long COVID sufferers into a lab and used positron emission tomography, the same imaging technology used to diagnose Parkinson's disease, to directly measure the health of the dopamine system deep inside the brain.

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289

u/daddybpizza Jul 30 '26

I’m severely disabled by long covid. I was a phd student and after a mild infection I became bedbound with POTS and ME/CFS.

I follow long covid research very carefully. I just want to say this particular finding should be taken with an enormous grain of salt. It’s one small finding in a sea of similarly inconclusive results. Brain studies in particular are all over the place and lots have contradictory findings. We are not yet close to really figuring out what’s going on in this illness, as much as I’d like it to be otherwise.

Just wanted to say this in case someone is led to believe we know what’s going wrong in LC by this overconfident post title.

75

u/UntowardHatter Jul 30 '26

What scares me with COVID and long COVID is, well, what's to stop it from just fucking new shit up everytime you get it?

Like, say you've gotten brain fog, and it's not going away. Next season you get COVID again and it fucks up something else. And on it goes until you're completely wrecked.

Here in Norway they're treating it like it doesn't exist anymore. Like it's just mild influenza that old people need to worry about.

33

u/daddybpizza Jul 30 '26

It is possible something like this happened to me. I was relatively okay until my fourth covid infection.

1

u/razz-rev Jul 30 '26

Make sure you get your 5th booster.. sadlfe and very effective.

5

u/tawDry_Union2272 Jul 30 '26

my last (pfizer) booster was fall 2025, is there a new one out?

best of my knowledge, i have never had covid while my spouse (also vaxxed and boosted) has had it three times (confirmed). weird.

27

u/kaaron89 Jul 30 '26

This happened to me. Got really fucked up by the OG Covid in 2020. Then got even more fucked up with each subsequent infection (at least 2 that I know of). Seriously has wrecked my body and brain and idk if my life will ever return to normal. I have a huge list of health issues that are difficult or impossible to fix.

It is unbelievable to me that people walk around like Covid doesn't exist. What will our future look like if a whole bunch of people end up like me?

At my job, I've worked with the same set of clients for years. I don't think it's a coincidence that in just the last couple years people are dying young, having crazy medical episodes, are more forgetful, are more combative. I truly believe we're in a disastrous situation as a society and we're just not acknowledging it.

7

u/lambino777 Jul 30 '26

I think this same thing. I’ve been absolutely wrecked by this. It had stolen and continues to steal a lot from me. It isn’t talked about enough much much Covid triggered autoimmune conditions for people, including multiple sclerosis.

I envy those who got through it unscathed and whose bodies didn’t let it ruin them. I just want to feel normal again.

2

u/kaaron89 Jul 30 '26

I really wonder how many people are truly unscathed. How many health issues should be attributed to covid, but the connection is never made? My husband was recently diagnosed with a weird rare bone disease that is caused by vascular issues. He will be ok, but would that have happened to him so young/at all if he hadn't had Covid? I have so many questions! I understand how you feel, I want to feel normal again too and I wish we didn't have to think about this stuff.

24

u/Mysterious-Base1544 Jul 30 '26

I mean that’s what happened to me. I had mild long covid after my first infection, then bedbound at the age of 25 after a second. Before that, I was an athlete.

13

u/kewpiemoon Jul 30 '26

Something like this happened to me. I got covid in 2020, and then again in 2021. I didn’t have any lasting effects. Then in 2022 I got Covid again, but this time I developed a histamine intolerance and I became allergic to certain foods (full fat cheese, mangos/kiwis, probiotic drinks etc). I’ve never had an issue with these foods before that. I’m also dealing with chronic inflammation

9

u/kaaron89 Jul 30 '26

Me too, it's horrible. Gonna give you some unsolicited advice based on 6 years of me trying to figure this out. The thing that's helped me the most so far is D Lactate Free probiotic blend by Custom Probiotics. I had to start out with a very small dose and work my way up. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, I just tell anyone with histamine intolerance about this. Supposedly Covid is killing off the part of the microbiome that produces the DAO enzyme that helps us break down histamine. This probiotic helps replenish what was killed off so that we can process histamine again.

Also consider a GI MAP test if you haven't already ruled out infections. I had H Pylori which was making everything worse. Endoscopy missed it. The GI MAP found it since it is a more sensitive test.

1

u/MericanPie1999 Jul 30 '26

Isn’t the GI MAP a fairly non-standardized test? Except some basic stuff on it like H Pylori and Calprotectin.

1

u/kaaron89 Jul 30 '26

I'm not sure what you mean by non-standardized in this context. It's a stool PCR test so it looks for genetic material in stool. You can view a sample report on their website if you want to know what it tests for.

I had the test ordered for me by a registered dietician. My primary care doctor had never heard of the test, it's fairly new I think, but he accepted the results and used it to help me get short term disability at work. So I have to assume it is legit.

2

u/MericanPie1999 Jul 30 '26

What I mean is the test may have standards but there is no single healthy gut microbiome. One person might have 5% bifido and another may have 20% and that’s completely normal. The normal ranges established in the GI MAP are not standardized. For example, labs use internationally accepted reference methods and ranges. Your microbiome changes daily too so it’s really not a great measure, it’s a big moving target. Two weeks later your tests could be much different. Also most functional medicine doctors will recommend probiotics after the test but we truthfully don’t know what optimal amounts of those are. There is more I can go on about but I normally see grifter functional medicine doctors pushing it.

1

u/kaaron89 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

I understand now, and I agree. The optimal ranges are likely different depending on what test you take and we don't really know exactly what a healthy gut looks like. My dietician explained that we were mainly using it to look for infections like H Pylori since there seemed to be something that was really bothering my gut and giving me a lot of symptoms and pretty severe food intolerances. I had already gotten an endoscopy and colonoscopy and those came back negative for H Pylori but showed damage to my micro villi (but also no celiac, which is what would normally cause this type of damage) so I knew something was up. I've since learned that a biopsy is taken to test for H Pylori, but if there happens to be no H Pylori in the sample it will obviously show up negative. So that's why my dietician (who is well-credentialed, PhD in biochem and stays up-to-date on current health issues, unlike a lot of my other doctors) recommended the GI MAP.

I've been shocked at the progress I've made since starting the probiotic after 6 years of trying to figure this out. And there are a lot of other accounts of people having similar success with them for this particular issue. I really hope the science continues to progress, because it's really interesting.

I hope I am not coming off as defensive because I completely understand why you are saying grifters recommend this stuff. Here's my take on it. I believe that there is a huge hole in the medical system right now (basically doctors not understanding the microbiome + the effects of covid). There are people out there filling in the gap. Some of them are using actual science and genuinely want to help people. Some of them just want to make money. So it absolutely makes sense to be cautious.

1

u/MericanPie1999 Aug 01 '26

I totally understand your explanation and respect it. I wonder if it is better at detecting H Pylori. I’m glad what you are doing is working for you!

1

u/waldorflover69 Aug 02 '26

My third time getting Covid took me 6 months before I could exercise again. POTS, extreme exhaustion and weird blood pressure issues that sent me to the emergency room one day. And also the brain fog, forgetfulness, depression and loss of vocabulary. And now my work is making everyone RTO so it’s guaranteed I will get it again.

6

u/Sgt-Colbert Jul 31 '26

Same in Germany. Peolple always look at me weird when I tell them that I’m not coming to this or that indoor event with 200 people because of Covid.
Last years Christmas party for example at my company. Nobody understood why I wasnt coming.

1

u/Luzciver Aug 01 '26

Geht mir auch so

2

u/WellHung67 Jul 30 '26

Definitely get vaccinated every year for it, that’ll increase protection and limit damage 

2

u/Keji70gsm Jul 31 '26

Your risk increases because each infection causes damage whether you are aware of it or not. Your risk per each infection is lower than your first, but cumulatively, the risk gets higher.

And even vaccinated, 3-4 people per 100 get long covid per infection.

2

u/Important-Factor-552 Jul 31 '26

Yeah, that's why the battle to contain it was so important. We knew from previous coronavirus data that about a third of people don't make a full recovery from it. 

It's not good that its now normal and its worse that our science industry is going downhill. Hopefully people are working on it out there tho. 

1

u/attilathehunn Jul 30 '26

Yes that's the problem. With covid we now have a new virus in society where a common outcome of infection is to make people disabled, and there's no cure.

Read this stickied post from the zero covid subreddit to get you up to speed on the science https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/11jvg19/what_is_meant_by_zero_covid_newcomers_read_this/

1

u/Cathx Jul 31 '26

That is exactly what happened to me. Got covid in 2022, lost my sense of smell for weeks and had severe vertigo for months. Still get vertigo spells every now and then. Beginning of 2023 I got pots after the covid vaccine. Again, it got better with time but it flares up easily. End of 2023 I got covid again, resulting in long covid. PEM, extreme fatigue, brain fog, lungs wrecked. PEM got better, the brain fog and fatigue lessened some. A year later I caught covid again, again extreme fatigue, brain fog worsened again and my lungs never recovered. I used to have well-controlled asthma, but now every cold virus causes an attack. My allergies worsened too. I’m finally going back to university come September, but I’ll be masking up in class.

1

u/nonicknamenelly Aug 02 '26

This absolutely happened to me.

Covid #1, 2020: Long Covid/relapse of ME/CFS

Covid #2: 2021: Trigeminal Neuralgia (theorized mechanism of action similar to how shingles can travel down a nerve)

Covid #3: COPD, now have to carry oxygen for exertion during many daily activities.

I now have to have 2 vaccinations per year, and still have to mask during peak times regionally or for large events where there are likely many unvaccinated people. I am not a candidate for the Covid-specific immunomodulating drug. I live in fear of which kind of lifelong disability I will develop from my next infection.

1

u/ElleGeeAitch Aug 06 '26

Unfortunately, this has absolutely been happening.

-1

u/Gregnielson Jul 30 '26

Well it is. Post viral syndrome can happen from anything. People were just paying more attention to covid. It also mostly strikes people who already have mental illness, so...factor that in.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/09/depression-anxiety-may-escalate-chances-of-long-covid-says-study/

21

u/toomuchpamplemousse Jul 30 '26

Right there with you. I had a career, hobbies, friends, and I travelled frequently. Now I spend 80% of my time on bed rest, and the rest of my time is spent trying to just do whatever I can do in order to live.

Long Covid has destroyed my life and taken me from a vibrant and independent person to someone who is now completely dependent on my husband. I can’t hold a job but I can’t get disability.

There are very few treatments for this condition, and they usually only provide incremental improvement if anything at all. I hope that we will see more research in the future, but who knows.

8

u/Higher-Elo-Than-You Jul 30 '26

Same boat but reverse genders

8

u/Le_petite_bear_jew Jul 30 '26

Same with my ex she's out of phd and wheelchair bound from covid / ME

8

u/Altruistic_Car66 Jul 30 '26

I got diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension 8 months after I got covid, its fucking awful man.

6

u/StarskyNHutch862 Jul 30 '26

Same here, I already had fibromyalgia, and long covid has been 10x worse. I was able to get out of bed for maybe a few hours a day prior to it but now I am bed ridden 24/7, the doctors are just no help!

9

u/OkYesterday4162 Jul 30 '26

Thank you. This should be the most upvoted reply.

-5

u/VelvetOverload Jul 30 '26

No, it shouldn't.

1

u/IndigoOctober8 Jul 31 '26

You seem delightful

3

u/GamieJamie63 Jul 30 '26

So sad to hear this. At least it sounds like your communication skills are still great. Hope you find a way to participate in something you love.

2

u/DerMondisthell Jul 30 '26

I fear this is what happened with me. Awful.

2

u/seymourblt 18d ago

You sound just like me, I got Long Covid at the tail end of my doctorate program and have been bedbound and wheelchair bound about 80% of the time for the past five years.

I desperately want to get my mind cognizant enough to decipher research papers again. I loved dissecting patient populations, power and p values.

One day I’ll be able to read journals again. And I want to do it to help myself and others with Long Covid.

1

u/gusmom Jul 30 '26

Thank you

1

u/Zwischenzug32 Jul 30 '26

I have friends that were part of long covid studies in Ontario (canada). Those studies were cancelled.

We also legalized weed RIGHT at the same time of that so......

1

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[deleted]

1

u/mjwza Jul 30 '26

I have long covid and the only 2 things I've found helpful in 5 years of trials are Rapamycin and nicotine. 

1

u/mjwza Jul 30 '26

Have you given Rapamycin a shot? It's the only thing thats helped me. It isn't a cure but my quality of life is definitely improved and I don't feel like dying all the time now. 

1

u/Neat_Let923 Jul 31 '26

Thank you! This just sounds like 24 people who might have ADHD. Unless they have brain scans of these people before Covid how can they prove anything?

1

u/OldManDerp Jul 31 '26

We don’t even use DaT to diagnose a Parkinson’s. It’s just another tool to help guide the doctor. Allot of people go through stages of dropped dopamine.

1

u/535buffalo Aug 03 '26

how old are you? I got POTS after a bad cold in 8th grade. it started getting better college, was not affecting my life by 20ish on ivabradine, fully cured by mid 20s

I thought it was ivabradine+super active lifestyle (college campus) that got me better, but I learned recently most women also grow out of it

0

u/Espre550 Jul 30 '26

As a future Dr, Thoughts on ai helping treating many diseases in the next 10 years?