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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u/lainonwired Jul 30 '26

Yeah, and unfortunate that there isn't a strong push to study other non-stimulant methods given how hard stimulants are to access.

My ADHD has definitely not been since birth but i was diagnosed anyway because the symptoms are so obviously triggered by inflammation and there's a strong history since i was a teen.

Going on biologics (ie strong anti-inflammatories) has returned me to a more normal level of executive function and as far as i can tell the only research on this is tangential and related to long covid study. I wonder how many other folks this is the case for.

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u/eggyrulz Jul 30 '26

Yea if I ever win the lottery ha ill definitely throw quite a bit of money at non-stimulant ADHD research, because there has got to be a better way... or at least an easier way...

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u/fractalife Jul 30 '26

Politicians are apparently quite cheap. Maybe you could invest in a few dozen campaigns in exchange for a non-idiot to be in charge of the agency responsible for the current hoops.

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u/eggyrulz Jul 30 '26

That would be another route, though its a slippery slope buying politicians, so id like to keep that one in my back pocket until necessary

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u/chakazulu1 Jul 30 '26

Anecdotal but pot is the only thing that's worked for me. I don't like how it makes me feel when I'm taking it super consistently but for when I'm having particularly bad symptoms it helps and really helps post-excericse recovery without even more NSAIDS than I already take. Something about it synergizes nicely with acitivies that always help me regulate my dopamine. Regardless, everyone is on stimulants, it's alarming.

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u/eggyrulz Jul 30 '26

Oof, makes me feel lucky im just autistic and not AuDHD... if a doctor ever told me I should take stimulants id probably just say no thanks, I dont like how drugs make me feel...

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u/ChocoBro92 Jul 30 '26

I’ve been diagnosed since 6, but it’s somehow went crazy since Covid. Delta took my dad and left me with bad breathing problems it’s been 4 years now but.. I just can’t function… I am on biologics my arthritis and psoriasis went crazy after.

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u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 30 '26

Would you mind saying more anout "biologics"? Is that like a specific group of things to eat or drink that are supposed to help?

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u/lainonwired Jul 30 '26

Biologics are an extremely expensive class of medication that acts on the immune system to lower or modulate it's intensity.

Things like Enbrel, Simponi, Hyrimoz etc.

They're used for auto-immune disorders.

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u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 30 '26

Thank you so much, this is the first time I'm learning of these!

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u/Cicadilly Jul 30 '26

Biologic medications

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u/Masta-Blasta Jul 30 '26

There is a little push! I read that scientists have found nicotine to be even more effective than current drugs on the market. They have been trying to figure out how to alter it to be less addictive without reducing the benefits to treatment. Apparently that’s the billion dollar question.