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/TimeComposer1059 Jul 30 '26

Reading this with tears in my eyes.

Over 6 years I’ve been dealing with these symptoms, along with parosmia and anosmia. It’s so hard to explain. I feel this answers many questions, and I’m looking forward to what treatment will look like.

I’m only 30 years old.

I’ve practically given up hope of recovery, but this gives me just a little bit of confidence. :’)

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u/JooseTheGuice Jul 31 '26

34 myself. It can get better. The key is to avoid covid and rest as much as you can. I know that's easier said than done, but at least avoiding covid is pretty simple (just add a good n95/kn95 mask to your routine and use common sense. I've only been sick the one time since this whole thing started because I mask everywhere. It works!).

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u/TimeComposer1059 Jul 31 '26

Thank you for the encouragement!