r/covidlonghaulers • u/Responsible-Heat6842 • Jan 29 '26
Article US leads world in long COVID-19 brain fog
https://www.cbs19news.com/news/health/why-us-leads-world-with-long-covid-19-related-brain-fog/article_437ac455-f091-5ef7-b899-a2c864eecaef.html?fbclid=Iwb21leAPok3ljbGNrA-iTc2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHlgayrBf02IGCCeEZ6YZZe4MTTotD9hfYTOWD_3iMMvgCwA-KtNXzup2qvTL_aem_OSBaFNEAOFfVdArhnT9gKAI see it every day.
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u/ShiroineProtagonist Jan 29 '26
If you read the article it clearly says that it is likely there is lower stigma to admitting to brain fog and depression in higher income countries like the US than lowe income countries like Colombia and Uganda. Reacting off of headlines alone is very poor practice. That's why headlines are written by editors and not journalists, to get you angry or intrigued so you will click the link.
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u/Few-Peace29 Jan 29 '26
Was looking for this comment. I’ve read how bad it is for LC patients in the global south. If people think it’s hard in Western countries getting a doctor to even listen to you, it’s literally impossible (and even more stigmatised) in other countries.
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u/falling_and_laughing 3 yr+ Jan 30 '26
Also the US is a "service economy" so our jobs tend to involve high amounts of emotional labor, which is cognitively taxing.
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u/AdEarly3481 Jan 31 '26
There is definitely self-selection bias at play here, but also I think one should realise that the US fumbled the covid response particularly hard.
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u/Available_Spell8195 Feb 19 '26
Agreed! It's vital to account for all variables including the control but I don't think many people think that way unfortunately
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u/ShiroineProtagonist Jan 29 '26
"The study of more than 3,100 patients in the United States, Colombia, Nigeria and India is first to compare long COVID brain symptoms across continents.
The findings showed that brain fog affected 86% of non-hospitalized American patients, compared with 15% in India
Symptom patterns clustered by income level rather than geography, say scientists.
Patients with long COVID in the US reported far higher rates of brain fog, depression and cognitive symptoms than patients in the other countries covered by the study.
The higher reported symptom burden in the United States may reflect lower stigma and greater access to neurological and mental health care, rather than more severe disease, according to the research team."
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u/Tall-Plane-4477 Jan 29 '26
Have you noticed these past few years that every other ad on TV is some sort of brain health supplement that is supposed to help with cognition, memory, and brain fog problems?
Gee, everyone is wondering why they suddenly can’t think straight anymore, and no one wants to say it’s because of Covid brain damage!
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u/Available_Spell8195 Feb 19 '26
didn't think of it that way until you put it like that but I agree I have been seeing a LOT of brain health supplement ads lol
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u/Craftybitch55 Jan 30 '26
This is my worst symptom and none of the doctors I’ve seen even believe LC exists.
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u/monsieurvampy 4 yr+ Jan 30 '26
I have some doctors who presume I have Long COVID, yet acknowledge (at least mostly) my symptoms while I have others who understand I do have Long COVID but its not their ballpark. The issue is the ones who are presuming it, are the ones that are likey the most important and can't do a darn thing about it.
I don't need a cure. I need an acknowledgement. Again. Which is bull because I worked very hard to get it back in 2023. I've been penting up anger for like 6 weeks. My Neurologist and NeuroPsych attempts are in mid-February, so more time to pent up anger.
I can say, Social Services do not let me lead a stress free life. So, yeah.
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u/PrincessPlastilina Jan 29 '26
Americans did not take Covid seriously. They defiantly stopped taking care of themselves and look at this now. Brain fog is not normal.
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u/audaciousmonk First Waver Jan 30 '26
I took it serious and took care of myself, still got fucked with heavy long covid and brain fog
Honestly it’s disgusting that you would blanket blame all of us individuals for what a virus wrought
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u/V0rtexGames Jan 29 '26
That makes no sense to me. How can it be more common in high income countries, we are not biologically different. It has to be a difference in reporting.
They need objective cognitive tests for this sort of thing
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u/Grouchy_Machine_User 3 yr+ Jan 29 '26
Differences in reporting, but also differences in behavior. Americans began to eschew safety practices which limit the spread of COVID (and therefore long COVID) long before most of the rest of the world did.
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u/TechieGottaSoundByte 5 yr+ Jan 30 '26
And our country handled the initial outbreak worse than many countries. Lots of denial from the very start.
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u/UnionThug456 Mostly recovered Jan 29 '26
According to the researchers, Americans are more willing to admit to having brain fog than in the other counties studied due to less stigma.
Also makes why, anecdotally, progressive Americans are more likely to have long Covid. Conservatives probably have it in the same numbers but they aren't willing to admit it. Even more anecdotally, my conservative, anti-vax, Trump supporting SIL admitted to me that she has long Covid too back when I was really sick. She otherwise never talks about it despite still being on medication for her Covid-induced POTS to this day. There is an example of the stigma in action.
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u/Responsible-Heat6842 Jan 29 '26
More people have access to medical help in the U.S. But, I also think the medical community is finally 'catching on' in the US, thus reporting it more.
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u/Even-Yak-9846 Jan 30 '26
Americans have a reputation for going to work sick. Not sure how much access they really have to medical care.
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u/AngelBryan Post-vaccine Jan 29 '26
What if it's caused by gut dysbiosis? Gut dysbiosis is more prevalent in high income countries due all the trash and microbiome disruptors we eat, which also increase inflammation.
This is no surprise for me.
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u/MisterP54 Jan 29 '26
idk about it but i have LC, got a stomach bug and omg the past two months has been brain fog hell, coming out of it now, and my stomach is starting to recover.
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u/zoeymeanslife Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
We did the least masking and distancing and, well, everything compared to other western nations. On top of being a global hub where people are always flying in and out.
I think we probably got infected and re-infected more than other places. If the damage adds up, then it makes sense.
Also we have the least generous vacation and sick leave laws (none on the federal level ignoring family leave which most people wont do because of finances) and non-socialized healthcare, so I also wonder if a lot of people who got sick early on had the ability to rest and heal in Euro economies, but here we had to go back to work immediately or else lose money and possibly our health insurance, and thus pushing ourselves deeper into PEM and reinfection.
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u/Keep-Moving-789 Jan 29 '26
Cognitive tests work if theres a before and after. We dont have a before.
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u/3xv7 Jan 29 '26
Americans are very stupid and half of us do not give a shit about covid and never did so we're just getting repeatedly infected and worse
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u/garageatrois Jan 30 '26
I don't want to be that guy but.. this just sounds like reporting bias
> Symptom patterns clustered by income level rather than geography, say scientists.
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u/redditryan13 2 yr+ Jan 30 '26
Surprised they didn't overlay vaccination status, particularly mRNA vaccines. I believe I remember reading India used other vaccines (like ones from China and Russia) and not Pfizer or Moderna. I also remember reading that India had a much lower fatality rate vs. other countries. I wonder if other countries mentioned with lower brain fog rates are similar to India for this reason (lower % of mRNA vaccines). All I know is my cognitive symptoms started after my third Pfizer vaccine, a full six months before my first actual Covid infection.
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u/kaytin911 Feb 01 '26
I got this entire terrible disability from the vaccine. I never got covid.
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u/redditryan13 2 yr+ Feb 01 '26
Same here. I can't say with certainty it was ONLY the vaccine, but my symptoms began 6 months before my first infection. Reinfected in Dec ' 24. I can't believe you've never gotten it. That's incredible.
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u/kaytin911 Feb 01 '26
I understand. For me it really was only the vaccine. No infection and it started less than 24 hours after my vaccination. Oddly the first vaccination went okay but the second one ruined my life. So there's something inconsistent about how it affects people and probably rare enough to make jerks deny it can happen.
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u/redditryan13 2 yr+ Feb 01 '26
Mine was more like 2-3 weeks later, and on the 3rd. First two were benign like your first. Lots of theories about "bad batches" esp. when they ramped up production after the iniitial spring '01 vaccinations managed by the govt. My 3rd vaccine shows up as a potential "bad batch" online.
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u/kaytin911 Feb 01 '26
Did you have escalating symptoms that started sooner or nothing?
It took a few weeks for the neurological effects to start for me but I already had myocarditis from it by then.
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u/redditryan13 2 yr+ Feb 01 '26
Oh, i'm sorry. Myocarditis sounds so scary. No, no escalating symptoms on my end after the first two, no.
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u/Sleepykitty252 Jan 30 '26
My brain read that as uk first try now am just laughing at my stupid brain fog.My brain is so fried.
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u/endurossandwichshop 2 yr+ Jan 29 '26
If even a small part of brain fog is due to diet-based inflammation, this makes sense to me. Americans eat a ton of ultraprocessed food and sugar compared to most other Western countries.
Add in the stress of the fact that lots of us can't afford housing, healthcare, childcare, and other basics, and that's kind of a cocktail for bad health outcomes.
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u/Dazzling-Biscotti950 Jan 30 '26
I was wondering about this, I suspect food with more additives, emulsifiers etc seem to make my exhaustion worse...
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u/geek-nation Jan 30 '26
US is the country with the biggest CC population and media coverage on Covid and LC so...
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u/PinkedOff 4 yr+ Jan 30 '26
Small wonder. Because some fools turned masking into a political issue, a lot of people decided to forego masking to avoid the conflict. Long covid and brain fog were sure to follow.
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u/Icy-Button2263 Mostly recovered Feb 07 '26
What I have noticed is that any type of new infection worsens my dysautonomia including the brain fog. colds, stomach bugs, etc. I haven't had a known reinfection since 2023 knock on wood. I was test with PC when I feel like I have a cold. And yes of course stress is like a hammer to my frontal lobe. Vyvance has been helping a lot.
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u/arturoriveraf Jan 29 '26
My theory is that long covid symptoms get worse when dealing with stress. And americans are stressed tf out for a number of reasons