Long Covid: rogue antibody discovery raises hope of blood test

[helvella]

This is much interesting happening with respect to long Covid. And I would like to believe that some of the research might, eventually, be of significance to those others here with thyroid disorders, especially autoimmune, fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, etc.

I note 200 symptoms (exclamation marks implied!!) - need another hundred to catch up with what has been claimed for Hashimoto's.

Thanks TSH110 for nudging me to post this follow-up to my first post about the program the other day.

Long Covid: rogue antibody discovery raises hope of blood test

Test could be available from GPs within six months, as scientists warn of ‘a lot of damage to a lot of lives’

Scientists have raised hopes of a blood test for long Covid after discovering distinctive patterns of rogue antibodies in patients whose symptoms persisted for months.

Researchers at Imperial College London identified so-called “autoantibodies” in long Covid patients that were absent in people who recovered quickly from the virus, or who had not tested positive for the disease.

Unlike normal antibodies which help fight off infections, autoantibodies attack healthy tissues by mistake, causing ongoing damage and illness through the equivalent of biological friendly fire.

With the further easing of coronavirus restrictions in England on 19 July, some scientists believe the UK should be braced for hundreds of thousands of cases of long Covid, a condition where patients experience symptoms such as chronic fatigue, breathlessness, muscle pain and headaches.

“It’s hard to escape a prediction that 100,000 new infections a day equates to 10,000 to 20,000 long Covid cases a day, especially in young people. That’s a lot of damage to a lot of lives. And it’s hard to see that we’d have the healthcare provision to deal with it on that scale,” said Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial. “All of us working on this could not be more alarmed.”

Rest of article available here:

theguardian.com/society/202...

My previous post about the program mentioned is here:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Long Covid has more than 200 symptoms, study finds

Calls for national screening programme as symptoms revealed range from brain fog to tinnitus

The largest ever international study of people with long Covid has identified more than 200 symptoms and prompted researchers to call for a national screening programme.

The study found the myriad symptoms of long Covid – from brain fog and hallucinations to tremors and tinnitus – spanned 10 of the body’s organ systems, and a third of the symptoms continued to affect patients for at least six months.

A national screening programme would help produce a better understanding of how many people are affected and the kind of support they would need, the researchers said.

Rest of article available here:

theguardian.com/society/202...

[LindaC]

Thank you helvella! Hopefully, some spin-offs to the long-suffering CFS/ME communities...!?

[PaulRobinson]

Thanks for this. I had Covid for about 3 months over Christmas and am still struggling with some symptoms that may have been triggered by the 2nd vaccination. So, very interested in this.

Let's hope it benefits Long-Covid sufferers as well as others.

Thank you!

Paul

[MariaStrawCinar]

It is very interesting as since I had Covid TSH has risen and my body seems to be responding differently to NDT- helvella I would be interested to hear about your rise in TSH. Was it Covid/Long related. Hashi and long Covid symptoms are quite similar so it would be good if there was a test for Long Covid.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to MariaStrawCinar]

My TSH hasn't, so far as I know, risen! Nor have I had Covid.

Could you be taking something I have quoted as my own words? (Easily done, of course.)

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to helvella]

Thanks TSH110 for nudging me to post this follow-up to my first post about the program the other day.

Who had the high TSH?

It was the above quote-sorry! Glad that you have not had Covid nor a high TSH- I posted some questions and results yesterday about my high TSH

[TSH110 in reply to MariaStrawCinar]

I’m the one….it was horrible! There are some here that have had a TSH go much higher, but I think that was my upper limit

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to TSH110]

Ah I see- has it gone down now?

[TSH110]

It plummeted to an eternal nothing without medication as my thyroid completely croaked. I took Levothyroxine for two years with aim of Endo to get it between 0.2 and 0.5 - I still felt really awful and this is a lot better than many get on here as a parameter. I decided to self medicate with NDT and have felt pretty well since, my TSH is very low as would be expected on a T3 containing thyroid replacement therapy. It was a grim journey but a relief to be in good health now

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to TSH110]

Thanks for your reply.I am so glad to hear you are in good health- so can it go right up then plummet if the thyroid is croaking as you say.I am trying to decide if to give Levo a chance or start with Armor that has arrived. I took Levo from April until 2 weeks ago as it was revving me up.V anxious and hyper- maybe I started too high on 100 as I was on 2.5 grains of NDT before. So tomorrow I will either start with 50 levo or 1 grain NDT- its hard to know but I fear LEvo does not work well for me but T3 also can be strong.

[TSH110 in reply to MariaStrawCinar]

Yes that is the final part of the disease progression as the thyroid finally dies from autoimmune attack it releases all its remaining stores of thyroxine in one last go. It wasn’t very nice. It’s strange that two close relatives feel really well on Levothyroxine but I simply could not get there on it. Seeing the latest research on how abnormal the ratios of thyroid hormones are for many on T4 makes me wonder if it is actually very good for anyone. Given NDT is the closest thing we can get to to our natural hormones I would think it is probably the best thing of all to take, if it suits you. I use ThyroidS but it’s become Very hard to get hold of not sure what I will do when I run out. Might be Armour for me after that if I can get it/afford it. Whichever you choose I hope it goes well for you. ☘️🍀☘️

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to TSH110]

Thank you- it’s a rocky road isn’t it ? Lordy! Wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy really. I was using Thyroid S too. How do you mean about the abnormal ratios? Did you have an ultra sound that showed the thyroid damage?

[TSH110 in reply to MariaStrawCinar]

Because two close relatives had primary cancer of the thyroid and I was afraid I might have it - it’s very rare one in 2 million I think and two close relatives having it means it is likely to have an inheritable aspect to it so I asked the consultant if they could check it. He said it was very small, indeed tiny in fact, what tissue that was there was abnormal, shrivelled and highly unlikely to have any function. This was a month or so after I started medication a few days after the big TSH blow up it was suppressed in the previous blood test a week or so previous. I have autoimmune atropic thyroiditis so more akin to Graves than Hashis. There have been a couple of papers looking at hormone ratios in those on T4 which have found them to be abnormal compared to those with healthy thyroids. It’s not rocket science to conclude this might be why so many illnesses are more common in those on t4 monotherapy eg fatty liver, heart disease and a shed load more. It does not seem to be the case with those on some sort of T3 containing therapy where ratios are closer to normal. I’ll see if I can find some links for you.

This one is good:

thyroidpatients.ca/2020/10/...

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to TSH110]

I can see why you wanted to check-I didn't know that about T4 but instinctively feel that NDT is the better route to go down. I have decided to try that first and then test in 6 weeks again. I think the last batch of Thyroid S was really odd in some way so hoping Armour will help. Can you go from Hashimotos to Graves? Does Graves shows a low TSH or not that simple I imagine. Do you feel ok now? Hope so.Thanks for your replies

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

[TSH110 in reply to MariaStrawCinar]

I feel pretty good now in some ways better than I did because the NDT completely stopped the debilitating depression I had suffered from.

It all depends on the antibodies involved as to the presentation of the disorder. The type I had has no goitre and starts out like graves but eventually burns out to hypothyroidism. I’ll post a link to the different types of thyroid disorder which you may find interesting.

Here it is and it explains a lot:

thyroidpatients.ca/2020/04/...

[Framboise]

If anything good can come out of this pandemic, it could be that researchers will learn about the long-term effects of viruses on humans. I imagine that Dr Skinner, as a virologist, would have had a lot to say about this!

[Gcart]

I thought I would lose my infant son in the 1969 flu outbreak . It crippled the city and whole of Great Britain . No doctors available , due to them also struck with it , Out of the four of us getting over it reasonably ok my son was about 4/5 years recovering to full health . There was

no help medically, I just tried to build him up .

I wonder how much chronic ill health is left over virus ? Unexplored fully until this outbreak .

Maybe , as long as one doesn’t only have to qualify having had Covid , more help can be offered for these other auto immune diseases .

They have been treated as some strange mystery invented , by mostly, silly women .

Oops sorry sounds a bit of a moan . 😑

[MariaStrawCinar in reply to Gcart]

You are right to moan- we should shout it from the rooftops- I would but I am too tired !!!🤣😆😆

[tattybogle]

Thankyou for finding that .... i heard something about it on Radio4 very early morning , one day last week , but then forgot about it. I think they said they could possibly have a blood test ready to use in 6 months , if all went well.