Rest is not "lazy". Rest does not need to be earned. Rest is a basic human need, tho the messaging against it is everywhere and relentless. Rest is like eating, like breathing - necessary to sustain life
Alyssa Erin
@alyssaaerinn.bsky.social
chronically ill/disabled writer, poet, idea-haver, former Physio 🐢🏝️ she/her Pfp:white female, blonde hair pulled back, gaze down at teacup, "Keep Masks in Healthcare" red & white border Cover pic: snow-covered mountain lake
In people with #LongCovid, the microbiome in the mouth and sputum were found to correlate symptoms and severity publications.ersnet.org/content/erj/...
Sputum and oral microbiota profiles are associated with long COVID severity and phenotype post-hospitalisation: a UK multicentre, prospective cohort study
BackgroundAcute COVID-19 alters the airway microbiota. Whether these changes persist post-COVID-19 and contribute to long COVID is unknown. We aimed to describe the microbiota by long COVID severity and subtype, and identify links with inflammation.MethodsAdults were prospectively recruited to the longitudinal UK Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID). Patients were grouped by previously described “severity clusters” (of ongoing health impairments) and symptom subgroups. Oral and sputum microbiota (at 6 months post-discharge) were characterised through 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing, and microbiota diversity was assessed. Co-occurrence network analysis identified keystone taxa. Associations between keystone taxa and plasma inflammatory proteins were assessed through Spearman's rank correlations.Results771 participants had their microbiota assessed. Of participants with oral rinses and “severity cluster” assignment (mean age 57.5 years), 278 out of 722 (38.5%) were women. The “very severe” cluster, in which disease was predominantly pulmonary in nature, was associated with a distinct microbiota profile post-COVID-19. Reduced lung function was associated with a distinct oral microbiota profile. Persistent neurocognitive symptoms were associated with a distinct oral microbiota profile, while gastrointestinal symptoms were associated with a distinct sputum microbiota profile. Microbiota keystone taxa shifted to a higher prevalence of lactic acid bacteria associated with worse health outcomes. Lactic acid bacteria abundance was associated with elevated blood inflammatory proteins.ConclusionDistinct oral and sputum microbiota profiles were associated with pulmonary function and with neurocognitive and gastrointestinal symptoms in long COVID. Shifts in keystone microbiota taxa linked with inflammation, based on worse health outcomes, suggest a potential role change for lactic acid bacteria, which may be associated with the host immune response.
publications.ersnet.org
'A simple handgrip test offers new clues about long COVID' 'Researchers find that weaker grip strength and faster muscle fatigue are linked to worse symptoms, offering clues to muscle dysfunction and the challenges of recovery.' www.news-medical.net/news/2026101...
A simple handgrip test offers new clues about long COVID
Weaker handgrip strength correlates with severe long COVID symptoms, highlighting its potential as a measure for muscle dysfunction and recovery challenges.
news-medical.net
The degrees to which avoidance and 'niceness' were instilled runs deeeeep. Unlearning whiteness works of my life right there
My creative mind is on fire lately. Multiple writing ideas. A film idea. A little free bakery (to go with our little free library). Alas...*shakes fist at incredibly limiting chronic illnesses*
I know not everyone understands principles of gentle parenting and some have internalized this weird media representation where it's "let them walk all over you" but good gentle parenting explains consequences beforehand and helps them understand how they have the choice to cause them or not.
It was hard to live through the 90s with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis mislabeled & mischaracterized. Grateful for those taking the time to learn about the truth that brought us here. Those with #LongCovid would be wise to learn from our history, starting with danger of vague label and vague criteria.
Alem Matthees@alemmatthees.bsky.social · 2d ago(1/3) If the testimonials of a few curious doctors about the seriousness of #MECFS in the late 1980s early 1990s were not enough to gain support from the NIH / CDC, the publication of Komaroff et al 1996 (PMID: 8873490) on disability and Jason et al 1999 (PMID: 10527290) on prevalence should have.
Apparently getting regular headaches isn't normal. And two headaches per week is still too frequent (down from daily), as per my doc. Who knew! [rhetorical] Now you can know, too
It’s a well established fact. Highly transmissible airborne pathogens need layered mitigations… which is why we ditched most of it and left those at most risk with almost nothing. 🤡
Denis - The COVID Info Guy@thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social · 3d ago"Masks are great. But they aren’t magic" Source: x.com/PrognosticCh...
If you understand a person with lactose intolerance can "technically" drink a glass of milk but that doesn't mean they'll tolerate the lactose... then you understand a person w PEM not tolerating activity. Just because we "can", doesn't mean We Can #MEcfs #LongCovid
Carney just appointed Danielle Smith's top justice official, who oversaw the 4x use of the notwithstanding and anti trans laws. The discrimination of kids with disabilities. The americanization of election laws etc etc etc. www.canada.ca/en/departmen...
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada announces judicial appointments in the province of Alberta
The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, today announced the following appointments under t...
canada.ca
Chronic illness almost always demands holding multiple truths at once
I know capitalism dictates our daily but I detest #MEcfs scales saying mild means "can usually work" when it's at the expense of most other aspects of living [As someone mild-mod, and unable to "work"]
"We don’t need mass investment in better prisons. We need mass investment in our communities." - @mskellymhayes.bsky.social
Ideas for Disobeying today: -do the minimum at work -let a child lead playtime. Let them script, direct, tell you ur wrong. Give them autonomy. -wear a mask (KN95/N95 are best) -take a nap -read a book/watch a film by a disabled, Trans, racialized author/filmmaker 1/2
What good is an improved cardiovascular system if the path to it leaves you bedbound? #GradedExercise #MECFS #LongCovid #POTS
No one talks about it, but it is valid grief to be regularly managing sickness in your household/your kids, with little to no supports, and no end in sight to the constant infections. It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. #parenting #cleanair
"Grief is excessive; so is revolution. It is a defiant ‘yes’ when the rest of the world would say no. It is a refusal of the foreclosing of our time, an overflowing of humanity into the places that it is forbidden. We will not be machines anymore." - Sarah Jaffe -
Letterpress prints of "From the Ashes" by Sarah Jaffe — radical emprints
About the words: These two letterpress prints are excerpts from Sarah Jaffe's beautiful & timely new book From the Ashes: Grief & Revolution in a World on Fire. This is one of the most ...
radicalemprints.com
"this mtg coulda been an email" 🤝 "this appt coulda been a phone call" #disability
A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months. At the end of August, the U.S. stateline.org/2026/10/02/a...
After states sue, Trump administration walks away from disability rights enforcement • Stateline
A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advoca...
stateline.org
In the history of all the things that never happened, this never happened the most. SMH. Politicians lie. These politicians lie so often it seems like breathing.
“Direct democracy might sound democratic by definition. But a referendum can just as easily become a sleight of hand: not a way of giving people power but a way of using their votes to take it.” @thewalrus.ca thewalrus.ca/albertas-ref...
Alberta’s Referendum Fails Every Democratic Test We Have | The Walrus
Danielle Smith’s ten-question ballot doesn’t just measure discontent with Canada. It helps manufacture it
thewalrus.ca
Important update on the St. Dunstan’s School/Calgary Indian Industrial School site (featuring a momentary return byline from the great @cbcscott.bsky.social): www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
City taking steps soon to memorialize former Calgary residential school | CBC News
A city-owned agency will soon place signs to mark the site of a former residential school in southeast Calgary, which operated from 1896 to 1907.
cbc.ca
Exceptionally punctual October slide this year. I'm almost impressed
Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.
I am no longer a registered nurse. Not through any choice, but because I got #LongCovid. 2 years ago I lost my nursing job because I'm too ill too work. Today my nursing registration expired. 20+ yrs given to the NHS. Ended by getting a disease without a cure.
BREAKING: Scores of white Canadians injured while smugly patting own backs
