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The Molecular Basis of Long Covid Brain Fog

https://www.yokohama-cu.ac.jp/english/news/20251001takahashi.html
73•onnnon•2h ago

Comments

marstall•2h ago
Very cool. Surprising that having more AMPA receptors would lead to decreased cognition, as learning & memory is hypothesized to particularly involve processes that increase the number of in-position AMPA receptors.
Aurornis•2h ago
> Surprising that having more AMPA receptors would lead to decreased cognition

The study only looked at one marker. It doesn't confirm that increased AMPA receptor density is the cause of decreased cognition. It only suggests that decreased cognition is correlated with increased AMPA receptor density.

There are many processes in the body where reduced activation of a receptor system results in an increased number of those receptors. So don't conclude that this is the reason why patients have brain fog. I would guess it's just more of a symptom than a cause until there's more research

lenerdenator•57m ago
Maybe it's an attempt by the body to compensate?

Just a shot in the dark here, I'm just some guy on the internet, not a microbiologist or doctor.

dekhn•8m ago
In biology, cause and effect do not work the way they work in other fields. Effect is highly context-specific and things often work in the opposite direction than you might assume.
MengerSponge•2h ago
There's so much we don't know about this yet. It's great to see new knowledge being generated! I had Covid last February (vaccinated and boosted, thankfully). It was a mild course, but I wound up sensitized to caffeine for three to four months after.

I normally drink 100-150mg/day, but I had to cut that back to 50-60mg and only in the morning. It seems to have passed, so I'm back on my drip.

devin•1h ago
I had the same thing with my caffeine sensitivity, but my nicotine sensitivity hasn’t gone back and it’s been over a year. I used nicotine lozenges daily for years but even after 12 months post-covid my body does not tolerate them.
djmips•1h ago
Mine has never recovered. I have to drink decaf now! I feel a small amount of relief that I'm not alone.
leetrout•1h ago
Thank you for sharing. I have the same thing and it is from my first bout with Covid in 2021. I have now had Covid 4 times and the caffeine sensitivity remains along with PVCs and chest pain. Brain fog has been almost debilitating and overall the impact on my career performance is noticeable.
Aurornis•2h ago
The headline overstates the findings. The researchers aren't saying that this is the underlying basis of COVID brain fog. They hypothesized that AMPA receptors might be involved. They compared Long COVID patients to controls and found a difference.

This doesn't mean that AMPA receptors are the root cause of post-COVD brain fog, nor does it necessarily mean that drugs modulating AMPA receptors could reverse it. It only shows that this is one of the changes observed in patients reporting post-COVID brain fog. It could be a side effect of some other change or it could be part of a long cascade of changes.

It also needs to be replicated further. I've read at least at dozen headlines claiming to have found the underlying cause of COVID brain fog in the past year and all of them pointed to different biomarkers.

Consider this another piece of the puzzle, not a discovery of the underlying mechanism.

f1shy•1h ago
Thanks. I love this comments that spare time for everybody else. But honestly, anything biology/medicine related, you KNOW the title is exaggerated, right out of the bat
zdragnar•1h ago
It'd be nice to find out if there's any overlap with the "brain fog" from fibromyalgia. My college years would have been far less torturous if I could have lived without that, even if I still had to deal with the pain.
colechristensen•34m ago
There's an assumption going around that idiopathic-ish conditions like fibromyalgia may be caused (or a subset of those with that diagnosis) by long-tail after effects of various infections, COVID-19 being one of many.
relaxing•1h ago
It sounds like you’re reading too much into it.

It doesn’t say root cause, or drug target. It doesn’t say reverse or cure. It quite specifically doesn’t say “the basis”. The word basis doesn’t have to refer to one root cause. It could be something foundational, but there can be many elements of a foundation. It certainly isn’t the entire structure.

I’d argue it’s quite tame as academic press releases go.

Aurornis•1h ago
> It quite specifically doesn’t say “the basis”

The headline quite specifically does say: "Uncovering the Molecular Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog"

The article also implies that AMPA drugs could address COVID brain fog:

> For example, drugs that suppress AMPAR activity could be a viable approach to mitigate brain fog.

This was one of the points I was trying to counter.

It also claims to have "resolved key uncertainties":

> In summary, the team’s findings resolve key uncertainties about the biological basis of Long COVID brain fog

Which is obviously not true. This is only one biomarker, not the resolution to a key uncertainty.

I disagree that I'm reading too much into it. These are direct quotes from the article I was responding to.

all2•2h ago
The biggest impact I've made on my brain fog (post COVID) is using nicotine. Even 2mg a day makes a big difference for me.
cauliflower2718•1h ago
What do you do for managing dependency / tolerance?
all2•1h ago
Sometimes I take the weekends off. Also I get irritable if I don't get enough sleep AND not enough nicotine. It's a trade-off.

As for tolerance, I haven't noticed the brain fog come back since I started, and I've been on this for 6 or 8 months so far.

anon84873628•1h ago
Go in cycles. Ween dose down to zero for 1-N weeks then restart.
calvinmorrison•1h ago
up the mg until im like a roided out monster
monster_truck•1h ago
This does not surprise me, it does have many neuroprotective benefits after all.

I vape like a fiend and I'm probably never going to stop

anon84873628•1h ago
Last year there was a lot of discussion about mitochondrial changes, especially epigenetics and respiration.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11336094/

I would be curious if these markers could result from the same problems, or might indicate a complete separate root cause.

kazinator•28m ago
This kind of publication is like a delicious nectar for the hypochondriacs; they slurp up every drop.

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