Thread by @1goodtern

See how many of these you recognise:

➡️The biomarkers are inconsistent
👉Long covid is just a collection of vague symptoms
▶️Vaccination changed the risk, so old studies don't apply
♦️Patients are over-attached to biological explanations

➡️The symptoms are real, but that doesn't mean covid caused them
👉There's no unique biomarker for long covid
▶️This is somatisation
♦️Microclots haven't been proven

➡️If everyone has different symptoms, how can it be real?
👉There's no objective evidence of disease
▶️People are using long covid as an excuse not to work
♦️The findings don't replicate

➡️Post-exertional malaise is just fear avoidance
👉Long covid clinics are reinforcing dependency
▶️If we don't know the mechanism, we shouldn't call it a disease
♦️There's no diagnostic test for long covid

➡️Mast cell activation hasn't been proven
👉This is pandemic stress
▶️Most tests come back normal
♦️The studies are small

➡️Long covid is whatever patients say it is
👉If long covid were real at scale, the economy would have collapsed
▶️Symptoms fluctuate, so they can't be measured properly
♦️This is deconditioning after illness

➡️Until there's proof, it's irresponsible to tell people covid damaged them
👉There's no single mechanism
▶️Doctors can't find anything wrong with them
♦️The prevalence estimates are inflated

➡️Long covid is a wastebasket diagnosis
👉This is social contagion
▶️A real disease wouldn't come and go like that
♦️There are no biomarkers for long covid

➡️This is what happens when people stop exercising
👉Researchers are scared to talk about mind-body treatments
▶️Viral persistence hasn't been proven
♦️Brain fog is subjective

➡️If the symptoms are so varied, it can't be one condition
👉The definition is too broad to be useful
▶️There's no approved treatment
♦️Patients reject exercise because they're afraid of symptoms

➡️The proposed mechanisms are speculative
👉Long covid is just post-viral fatigue with better branding
▶️Correlation doesn't prove causation
♦️It's probably multiple things being lumped together

➡️There's no clear pathology
👉People with long covid look fine
▶️The science is too preliminary
♦️This is illness identity

➡️Fatigue is subjective
👉The severe cases are rare
▶️The surveys are contaminated by expectation bias
♦️Until there's a definitive test, we should be cautious

➡️Nocebo explains a lot of it
👉Normal blood tests mean there's nothing physically wrong
▶️There's too much biomedical research and not enough rehabilitation
♦️This is anxiety being medicalised

➡️They can post online, so they can't be that ill
👉Autoimmunity hasn't been proven
▶️The field has become politicised
♦️Self-report studies are unreliable

➡️There's no evidence repeated infections make it worse
👉Long covid doesn't even have any biomarkers
▶️Doctors are just validating people's beliefs
♦️Most people recover, so the problem is exaggerated

➡️This is ME/CFS by another name
👉If scans are normal, the illness can't be serious
▶️Omicron is mild, so long covid should be rare now
♦️The case definitions include too many people

➡️This is mass suggestion
👉If it were that common, we'd all know loads of people with it
▶️Dysautonomia doesn't explain everything
♦️People just notice ordinary symptoms more now

➡️The benefits system incentivises illness
👉Until there's a biomarker, we shouldn't medicalise it
▶️This is trauma
♦️Advocates are blocking psychological treatments

➡️Lots of people were unwell before covid
👉Pain is subjective
▶️This is diagnosis-seeking behaviour
♦️You can't prove someone has long covid

➡️If we had real biomarkers, drug companies would already have treatments
👉Everyone is tired these days
▶️This is lockdown damage, not covid damage
♦️People are being frightened out of recovery

➡️A real disease would have a clear cause
👉The patient groups are too militant
▶️They can do some things, so they're not disabled
♦️Online communities are reinforcing symptoms

And you'll notice that they rotate through their attacks.
And that they do very little other than attack.

And that they are bad faith all the way through.