Thread by @ahandvanish

Thank you to Mike for this piece on our #LongCovid work at @patientled & @itsbodypolitic in the context of what we're up against: a long history of medical gaslighting. Many illnesses (AIDS, cancer, MECFS, colitis, MS) were dismissed before their biomedical cause is found. 1/

https://twitter.com/mikesmariani/status/1489286258647916551

The toll of doing advocacy in this environment is high (for us now, & also everyone who came before us).

It's been hard for me to be this vulnerable about this experience so extra thanks to @mikesmariani - a #pwME himself - for treating this topic with grace. 2/

The gaslighters are loud, but they're a minority. And they are quickly being shown to be not just historically cliched, but medically wrong, given how much #LongCovid research is already available. 2 years into this we already have evidence of...

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microclots, immunologic dysfunction, neuroinflammation, nerve damage, impaired oxygen extraction, viral reactivations, endothelial dysfunction, impaired antibody creation, autoimmunity, & multiorgan damage, to name just a few of over 5k #LongCovid studies that now exist.

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Thanks to @zalaly, @HelenBurstin, @edyong209, @DaveLeeERMD, Dr. Maley, Dr. Komaroff, & PLRC member @YochaiReemMD for being amazing medical & scientific allies and voices of reason for this piece.

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A note: we talked about so many other #LongCovid advocates, not only in @patientled/@itsbodypolitic, but the entire international movement. The piece ended up focusing on me, but I'm a tiny part of a huge community. All of what we've accomplished could only be done together. 6/

Each deserves a spotlight: PLRC cofounders @herlifeinpixels, @GinaAssaf, @LisaAMcCorkell, @AthenaAkrami, coauthors @YochaiReemMD, @Robotistry, the PLRC team; @itsbodypolitic (@fi_lowenstein, @ItsAngInLA, @AlisonSbrana, @chiluvs1 & more) & everyone here:

https://twitter.com/itsbodypolitic/status/1442257413395173377

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