tern Profile picture
Jan 8 17 tweets 2 min read Read on X
The minimisers would have you believe that every bad health condition develops immediately, symptoms of it appear immediately, medical attention is found immediately, and the condition is diagnosed immediately.

The truth is very different.
It can take years for conditions to develop after they have been triggered.
It can take years for the symptoms to become bad enough to need medical attention.
It can take years to get medical attention and diagnosis.
And it can then take another year for them to appear in medical data.
So conditions can take *years and years* from cause to statistics.
Epstein–Barr virus → Multiple sclerosis

EBV infection often occurs in adolescence. MS commonly presents 10–30 years later. The causal trigger is long gone by the time disability appears, and even longer before prevalence curves move.
SARS-CoV-2 → Myalgic encephalomyelitis / Long COVID
Immune and autonomic dysfunction may evolve over months to years. Many patients spend years being told it is anxiety or deconditioning before diagnosis codes appear.
Hepatitis C → Hepatocellular carcinoma
Initial infection may be asymptomatic. Cirrhosis and cancer typically emerge 20–40 years later.
Asbestos → Mesothelioma
One of the clearest examples: exposure in early adulthood, cancer diagnosis 30–50 years later.
Lead exposure → Cognitive impairment
Childhood exposure can alter brain development, but impacts may not show up clearly until educational failure or adult neurological decline.
Immune trigger → Sjogren's
Glandular damage, neuropathy, dysautonomia, and fatigue often develop slowly over many years. Diagnosis commonly lags symptom onset by 5–10 years.
Viral infection → Type 1 diabetes
Autoimmune destruction of beta cells can smoulder for years before glucose levels cross diagnostic thresholds.
Head injury or viral insult → Parkinson’s disease
Dopaminergic neuron loss begins long before tremor or rigidity. Diagnosis often occurs decades after the initiating injury or exposure.
Radiation or carcinogen exposure → Thyroid cancer
Often appears 10–30 years after exposure (classic post-Chernobyl example).
And yet....
... we are *already* seeing massive problems following mass repeat covid infections.

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More from @1goodtern

Feb 7
People don't understand that there are several real models of cumulative harm that apply to covid infections.

People don't like complex ideas, so they avoid them.

This is going to be a long thread, with several simple ideas that combine to make a big complex one.
First off, we *know* beyond all doubt that covid infections cause short term harm.
The amount of short term harm varies from person to person and infection to infection, but it's there.
Read 46 tweets
Feb 5
Do midwives know that they're now twice as likely to be off sick with a pregnancy related disorder than before the Covid pandemic started? Image
Do nurses?
And health visitors? Image
Similar trend across all staff groups, with an apparent accelerating increase more recently. Image
Read 32 tweets
Jan 22
I think one of the most important conclusions people are missing from the data in the recent big studies is that covid infections cause radically diverse long term effects in different age groups.
So much so that it could appear as if they've been infected with different viruses.
But it's not the virus that's different, it's the immune system, the metabolism, and the way the body repairs the damage done by the infection.
Read 9 tweets
Jan 20
Okay folks, I'm calling it, and it's bad news:

The word mucinous is going to become much more common.

Yes, bookmark this tweet, it looks bland, but it's important.
oh, okay. I won't leave you hanging.

I've written a lot recently about how we're missing the big picture of how covid infection is doing cumulative damage to interfaces in the body - linings, membranes, barriers, walls, filters.
I don't want to rewrite that all here, but I don't want to bust the flow of this thread, so at the end of it, I'll post the thread I wrote on linings.
Read 51 tweets
Jan 19
I know, I know, you're going to laugh at me for saying that you're more likely to have problems with cramp after you've had a covid infection, but it's all very simple science.
Loads of people have been mentioning cramp recently, and like so many other conditions, yes, covid infection makes it more likely, and makes it worse.
It's just an extra factor on top of all the normal factors for cramp.
Muscles are fussy about blood flow.
They need a steady supply of oxygen to contract and, crucially, to relax.
Covid messes with the small blood vessels that supply it, so muscles end up slightly under-fuelled, and under-fuelled muscles cramp.
Read 13 tweets
Jan 18
Do you know which whacky loons say that covid infections increase the risk of heart disease?
The British Heart Foundation.
Do you know which antivaxers say that covid vaccines do not fully protect against infection, illness, or long term effects?
Pfizer.
Do you know which hysterical doom merchants say covid can cause long term lung damage even after a mild case?
British Lung Foundation.
Read 32 tweets

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