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Ask HN: Is Post Covid depression real?

9 points by nus07 ↗ HN
A couple of months back I got Covid for the first time and while I recovered physically in about 2 weeks , mentally I feel fatigued and depressed . I feel a sense of hopelessness and burnout and keep thinking about the death of my father early in the Covid days and a close friend who killed himself from depression after getting Covid. Through the last 2 years I have trudged along working from home , learning new things , developing a hobby for cooking and raising my kids while managing to not get Covid. However since getting it two months back , I have felt very depressed and can barely get out of bed and do any work. I am trying to understand if it’s external factors like an oncoming recession fears or the going back to normal or if medically Covid does cause bad depression . If it does what might be the reasons for it?

15 comments

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stop50
I wouldn't rule it out.
PaulKeeble
Depression is one of the symptoms of Long Covid and some people are unlucky and get the entire range of them while others just end up with one or two. Covid seems to manipulate the blood brain barrier and gets into the brain and does some amount of damage while activating the brains immune system such as the Glial cells. The impact seems to be a range of neurological conditions. If its Long Covid then you most likely will recover, it could take a year or more. Alas many aren't yet recovering 2+ years later so probably wont.

Its possible it was caused by Covid, there are a quite a lot of Long Covid sufferers with just neurological problems.

nradov
While that's an interesting hypothesis worthy of further research, at this point we have no reliable evidence that a SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause physical damage which manifests as clinical depression.
smt88
Yes.

As another data point: I got a severe flu a few years ago and felt inexplicably depressed during the illness and a week afterward. Everything in my life was great, so I could tell it was the illness that caused it. It resolved not too long after.

It's very plausible that there is a causal link between inflammation and depression or low oxygen and depression.

There is at least correlation between low oxygen over time and poor mental health, which we see in population studies of high places (suicide rates higher, for example).

randomhodler84
It’s just the clarity of thought that our lives will be in a cycle of pestilence and sickness until we die. Every 2020 fear of end of society will manifest in the next 6 months.

There really is not a lot to look forward to.

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armchairhacker
Not Covid, but there were a few times I got sick and was depressed during and a while after the sickness.

There’s studies which suggest depression is tied to the immune system, so when your immune system is active it makes you more depressed. Pointing to links like how depressed people get sick less often (? idk if this is true), and how being sick makes people feel down.

kaetemi
You're expecting output from your brain, while it's been affected by the virus.

Perhaps, instead, feed some input to your brain. Spend your time reading some nice books, memorise some interesting things, learn something fun. Input brings order and clarity to the mind.

Since you have all the time, now that you can't be productive anyway, spend that time creating some order in your mind. Feed your mind with all the stuff it's been lacking.

Aside from that, I find that vitamin D, magnesium, and iron supplements help with quick mental recovery from a cold.

altneu
I had COVID back in June. Still recovering from brain fog, fatigue and yes, mild depression. I can say mild because I suffer from depression as it is, so yes it's there. I don't want to do anything, getting out of bed is a chore and so on. What helped and helps me is sitting in the sun every day for half an hour. For some reason it gives me strength to apply myself and do some work for a few hours afterwards.
nus07
Thank you . I will try to get more sun although exposure also makes me dizzy lately. Hopefully it will make me feel better .
altneu
I had dizziness too for about two weeks after, but it went away gradually. You got to work through it, this is what everyone that was sick told me. Take it easy it gets better!
echoradio
Recent studies have linked depression to chronic inflammation. [1] Long COVID is also tied to inflammation.

I can only speak from my experience in battling (non-COVID) depression that as I have gotten my inflammation under control (better diet, herbal supplements, medication, alternative medicine), my pain and depression have eased significantly.

If you can, attack it from all angles. See a psychiatrist who can find a medication suited to your specific symptoms of depression. A therapist will be important, too. Maybe look into a chiropractor or massage therapist (depression can cause pain). Consider a nutritionist to help you with an anti-inflammation diet. Acupuncture, medical cannabis. I haven’t tried/needed all of these yet, but they’re tools I know I can tap into if needed.

Good luck, feel better.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-asymmetric-brain...

[2] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/long-co...

lizardactivist
Yes. But fortunately, Pfizer, Moderna, and other American Big Pharma's just happen to have some amazing new pills for this.

(as with treatment for Covid, expect prices to go up in the double digits after a year)

Kenneth39
Unfortunately that's true. It doesn't happen right away, but changes in the body are noticeable after a while.

On the other hand, there are now all kinds of therapies aimed at post-covid recovery. It's not all that bad. You need to get over it even though it's going to take a long time.

jonnycomputer
Depression is a common symptom after many long or difficult illnesses, perhaps especially respiratory and cardiovascular ones.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7418220/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13054-018-2223-6

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-...

There is good evidence now that severe covid (early variants at least) causes atrophy of gray matter in a variety of regions, causing, e.g. loss of smell. Not sure if this is specific to covid however.