Covid in Austria: Teens w/Long Covid
Part two of today's calendrical accounting
Please find part on here:
Translations, emphases, and bottom lines mine.
Teens with Long Covid: ‘I just want to be me again’
Josef and Luca had coronavirus—and never really recovered afterwards. They can work or go to school for four or five hours, after which they are completely exhausted. They find it difficult to explain their suffering. To strangers, they seem like two completely normal teenagers
By Pia Kruckenhauser, Der Standard, 9 Dec. 2023 [source]
The two boys laugh, joke, and tease each other over lunch. ‘He's not usually this nice’, Josef remarks as Luca clears his plate. ‘Well, you're talking to the journalist’, says Luca, indignant at this injustice. Josef briefly considers whether he should reply, then the two grin at each other, and the conversation continues. Two normal lads doing what teenagers do.
The only difference is that they are not ‘completely normal’. Josef and Luca are currently spending five weeks at Kokon Bad Erlach, where Der Standard meets them. Kokon is a rehabilitation centre for children and young people with musculoskeletal, mental health, or neurological problems. And it is a rehab centre for young people who have Long Covid. That's exactly why Josef and Luca are here.
Josef is 17 years old. He lives in the Waldviertel and works on his parents' farm; he has already finished school. He is well integrated in the village, he is active in the voluntary fire brigade, works on neighbouring farms or helps out when there is a need somewhere. At the weekend, he goes out with his friends.
Or to put it more accurately: he would like to go out with his friends at the weekend. He would like to help his neighbours as often as necessary. He would like to be really active in the fire brigade. But none of this has been so easy since he fell ill with coronavirus in January 2022 [remember: that’s when the Austro-Covidian régime introduced mandatory vaccination with the modMRNA injections for those 14 years and older] Since then, he has had to carefully weigh up and plan what he can do. And what he simply can't do.
I was really ill for about three days. I haven't really got fit since then. At the beginning, I was completely exhausted after half an hour outside. Now I manage to work normally for four to five hours. But after that I have to lie down. And I can't do it every day.
This doesn't just apply to the physical work. Josef explains: ‘If I sit on the tractor for an hour or drive a car, my concentration is simply gone. I'm tired and I get dizzy.’
No Clear Diagnosis
You can see the boy's frustration. He would love to just go out and work, create something together with others. Work normally. And he just can't. Josef still doesn't know what exactly he has, there is no clear diagnosis. His blood count is fine, X-rays, ECG and other tests have revealed no abnormalities. ‘At some point, the GP said it must be Long Covid.’ [having ruled out almost everything and anything, eh?]
The only thing Josef has in black and white is confirmation that he is not as fit as he should be as a healthy 17-year-old. The ECG and MRI have shown this. So now he is in Bad Erlach, one of the few rehab centres in Austria that offers Long Covid rehab for young people. And hopes that he will feel better after his stay here. Josef is joined in the rehab clinic by two other patients, 15-year-old Luca and a girl of the same age.
Their stay here follows a fixed daily routine: The plans for the day are discussed in the morning. They discuss their energy levels for the day, what they have planned to do, and what they think they can actually achieve. Then they’re off to sports, occupational therapy, psychological support, or the socio-educational programmes.
The rehab patients therefore have a packed timetable—with exceptions. ‘Our Long Covid sufferers have a special status in that they don't have to take part in everything. If they feel too exhausted for the sports programme, for example, this is taken into account’, says Jutta Falger. The medical director of Kokon Bad Erlach is a specialist in paediatrics, adolescent medicine, and a psychotherapist. She has been supporting young people between the ages of ten and 18 on their journey out of Long Covid since summer 2022. You can tell how much the young people are close to her heart. She has already had a steep learning curve when it comes to rehab.
Steep Learning Curve
In the beginning, the exercise programme was more tightly planned than it is now. However, we quickly realised that this was simply too much for these young people. We have also adapted the psychotherapeutic processes and are focussing more on low-threshold forms, such as art and music therapy.
Because the kids who are here because of Long Covid don't have mental health problems per se. At some point, of course, they don't feel so well mentally either, when they are constantly exhausted, have hellish headaches, can't concentrate and can't enjoy their youth. ‘For them, the focus is on perception and sensing. How far can I go today? What can I expect of myself and how do I realise that I have to stop before it becomes too much for me?’, explains Falger.
At the same time, the young people also have to learn to trust their own abilities again. Especially when you're as ambitious as Luca, it's hard when your own body lets you down. The 15-year-old has been struggling for over a year with the consequences of his Covid infection in September 2022, when he was in a pretty bad way for a fortnight. This was followed in December by Infectious mononucleosis (IM), which is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)—and is also associated with post-viral fatigue syndrome. ‘Since then, I've had a headache every day and can't concentrate properly’, says the teen from Burgenland. He takes one or two painkillers every day so that he can cope with the school day at all. And afterwards he is completely exhausted.
What do Others Think?
It's hard to imagine when you sit opposite Luca. He is bursting with joie de vivre, is enthusiastic, attentive, inquisitive, and talks about his health problems in much more depth and with more information than you would expect from a boy his age. He also says quite openly that it affects his psyche: ‘If you're in pain every day, at some point you just don't feel well mentally any more.’
‘How to you explain to someone that you have something that doesn't actually exist and can't be seen?’
Josef, 17-year-old Long Covid sufferer
He is also concerned about what others think: ‘I was always a very good pupil. In the beginning, a few teachers thought I was just lazy.’ It was only after a thorough check-up with his GP, including blood tests, that Luca realised something was wrong. But even he doesn't have a clear diagnosis.
This is also the big problem in rehab after post-viral syndrome: you don't know exactly where to start in order to really improve things. There are neither clear biomarkers nor drugs that can be used. The referrals say ‘Long Covid’, but what exactly the problem is remains vague. Falger explains: ‘We are therefore focusing on the three Ps: pacing, planning and prioritising.’
Pacing, a core element in dealing with such states of exhaustion, teaches young people to assess their strength—and not to go beyond it. Otherwise, a ‘crash’ can follow and you may not be able to get out of bed properly for days due to overexertion. That's why you need the second and third P: by planning your day, you won't overexert yourself so easily. And you prioritise what you absolutely want to do and what you leave out in case of doubt—a challenge for ambitious guys who want to draw on their full strength.
You can't see anything
Rehab is fine for Luca so far. ‘Somehow it's pleasant, but exhausting at the same time.’ He finds being alone, away from his parents, moderately good. ‘And so far I haven't noticed any difference. Of course, you have to believe that it will get better, otherwise it won't work. But if nothing has changed after a few weeks, you just start to doubt...’
What makes it so difficult for Luca—and everyone else—is that the problem is so hard to pin down, there are no clear parameters to rely on: ‘Sometimes the headaches are extreme, even though I haven't actually made any effort.’ It is trivial things that can cause the boys to fail in everyday life. For example, when they walk up taking two steps at once. Sometimes it's just too much effort, they say.
What both Luca and Josef struggle with in everyday life is that the illness is not visible. Unlike with a plaster cast, you are not recognised as ill and are therefore quickly dismissed as faking it. Josef's despair breaks through: ‘For once, explain to someone that you have something that doesn't actually exist and can't be seen.’
This is also the reason why he and Luca are so open and willing to talk about their health problems. Josef says: ‘I want more people to know that Long Covid exists and how it affects people. Where I come from, almost nobody knows about it.’
This should also save them from having to constantly explain what is wrong with their health in everyday life. ‘Once I have the strength to go out, I don't want to have to explain what's wrong with me. It's not like I want to be so exhausted’, Josef summarises. Luca can only confirm this and adds: ‘Going out is a pleasant distraction.’
His big wish: ‘I just want to be me again. Because I'm just not the Luca I was before corona.’
Bottom Lines
Gut-wrenching, isn’t it?
Note that the journo, Pia Kruckenhauser, is a well-known and long-time Zero Covid Hawk, diehard vaccine fangirl, and has been featured in these pages frequently.
Like in the other Long Covid piece, the journo avoids asking about the childrens’ ‘vaccination status’, although given the above-related circumstances, that’s kinda the one thing that’s most glaringly missing.
Does that mean that I’m ‘denying’ the existence of ‘Long Covid’ or the possibility that they contracted a nasty variant or had a severe course of disease?
Nope, I’m not, but keep in mind that vaccine uptake was maddeningly high, in part due to the federal vaccine mandate passed into law in mid-January 2022, right at the time when that 17-year-old had his run-in with ‘Covid’. This was also the moment of Omicron, which was more ‘mild’ than earlier variants, right?
This omission is also brought up by people commenting on the above piece, but it did make a difference. People are noticing these omissions, and the gaslighting is becoming less effective, I suppose.
One final thought: I have extended (in-laws) in one of the regions mentioned, and while they swallowed the gov’t lies line, hook, and sinker at first, by now, having experienced some severe health issues as a consequence, their attitude is more like, ‘I’m never going to trust them again, and I’m never going to take another vaccine’.
Learning by doing, I suppose, as well as trust, but verify, are the mottos going forward.
All of these symptoms are similar to what a patient with a traumatic brain injury goes through. I know from personal experience. I had a fall in early 2019. It took me years to feel somewhat normal again but I am not the same person. I have limitations that seem like they will be permanent. I still do planning and pacing. I didn’t get the jab and will never trust “health officials” again after what we have witnessed.