Programme on #LongCovid on @BBCRadio4 this morning. Treatment unlikely to involve a prescription for medication; instead work with a physiotherapist and psychologist. Patients better start getting used to self-management and inadequate/inappropriate support from NHS. 1/ #r4today

Presenter's claim #LongCovid is "a brand new illness" is not strictly true. Some symptoms ie. respiratory damage clearly relate to Covid-19, but many more symptoms #longhaulers suffer clearly resemble the post-viral illness par excellence #MECFS. 2/ #r4today

#MECFS is conspicuous by its absence from this discussion of #LongCovid. Is it deliberately being ignored because #longhaulers are keen to avoid the stigma/disbelief/neglect people with #MECFS still experience from some medical professionals? 3/ #r4today

Or is the medical profession still not sufficiently aware of the seriousness of #MECFS to recognise it as a chronic post-viral illness with a clear relation to #LongCovid? 4/ #r4today

Either way, ppl w/ #LongCovid are done a disservice by ignoring #MECFS + not drawing on decades of biomedical research about p-v illness. And people with #MECFS are done a disservice by #LongCovid researchers/patients pretending it doesn't exist or bears no relation. 5/ #r4today

The really tragic thing is seeing researchers/doctors saying they are stumped by #LongCovid and unable to help #longhaulers exactly because they ignored #MECFS for so long or believed the psych propaganda that it wasn't real. 6/ #r4today