Key Resource for COVID Long-Haulers

People who have multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, ME/CFS, etc. are intimately familiar with the struggle COVID-19 long haulers are facing. Dying with the disease is hard. Living as a COVID-19 long hauler is harder.

If you are in this boat and are fortunate enough to have friends or family willing to help you, let them do so while they can. They may not be able and willing to do it forever, but whatever help they offer can allow you to focus on regaining as much ground as you can. It’s important not to try to tough it out, not to try to push through. The chronically ill people I mentioned can tell you all about how doing that—such as “graded exercise” promoted by certain doctors—will make you more ill than you are now, and you may never be able to climb back to where you were when they got you to try it.

You also need not to have to spend too much of your energy coordinating help that people are willing to give you. I highly recommend signing up with MealTrain. The free account is just for meals, or for a one-time fee of $10 it will also allow coordination of other help such as mowing your lawn, shoveling your snow and ferrying you to medical appointments. Mealtrain also gives you a secure place to post updates to your circle of people who care, and messages your circle of people post to you are also kept within the circle. It is simple and clear to use. (NOTE: I get nothing from MealTrain if you use their website. I’ve used it during post-surgical recovery and simply found it ideal.)

A different illness once put me in a situation similar to that of COVID long-haulers. If you are grappling with that now, I fervently hope it will relent for you.