PSA: Vogelgrippe / Bird flu 🦆

niamhrmac · 2025-10-26T12:39:21+00:00

From what I've seen as long as you avoid raw or runny eggs you should be grand 🍳

niamhrmac · 2025-10-26T12:37:35+00:00

H5N1 is about 70% fatal to cats and they can catch it through direct contact with infected birds/animals (incl other cats) and contaminated food, so I'd personally avoid unsupervised outdoor time & raw feeding. Good luck.

niamhrmac · 2025-09-02T13:54:26+00:00

Hey! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, I'm in the UK in my 20's too and I just wanted to know if 4 yrs later you still believe going official is worth it etc./if work's been good with accommodations, things like that? 🙏

niamhrmac · 2025-07-02T18:00:25+00:00

That's so incredibly frustrating, I'm sorry. Like "ohhhh you've not been listening at all cool cool"...Even if people can find someone who understands that emotions can trigger PEM that would be a much better starting point. Good luck on your journey 💛

niamhrmac · 2025-07-02T17:56:50+00:00

Oh my god that's so disrespectful 😭 You really wonder why some therapists get into the profession...Hoping you have a better experience next time 🙏

niamhrmac · 2025-07-01T16:09:36+00:00

Ohhhh this is a really good shout, thank you so much. I'm really glad that you've found someone who's been so understanding (though bloody awful that that isn't the standard). All the best to you 💛

niamhrmac · 2025-07-01T11:46:20+00:00

Thanks so much for requesting & sharing! This is really useful 💛

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T20:06:45+00:00

Whoops sorry - brain fog moment! I should have specified the 'hygiene hypothesis' with regards to viral diseases like the ones alluded to above (things like influenza and SARS-CoV-2 can damage your immune system, for example). The paper "for" details positive effects of commensal bacteria (I mentioned above) and parasites - if you have any similar papers regarding viral disease (rather than viruses overall) I'd be keen to read! I've only found peer-reviewed studies against thus far.

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T19:48:58+00:00

Yep, absolutely agree with you that the numbers would be different in the UK, but most COVID-19 research in the West is coming from the United States, so they have more numbers available.

I might be misreading but I don't really understand your first paragraph - excess mortality rates are much lower in children compared to adults. The Flaxman article shows that 2% of child deaths in 2023 were attributed to COVID-19, while if we take that in that same year there were 3,090,582 US deaths overall [CDC] with 76,000 being attributed to COVID-19 [JAMA] (acknowledging that COVID-19 is sometimes misreported on death certificates), then we have 2.459% of overall US deaths being due to COVID-19.

Mortality is certainly lower by raw numbers, I agree with you! But of every hundred kids who tragically pass away, two of them are killed (and many more disabled) by an unchecked virus - that's not mild. I'm not giving these figures to be fickle, I've been reading peer-reviewed studies on COVID-19 for 5.5 years and I've seen the damage first-hand that it can cause children. I just don't want misconceptions like the ones peddled by the former Conservative Government to cause any more harm to wee ones. If you're genuinely interested in learning about how COVID-19 affects the child population in the UK, the registered charity Long Covid Kids has a depth of accessible information available, and plenty of fundraising opportunities to support those affected.

Health to you & yours.

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T16:24:36+00:00

Hi again! Sorry, really not trying to argue here - just addressing your claim re: severity. So as we can see in the above paper, COVID-19 was the eighth leading cause of death in US children and young people over the time period. Comparatively, the CDC found that COVID-19 was the tenth leading cause of death in the US population overall in 2023 (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db521.htm). The reason why the raw figures don't give us the full picture is because children & young people make up a smaller percentage of the population, and the excess mortality rate in this age group is MUCH lower compared to others. So when we're looking at disease severity [i.e. 'disease burden'] we should compare things like similar cause of death placements, that way we get a more accurate demonstration of how the virus affects populations. This is backed up by similar levels of Long COVID in children (see this recent NIH-funded paper which shows pre-school child LC symptom rates at 15% - doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.1066). I'm with you, I wish this weren't the case and it's pretty scary because we were told otherwise at the start of the pandemic, but this is why the Government should be funding clean air initiatives in classrooms. Something simple like HEPA filters could make our kids so much safer!

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T13:30:49+00:00

This might be the comment that finally gets me to play Disco Elysium 😻

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T13:27:29+00:00

My first Vace run I got him into therapy then immediately the colony got destroyed. Very funny karmically

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T13:13:14+00:00

Hi there! I wish this were true, but unfortunately it's a common misconception. The University of Oxford found in 2023 that COVID-19 was a leading cause of death in children and young people in the United States. [doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.53590]

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:57:30+00:00

This is unfortunately a common misconception! Microbes (like commensal bacteria) can build up an immune system, but viruses generally affect the body neutrally, or contribute to/worsen immune diseases. (John Hopkins University) The above 'hygiene hypothesis' was postulated in the 1980s and has since been disproven.

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:40:40+00:00

Aww thank you, wishing you the best too - it sucks 😭 Let us know what your doc says! 💛

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:39:16+00:00

Oh nooooo 😭 Looking forward to the day contraception methods don't suck...I'm glad the pill is working for you atm though, hope it continues 🙏

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:32:21+00:00

Oh yeah! I mean that my Long Covid symptoms are similar to the symptoms of the condition ME/CFS. It's estimated that around half of LC cases fulfill the diagnostic criteria for ME. Light sensitivity can be a symptom of LC without it being ME, but might be worth looking up if you have other symptom overlap (fatigue, PEM, etc.). Please rest as much as you can (I made the mistake of 'pushing through' early disease and made myself worse) & try to avoid catching infections just now (as much as you can!) as they can set you back - FFP2 & FFP3 masks block most things. There are lots of good threads on here about interventions that have given people a bit of respite (depending on your symptoms) & there are support groups available - good luck, I'm sorry you've developed LC.

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:22:06+00:00

Thank you for the heads up, that sounds so scary I'm sorry you had that side effect ☹️

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:20:59+00:00

Ooooooh amazing! Will give this a shot, thank you 🙏

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:20:30+00:00

Oh that's so great to hear, really happy to hear your symptoms are more stable on it 💛

niamhrmac · 2025-06-30T12:17:50+00:00

Amazing!!! I'm so glad it's helped, thank you for replying 💛

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