5/6/25: Spinal surgery for rare ME/Long COVID complication; still COVIDing without support

In this episode of Still Here: Science journalist Colleen de Bellefonds discusses a spinal surgery that can help reduce symptoms for some people who have a rare complication of myalgic encephalomyelitis — and, increasingly, Long COVID. And writer and COVID resource archivist Nadica Zimmerman shares experiences from people still practicing COVID safety in the midst of a lack of community support.

Also in this episode: A preprint of a study in which researchers from University of California, San Francisco, and the National Institutes of Health found that COVID-19 may increase the long-term risk of cancer.

The transcript for this podcast is⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ available on The Sick Times’ website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can jump to specific sections of the podcast and transcript below:

(00:00:00) ⁠Intro⁠

(00:02:15) This surgery fuses people's skulls to their spines to treat a condition overlapping with myalgic encephalomyelitis

(00:12:45) Missives from the dismissed: Still COVIDing without community

(00:25:59) ⁠Research: UCSF preprint about COVID-19 and cancer risk

(00:28:34) ⁠Outro⁠

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Mentioned in this episode (in order of appearance):

• The Sick Times: This surgery fuses people's skulls to their spines to treat a condition overlapping with myalgic encephalomyelitis
• The Sick Times: Missives from the dismissed: Still COVIDing without community
• The Sick Times: Research updates, April 22

Additional audio in this episode: 

• Rude Mechanical Orchestra: Which Side Are You On? (orig. Florence Reece)