How to support a teen with long COVID?

September 30, 2022 1:26 PM

A good friend has a teenager with long COVID; yes, unusual, but they are making the best of the bad situation on a day-to-day basis. The bout includes the usual suspects of fatigue and fog, and with the world returning to life, the teen is feeling not just a shadow of their former self but a sense of missing out on what should be great (or at least normal) daily/social experiences. Do you have any recommendations for sources of community, solace, or entertainment? Any tips appreciated.
posted by Arch1 to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

There is a large spoonie and chronically ill teen population on Tumblr. There are also a good number of discords. There are a number of long hauler groups specifically for teens, maybe start here: https://www.longhauler-advocacy.org/ I believe We are Body Politic also has teen resources: https://www.wearebodypolitic.com/covid-19

Searching for Long Hauler on Facebook will turn up a lot of groups and many have splinter smaller groups for teens.
posted by Bottlecap at 5:52 PM on September 30, 2022

I don't know a huge amount about teens, but since you've not had many answers: One of the hardest things about long covid is that people like to say they're thinking of you but often don't do the thing that would be most helpful, which is to come to your place to visit. When you don't have the spoons to go out, you can get really isolated and you're dependent on people coming to you, even if you only have the energy for half an hour of chat.

Whether that looks like you dropping by more often, or finding a way to encourage their friends to do it, it would probably be the thing that makes the most difference.

It's easy to think teens are so online that they don't hunger for in person interaction as much as older folk, but they usually spend their days surrounded by hundreds of IRL people at school, and often part of the weekends hanging out with friends, so being home with just family (if that's the situation of your teen friend) is a big change and loss.
posted by penguin pie at 7:15 AM on October 1, 2022

Entertainment: The Bedbound Activity Master List
posted by jocelmeow at 11:43 AM on October 1, 2022

TikTok also has a bunch of spoonie/disability/chronic-illness content. A lot of it is from young people. There's an extremely wide range, from totally factual "I have this condition, I just learned X about it, and I want to share" to cheerfully unhinged Gen Z gallows humor and surrealism about disabled life, and honestly a lot of the time it's both at once.

(I will say, though, that it's like old YouTube, where reading the comments is usually a mistake. Depending on the kid's age and maturity, that might be an issue.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:45 PM on October 1, 2022