All posts tagged: painful

The Painful Truth About Long Covid

The Painful Truth About Long Covid

By 2025, most experts had adopted the same position. “I think everybody now agrees that long Covid is a biologic disease,” said Igho Ofotokun, of Emory University School of Medicine, in his concluding comments at the Long Covid International Conference. “It’s not in your mind. It’s real.” Ofotokun also offered an explanation for the lack of scientific progress. “The big elephant in the room is just that we don’t have a gold-standard definition for long Covid. So it really makes it difficult to do all the things we want to do. Makes designing of clinical trials extremely difficult, following outcomes in clinical trials extremely challenging.” Part of the definitional problem for long Covid is the absence of definitive biomarkers: genes, antibodies, any unique physiological signature of the illness. To discover biomarkers, researchers must first identify patients presumed to have a specific illness, then see what they have in common beyond their symptoms. Identifying a biomarker allows for the development of disease-targeting interventions—gene therapy, antivirals—and enables the sorting of people who have a particular condition from …

A pair of unlikely films remind us why painful memories matter

A pair of unlikely films remind us why painful memories matter

Across the first six months of 2026, an unusually high number of theatrically released films have seemed like paired companion pieces, feature-length notes on a theme that can or should be watched back-to-back. This isn’t all that uncommon: Trends crop up in filmmaking all the time, as potential narratives emerge from real-life events and cultural obsessions. Sometimes this happens because the studios are trying to capitalize on a moment, like when “The Minecraft Movie” coasted in on the fumes of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Other cinematic companions are inadvertent and more thoughtful, woven together like the harmonies of a duet. This year, “Exit 8” and the upcoming “Backrooms” toyed with a less-is-more approach to claustrophobic, liminal horror. “Ready or Not 2” and “They Will Kill You” took one last swing at the well-worn eat-the-rich occult subgenre. “Mother Mary” and “The Moment” explored the natural endpoint of pop-star fixation in the age of the internet. One could even make an argument for a double feature of “Animal Farm” and “Wuthering Heights” as two wildly different …

9 Quiet Signs Someone You Love Had A Seriously Painful Childhood

9 Quiet Signs Someone You Love Had A Seriously Painful Childhood

You can’t just come out and ask someone if they had a traumatic childhood, but there are a few quiet signs you can look for. They aren’t always obvious, but they can be a secret insight into what someone has overcome in order to become the person they are today.  Childhood trauma can affect people’s health and overall well-being for their entire lives, so these signs can offer important context. That way you can offer more empathy and even better support when appropriate. Or, if you relate to this yourself, you can work to heal and have compassion for yourself.  9 quiet signs someone you love had a seriously painful childhood 1. They’re hyper-aware of everyone else’s mood and emotions Wayhome Studio | Shutterstock Hyper-vigilance is a defense mechanism for children in unstable home environments, as they often need to look outside of themselves to gauge their safety and comfort with the people around them. Whether it was figuring out their parents’ moods or understanding the climate of their living room before entering, they weren’t …

Oscar-Winning Iranian Director Farhadi Calls Crackdown, War Deaths ‘Deeply Painful’

Oscar-Winning Iranian Director Farhadi Calls Crackdown, War Deaths ‘Deeply Painful’

CANNES, France, May 15 (Reuters) – Asghar Farhadi, ⁠director ⁠of the first ⁠Iranian film to win the Oscar for best ​foreign language movie, on Friday described as deeply painful the ‌deaths of thousands of people ‌in a January crackdown on protesters and the ⁠ongoing war ⁠affecting Iran. “I was actually in Tehran last week, and ​I am still carrying the impact of these events with me,” the two-time Oscar-winning director told journalists at the Cannes Film ​Festival, where his film “Parallel Tales” premiered the night before.  “Both are ⁠deeply painful, ⁠and neither will ⁠ever ​be forgotten.” In January, anti-government protests across Iran were quashed in the ​biggest crackdown in ⁠the Islamic Republic’s history. At the end of February, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes launched a war against Iran that has drawn in the broader Middle East.  Farhadi, who has been ⁠based largely outside Iran since 2023, added that it was painful ⁠to read news about innocent people being killed every day.  Farhadi’s “A Separation” became the first Iranian movie to win the Oscar for best foreign …

Mark Consuelos reveals painful truth he’s never said aloud following father’s death

Mark Consuelos reveals painful truth he’s never said aloud following father’s death

Mark Consuelos got candid about how he has been dealing with a sea of grief following the death of his beloved father, Saul Consuelos, in March.  The Live with Kelly and Mark host revealed that the 87-year-old’s health battle was a “brutal five-month saga leading up to him passing,” and that his family “knew” Saul wouldn’t recover.  Mark shared on the I’ve Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario podcast that he prayed for a “merciful exit” for his father, and that his death came “quickly and painlessly”.  © ABCThe TV host opened up about grieving his late father He added that Saul was his rock, who informed his own character and values throughout his life. “My father’s a mythical character to me,” Mark explained. “He’s the best man I’ve ever met. Everything good that I’ve kind of glommed onto of how I carry myself comes from him.” “We just had a memorial for him this past Monday, where the family all got together,” he continued. “And the reality of him being gone hit – of him actually being gone.” Mark admitted …

4 Painful Lies That Keep People Stuck In Unhappy Marriages For Years On End

4 Painful Lies That Keep People Stuck In Unhappy Marriages For Years On End

“When I look at his face, I literally see red,” Margaret said. When 52-year-old Margaret became my client, she’d been married to Ted for 25 years, and they had two children, 12 and 15. Ted was a binge-drinker, and Margaret was, in her own words, his “angry doormat, co-dependent, control freak.” She hid bottles of alcohol, tried to stop Ted from going out alone to social functions, covertly placed a tracking app on his cell phone, pleaded with him to get help, launched long-term, punishing silence campaigns, engaged in all-out verbal warfare, saying things she could never take back, and often in earshot of their kids. “I did everything short of tasering him, putting him in a straitjacket, and locking him in the basement,” she said. Fortunately, Margaret has a good sense of humor. Sometimes Ted went on the wagon and didn’t drink for months at a time, though Margaret remained ever vigilant. But despite her best efforts, Ted inevitably relapsed and binged again. The toxicity of her marriage (and the painful lies she convinced …

11 Husbands Admit The Painful Lie They’ve Told Their Wives — And Why They’ll Never Come Clean

11 Husbands Admit The Painful Lie They’ve Told Their Wives — And Why They’ll Never Come Clean

It’s nearly impossible to maintain a happy marriage without a few white lies here and there, but occasionally, we may find ourselves on either end of a complete whopper. Regardless of the circumstances, justifications, or ethics, painful lies happen in relationships.  So you may wonder, what kind of things are husbands not coming clean about? The answer to that question may make you rethink what goes on in your marriage.   11 husbands admit the painful lie they’ve told their wives, and why they’ll never come clean: 1. ‘I love spending time with your family’ “My wife sincerely believes that I like her family, her parents in particular. I’ve never hated a group of toxic, selfish, manipulative people so much in my life.” 2. ‘I stayed faithful during my bachelor party’ “It was a terrible, horrible mistake I made under a ton of substances, and it has legitimately never happened again, but I saw no need to crush her with that information. Carrying that secret is my punishment enough.” 3. ‘I’ve never thought about leaving our marriage’ …

Covid-19 cruise passengers recall painful memories amid hantavirus outbreak

Covid-19 cruise passengers recall painful memories amid hantavirus outbreak

The recent coverage of a cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is painfully familiar to cruisers who spent days and weeks trapped in their cabins at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Three passengers from the MV Hondius have died, two of whom had confirmed cases of the Andes strain of the hantavirus and one with a probable case. The ship is currently on a multiday journey from Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa, to the Canary Islands. The U.S. State Department said Friday that it is arranging a flight for the 17 American passengers to be brought to a quarantine facility in Nebraska. The ship should reach the Spanish-controlled islands on Sunday, with evacuations expected to begin on Monday. Like the Hondius, the Diamond Princess was just a few weeks into its January 2020 voyage when a passenger tested positive for the coronavirus. The confirmed case turned a birthday celebration for Bill Smedley’s …