In December 2023, roughly 18 months into my confusing and debilitating experience of long Covid, I had the great good fortune to cross paths with Dr. Kieran Quinn. Enrolling in RECLAIM, his eight week long Covid clinical research trial, was one of many forays into uncertainty with the hope that something might work to heal my condition.
RECLAIM has helped a lot of people—I was not one of them. But Dr. Quinn’s superb care and compassionate support gave me comfort at an extremely dark time. And when I later found another option for recovery, a neuroplastic training program I didn’t yet completely understand, Dr. Quinn gave me his full blessing. “We still don’t understand how long Covid works”, he said, “so how can we not keep our minds open to treatments we don’t completely understand. This seems safe and incredibly low risk, so give it a try.”
I did. And I got better. (Details here.)
Dr. Quinn and I have stayed in touch and I’m honoured to call him a friend. His attitude toward uncertainty in medical research, and in the face of the huge unknown that is long Covid, feels hugely important right now. What a powerful reminder of the unknowns baked into primary health care and how important it is not to jump to conclusions.
Of course, this goes way beyond long Covid research.
Much of Dr. Quinn’s thinking applies to the unknowns in all our lives, not just medical science. How about these for sage strategies to try to live by in these uncertain times?
Being open to what may come
Seeing opportunity and possibility in uncertainty
Getting more comfortable with saying I don’t know
Building trust through honesty and compassion
So fun to put Dr. Quinn into *my operating room (a studio with microphones) to talk this stuff through. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
More long Covid research info
You can learn more about Kieran Quinn’s long Covid research, as part of a Sinai Health Foundation video series.
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