Post-Covid, ME/CFS-Like Symptom Complexes

What if we are looking in the wrong place?

Post-Covid, Long Covid, and ME/CFS stand for conditions that many affected people experience as a deep collapse of their lives: exhaustion, brain fog, sensitivity to stimuli, circulatory problems, sleep disorders, pain, and the feeling that even the smallest exertion becomes too much. But what if, in such symptom complexes, not only infections, the immune system, or stress play a role, but also an environmental factor that is almost always overlooked: the air in indoor spaces?

In Dicke Luft, we tell of a time when our symptoms suddenly fit strikingly well with what the media and the internet described as Post-Covid or Long Covid. At the same time, we came across an unsettling observation: the same symptoms also appeared in many other diagnoses, in ME/CFS, dysautonomia, POTS, burnout, anxiety disorders, fibromyalgia, and other patterns of complaints. That was exactly where a new question began for us: are these really many completely different illnesses, or possibly overlapping conditions that are also shaped by the environment?

When Suddenly Everything Fits Together

In the book, we describe how, after the first lockdown and an illness with fever, every detail suddenly seemed to fit the picture of Post-Covid. Shortness of breath, dizziness upon standing, brain fog, irritability, extreme exhaustion, racing heart, cold hands and feet, sleep disorders, light and noise sensitivity, concentration and memory problems, headaches, and occasional disorientation. Added to this were muscle and joint pain, trembling, tingling, numbness, gastrointestinal complaints, cravings, visual disturbances, tinnitus, ear pressure, sweating, and the feeling of not being able to breathe deeply enough. None of this was clear-cut, and that was exactly what made it seem so convincing.

One diagnosis, or just a name for a pattern?

The more we searched, the longer the list of possible explanations became. ME/CFS. Long Covid. Post-Covid syndrome. Dysautonomia. POTS. Mast cell activation. Migraine. Burnout. Depression. Anxiety disorder. Sleep disorders. Again and again, the same core symptoms appeared: exhaustion, brain fog, sensitivity to stimuli, pain, circulatory problems, insomnia, loss of concentration, and exercise intolerance. The book describes this experience very clearly: depending on which questionnaire one filled out, which specialist one ended up with, or which symptom was most prominent, a different name emerged, but the underlying pattern remained astonishingly similar.

Indoor Air as a Possible Amplifying Factor

We are not claiming that Post-Covid or ME/CFS are generally caused by poor indoor air. It is not that simple. But the book suggests another thought: indoor air could be an overlooked amplifying factor for vulnerable people. If CO2, VOCs, particulate matter, fragrances, or other air pollutants affect concentration, sleep, circulation, sensory processing, and exhaustion, then they could worsen exactly those symptom patterns that are later diagnosed under very different names.

What is especially unsettling is that many people in such states spend even more time indoors, out of exhaustion, withdrawal, fear of stimuli, or because they feel protected there. The book describes exactly this dynamic: symptoms lead to withdrawal, withdrawal increases exposure to stale or polluted indoor air, and that in turn could further feed the symptoms.

Perhaps Air Is Not the Whole Explanation, but a Missing Piece of the Puzzle

At this point, the book does not come with a simple answer, but with an uncomfortable question. Perhaps in many cases Post-Covid, ME/CFS, and similar conditions are exactly what medicine currently understands them to be. But perhaps there are also cases in which indoor air, air pollutants, or poorly ventilated indoor spaces play a stronger role in shaping the symptoms than is currently taken seriously.

Because one thing our search for clues shows very clearly is this: many symptoms described as neurological, psychosomatic, immunological, or functional can feel astonishingly similar in everyday experience. And that is exactly why it is worth taking seriously the environment in which a person lives, sleeps, and breathes.

Why We Are Writing About This

Dicke Luft is not an attempt to simply reinterpret Post-Covid or ME/CFS. It is a personal search for clues. A story about symptoms, bewilderment, diagnoses, hope, and the possibility that part of the truth lies not only in lab values, questionnaires, and disease names, but also in the room where a person breathes day after day.

Perhaps the Search Begins Somewhere Else

Perhaps in many cases these symptoms and illnesses are exactly what medicine currently understands them to be: a complex field of different complaints whose composition overlaps and whose causes remain unresolved. But perhaps there are also cases in which environmental factors play a larger role than we currently see. Perhaps indoor air is not the whole explanation. But perhaps it is a missing piece of the puzzle.

And perhaps the crucial question in Post-Covid, Long Covid, and ME/CFS-like symptom complexes begins not only in the immune system, not only in the nervous system, and not only in the infection, but also in the room where that system lives and breathes every day.