Frequently Asked Questions
Answers about The Ripple Effect Foundation, our Long COVID Initiative, and the condition affecting millions. Every voice needs to be heard.
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Ripple Effect FAQs
What is The Ripple Effect Foundation?
The Ripple Effect Foundation is a national advocacy foundation built on a simple belief: one action can change a life, and one life can change thousands. We identify people and communities being overlooked, bring their stories forward, and turn individual acts of support into movements for meaningful change. Our first initiative is Long COVID: Chasing Answers, Finding Hope.
What is an "initiative" or "campaign" at the foundation?
Each initiative is a focused fight for one overlooked community. Long COVID is our first initiative. As the foundation grows, new initiatives will be built the same way — distinct in purpose, united by the promise that no one is forgotten. You can see all of them under Our Programs on our homepage.
Who founded The Ripple Effect Foundation?
The Ripple Effect Foundation was founded by Joseph Green and Stephanie Wood. Stephanie lives with Long COVID herself, and together they saw too many patients and families being dismissed, delayed, and forgotten — and decided their stories deserved a platform and a movement behind them.
How do I join the movement?
Join our Facebook community, Long COVID: Chasing Answers, Finding Hope — more than 7,000 members supporting each other daily. You can also sign up on our Join the Movement page and share your story so others know they are not alone. You can also follow The Ripple Effect Foundation on Facebook — our Facebook Page carries foundation news and updates.
How can I support the foundation?
Share a story, join the community, sign the petition, or donate through the Donate button on this site. Sharing our patient stories is one of the most powerful things you can do — every share moves Long COVID further out of the shadows.
Are the stories on this site real?
Yes. Every statement in Community Voices was written and sent in by a real Long COVID patient or caregiver, and each one is reviewed and approved for public reading before it is published.
How can I contact the foundation?
Email us at longcovidstatements@gmail.com. If you are sending a statement, tell us your story in your own words — there is no wrong way to tell it.
Long COVID Initiative FAQs
What is Long COVID?
Long COVID (also called post-COVID conditions or long-haul COVID) is a condition where symptoms continue, return, or appear after a COVID-19 infection. Health authorities describe it as signs and symptoms lasting at least two to three months after infection that cannot be explained by another diagnosis. For many people it is not a slow recovery — it is an ongoing illness that can affect nearly every system in the body.
What are the most common Long COVID symptoms?
More than 200 symptoms have been reported. The most common include extreme fatigue, brain fog (problems with memory, focus, and thinking), shortness of breath, heart palpitations and racing heart, dizziness when standing, sleep problems, headaches, joint and muscle pain, loss or change of smell and taste, stomach and digestive issues, anxiety, and depression. Symptoms can be constant or come and go in waves.
How long does Long COVID last?
It is different for everyone. Some people improve gradually over several months. Others have been sick for years with no clear end in sight. Many experience a relapsing pattern — feeling better, then crashing again. There is currently no test or timeline that can predict how long any one person's Long COVID will last, which is one reason research and recognition matter so much.
How many people have Long COVID?
Millions. Surveys in the United States suggest roughly 1 in 15 adults has experienced Long COVID, and worldwide estimates run into the tens of millions. Behind every number is a person — someone who was working, raising a family, and living their life, and is now waiting for answers. That is exactly who this foundation exists for.
Can you get Long COVID after a mild case of COVID?
Yes. Long COVID can follow severe illness, but it also follows mild and even asymptomatic infections. You did not have to be hospitalized to develop it, and a person can feel fully recovered from the initial infection before Long COVID symptoms begin.
Can children get Long COVID?
Yes. Children and teenagers can develop Long COVID, though their symptoms can look different — fatigue, headaches, stomach problems, dizziness, and trouble concentrating at school are commonly reported. Parents advocating for children with Long COVID are an important part of our community.
Can you get Long COVID more than once?
Yes. Each new COVID infection carries a risk of Long COVID, including for people who already have it and can become sicker after reinfection. Avoiding reinfection is one of the few practical ways to lower your risk.
Is there a cure for Long COVID?
There is no proven cure yet. Care today focuses on managing symptoms and treating the specific problems Long COVID causes — heart, lung, neurological, and immune issues among them. Large research efforts, including the NIH RECOVER program, are studying Long COVID and testing treatments. You can see the latest studies on our Research page. Anyone who promises a guaranteed cure is selling something, not treating something.
What treatments or care can help?
Because Long COVID affects people differently, care is usually built around your symptoms: pacing and energy management for fatigue and crashes, treatment for heart-rate and blood-pressure problems such as POTS, breathing and physical rehabilitation, sleep treatment, and support for cognitive and mental-health symptoms. Work with a clinician who understands post-COVID conditions, and keep records of what helps and what makes you worse.
What is "pacing," and why do patients talk about crashes?
Many Long COVID patients experience post-exertional malaise — a worsening of symptoms hours or days after physical, mental, or emotional effort, often called a crash. Pacing means carefully budgeting energy and resting before a crash forces it. It is one of the most widely used self-management strategies in the patient community, and learning it early can prevent setbacks.
What is Long COVID brain fog?
Brain fog is the name patients use for cognitive symptoms: forgetting words mid-sentence, losing track of tasks, trouble concentrating, and feeling mentally slow. It is one of the most common and most disabling Long COVID symptoms, and it is neurological — not laziness, and not "just anxiety."
Is Long COVID a disability?
It can be. U.S. federal guidance recognizes that Long COVID can be a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act when it substantially limits one or more major life activities. Many patients have had to reduce work, leave jobs, or fight for accommodations and benefits while sick — another fight no one should face alone or unbelieved.
How is Long COVID diagnosed?
There is no single blood test or scan for Long COVID. Diagnosis is clinical: a clinician reviews your history of COVID infection, your symptoms, and their duration, and rules out other causes. Keeping a written timeline of your infection dates and symptoms — like the ones our storytellers share — genuinely helps.
My doctor doesn't believe me. What can I do?
You are not alone — being dismissed is one of the most common experiences in our community's stories. Bring a written symptom timeline, ask for your concerns to be documented in your chart, ask about referral to a post-COVID or Long COVID clinic, and consider a second opinion. Then read the stories in Community Voices: thousands of people describing the same fight is powerful evidence you are not imagining it.
Where can I find Long COVID support?
Start with community. Our Facebook group, Long COVID: Chasing Answers, Finding Hope, has more than 7,000 members sharing support, information, and hard-won knowledge every day. You can also read patient and caregiver stories any time on our Community Voices page.
How can I share my Long COVID story?
Email your statement to longcovidstatements@gmail.com. Stories are published on our Community Voices page with your first and last name, because real names carry real weight. If your statement says to keep it private, we honor that. Your email address and phone number are never published. Read stories from other patients and caregivers here:
What should caregivers know?
Long COVID changes whole households, not just patients. Caregivers in our community carry medical paperwork, income loss, and the emotional weight of watching someone they love disappear into illness. Your story counts too — caregivers are welcome and encouraged to share statements and join the community.
What is the Long COVID Initiative doing about all this?
We bring patient and caregiver experiences forward — fighting for recognition, research, knowledgeable care, access, and meaningful support. We publish real stories, track and share current research, and grow a community too loud to ignore. Explore the initiative here and sign the petition to add your name.
How can I help someone with Long COVID?
Believe them. Learn what crashes and pacing mean, offer practical help instead of advice, and share their stories so the world sees them. Then add your voice — join the movement. One action can change a life.