Simon Spichak
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Simon Spichak
@spichaksimon.bsky.social
Neuroscience MSc
🦔 dad

Founded Resolvve Inc to make therapy affordable for students

Science, health and tech journalist published in Being Patient, NYT, The Guardian's Scientific Observer, The Sick Times, and The Daily Beast
For my first story in @breachmedia.ca, I wanted to know what Canada was doing about a scathing UN disability report that criticized the disability benefit and the expansion of assisted suicide.

I'll be writing a longer thread soon.

breachmedia.ca/canada-sides...
February 11, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
"Almost a year after the report’s release, there is no plan to substantially act on any of the UN’s recommendations. Government officials guessed right: mainstream news outlets have largely ignored the report’s criticisms of MAiD. " @spichaksimon.bsky.social

breachmedia.ca/canada-sides...
Canada sidesteps UN scrutiny over assisted dying ⋆ The Breach
Calls by disability advocates and the UN to halt an expansion of medically assisted death have gone largely unacknowledged by the federal government
breachmedia.ca
February 11, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
For nearly a year, the feds have been quiet about a scathing UN report on Canada's treatment of disabled people, including MAiD expansion and paltry financial supports

@spichaksimon.bsky.social presses the government for answers in our latest for @breachmedia.ca

breachmedia.ca/canada-sides...
Canada sidesteps UN scrutiny over assisted dying ⋆ The Breach
Calls by disability advocates and the UN to halt an expansion of medically assisted death have gone largely unacknowledged by the federal government
breachmedia.ca
February 11, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
Pediatric research into #LongCOVID is several years behind that of adults. In 2026, RECOVER-TLC will launch a 1300-person pediatric trial testing low-dose naltrexone for fatigue. @spichaksimon.bsky.social examines that trial, and two other pediatric trials in progress. bit.ly/3Oosi9a
February 5, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
Despite Long COVID's toll on millions of children, there are only a handful of clinical trials that include them. @spichaksimon.bsky.social reported on three upcoming pediatric trials.

Co-published with @19thnews.org!

thesicktimes.org/2026/02/03/l...
Long COVID affects millions of children. The largest pediatric trial so far launches this year. - The Sick Times
One NIH study will test low-dose naltrexone, while other upcoming trials will test larozitide and taurine.
thesicktimes.org
February 3, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
Today @thesicktimes.org: RECOVER-TLC is launching the biggest Long COVID pediatric trial so far. @spichaksimon.bsky.social examines that trial, and two other pediatric trials in progress. thesicktimes.org/2026/02/03/l...
Long COVID affects millions of children. The largest pediatric trial so far launches this year. - The Sick Times
One NIH study will test low-dose naltrexone, while other upcoming trials will test larozitide and taurine.
thesicktimes.org
February 3, 2026 at 7:07 PM
My latest for @thesicktimes.org covers RECOVER-TLC and two other pediatric Long COVID trials.
February 4, 2026 at 3:47 AM
@thesicktimes.org is one of the only newsrooms dedicated to widescale coverage of #LongCOVID. They need our support in their end of year fundraiser.

Through their support, I published two major stories this year.

1/🧵

bsky.app/profile/thes...
The Sick Times (@thesicktimes.org)
We’re over halfway through our end-of-year fundraiser, and we’re not where we need to be to keep our vital work going. We have three weeks left to hit our goals of $60,000 and 200 monthly supporters.…
bsky.app
December 22, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
We’re over halfway through our end-of-year fundraiser, and we’re not where we need to be to keep our vital work going. We have three weeks left to hit our goals of $60,000 and 200 monthly supporters.

The #LongCOVID community needs us — we need you! the-sick-times.fundjournalism.org/donate/
December 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I emailed the CBC ombud a complaint about the Gill Deacon segment that platformed the Lightning Process and brain retraining quackery for Long COVID.

Here's their response: simonspichak.beehiiv.com/p/my-complai...
December 11, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I'll be writing about #LongCOVID trials in kids for
@thesicktimes.org.

With the protocol for the LDN trial now available for public comment. I wanted to hear from parents and researchers about their thoughts on the protocol. DM me to get in touch.

recovercovid.org/news/recover...
RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery
The long-term effects of COVID are real. Join the NIH in the search for answers.
recovercovid.org
December 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
Here's the on point article about Inclusion Canada not doing their due diligence w/their benefits navigation services, and pointing disabled people towards shady 3rd party for-profit services just to access basics like the DTC & #CanadaDisabilityBenefit.
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
1/6
Woman seeking Canada Disability Benefit frustrated after being sent to costly AI-integrated service
When Vancouver Island resident Iris Parker began applying for the Canada Disability Benefit, she didn’t expect to face steep up-front costs—particularly to have AI-integrated software fill out one of ...
www.ctvnews.ca
November 28, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Your daily dose of hedgehog
November 25, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Novo Nordisk's semaglutide fails to slow disease progression in two large Alzheimer's trials.

The latest in a series of drugs that appear promising from observational data that fail when put to the test in trials.

beingpatient.com/glp-1-diabet...
Blockbuster GLP-1 Diabetes and Weight Loss Drugs Fails in Alzheimer's Trial
Novo Nordisk, took a longshot gamble, and lost. Its GLP-1 drug semaglutide failed to treat Alzheimer’s in a trial that was halted.
beingpatient.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
For up to half of people with #LongCOVID, activities like exercise can trigger post-exertional malaise (PEM). Yet Long COVID clinics around the world are offering exercise as treatment while dismissing its serious harms.

Read more from @spichaksimon.bsky.social: bit.ly/4aaDRJW
November 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
AI companies will continue exploiting the mental health crisis if we fail to meaningfully address it.

My piece up in @canadahealthwatch.ca

canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/11/22/i...
If we ignore Canada’s mental health crisis, AI companies will exploit…
Canada’s mental-health system increasingly pushes people toward AI “alternatives.”
canadahealthwatch.ca
November 22, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
If we ignore Canada’s mental health crisis, AI companies will exploit it canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/11/22/i... @spichaksimon.bsky.social
If we ignore Canada’s mental health crisis, AI companies will exploit…
Canada’s mental-health system increasingly pushes people toward AI “alternatives.”
canadahealthwatch.ca
November 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
The rationale behind these studies, Seltzer contests, is [that] “it presumes that the patient had never heard of exercise until a doctor told them [it] exists.”

Thanks to Simon Spichak for putting this idea into print. I've said multiple times in interviews that it's the strangest part... 🧵
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Four in five exercise trials of Long COVID don't even mention post-exertional malaise anywhere in the trial registration.

Latest for @thesicktimes.org diving into the problems with these trials.

thesicktimes.org/2025/11/21/l...
Less than 20% of Long COVID trials involving exercise even mention post-exertional malaise - The Sick Times
An analysis by The Sick Times find that less than 15% of Long COVID clinical trials testing the benefits of exercise or cardiopulmonary rehabilitation measured post-exertional malaise, according to th...
thesicktimes.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:33 PM
CBC's flagship program doubles down on quackery, adds patient blaming rhetoric after pushback on the Gill Deacon interview.

I've updated the story: simonspichak.beehiiv.com/p/cbc-flagsh...

Brief summary below with Alt Text.
November 8, 2025 at 7:16 PM
In a statement, CBC told me:

"After reviewing the interview, we concluded that it needed to be re-edited and re-posted to include further context and questions around the procedure and treatment Deacon experienced. That has now been done."

Will update the story with this soon.
Earlier this week, the CBC broadcast an interview with Gill Deacon, discussing her Long COVID recovery using brain retraining.

They didn't tell you the specific brain retraining program, the Lightning Process, has been accused of exploiting patients.

simonspichak.beehiiv.com/p/cbc-flagsh...

1/n
CBC’s Flagship Program Platforms “Quackery” for Long COVID
CBC's national broadcast aired an interview with Gill Deacon about her Long COVID recovery. Deacon used an unproven program called the Lightning Process that's been criticized for exploiting patients ...
simonspichak.beehiiv.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Simon Spichak
Our #LongCOVID journalism requires reader support — with your help, we can prepare our non-profit newsroom for whatever 2026 brings.

Will you donate today and help us keep this vital work going? the-sick-times.fundjournalism.org/donate/
November 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Day 3 of the @icancmeresearch.bsky.social conference is up as a live thread and now a brief writeup.

simonspichak.beehiiv.com/p/day-3-of-t...
November 7, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Thread for Day 3 of the @icancmeresearch.bsky.social conference. My attempt at simultaneously sharing on X and Bsky.
November 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I'll be back live tweeting/skeeting the @icancmeresearch.bsky.social conference tomorrow. Will try to get it going on BlueSky AND X simultaneously.

#ICanCME
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM