Covid-19 long haulers-what to do now?
It has been now more than 1 year since the pandemic has started and what was thought to be just a respiratory virus its now known to be way more than that and not in a very good way.
Me and my colleagues encountered so many other unusual and unexpected symptoms in people recovering from COVID and while I know every virus can cause all sorts of complications this is a bit too much or maybe I should say different than I have seen before as a doctor. And it’s affecting young previous healthy people as well not just the sick or elderly.
The list of symptoms is long: brain fog and forgetfulness, horrible migraines, impossible fatigue, muscle pain, heavy limbs, shortness of breath or high heart rate. Many people are diagnosed or told they have maybe anxiety or they just tired, but it is definitely more than that. Although because of these unexplained and debilitating symptoms people do end up being anxious or even depressed. And how can you not? When you cannot go through your daily routine? when someone used to be a fitness trainer and now walking and carrying grocery bags is a daunting chore!
Many people tried to look for help and they had so many tests. The truth is the conventional medicine doesn’t know much about why this is happening although some theories are proposed including inflammation and an overreaction of immune system. This over reactivity affects so many organs and its causing some degree of collateral damage unfortunately. What’s worse conventional medicine does not have too many solutions either.
That s where the integrative medicine can help through a multifaceted approach and a very close supervision of the patients involved. It is also a healing-oriented approach that considers the whole person and their lifestyle.
We always start with the nutrition- most of the time we talk about the anti-inflammatory diet but sometimes you must take into consideration hidden food intolerances and to promote the food groups that would speed up healing of a specific organ (brain superfoods anyone??).
We continue with the gut and liver health- so important!! How are you otherwise supposed to get rid of those toxic metabolites produced by the tons of chemical reactions and inflammatory pathways?? Doing a short but very efficient liver detox/support kit it’s many times where we start.
Nutritional deficiencies? We already know the role of vitamin D and C in immunity but the truth is there are so many other important vitamins, trace minerals and antioxidants involved in vital functions including brain capacity. We can test each and one of them and design a protocol based on your body’s needs!
Most people battle fatigue- using melatonin and magnesium glycinate can help and will also make you sleep better. Magnesium also helps blocking the NMDA receptor which is one of the brain inflammatory receptors and the glycinate component has a detoxifying role and helps with the body’ s production of glutathione.
The most common symptom seems to be shortness of breath, possibly caused by fibrosis or small blood clots clogging up the small arteries in the lung. There are few supplements that can help with that including inositol, cysteine or NAC supplements as well as resveratrol. Something like total body vibration device helps your body exercise efficiently while also builds up muscle strength and helps with lymphatic drainage. And it does not require a lot of physical effort!
I think however the brain fog, pain and headaches are the most debilitating symptoms people encounter. There are so many ways of improving that as well from supplements to specific brain health devices like neurofeedback. We do combine all these devices to speed up the healing process.
The most important contribution of our approach is the assurance that the body’s healing system is fully capable of restoring wellness. Depending on age and few other factors the process may take longer for some. Nonetheless, it is imperative to trust in the wisdom of the body and the healing power of nature.
For those who want to read some more here is a link with an excellent review on theses therapies:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7756157/
We are looking forward to working with anyone who might be suffering from any of the above symptoms- give us a call 678-732-9065 and we will get you started. If you someone who could use this information, please share you might just change their life!
Wishing you health and happiness,
Dana Neacsu, MD
MCIM
678-7329065
info@mcimatlanta.com