Long Covid Syndrome & Its Treatment
Breathe your way back to health
Many people who survive COVID-19 continue to suffer from some of its problems. It affects all organs, including the lungs, heart, brain, thyroid, sinuses, kidney, liver, pancreas, adrenal glands, and muscles. The symptoms indicate which organs are affected the most.
Some of the symptoms include fatigue, often extreme fatigue, weakness; brain fog - difficulty in concentrating, remembering, and thinking; difficulty in breathing; back pain; pain in the throat, chest, or abdomen; muscle pain, joint pain, sleep disturbances, a fast heart rate & palpitations, uncontrolled diabetes, loss of smell or/and taste, headaches, hair loss, a hacking cough, gastric issues including gas, bloating, acidity, diarrhoea or constipation, malabsorption of food and nutrients, mental symptoms like anxiety and depression.
Anyone with the persistence of any of these symptoms for more than six weeks after the onset of symptoms of COVID-19 should seek help for long-term COVID-19 syndrome. If tackled early, these symptoms resolve within 2-3 months, while if not tackled early, they may persist for many months or years despite treatment. The treatment of this aspect of the post-COVID complications does not receive enough attention from doctors worldwide as they are involved in crisis care.
"The Long Covid Syndrome” (the persistence of symptoms after Covid) currently affects over 150 million people worldwide, affecting their quality of life and ability to return to work and resume their everyday lives.
The Long Covid syndrome causes a lot of disability, with an estimated 1.7 million people in the UK still suffering from Long Covid. In India, 40 million people are estimated to suffer from Long Covid.
Many patients continue to have a low-grade fever and other symptoms for several weeks after they test negative for COVID-19 using the RTPCR test. This is because the virus has cleared from the nose and throat but continues to be active in the body's cells until its immune system has entirely removed it from all its cells. If this process is incomplete, these symptoms may progress and persist for years.
This syndrome is more common in people with autoimmune conditions, pre-existing post-viral syndromes, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, obesity, and older people. Patients with severe COVID-19 infections who have been hospitalised and treated with steroids are at greater risk of developing long-term COVID-19 syndrome.
Pulmonary Fibrosis The delta strain also causes pulmonary fibrosis, which is gradually progressive and is likely to affect more than 5 million people worldwide. These people will need to be dependent on oxygen concentrators, causing a disability that severely curtails their quality of life and ability to work again.
People in whom oxygen saturation has dipped below 90%, who have autoimmune diseases, who have been hospitalised, or those showing a CT score greater than 6/25 are at greater risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis. The symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis usually manifest 3-6 months after the onset of the covid and are characterised by difficulty breathing. This is generally treated with oxygen and continues lifelong. Which seriously impairs their quality of life and is difficult to treat with conventional medicine.
A diagnosis can be made by carefully listening to each lung segment with a stethoscope. Treatment should be initiated for these segments if there are reduced or altered breath sounds. The diagnosis can be confirmed by an X-ray chest or a CT scan, but usually, auscultation is adequate, as shown in the diagrams below.
Treatment involves Steam Inhalation, Low-intensity Frequent Ultrasound Treatment & specific Asanas to ventilate the affected areas and help reverse the fibrosis.
COVID causes damage at the cellular level in the heart, brain, and other organs, causing symptoms. This damage is usually not visible in conventional investigations, and these symptoms are often not addressed adequately.
Functional neurological disorder (FND) after COVID-19 has been implicated in brain fog, memory loss, and other neurological symptoms that affect patients with long-term COVID-19.
Advice for those recovering from Covid:
Take enough rest. At least for 12 hours in each 24 hours.
Adjust your activities to a level where your body can deal with them. If you are tired, stop and rest. Do not over-exert. Exercise should be started slowly and increased very gradually. Do not let yourself get near exhaustion, as it can take a couple of days (sometimes even weeks) to recover from that.
Stay off alcohol till you feel good and symptom-free.
Do not get stressed by the neurological symptoms caused by the COVID-19 infection, as it takes time to recover.
Control your blood sugar.
Eat a light diet with more carbohydrates and fruit & less protein and fat.
Take supplements of Vitamins B, C, D, zinc, chromium, and selenium as advised by your physician.
Gyan Yoga is one of the best methods for treating long-term COVID-19. It teaches you to assess which areas of your lungs and body are not receiving enough blood circulation and air. It also helps you choose specific asanas to help heal each area.
Breathing exercises help expand the lungs and improve circulation, oxygenation, and healing.
Acupuncture, ultrasound, proper nutrition, biofeedback & pulsed electromagnetic frequency treatment can help speed up your recovery.