LongCOVID

After a viral illness, the majority of people return to their normal state of functioning. However, for those who do not return to their baseline health, symptoms can range from mild to severe- interrupting every day life. This duration and healing from the third phase of COVID19 appears to depend on the presence of co-morbidities, the viral load one was exposed to, immune health prior to the infection which is ,among other factors, affected by stress levels, and treatment time frames. Variables within this third phase contribute to the development of prolonged COVID illness or LongCOVID if symptoms continue post three months of infection.

Symptoms are patient specific and therefore therapies to address these concerns are unique to the individual.

Though the first phase of COVID is defined by respiratory tract infection, many experiencing Long COVID continue to suffer from shortness of breath after developing complications from COVID infection. I hear them say things like I have always been able to hike with ease but I have now developed shortness of breath when hiking or I am having trouble climbing the set of stairs in my house that I have climbed for a decade with no issues.

Still more find they have a harder time focusing on their work, some find that their inability to focus is so great that they have difficulty following along when reading one paragraph. Others. may find that they can listen during a meeting but can not retain the information they were given. Still others, have a hard time finding their words and are frustrated when trying to give a presentation or sometimes when speaking to a friend.

I find that a combination of nutritional supplements and biofeedback training tend to work best to ameliorate these symptoms and return patients to their previous cognitive function state.

I have helped people progress from long hours of debilitating exhaustion back to work, helped avid hikers go from daily use of rescue inhalers to no longer needing them, helped someone who developed full body tics go back to work and resume their normal life, and helped many people with poor cognitive function improve their ability to focus and retain information.

I find a great deal of cross-over between the symptomology for both brain injuries and those experiencing brain fog related to LongCOVID. According to research, both appear to show a glutamate dysregulation leading to neuron firing disturbance among other downstream effects.

With both subsets, I find the best modalities to help with improvement are nutrient or botanical supplementation, neurofeedback training, HBOT sessions and, depending on the complaint, hydortherapy.

Brain Injuries

Some people endure a head injury and recover fairly quickly. It is unclear why some recover quickly and others are hampered for long periods of time. It may be that those who recover quickly were at their optimal health prior to their head injury, that their body generally recovers quickly from any injury, that they are not subject to an over excited immune system post injury, and that they are living their life within a low to normal stress level.

Those who take longer to recover from a head injury find that expending energy on exercise (even a small amount) takes away from their ability to read, look at a screen, and participate in conversation. These people are often spending so much energy just trying to get their brain to operate correctly that they don’t have any energy left over for blocking out loud noises and inhibiting their responses to daily frustration.

I find the best modalities to help with improvement are nutrient or botanical supplementation, neurofeedback training, HBOT sessions and, depending on the complaint, hydortherapy. I have used neurofeedback and nutrient supplementation to help people recover from brain injuries for the past 8 years and see patients experience significant improvements.