What’s the Long Covid Community Trying?

Long COVID is a massive problem.

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‍7.7–23 million are alone are estimated to have long COVID in the United States alone.

While the research is well underway, with over 200,000 new papers coming to fruition since 2020, we still haven’t figured out how it works and what people should do to get better. Hundreds of thousands have turned to long COVID online communities to find advice and solidarity as they navigate their new reality. We wanted to summarize and share some of the latest information from these communities to help you in your search for things that are worth trying. This isn’t medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before making any major changes when managing your health, but we hope this can help stimulate ideas for things that might be worth trying.

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Here’s what covid clinics advise.

• For patients who are feeling the chronic fatigue of long COVID, pacing has been transformative for regaining a sense of normalcy.
• Simply defining your current energy limits, adapting your lifestyle to live within these limits, and slowly beginning to expand them, can make a huge difference in avoiding energy crashes that take hours or days to recover from.
• HCN blockers appear to help with POTS symptoms.
• Some patients have preferred more traditional approaches and looked to these online communities for medications to ask their doctor about. One of these medications was HCN Channel Blockers. For Long Covid patients with POTS, this drug significantly improved quality of life and reduced heart rates upon standing, countering the often debilitating effects of POTS. Others faced a cough that no dose of over-the-counter medications could treat. A prescription of Benzonate, a medication used to treat coughs caused by the common cold and other breathing problems, was one of the most common medications to treat cough symptoms of Long COVID and proved to be one of the most effective.

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What the community is talking about.

Curious what other patients or what has worked for patients with similar conditions?

• The Mediterranean diet is notorious for its plant-based foods, olive oil, and low consumption of fish, dairy, poultry, and red meats. For a myriad of other conditions, it's been associated with better outcomes and has been preventative for diabetes in Long COVID patients.
• Supplements can also help. For example, magnesium is crucial to the body's function and regulates blood pressure, bone strength, and heart rhythm. A 360 mg dose has helped some patients regain homeostasis, reduce respiratory symptoms, and improve lung function. Vitamin B is essential for cellular function, and Vitamin D3 can help the body absorb calcium. Taking a daily dose of these vitamins has helped patients build a healthy immune system, reduce long COVID symptoms, and prevent reinfection.

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New, exciting developments.

• Losing your sense of taste/smell is a new symptom of COVID-19 that’s left many frustrated as they try to regain a sense of normalcy. However, scientists have risen to the occasion with smell training.
• Smell training is a process that involves sniffing different odors over a period of months to retrain the brain to recognize different smells.
• Clinically relevant improvements have been reported by patients, especially older patients with parosmia.
• Prefer herbal forms of medication? Ashwagandha is an important medicinal plant of the Indian subcontinent that has been used in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, such as arthritis, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, and others.
• In some cases, an 800 mg dose has provided myriad therapeutic effects for patients who suffer from **chronic fatigue.
• Take a deep breath may be just the advice you need. Breathing exercises have been a simple but effective treatment for the breathlessness long COVID patients face.
• Deep breathing can help restore diaphragm function and increase lung capacity.
• Exercise regimens can range anywhere from: - 5 minutes box breathing and 30 minutes intense box breathing

Of course, if you’re interested in trying any of these out via a personal health trial, sign up for the Eureka Health beta today!