Some (Good!) News About Long COVID

As If COVID Weren’t Bad Enough… Some (Good!) News About Long COVID

FOR MOST PEOPLE, life post-COVID pandemic is returning to, if not normal, than at least close to normal. Stores, schools, and stadiums are back to full capacity, and COVID-19 risk management (To mask or not mask?) is, in most cases, an individual’s decision rather than a government mandate. And thankfully, the majority of breakthrough infections are not causing severe illness, as compared to early in the pandemic when no one had immunity.

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Dr. Roger Hunter is the owner of Nirvana Hyperbaric Institute, located at 146 Medical Park Road, Suite 110, in Mooresville. For a free consultation or more information, call 704.471.4100 or visit www.NirvanaHBO.com. However, some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 can experience long-term e ects from their infection, known as long COVID. e symptoms of long COVID include shortness of breath, cough, fatigue that is often severe, brain fog (inability to focus and concentrate), anxiety, and/or depression for weeks or months after infection. And, unfortunately, these symptoms can not only be a continued nuisance following a person’s bout with COVID, they can be quite debilitating.

It is estimated that anywhere from 10% to 20% of patients experience long COVID after infection—even if they weren’t very sick in the rst place. However, there is currently no diagnostic test that can con rm whether someone has long COVID* and the treatment options for long COVID are limited or non-existent.

But there is some good news. Recent studies report substantial improvement in patients with long COVID symptoms after hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) sessions. HBOT is a wellresearched treatment that involves breathing 100% pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber allowing a person to increase the amount of oxygen taken into the lungs by as much as 15 times what is inhaled with normal air pressure. is can then boost the power of the immune system and stimulate the release of stem cells, which help tissues heal. It is extremely safe and has been shown to be e ective in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome and traumatic brain injury, which have many similarities to long COVID.

e most recent of these studies, performed in Israel, entailed 40 daily HBOT treatments for two months, with many of the patients stating that their lives had been transformed by the improvement in energy levels, sleep, cognitive function, and decreased depression.** ese ndings built on those that came before, in which British researchers found that HBOT improved long COVID symptoms in just 10 sessions.***

Want to learn more about HBOT for lingering COVID-19 symptoms? Our trained, caring team of hyperbaric specialists at Nirvana Hyperbaric Institute are ready to answer any questions you may have! We welcome you to contact us today. w

*Research at the University of California San Francisco has found in ammatory markers in long Covid patients ** www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15565-0 ***www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8806311