Sir,
Rebecca Newman’s Article on ‘How to Live with Long Covid’ was a timely reminder that old fashioned convalescence still has a crucial part to play in recovery in any post-viral management.
The intense fatigue and brain fog she mentions can last for months and sometimes years. Our charity has been involved in this post viral area for over 40 years. Despite there being a plethora of research, neither the precise cause nor a simple treatment for such symptoms has been found.
For this reason, I would advise caution in trying the many commercial treatments offered. Although, many of the alternative treatments are unlikely to do much damage, some can, and not only to your wallet.
Neil Riley, Chairman of The ME Association,
Buckingham, Buckinghamshire. UK
Long Covid & ME/CFS Free Resources:
- MEA 40-page booklet on Long Covid and ME/CFS with detailed information and guidance on activity and energy management.
- MEA information leaflet on management is also helpful to people with Long Covid.
- MEA free leaflet on the draft of the new NICE Clinical Guideline for ME/CFS includes information about management also helpful to people with Long Covid.
- More free resources.
How to live with long Covid
As the novel post-viral syndrome claims millions of sufferers, we look at the best treatments to boost your overall health
Rebecca Newman MAY 5 2021
“It’s a challenge, long Covid,” says Dr Toby Hillman, a consultant in respiratory and general medicine at University College London Hospitals (UCLH). “It is barely defined, and different groups of people have very different symptoms.”
How best to treat those sufferers, of whom there are thought to be 1.1m in the UK alone, is a quandary of our times. “Covid-19 is a novel virus. So, long Covid is a novel post-viral syndrome,” says David Putrino, a rehabilitation expert working with the Center for Post-Covid Care at New York hospital Mount Sinai. “There have been no trials sufficient to generate evidence for treatment.”
“We are trying treatments based on empirical reasoning, that we reasonably feel could help, because the evidence base is not yet fully formed,” says Dr Paul Glynne, a consultant physician at and former medical director of UCLH. Many trials are planned or under way, and anecdotal study has found that some things, such as antihistamines, have proven beneficial. But long Covid remains a problem…