What is Long Covid?
Long COVID, also known as post-COVID symptoms, refers to a wide range of new, returning, or lingering health problems that patients may encounter after four weeks of being infected with SARS-CoV-2.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even persons who have never had any symptoms might develop long COVID, which can manifest as a variety of health problems and last for a long period.
COVID-19 causes direct cell damage as a result of the virus, which can result in long-term effects.
First Category
The first category of long covid includes those who do not fully heal and continue to have symptoms as a result of the virus’s direct cell damage.
When a person’s symptoms are linked to continuous hospitalization, they fall into the second type of long Covid-19.
Second Category
This occurs when someone remains bedridden for weeks in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU).
There is a weakening in the muscles and cognitive brain impairment is present.
Post-traumatic stress disorder-like conditions, also known as post-ICU care syndrome, is caused by innate psychosocial stress.
This is due to long-term hospitalization. In the third category, symptoms appear after recovery.
Covid-19 shows a variety of symptoms among patients, with some 30 year old patients dying or senior patients coming out of recovery practically unscathed.
That’s because there are a variety of patient factors at work, representing the interaction between a person’s immune system and the impact that both have on the body.
Because of the interaction between inflammatory indicators and the immune system, these “symptoms that linger” are produced after healing.
Doctors are still attempting to figure out how the immune system and inflammatory indicators interact, but there’s no doubt that those are signs of a healthy immune system or an overactive inflammatory system.
Third Category
Because Covid-19 affects all organ systems, the symptoms of long Covid are similar to Covid-19.
The fundamental systemic symptoms, according to Dr. Sanghavi, include weariness, post-COVID syndrome, and post-exercise malaise.
Patients may experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and cognitive impairment, sometimes known as brain fog.
There’s also a loss of taste and smell, which can continue even after a negative test.
Symptoms of tachycardia and bradycardia include palpitation. Gastrointestinal problems and bowel troubles such as diarrhea, which can last for days, might cause a loss of appetite.
The most well-known respiratory symptoms are shortness of breath, which is caused by hypoxemia caused by lung injury.
Some patients have even had acute kidney injury, in which the kidneys do not completely heal from.
There are cases in which patients with chronic kidney disease have had to start long-term dialysis treatments after recovering from Covid.
Dr. Sanghavi also mentions patients who have hematologic concerns that end up having a blood clot.
Basically, no organ is spared when it comes to Covid-19 and there’s no way to effectively predict which organ will be affected. This is the same for long-term Covid symptoms.
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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases
While it is not considered a permanent treatment, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used to help alleviate autoimmune symptoms. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing in 100% oxygen, as opposed to the 21% we absorb when we breathe naturally.
This extra oxygenation pumps oxygen into our blood plasma which improves circulation tremendously. A hyperbaric oxygen chamber uses a higher-pressure atmosphere to boost blood flow to certain body parts. This increased blood flow benefits the body in a variety of ways, as blood carries nutrients that help damaged tissues repair more quickly.
A hyperbaric oxygen chamber can be utilized for a variety of illnesses, with the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy helping mend injured tissue, encouraging blood vessel formation, reducing edema, and improving general health by boosting your body’s natural defense mechanisms.
HBOT has attracted a lot of interest as a result of these applications due to its favorable results. It has been shown to lower inflammation, helps against infection, boosts the immune system, and even aids recovery from traumatic brain injury in some patients.
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General Health
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