The clinical picture of Long COVID is similar to that of M.E.-most suffer from fatigue, but other symptoms may also include cough, headaches, loss of taste and smell, and muscle pain. Cognition issues are also frequent. Recent figures suggest that at 12 weeks after a COVID-19 illness, 10% will continue to suffer a post-viral syndrome. There is no data yet for the longer term but we know from clinical experience some remain ill for months.
Diagnosis of all disease is all about looking for the underlying mechanisms that result in symptoms, as this has obvious implications for management.
Dr. Myhill focuses on two mechanisms:
- poor energy delivery mechanisms resulting in the symptoms of physical and mental fatigue and possibly also shortness of breath;
- symptoms of inflammation-which in Long COVID includes headache, pain, cough, malaise-and these are driven by the reactivation of chronic infection, auto-immunity and/or allergy.
Dr. Myhill explains these mechanisms together with the interventions to address them that allow normal function to be restored.
2 май 2021
