Long Haulers: Is it more tragic than the COVID?

Unfortunately, many of us might have experienced the dark side of COVID-19 infection; in fact, some of you may feel week for several months’ post-COVID infections, forcing you to wonder what’s wrong with your body? This is when you probably start turning the corner by being the older version of yourself every day and that is where the challenge arises. You need to understand that the danger of COVID is not yet over and you are experiencing a more stubborn form of COVID, the long COVID.

What is Long COVID and how prevalent it is?

A long COVID is a more sustainable form of COVID 19 symptoms, where people who have had experienced acute pulmonary respiratory distress syndrome experience terrible weakness, physical exhaustion, tremendous body aches, and absolute lack of energy while battling with more life-threatening diseases. Experts are thus advising to keep a check on general symptoms of Long Covid, even if you are negative with viral detection; which will help people to initiate with right treatment on time for better recovery.

Almost 90% of the patients who have recovered from COVID infections are experiencing these symptoms. Experts are calling them “ long haulers” that slowly and gradually deteriorates the functional capacity of many primary organs like the brain, cardiovascular systems, etc. Studies published based on available data have suggested that these symptoms are bothering people for more than 6 months post-COVID infection, and the longer you get rid of them the better are the chances of keeping the tissue integrity intact.

Moving towards a better explanation of “Long Haulers”

Previous statistics have confirmed that people with COVID infections develop some different forms of chronic infections like post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV infections; although the formal definition of long COVID is still missing, experts have included three important points to segregate COVID from Long COVID, such as:

• A negative RT-PCR test post COVID infections
• Vital body statistics not returned to the pre-COVID stage; even after one 1-month post-recovery
• Symptomatic exhibition of long COVID with gradual damage to the lung, kidneys, and heart.

Are long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome the same or different?

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, Mr. Fauci has speculated long COVID to be comparable with chronic fatigue syndrome also named myalgic encephalomyelitis. However, the only difference between the two is that Long COVID is also accompanied by severe chronic respiratory distress syndrome; and has also been estimated that as many as more than 40 million people are currently suffering from this in any developed country like India.

Who is more vulnerable to long haulers and it’s after effects

Although, a lot of research is underway to configure exact data but depending upon current availability; the following abnormalities have been detected:

• An ongoing reduced level of inflammation in the brain
• Mental fog and sudden unusual fatigue
• Sudden trigger of autoimmune conditions in which the body make own antibodies to attack against self-organs
• Decreased oxygenated blood flow to the vital organs of the body, due to abnormalities of the autonomous nervous system.
• Difficulty making enough ATP molecules, creating a wide vacuum in the cellular metabolism, cellular communication; long term ignorance to which can lead to the functional collapse of major organs.

Experts are suggesting there is no solid treatment available to minimise incidences of these long haulers, but timely administration of anti-inflammatory medicines that are non-steroidal and effective can promote the active generation of energy molecules by opening up tedious cellular pathways of communication. Stem cells are the gen-next anti-inflammatory formulations that are being extracted from one of their most naturally available resources, the umbilical cord tissue at a larger scale to fulfil rising therapeutic demands. Stem cells therapy has been promoted as the safe and effective treatment strategy during both COVID as well as Long Covid to accelerate the recovery and reduce inflammatory cytokines.

With more in-depth data analysis and sufficient availability of data, scientists are hopeful to use them as a mainstream treatment against bot long haulers and acute COVID infections. For more info, contact Advancells at [email protected].