Affected by Post-Covid? Beware of experimental therapies

From blood washing to medication: Many of the curative treatments promise healing from the consequences of a Sars-CoV-2 infection that last longer than three months. Since they are not, not yet or only recently being examined in clinical studies for a possible effect in post-Covid, scientists are critical of these experimental methods – after all, the search for a scientifically based therapy has only just begun.

“There are people with post-Covid who have been ill for a long time, are desperate and are therefore willing to try everything that has the slightest chance of success,” reports Professor Andreas Stallmach from the University Hospital in Jena, in the health magazine “Apotheken Umschau”.

Beware of experimental therapies

Initial studies indicate that 2 out of 100 infected people with a mild course of the disease suffer chronically from post-Covid syndrome. Available therapies can temporarily relieve symptoms in these patients, but the disease remains. Example of lipid apheresis: This form of blood washing removes blood fats bound to proteins.

It is said that thousands of people worldwide with post-Covid have already been successfully cured with this treatment. However, an effect has not been proven, since the treatments took place as part of individual healing attempts, not in studies. Lipid apheresis in post-Covid is also not recommended because of the stress the procedure puts on the body.

Instead, doctors call for “well-planned studies”

In order to develop an effective post-Covid therapy, Stallmach would like “well-planned, well-conducted studies”. It is also important for those who are ill to be able to take part in such high-quality studies instead of having to seek help individually and at their own expense. “These people may sell their car or cancel their life insurance just to get treatment,” says the professor. “I find that unethical. And that’s where I see medicine as having a duty to offer something.”

Thomas Loew from the University of Regensburg is now starting a study. He heads the departments for psychosomatic medicine, psychotherapy and social medicine. He wants to investigate fatigability and fatigue, which often occur in the context of post-Covid syndrome. As part of a multi-center research project, the researcher and his team would like to contribute to a better understanding of this clinical picture and to optimizing rehabilitation treatment. And he still has vacancies. So anyone who is affected can get in touch. In the interaction of the various medical disciplines such as blood analysis, psychosomatics or neuro-psychology, the distances are kept short in order to provide patients with optimal support.

How does Long-Covid manifest itself?

After their infection, patients suffer from symptoms such as

• tiredness and exhaustion
• Headache
• difficulty breathing
• Disorders of smell and taste
• cognitive impairments such as brain fog, impaired concentration and memory
• depressive moods

But heart problems, kidney and metabolic disorders can also occur as a result of an infection. The list of possible symptoms is long: in various studies, those affected have given up to 200 different symptoms for Long-Covid.

Who does Long-Covid hit?

Experts assume that at least ten percent of all people infected with corona suffer from long-Covid. In a long-Covid review published in the renowned “Nature” magazine, the researchers estimate that

• 10 to 30 percent of non-hospitalized corona infected people
• 50 to 70 percent of hospitalized corona infected people
• and 10 to 12 percent of vaccinated corona infected people

are affected by Long-Covid.

It also affects all age groups, but an increased percentage of people between the ages of 36 and 50. Factors such as previous illnesses, a low socio-economic status and the lack of an opportunity to recover would favor Long-Covid.

How does Long-Covid arise?

The disease is still a mystery to experts. In a report in the “Ärzteblatt”, physicians give good evidence of various overarching and organ-specific causes.

One of the reasons why Corona hits so many organs is that Sars-CoV-2 binds to the ACE2 receptor. This in turn can be found in many places in the body. namely in

• Lunge,
• Kidneys,
• small intestine,
• olfactory cells,
• Herz,
• testicles,
• muscle cells and the
• Substantia nigra (black substance) in the brain

There are four main theses about the overarching causes:

• Autoimmune reaction
• inflammation
• Persistent virus or “residual virus” in the body
• coagulation disorders (blood clots)