American clinic investigates Long Covid: the 6 most exciting points

American clinic investigates Long Covid: the 6 most exciting points

It is estimated that one in four people suffers from the Long Covid secondary disease after Corona. The number is increasing and medicine is looking for therapies. A New York clinic is showing promising results.

Long Covid, the sequel to Sars-Cov-19, raises disturbing questions for those affected and for doctors. Therefore, an American clinic has dedicated itself to researching the disease. Your program is now providing information.

Long Covid symptoms are very different: fatigue, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and chronic fatigue are common. Rehabilitation specialist Dayna McCarthy describes the difficulty of the disease: “Values ​​are always good, so Western medicine has no explanation for disease.»Said the doctor to« The Atlantic ».

Specialists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York now want to solve the puzzle. The clinic opened a Post-Covid Care Center and I started a Call for volunteers for a research program. This was reported by the newspaper “The Atlantic”. Here the Six Key Findings from the US Clinic.

Standard rehab doesn’t work

The symptoms of Long Covid are similar to those of a disease that is often misdiagnosed: Dysautonomia. This was noticed by a rehabilitation specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dysautonomia is a collective term for diseases that affect the Impaired autonomic nervous system function.. This nervous system controls bodily processes that one is not aware of. Like how fast your heart beats, blood pressure, or breathing rate.

As a result, the doctors at the American clinic hypothesized that Coronavirus ruins our nervous system and causes Long Covid.

This thesis was used to investigate how patients react to treatments. In the case of heart and lung problems, patients generally reacted to rehabilitation that was physically demanding.. Both with dysautonomia and with Long Covid However, this makes tiredness and a racing heart worse.. Therefore, the standard rehab mostly does not work.

Affected people have small hearts

At Mount Sinai Hospital it was found that the Long Covid patients’ hearts are smaller than expected. The scans showed that. This gives their hearts one lower blood volume capacity.

Of course no one knows if the heart is shrinking due to disease or if people with smaller hearts are more susceptible to Long Covid. For example, endurance athletes’ hearts would shrink if they suddenly stopped training.

Studies have shown that one Targeted rehabilitation can enlarge the heart and thus improve the symptoms of dysautonomia.says in the article. A specialist at Mount Sinai Spital suspects that this also applies to many Long Covid patients.

Therapy copied from a similar disease

For therapy, the US clinic relied on experience with postular tachycardia syndrome (Pots). This is a Dysautonomic disease with symptoms similar to Long Covid.

TO In pots, the body does not adapt to gravity.. When people get up from a lying position, their heart rate skyrockets, they have headaches, they get tired, dizzy, and feel bad. Long Covid patients often describe similar complaints.

Medication, dietary changes, and slow exercise can improve the situation. A very gentle rehabilitation that the patient can tolerate is important, says a specialist.

The treatment program includes short bursts of stress lying down or sitting so as not to strain the nervous and cardiovascular system. In addition, patients use Compression clothingso that the Reduction of the accumulation of blood.. Also, hydration and salt intake are important to increase blood volume.

Some patients would have responded well to this therapy, others could not endure even the slightest increase in performance, reports the New York medical profession.

Breathing is crucial

Specialists at the US clinic found that People with Long Covid breathe shallowly. Most of the time they did it through the mouth to the upper part of the chest, rather than through the nose and deep into the diaphragm. Crown disease changed the respiratory process, as doctors discovered.

Therefore one built Respiratory program in. It consists, for example, of morning and afternoon. for ten minutes of breathing exercises to close. Directed breathing through the nose also allows Pulse can be checked.

Many participants in the breathing program experienced an improvement in their situation for the first time. This is what those affected have in the article in “The Atlantic”.

Take similar illnesses seriously

US Clinic Experts Advise Taking similar diseases like Long Covid more seriously in medicine. With its forms of therapy, it could combat chronic fatigue and exhaustion, for example.

That does not solve all the various symptoms of those affected. However, it would bring them to a point where they could begin the path back to a normal life.

Much inexplicable

Much of Long Covid remains a mystery. The New York medical community cannot explain why therapeutic approaches work for some patients and not for others. There is no algorithm for this either, rehabilitation specialist David Putrino tells “The Atlantic.” «You have to be yours Listen to patients, identify symptoms, find a way to measure severity, intervene and observeif the symptoms go away. That’s the way medicine should be. “

And here…

In Switzerland, for example, the university hospitals in Zurich and Geneva and the Cantonal Hospital in Graubünden are investigating Long Covid. Politics has also taken up the issue: This week, the Council of States adopted a corresponding proposal. Thus, the small chamber instructs the Federal Council to create a Prepare a report on the situation of patients with Long Covid. In particular, it should describe treatment and therapy measures.

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