Although many people who caught COVID-19, the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus, recovered within a couple of weeks, other people are reporting symptoms that have lasted long after the acute infection. This problem is commonly called post or long COVID. It happens to about one in five people who had the infection, with slightly higher rates in the elderly.

The most common symptoms of long COVID include ongoing respiratory problems, like shortness of breath and chronic cough. Neurological problems, such as fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, dizziness upon standing, and headaches, are also common. Some people have problems with their digestive system, such as diarrhea. Still others experience circulatory issues like increased blood clotting, rapid heart rate, and chest pain.

If you had COVID and feel like you’ve never recovered, this newsletter may help. We’ll take a look at a process called convalescence and how it applies to long COVID. We’ll talk about reasons why you might be having continuing problems and what you can do to aid your recovery.

Why Persistent Symptoms?

There are a couple of reasons why an illness like COVID might have residual effects. First, tissue responds to infection through an inflammatory process. COVID can cause severe inflammation, and this inflammation may have caused damage to various tissues, which need time and support to heal properly.

The symptoms you experience from inflammatory damage will depend on which tissues were severely inflamed. Severe respiratory inflammation may cause scarring in the lungs which can cause chronic cough and make breathing more difficult. Intestinal inflammation may damage the gut lining and microbiome causing dysbiosis, leaky gut, diarrhea, or constipation. Cardiovascular inflammation can damage the heart and arterial lining, affecting blood circulation, blood pressure, and heart function. Damage to the nervous system can affect things like your mood, sense of balance, and sleep cycle.

Secondly, serious illness is stressful and there is a great deal of fear surrounding COVID. And high levels of stress disrupts nervous and glandular function. Getting back to normal after suffering any extreme stress takes extra rest, time, and perhaps even counseling or therapy. Herbal and/or nutritional support can also help in getting back to normal.

Finally, it has long been recognized that recovery from any illness requires a period of convalescence. Convalescence is the period of time between feeling acutely ill and feeling completely healthy. For example, if you get food poisoning, you start to feel better after you throw up. That’s the turning point of the disease, traditionally called the disease crisis. After the crisis has passed you’ll start to feel better, but you’ll still feel tired and need a period of time to regain your former health and strength.

Thomas Easley’s course: Understanding and Managing Long COVID Patterns

KP Khalsa’s Healing Solutions for Long Covid