This article discusses the uncertainty of Long COVID, how the unknown leaves people questioning their health care, how the fear it causes can affect the brain, and offers suggestions on overcoming the stress.

Updated February 14, 2024

Mental and physical stress puts the body into fight or flight (survival mode) and makes symptoms worse. Your body can only heal when you are relaxed, breathing normally and your body systems are calm.

Research shows that the virus disrupts key body regulatory systems, which can lead to a 3-6 month recovery cycle or more. But the word recovery is tricky. Some people recovery quickly, others face more long lasting and sometimes permanent damage. There is evidence that reinfection causes additional damage, so precautions are still necessary, no matter what the news cycle is saying.

To best manage your recovery, it’s important to educate yourself on what is happening to your body, then advocate for yourself. You have to take charge of your health and do what you can to regain your health - clean eating, avoid sugars, caffeine, preservatives and alcohol, stay hydrated with plain water, get sufficient sleep, manage physical and mental stress, exercise with intolerance, and breath work to get more oxygen, (the only food brain cells need).

Tools for adults and children experiencing fear, anxiety and depression:

COVID can cause inflammation of the nervous system interrupting hormone regulation, including serotonin and melatonin production and absorption, leading to depression, anxiety, insomnia and suicidal thoughts, even in those that have never had issues like this before.

You may not know it, but you have the most important tool in managing stress - it’s your thought process.

When you are dealing with a chronic illness, it’s easy to become negative about a situation, person, or yourself. This behavior affects your physical and mental health, and other parts of life - such as social and family interactions, and even physical energy levels. Stress consumes energy and when the negativity gets out of balance causing stress to those around you, others often withdraw from that energy.

A good way to reduce stress is to refocus thoughts on positivity. They say repetition is the mother of all studies and it’s the same with negative and positive thoughts. The more they repeat themselves, the deeper engrained in the psyche they become, eventually becoming beliefs. If you can develop a habit of finding things to celebrate in your life, your body will naturally start to calm, then all of your energy is redirected toward healing.

Sometimes you may need other tools to help rebalance your hormones and reduce neural inflammation. Seek counseling from a professional therapist if you need someone to talk about your problems with. You can also talk to your MD, ask about a SSRI or SNRI medications - tools that can be used until the inflammation subsides and the neural pathways can function again. A lot of people are using medications like Wellbutrin, Celexa or Prozac and similar meds for 3-6 months with high success.

Affirmations:

Affirmations work like changing a radio station. Music you like makes you feel happy, content and energetic. Apply this concept to your thoughts. Focus on positive thinking and looking for the best in the situation - in other words, count your blessings and focus on what is going well or positively in your life.

This technique is easier than you think. Make up a song to sing with a positive message like: I am strong, I will overcome, I’m getting better every day.

Or listen to a song like “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” (play it all day long and sing it at bedtime). An additional benefit of singing is that is forces you to breath and breath work is extremely important in calming the nervous system.

Throw a little dancing or swaying in there helps even more.

If nothing else, try tapping the rhythm with your toes and fingers. This requires total concentration and interrupts the fearful thought process and releases happy hormones like serotonin and endorphins.

Other distraction techniques:

When you fill your mind with other thoughts, you cannot focus on fear or negativity. Some suggestions include:

• Silly or funny movies or books. Stories that don’t require a lot of thinking to follow and aren’t too sad or emotional.

• Crafts or hobbies that require focus like a paint by numbers, puzzle, rock painting, a new recipe, anything you have to focus on while you work on it.

• Visit or talk with a friend or family member. Caution: Avoid talking about your sadness or illness for extended lengths of time. That’s not to say you can visit the subject, but make sure it’s not the only thing you talk about. This will be good for you and sustaining your relationships.

Give it a try. You have nothing to lose.

Things you can do to help yourself

Minimizing physical & psychological stressors is essential in recovery from Long COVID.

Nutrition: Try to eat protein and fresh vitamin rich foods daily and avoid chemicals, preservatives, sugars, fast foods, prepared foods and high histamine foods.
Don’t skip meals. Your body needs protein, vitamin C, and vitamin D to heal from any injury or illness. A low histamine or low carbohydrate (sugar) diet is recommended by doctors treating Long COVID (PASC), and many people report a reduction in symptoms within 1-3 days of the diet change, including decreases in sneezing, itching or hives, irritable bowel syndrome, body pain, along with a reduction in swelling and inflammation.
Hydration: A minimum of eight 8 oz glasses of plain water daily is recommended.
Avoid drinks with chemical additives. You can easily make a fresh electrolyte drink yourself by adding a dash of mineral rich Epsom salt and a piece a fruit like a raspberry for flavor instead of spending money on commercial drinks like Gatorade that contain chemicals and sit in plastic bottles for long periods of time. Remember that caffeine and alcohol have dehydrating effects.
Sleep hygiene: Getting 7-9 hours of sleep so your body can repair itself. You need at least 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep to get into the restorative phase of sleep.
Avoid stimulating activities after dinner like thrilling movies or books, arguments, negative news or frustrating stimuli.
If you wake up frequently or with a startle, you may be experiencing drops in your oxygen level, which signal your brain to release adrenaline to force you to take a breath. This could be a temporary inflammation issue or more enduring sleep apnea. Ask your doctor for a sleep study to evaluate your need for a CPAP or BiPAP, a machine that pushes air into your lungs when it senses an apneic episode (periods of not breathing).
Stress management: Stress affects every component of your life.
The only thing you can control about stress is your reaction to it. Try to avoid or minimize your exposure to stressful situations: Turn off the news, make family visits that end unpleasantly short, wait for the morning to have intense discussions, let go of things that annoy you but don’t really matter in the big scheme of things, avoid intense conversations or entertainment in the evening.
Exercise within tolerance: Pace yourself and do not push your body to extremes in any way.
For some this may mean seated breathing exercises, walking to the mailbox. Rest when your body says to slow down. Gradually build on your activity endurance as your body cues you to progress. This can be hard to gauge, because when you feel good you naturally do more, but if you do too much you may experience symptom flare ups 1-3 days later as the post exertion inflammation builds. Some people describe this as post exertional malaise, others experience severe recovery set backs.
Breathwork: You can literally stop the fight or flight reaction by taking slow deep breaths.
Deep slow breathing shuts down the adrenaline flow, slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure and decreases stress related histamine release. When you do this, your blood reroutes back to your brain and nervous system to allow you to think clearly. It also allows your body to use its energy and oxygen to heal your inflamed nerves and organs.

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Brought to you by covidCAREgroup, connecting the dots of long COVID through education, research and resources.

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