Long-COVID is now the biggest COVID concern - many studies

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69+ VitaminDWiki pages have LONG-HAUL or LONG-COVID in the title

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Might long-covid symptoms be reduced by corticosteroids? Asked Perplexity AI Aug 2024

Detailed Answer short answer, probably

• "Corticosteroids have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects. The theory is that steroids may counter the chronic inflammatory response in long-COVID and prevent progression to a late, immune-mediated stage of disease."
• "Long-COVID is accompanied by immunological alterations characterized by inflammation and reduced immune regulation. Corticosteroids may help revert these immune alterations"

See also SciTechDaily

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64% of Brazilians had Long-COVID symptoms 1 year after hospital discharge (wonder why) – July 2024

Long COVID among Brazilian Adults and Elders 12 Months after Hospital Discharge: A Population-Based Cohort Study
Healthcare 2024, 12(14), 1443; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12141443
by Maria Aparecida Salci 1,Lígia Carreira 1,Natan Nascimento Oliveira 1ORCID,Natan David Pereira 1ORCID,Eduardo Rocha Covre 1,Giovanna Brichi Pesce 1,Rosana Rosseto Oliveira 1ORCID,Carla Franciele Höring 2ORCID,Wanessa Cristina Baccon 1ORCID,Jesús Puente Alcaraz 3ORCID,Giovana Alves Santos 1,Ludmila Lopes Maciel Bolsoni 1,Andrés Gutiérrez Carmona 4ORCID,João Ricardo Nickenig Vissoci 5,6,Luiz Augusto Facchini 7 and Carlos Laranjeira 8,9,10,*ORCID

The persistence of symptoms for more than three months following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is referred to as “Long COVID”. To gain a deeper understanding of the etiology and long-term progression of symptoms, this study aims to analyze the prevalence of Long COVID and its associated factors in a cohort of Brazilian adults and elders, twelve months after hospital discharge. An observational, prospective, and follow-up study was performed with a cohort of adults and older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2020 in the State of Paraná, Brazil. Twelve months after hospital discharge, patients answered a phone questionnaire about the persistence of symptoms after three levels of exposure to COVID-19’s acute phase (ambulatory, medical ward, and intensive care unit). According to the characteristics of participants, the prevalence of Long COVID-19 was calculated, and logistic regression analyses were conducted. We analyzed data from 1822 participants (980 adults ≥18–<60 years and 842 older people ≥60 years) across three exposure levels. The overall Long COVID prevalence was 64.2%. Long COVID was observed in 646 adults (55%; of which 326 were women) and 523 older people (45%; of which 284 were women). Females had a higher prevalence of long-term symptoms (52%) compared with men. The most common post-COVID-19 conditions in the 12-month follow-up were neurological (49.8%), followed by musculoskeletal (35.1%) and persistent respiratory symptoms (26.5%). Male individuals were less likely to develop Long COVID (aOR = 0.50). Other determinants were also considered risky, such as the presence of comorbidities (aOR = 1.41). Being an adult and having been hospitalized was associated with the development of Long COVID. The risk of developing Long COVID was twice as high for ward patients (aOR = 2.53) and three times as high for ICU patients (aOR = 3.56) when compared to non-hospitalized patients. Presenting clinical manifestations of digestive (aOR = 1.56), endocrine (aOR = 2.14), cutaneous (aOR = 2.51), musculoskeletal (aOR = 2.76) and psychological systems (aOR = 1.66) made adults more likely to develop Long COVID. Long COVID was present in a large proportion of people affected by the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Presence of Long COVID symptoms displayed a dose–response relationship with the level of disease exposure, with a greater prevalence of symptoms associated with the severe form in the acute period.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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Some early Long-COVID symptoms persist for at least 3 years in US veterans – May 2024

Some early Long-COVID symptoms persist for at least 3 years in US veterans – May 2024
Note: Might be different for people who are younger or older, or after later COVID variants

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VitaminDWiki - Long-COVID a month shorter if more than 20 ng of Vitamin D - Jan 2024

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Long COVID associated with Low Vitamin D – Oct 2023

Low Vitamin D Levels Are Associated With Long COVID Syndrome in COVID-19 Survivors
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol108, Issue 10, October 2023 https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgad207
Luigi di Filippo, Stefano Frara, Fabrizio Nannipieri, Alice Cotellessa, Massimo Locatelli, Patrizia Rovere Querini, Andrea Giustina

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Vitamin D was the only statistically significant factor

Context
Long COVID is an emerging syndrome affecting 50% to 70% of COVID-19 survivors that still lacks predicting factors.

Objective
Due to the extraskeletal effects of vitamin D, we retrospectively assessed the association between 25(OH) vitamin D levels and long COVID in COVID-19 survivors 6 months after hospitalization.

Methods
Long COVID was defined according to NICE guidelines. Fifty long COVID and 50 non–long-COVID subjects matched on a 1:1 basis were enrolled from an outpatient clinic post-COVID cohort seen from August to November 2020. Therapies/comorbidities affecting calcium/vitamin D/bone metabolism, and/or admission to the intensive care unit during hospitalization were exclusion criteria. 25(OH) Vitamin D was measured at hospital admission and 6 months after discharge.

Results
We observed lower 25(OH) vitamin D levels, evaluated at follow-up, in subjects with long COVID than those without (20.1 vs 23.2 ng/mL, P = .03). Regarding the affected health areas evaluated in the entire cohort, we observed lower 25(OH) vitamin D levels in those with neurocognitive symptoms at follow-up (n = 7) than those without (n = 93) (14.6 vs 20.6 ng/mL, P = .042). In patients presenting vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL), both at admission and at follow-up (n = 42), those affected by long COVID (n = 22) presented lower 25(OH) vitamin D levels at follow-up than those not affected (n = 20) (12.7 vs 15.2 ng/mL, P = .041). In multiple regression analyses, lower 25(OH) vitamin D levels at follow-up were the only variable significantly associated with long COVID in our cohort (P = .008, OR 1.09, CI 1.01-1.16).

Conclusion
COVID-19 survivors with long COVID have lower 25(OH) vitamin D levels than matched patients without long COVID. Our data suggest that vitamin D levels should be evaluated in COVID-19 patients after hospital discharge. The role of vitamin D supplementation as a preventive strategy of COVID-19 sequelae should be tested in randomized controlled trials.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
YouTube 20 minute video reporting on this study

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Long-COVID 2.2X more-likely if had 2 COVID vaccinations - Dec 2022

Children's Health Defense Jan 2024
Reporting on peer-reviewed study: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278825  PDF
Characteristics and predictors of Long COVID among diagnosed cases of COVID-19

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Long-COVID 100% gone in 29% of long-COVID patients after histamin treatment (mast cells) - March 2024

LONG COVID, MAST CELL ACTIVATION, AND FINDING A WAY OUT Eugene Hayden

• In the treatment of MCAD, to calm down the inappropriate activation of the mast cell, the drug montelukast (Singular) could be added to the regime. (see Sumantri and Rengganis, 2023) This measure just might be effective in the treatment of my Long COVID. What would I have to lose?"
• "And, of course, there are things I could do on my own that may give me an edge. I could add quercetin, vitamin C, and curcumin to the treatment plan—all compounds known to bring calm to the mast cell. (see Hamilton, 2018) Medical supervision required. Additionally, a gluten-free diet may be of help, as gluten has been shown to stimulate the mast cell (Hamilton, 2024)."

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Long-COVID is a national emergency: $2.6 trillion JAMA 2022

• "Even the lower-end estimate of 12% of people with 3 or more symptoms of long COVID implies that 9.6 million people in the US may have developed long COVID—roughly 10 times the number of COVID-19 deaths."
• "lost income would be more than $50 billion annually"
• "costs have been estimated for similar conditions. If treatment of long COVID is similar to treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome), these estimated costs could be about $9000 per person annually"
• "In an October 2020 analysis, we estimated9 the then-nascent COVID-19 pandemic might result in $2.6 trillion of cost as a result of long COVID."

No such attachment on this page

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Long-COVID Fatigue has Debilitating Impact, Can be Worse than some Cancers - Jan 2024

Trial Site News

• "The researchers found that many long Covid patients were seriously ill and, on average, had fatigue scores worse or similar to people with cancer-related anemia or severe kidney disease. Their health-related quality of life scores was also lower than those of people with advanced metastatic cancers, like stage IV lung cancer."
• "Overall, the team found that the impact of long Covid on the daily activities of patients was worse than that of stroke patients and was comparable to that of patients with Parkinson’s disease."
• "Over 90% of long Covid patients using the app were of working age (18-65) and 51% said they had been unable to work for at least one day in the previous month, with 20% unable to work at all.
  • Study: Impact of fatigue as the primary determinant of functional limitations among patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome: a cross-sectional observational study - June 2023 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069217 FREE PDF

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Creatine significantly reduced Long-COVID in a small 6 month trial - Sept 2023

MD Edge

• "The creatine group received 4 g creatine monohydrate per day"
• "Creatine supplements for other conditions, such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, have been tested for nearly 2 decades, she pointed out, with conflicting findings, something the authors acknowledge in the paper."
• "The authors acknowledge that they selected a sample of young to middle-aged adults experiencing moderate long COVID symptoms, and it’s unknown whether creatine is equally effective in other PVFS populations, such as elderly people, children, or patients with less or more severe disease."

 Download the study PDF from VitaminDWiki

• This is the first simple, successful, trial that I have seen for Long-COVID - founder of VitaminDWiki

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Long-COVID world-wide = 65 million - Jan 2023

Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations

Table of Contents

Founder of VitaminDWiki has low-level Long-COVID (first time in my life to have pollen allergy) and suspects that perhaps 1 billion people have low-level Long-COVID

Timelines (Clipped from PDF)
The onset and time course of symptoms differ across individuals and by symptom type. Neurological symptoms often have a delayed onset of weeks to months: among participants with cognitive symptoms, 43% reported a delayed onset of cognitive symptoms at least 1 month after COVID-19, with the delay associated with younger age 83. Several neurocognitive symptoms worsen over time and tend to persist longer, whereas gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms are more likely to resolve, 74,142. Additionally, pain injoints, bones, ears, neck and back are more common at 1 year than at 2 months, as is paresthesia, hair loss, blurry vision and swelling of the legs, hands and feet143. Parosmia has an average onset of 3 months after the initial infection144; unlike other neurocognitive symptoms, it often decreases over time143.
Few people with long COVID demonstrate full recovery, with one study finding that 85% of patients who had symptoms 2 months after the initial infection reported symptoms 1 year after symptom onset 143. Future prognosis is uncertain, although diagnoses of ME/CFS and dysautonomia are generally lifelong.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

This study was reported on by: Unraveling the mystery of long COVID Aug 2023
MDEdge which contains:

• "One of the notable findings in the JAMA study is that certain symptoms tend to occur in clusters. The biostatisticians and analysts who processed the data identified four subgroups of very common symptoms that appeared together in more than 80% of the long COVID patients:

1. loss of or change in smell and taste;
2. postexertional malaise and fatigue;
3. brain fog, postexertional malaise, and fatigue;
4. fatigue, postexertional malaise, dizziness, brain fog, gastrointestinal issues, and palpitations.

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Some Long-COVID problems still around after 2 years, especially if hospitalized - Aug 2023

Postacute sequelae of COVID-19 at 2 years
Nature Medicine (2023) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02521-2
Benjamin Bowe, Yan Xie & Ziyad Al-Aly

Disability Life Years per 1,000 (a sample)

Blue line = not hospitalized
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can lead to postacute sequelae in multiple organ systems, but evidence is mostly limited to the first year postinfection. We built a cohort of 138,818 individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 5,985,227 noninfected control group from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and followed them for 2 years to estimate the risks of death and 80 prespecified postacute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) according to care setting during the acute phase of infection. The increased risk of death was not significant beyond 6 months after infection among nonhospitalized but remained significantly elevated through the 2 years in hospitalized individuals.
Within the 80 prespecified sequelae, 69% and 35% of them became not significant at 2 years after infection among nonhospitalized and hospitalized individuals, respectively.
Cumulatively at 2 years,

• PASC contributed 80.4 (95% confidence interval (CI): 71.6–89.6) and 642.8 (95% CI: 596.9–689.3) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 1,000 persons among nonhospitalized and hospitalized individuals; 25.3% (18.9–31.0%) and 21.3% (18.2–24.5%) of the cumulative 2-year DALYs in nonhospitalized and hospitalized were from the second year.

In sum, while risks of many sequelae declined 2 years after infection, the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to PASC calls for attention to the care needs of people with long-term health effects due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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Long-COVID symptom chart- Sept 2022

Harvard Magazine

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Long-COVID could be a mass disabling event - May 2023

Insurance Business Magazine, Canada

• "She estimated that 10-20% of people with COVID-19 develop long COVID or post-COVID condition (PCC), with symptoms including high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat, chronic fatigue, brain fog, muscle pain, and blurred vision."
• “Some patients have not recovered two to three years after the initial infection and it is uncertain whether a proportion may ever fully recover,”

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Gut bacteria significantly reduced Long-COVID - RCT May 2023

Study in Hong Kong - Trial Site News

oral microencapsulated live bacteria (SIM01) : vs placebo for 6 months

• "... invented SIM01using big data and machine-learning technologies as part of the discovery process. Developed based on a microbiome formula, the team developed the experimental regimen containing
• Bifidobacteria strains,
• galactooligosaccharides,
• xylooligosaccharide
• and resistant dextrin

into an oral formula using microencapsulation, an advanced food processing technology using which any compound can be encapsulated into a specified material, making a tiny sphere of diameter ranging from 1 μm to several μm."

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Inflammation and immunity troubles top long-COVID suspect list (many citations) - Feb 4, 2023

MDEdge

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Long COVID Symptom Clusters - Fatigue, Cognitive and Respiratory - Dr. Been Video Jan 2023

YouTube 16 minutes

• Long COVID stemmed from mild cases of COVID-19 in most people, according to a new multicountry study
  • https://www.yahoo.com/news/long-covid-stemmed-mild-cases-132806892.html
• Estimated Global Proportions of Individuals With Persistent Fatigue, Cognitive, and Respiratory Symptom Clusters Following Symptomatic COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 | Neurology | JAMA | JAMA Network
  • https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2797443
• I-RECOVER: Post-Vaccine Treatment - FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
  • https://covid19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/i-recover/

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2nd COVID infection increases the risk of Long-COVID - 2022

2nd COVID infection increases the risk of Long-COVID - 2022

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Metformin might reduce the chance of Long-COVID after COVID by 40% - Jan 2023

Trying to Stop Long COVID Before It Even Starts Atlantic

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Long-COVID treatment trials include NAC, Guanfacine, and Lithium - Jan 2023

Insights on Long COVID: Neurological Symptoms, Mortality Rates and Treatment Options Trial Site News

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Long-COVID medical costs average $9,000 in the first 6 months (far more in lost wages) – Dec 2022

CNBC Dec 9
Millions suffer from long Covid — and it costs them $9,000 a year in healthcare expenses, on average

CNBC Dec 15

Two independent studies of long-COVID medical costs; $9,000 and $9,500

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Post-viral symptoms - some might be just in the brain - Dec 9, 2022

We Might Have Long Covid All Wrong - The New Republic
Some post-Covid symptoms may be produced by the brain. Does that make them any less real?
Long article - many viewpoints - covering many diseases in the past 100 years

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2nd COVID infection increased by 3X chance of going to the hospital in next 6 months (US veterans) - Nov 2022

Acute and post-acute sequelae associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection  PDF Veterans Administration
See also COVID US deaths: 116,000 fewer if everyone had been taking Vitamin D – Campbell transcript Nov 2022

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I’m a physician battling long COVID. I can assure you it’s real - Oct 28, 2022

MD Edge

• "One in 5. It almost seems unimaginable that this is the real number of people who are struggling with long COVID,..."
• "In my case, as an All-American Masters miler with several marathons under my belt, running 5 miles is a walk in the park. But now, I pay for those 5 miles for the rest of the day on the couch or with palpitations, dizziness, and fatigue the following day"
• ""This has made me realize that we cannot wait on an evidence-based approach – which can take decades to develop – while people are suffering."

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Increased use of medical services after test positive for COVID (in Ontario) - Oct 2022

ICES Study: Long COVID Leads to Considerable Health System Utilization in Ontario, Canada
Compared services utilized by those infected (268,521) to those not infected and had similar comorbidities, etc.
Jan 2020 to April 2021
Increased usage started about 2 months after COVID test-positive
CMAJ 2022 October 17;194:E1368-76. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.220728  PDF

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Long-COVID fought in some individuals by Lumbrokinase, Heparin, or Natto Serra - 2022

All PDFs by Eugene Heyden (RN)
Lumbrokinase !hs! Heparin   Natto-Serra

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Long COVID may set you back a decade in exercise gains - Oct 13, 2022

Washington Post     PDF

• Cites Use of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing to Evaluate Long COVID-19 Symptoms in Adults - A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis - JAMA 2022 https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36057 FREE PDF
• Cites: Outcomes among confirmed cases and a matched comparison group in the Long-COVID in Scotland study - Oct 2022 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33415-5 FREE PDF

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Personal experience - recovering from about 20 years of lost respiratory capacity - founder of VitaminDWiki

2020: I routinely biked up a 1-mile hill 3 times with 36 lbs attached to my bike
   My last vaccination was about 60 years ago
At no time did I have symptoms of COVID infection (Vitamin D level currently 180 ng) - perhaps had asymptomatic COVID
Note: Long-Haul COVID-19 occurred to 1 in 20 who had been asymptomatic (a study of 2 million with COVID-19) – June 2021
2021: I could not get up the 1-mile hill once with only 12 lbs attached to my bike
Strongly felt it was due to reduced inhalation capacity
Had a lung function test and was using Albuterol for about a month
My doctor wanted to prescribe an Albuterol alternative for the rest of my life. I refused.
I purchased and am using a lung exercise device
Sept 2022:__ Recovering - after 2 weeks I am now able to bike up the hill twice with 12 lbs
Have ceased using Albuterol
Looking forward to using more weight on my bike and/or going up the hill more times

Notes

• Might not have been Long-COVID, but instead a long-term adverse reaction to Sudafed (Pseudoephedrine)
• I have been using (Inhaled Vitamin D) before intense exercise since about 2017

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47% of Covid Patients had NOT Fully Recovered 6 months later - Oct 2022

Outcomes among confirmed cases and a matched comparison group in the Long-COVID in Scotland study
Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 5663 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33415-5
Claire E. Hastie, David J. Lowe, Andrew McAuley, Andrew J. Winter, Nicholas L. Mills, Corri Black, Janet T. Scott, Catherine A. O’Donnell, David N. Blane, Susan Browne, Tracy R. Ibbotson & Jill P. Pell

Many interesting tables in PDF

With increasing numbers infected by SARS-CoV-2, understanding long-COVID is essential to inform health and social care support. A Scottish population cohort of 33,281 laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections and 62,957 never-infected individuals were followed-up via 6, 12 and 18-month questionnaires and linkage to hospitalization and death records. Of the 31,486 symptomatic infections,1,856 (6%) had not recovered and 13,350 (42%) only partially. No recovery was associated with hospitalized infection, age, female sex, deprivation, respiratory disease, depression and multimorbidity. Previous symptomatic infection was associated with poorer quality of life, impairment across all daily activities and 24 persistent symptoms including

• breathlessness (OR 3.43, 95% CI 3.29
• chest pain (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.96–2.23), and
• confusion (OR 2.92, 95% CI 2.78–3.07).

Asymptomatic infection was not associated with adverse outcomes.
Vaccination was associated with a reduced risk of seven symptoms.
Here we describe the nature of long-COVID and the factors associated with it.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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Type 1 Diabetes 2.9 x more likely within 30 days of COVID infection - Oct 2022

SARS-CoV-2 & the Incidence of Diabetes 1 in Children Trial Site News
"cohort of 1,849,411 individuals aged younger than 35 years without diabetes, who were followed from March 1, 2020, to Nov. 22, 2021."
FREE PDF

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Strokes, heart attacks, sudden deaths: Does America understand the long-term risks of catching COVID? - Oct 2022

fortune Magazine

• "A large international study involving 136 research institutions in 32 countries has documented an increased incidence of ischemic strokes in young patients compared to pre-pandemic levels. More than a third were under the age of 55, and many lacked typical risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure."
• "In a study that included patients from the initial wave of the pandemic, scientists from the University of Florida found that survivors of severe COVID-19 had two-and-a-half times the risk of dying in the year following illness compared to people who were never infected"

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A wide spectrum of types, severity, and duration of Long-COVID problems - Oct 2022

The Atlantic Long-COVID problems include
organ damage,   profound physical debilitation,   poor mental health,   acute respiratory distress syndrome,   failing hearts,   collapsed lungs,   failed kidneys,   brain hemorrhages,   limbs cut off from blood flow,   heart disease,   stroke,   blood clot,   diabetes,   asthma,   and kidney failure,   shortness of breath,   chest pain,   protracted cough,   lingering loss of sense of smell,   severe fatigue,   “internal tremors,   ” gastrointestinal problems,   palpitations,   dizziness,   tiny clots to block tiny blood vessels all over the body,   Psychosocial strain and suffering,   severe depression,   crushing fatigue,   withering brain fog,   reversible cardiovascular deconditioning (can lead to a racing heart rate or faintness when standing)

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The consensus of 3 long-COVID studies - SARS-CoV-2 in tissue, Epstein virus makes it worse - Oct 2022

New Ideas Emerge Concerning How to Treat Long COVID Trial Site News
Consensus has emerged on three points:

1. In Long COVID, reservoirs of replicating SARS-CoV-2 virus remain in tissue beyond when it detected in blood or mucus.
2. IIn Long COVID, whole spike (in addition to S1) is often detected in blood samples, and the level does not seem to abate over time.
3. Activation of Epstein-Barre Virus (EBV) latent infection often exacerbates Long COVID.

4th indication that SARS-CoV-2 virus remains TrIals Site News Oct 7 , https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac722

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Long-COVID is US: 16 million, of which 4 million are unable to work - Oct 2022

Desperate long COVID patients turn to unproven alternative therapies MD Edge]
Probiotics and Omega-3 were mentioned as helpful
No discussion of D-Ribose, VDR activators, or vitamin D - see below

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42% increased chance of neuro problems with Long-COVID - Dr. Campbell Video Sept 26, 2022

YouTube
Long-term neurologic outcomes of COVID-19 (US Veterans) - Nature Medicine Sept 22, 2022 hs~PDF

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Long COVID Has Forced a Reckoning for One of Medicine’s Most Neglected Diseases (CFS) - Sept 2022

The Atlantic

• "ME/CFS involves a panoply of debilitating symptoms that affect many organ systems and that get worse with exertion. The Institute of Medicine estimates that it affects 836,000 to 2.5 million people in the U.S. alone, but is so misunderstood and stigmatized that about 90 percent of people who have it have never been diagnosed. "
• "Many cases of long COVID are effectively ME/CFS by another name. The exact number is hard to define, but past studies have shown that 5 to 27 percent of people infected by various pathogens, including Epstein-Barr virus and the original SARS, develop ME/CFS. Even if that proportion is 10 times lower for SARS-CoV-2, the number of Americans with ME/CFS would still have doubled in the past three years."
• "American ME/CFS patients may outnumber the population of 15 individual states, but ME/CFS specialists couldn’t fill a Major League Baseball roster." (26 doctors)
• "The hallmark symptom of ME/CFS—post-exertional malaise, or PEM—means even light physical or mental exertion can trigger major crashes that exacerbate every other symptom. Doctors who are unfamiliar with PEM, including many now running long-COVID clinics, can unwittingly hurt their patients by encouraging them to exercise."

See in VitaminDWiki
Overview Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue and vitamin D
  large doses of vitamin D reduced CFS/Fibromyalgia in > 10 studies
((Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and long-haul COVID-19)

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2 X higher rate of Long-COVID in the US (online survey) than in the UK - Sept 2022

US, Mass disabling event - Dr. Campbell video
US data comes from a long online survey (which takes 20 minutes to complete)
UK data - apparently not an online survey
More in Women than men in both US and UK

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One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood (brain fog) - Sept 12, 2022

The Atlantic

• "It’s also among the most misunderstood. It wasn’t even included in the list of possible COVID symptoms when the coronavirus pandemic first began. But 20 to 30 percent of patients report brain fog three months after their initial infection, as do 65 to 85 percent of the long-haulers who stay sick for much longer. "
• "At its core, Hellmuth said, it is almost always a disorder of “executive function”—the set of mental abilities that includes focusing attention, holding information in mind, and blocking out distractions."
• "That specific constellation of problems also befalls many people living with HIV, epileptics after seizures, cancer patients experiencing so-called chemo brain, and people with several complex chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia. It’s part of the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS—a condition that Davis and many other long-haulers now have." (many hyperlinks at the website)

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clouding_of_consciousness

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Perhaps brain fog could be treated by brain plasticity (opinion of the founder of VitaminDWiki)

If I had brain fog, I would use my computer program which has greatly improved brain plasticity for me for over a decade.
About 1/3 of BrainHQ exercises can be used for free. https://www.brainhq.com/
I would use it for at least 30 minutes a day and would anticipate noticeably reduced fog in less than a week.
   Google Search of "brain fog" "brain plasticity" gets 93,000 results Oct 2022
See related in VitaminDWiki

• Off topic: Brain Plasticity (best way to exercise your brain) – Interview Dec 2012
• Dementia risk reduced 29 percent by just 10 hours of computer brain plasticity training – RCT Dec 2017
• Brain scans noticed changes in most elderly after COVID infection – March 2022
• Off topic: Limbic System and Brain can both be retrained (plasticity) – March 2019

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A person having long-COVID for 400 days was operated on - had virus in his appendix and skin - Sept 2022

Dr. Been YouTube Video
Nasal and throat tests were negative, Virus set up camp elsewhere in the body
What % of people with long-COVID actually still have COVID?

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Long-COVID is a $3.5 trillion dollar problem that we know very little about - Sept 2022

'No man's land': Long COVID knocks young workers out of the job market ABC News Sept 5
"calculations factor in lost earnings, medical care and lower quality of life."

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US VA handbook of Long-COVID 33 pages - Aug 2022

 Download PNAS PDF

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For Some Patients, Long Covid Symptoms Mask Something Else - Aug 2022

The condition may be common, but issues like fever, shortness of breath, and fatigue can also be signs of other illnesses. Wired Magazine]

• "... long Covid can be easily confused with countless other conditions, including cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, autoimmune diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis, and cancer."
• "A July paper in Nature that [https://go.skimresources.com/?id=100099X1555751&isjs=1&jv=15.3.0-stackpath&sref=https://www.wired.com/story/for-some-patients-long-covid-symptoms-mask-something-else/&url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01909-w&xs=1&xtz=420&xuuid=82f3eb53052cffd3e31c2b1cc4cede38&xjsf=other_click<strong>auxclick 2|analyzed the medical records of over 2 million patients] in the UK found that, while 5.4 percent of those with a previous Covid infection had at least one long Covid symptom recorded in their charts, 4.5 percent without evidence of infection__ also had at least one symptom."

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15 other long-haul diseases: EBV, Polio, mono, 1918 influenza, Zika, Dengue - Aug 2022

It’s Not Just Long COVID The Atlantic

• Unexplained post-acute infection syndromes - May 2022  PDF

 

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LONG-COVID incidence: was I in 10, now 1 in 20 if an asymptomatic infection - June 2022

Long-Haul COVID-19 occurred to 1 in 20 who had been asymptomatic (a study of 2 million with COVID-19) – June 2021
Half as much Long-Haul with Omicron - June 2022
COVID Long-Haul prevalence increases with time: 50% at 4 months - meta June 2022

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LONG-COVID can last for many months - preventing some people from working - June 2022

Mass disabling events: Polio, WWII, HIV, and COVID Long-Haul - June 2022
Long-haul fatigue, etc. common after viral infections (SARS1,2, MERS, Swine, 1918,...) which contains

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COVID protects itself by changing the activation of > 100 genes - April 2021

COVID virus alters the activation of 100 vitamin D related genes in the lung – April 2021
COVID-19 severity associated with 3 vitamin D genes – Oct 2021

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COVID fails to revert the gene activation to normal when it is conquered (Epstein)

This is a good environment for the Epstein Virus to re-emerage
VitaminDWiki pages with "EPSTEIN in title
This list is automatically updated

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COVID, for example, protects itself by decreasing the activation of the Vitamin D Receptor

37 studies in both categories Virus and Vitamin D Receptor

This list is automatically updated

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Vitamin D and Vitamin D receptor activators should treat Long-COVID

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Long COVID’s grip will likely tighten as infections continue - Aug 2022

MDEdge

• "The HHS said in its Aug. 4 report that long COVID could keep 1 million people a day out of work, with a loss of $50 billion in annual pay."
• "A study from the University of Norway published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases found 53% of people tested had at least one symptom of thinking problems 13 months after infection with COVID-19."
• "Dr. Vos’s most recent study, which is being peer-reviewed and revised, found that most people with long COVID have symptoms similar to those seen in other autoimmune diseases."

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LONG-COVID has similar symptoms as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and long-haul COVID-19
Overview Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue and vitamin D

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Many Chronic Fatigue symptoms are treated by D-Ribose

D-Ribose is a natural sugar of the body that help the mitochondria in the cells produce ATP – needed for energy
The founder of VitaminDWiki has used D-Ribose for 20 years to replace the energy lost after intense exercise
He currently buys D-Ribose in bulk on Amazon
D-Ribose successfully treated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in a clinical trial in 2010  PDF
Other supplements, such as Vitamin D, Probiotics, and Omega-3 also reduce LONG-HAUL symptoms

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Long-COVID – Emergent Pandemic – Dec 2021

Long COVID a New Derivative in the Chaos of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Emergent Pandemic?
J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10(24), 5799; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10245799
PDF Table of Contents


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a multisystem illness caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which can manifest with a multitude of symptoms in the setting of end-organ damage, though it is predominantly respiratory. However, various symptoms may remain after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, and this condition is referred to as “Long COVID” (LC). Patients with LC may develop multi-organ symptom complex that remains 4–12 weeks after the acute phase of illness, with symptoms intermittently persisting over time. The main symptoms are fatigue, post-exertional malaise, cognitive dysfunction, and limitation of functional capacity. Pediatric patients developed the main symptoms of LC like those described in adults, although there may be variable presentations of LC in children. The underlying mechanisms of LC are not clearly known, although they may involve pathophysiological changes generated by virus persistence, immunological alterations secondary to virus–host interaction, tissue damage of inflammatory origin and hyperactivation of coagulation. Risk factors for developing LC would be female sex, more than five early symptoms, early dyspnea, previous psychiatric disorders, and alterations in immunological, inflammatory and coagulation parameters. There is currently no specific treatment for LC, but it could include pharmacological treatments to treat symptoms, supplements to restore nutritional, metabolic, and gut flora balance, and functional treatments for the most disabling symptoms. In summary, this study aims to show the scientific community the current knowledge of LC.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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