Management of Post COVID Sequelae with Homeopathy: A Case Report

Abstract: There is an emerging trend seen in the recovered Covid-19 patients. They suffer from one or more complaint and a “sense of dis –ease” even after recovering from Covid-19. Here is one such case of Post COVID Sequelae, who improved after using homeopathic treatment. The patient was admitted to a hospital following experiencing breathlessness after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Introduction: There are approx 24 million affected cases of COVID 19 till date and over 8 lakh deaths worldwide [Source: WHO]. Upto 80% patients recover without hospitalization and remaining others require hospitalization. The pandemic has raged the world for around 8 months now. There are a large number of patients recovering from the disease. The latest study – conducted in Italy and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) – shows an overwhelming 87.4% of patients recovered from COVID-19 reported persistence of at least one symptom, particularly fatigue and dyspnea, even after two months of being discharged from the hospital. There are many cases where patients come back to the hospital once discharged with some or the other complication.

Risk factors: Around 1 in every 5 people who are infected with Covid-19 develop difficulty in breathing and require hospital care. People who are aged over 60 years and people who have underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease or hypertension are among those at greater risk. While studies are still going on the effect of the virus, the initial findings suggest that cases which are severe are at greater risk of suffering from Post Covid Sequelae.

Symptoms: The whole range of symptoms covered by post covid sequelae are still being studied. Below is an enumeration of the post Covid-19 complications: anxiety, panic and fear, fatigue, fever, headache, lung fibrosis, myalgia, secondary infection, cardiovascular complications, kidney complications, neurological complications etc.

A commonly reported symptom of Covid-19 is fatigue and anecdotal evidence suggests that some people continue to experience severe levels of prolonged fatigue as they recover from this infection. This is not surprising, as post-infectious fatigue has been widely observed across a variety of other viral and non-viral infections. The Body Politic COVID-19 support group collected data on 640 COVID-19 patients experiencing symptoms for over two weeks. At the time of the survey, 91% of respondents reported not being recovered after 40 days of experiencing symptoms. Moreover, 70% of respondents reported developing new symptoms at different stages of the illness. Most alarming, many experienced systemic stigmas from a variety of sources that affected their ability to recover. Other anecdotal reports suggest that, of those who do not fully recover from COVID-19, many experiences lingering symptoms of fatigue, muscle ache, cardiac issues, and rashes. [1] Patients experience a strange sense of not being able to attend to regular chores due to constant fatigue.

Along with appropriate diet and regimen, the following homeopathic medicines may be given to the patient: Antimonium tartaricum, Arnica montana, Arsenic album, Bryonia Alba, Gelsemium, Nux vomica, Rhus toxicodendron, Veratrum album etc.

Present case: A 70-year-old male patient presented with

1. Weakness since 23 days
2. Pain in back and leg muscles since 23 days
3. Loss of weight since 23 days
4. Decreased appetite since 23 days

The patient stays overseas and consults Homeopathy point regularly for different ailments since last few years. He was admitted to hospital 23 days back following cough, fever, difficulty in breathing etc. He tested positive for Covid-19 in the hospital. He was discharged after 17 days when his condition got stable and he tested negative. His condition seem to worsen, especially weakness, within 5 days of discharge from hospital. He presented with the following symptoms after testing negative for Covid-19:-

1. Weakness: Wanted to lie down in bed, difficulty in moving about even in bed. No desire to even talk. Just wanted to lie down and sleep
2. Pain in Muscles: Complaint of pain in muscles of back and leg with weakness    < moving about
3. Loss of weight: Patient lost more than 5 kg weight after getting ill.
4. Decreased appetite: Decreased appetite and no specific desires

No Personal history of hypertension, Diabetes etc.

Thermal reaction: Chilly

Thirst: decreased thirst

Diagnosis: Post Covid-19 Sequelae

Treatment: The patient was given Gelsemium sempervirens 30, 3 times a day for 7 days.

The case was not repertorised.

Patient was absolutely fine in 7 days after starting homeopathic treatment.

Treatment Plan: Treatment plan was to give medicine on the basis of acute totality with emphasis on taking small frequent meals and adequate fluids.

Follow up: Patient was evaluated after 7 days. Since, he was better, he was asked to report after another 15 days, in case he feels any new symptom. He continues to be symptom free/no complaints, after stopping the medicine 2 months back.

Discussion: The prescription was based on acute totality and was a keynote prescription.

Conclusion: The present cases is of an overseas patient, where the cases of Covid-19 came much earlier than India. Now, the reporting of new cases of Post COVID Sequelae have started in India. The present case highlights the need for urgent homeopathic study in the area, so that more patient can get benefit from homeopathy treatment in this condition.

Dr Renu Pande, MD

Founding Member – HomeopathyPoint

If you are facing Post COVID complications, you can now consult us for Post COVID sequelae consultation and start your treatment using Homeopathy