There are approx 24 million affected cases of COVID 19 till date and over 8 lakh deaths worldwide [Source: WHO]. Up to 80 % of 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. But there is an emerging trend seen in the recovered patients, that they suffer from one or more complaint and a “sense of dis –ease” even after recovering from COVID 19. There is no official data on the number of people affected by post COVID complications and studies in this area have just started. A 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.

Homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine, where range of medicines are available to treat these complications and sense of disease. Homeopathy takes care of all the aspects of the disease and the affected person. Below is an enumeration of the post COVID 19 complications and some of the homeopathic medicines useful in such cases.

Anxiety, panic and fear: After recovery, a large number of recovered patients enquire about the chances of re-infection. They fear the trauma of going into isolation and hospital admission. They also fear for the family members getting infected from them, especially children and elderly. Many confess to getting anxious while going out for doing important chores or joining the work again.

Homeopath tries to understand the whole concern of the patient and depending on his specific concerns and fears, the patient may be given the following medicines: Aconitum napellus , Arsenic album, Chamomilla, Natrum muriaticum etc.

Fatigue: Many patients complain of fatigue after getting back to home or testing negative after treatment. Patients experience a strange sense of not being able to attend to regular chores due to constant fatigue.

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 experience lingering symptoms of fatigue, muscle ache, cardiac issues, and rashes [2].

Along with appropriate diet and regimen, the following homeopathic medicines may be given to the patient: Antimonium tartaricum, Arsenic album, Nux vomica, Veratrum album etc.

Headache: Patients complaint of headache and many a time accompanied by fatigue and anxiety.

The following medicines may be given to the patient – Antimonium Crud, Belladonna, Natrum muriaticum, Silicea, Thuja occidentalis, Veratrum album etc

Lung fibrosis: Pulmonary fibrosis is a lung disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred. In corona patients, having lung involvement, it causes lung scarring. This thickened, stiff tissue makes it more difficult for the lungs to work properly. As pulmonary fibrosis worsens, the patient becomes progressively short of breath.

Although the virus is eradicated in patients who have recovered from COVID-19, the removal of the cause of lung damage does not, in itself, preclude the development of progressive, fibrotic irreversible interstitial lung disease. Furthermore, even a relatively small degree of residual but non-progressive fibrosis could result in considerable morbidity and mortality in an older population of patients who had COVID-19, many of whom will have pre-existing pulmonary conditions. [3]

In cases of lung damage after infections and breathlessness, there are many effective remedies like Kali carbonicum, Lycopodium clavatum, Mezereum, Stannum metallicum etc.

Secondary Infection: Compounded by weakness and decreased immunity, after recovering from COVID infection, patients are susceptible to secondary infections.

At least one in seven COVID-19 patients was found to be additionally infected with a secondary bacterial infection with 50% of the fatalities during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic caused by untreated or untreatable secondary bacterial infections, in most cases in the lung [4]

Homeopathic medicines like Belladonna, Hepar sulpur, Mercurius solubilis, Pyrogenum, Silicea etc help in treating acute and chronic secondary infection.

Cardiovascular complications: Not only Corona virus affects the heart and blood vessel system, while the patient is affected with it, there is also palpation, slow heart rate, arrhythmia, stroke while the patient is actually suffering from corona. There are increased cases suggesting that patients may have long term effects in heart even in case of younger patients. There are more signs that COVID-19 may cause damage to the heart that lasts beyond the acute phase, based on an imaging study conducted at a single center in Germany. Despite the fact that 67% of the patients who volunteered for the study never required hospitalization, 78% had abnormal cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) findings 2 to 3 months after testing positive for the virus.

Although the lung is the primary affected organ, the virus is neurovirulent and neuroinvasive with a growing recognition of neurological manifestations. The reported incidence of stroke in COVID-19 hospitalized patients is 0.9–2%, with an increased incidence in the young. More important than the increased incidence, is the poor outcome and high mortality rate, even with optimal treatment[5]

CMR manifestation included myocardial edema, fibrosis, and impaired right ventricle function. Attention should be paid to the possible myocardial involvement in patients recovered from COVID-19 with cardiac symptoms. [6]

Homeopathic medicines like Adonis vernalis, Digitalis purpurea, Naja tripudiens, Spigelia, Tabacum etc help in various heart related complaints.

Kidney complications: Kidney involvement seems to be frequent in patients with COVID-19. Proteinuria (and/or blood in urine) often occurs at the beginning or during the infection, a few patients even develop acute kidney injury (AKI). But given the involvement of kidneys during corona virus infection, we should also monitor those patients who did not develop AKI, but proteinuria and/or hematuria. Otherwise there is a risk that the corona epidemic will be followed by an epidemic of chronic and end-stage kidney disease.

It was report a rapidly deteriorating estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in deaths during ICU stay with kidney injury complications reported in 65% of deaths [7]

Homeopathic medicines Calcarea arsenicosa, Sparteinum, Terebinth, Veratrum album etc are useful in kidney diseases.

Neurological complications: Some patients may also show neurologic signs and symptoms ranging from headache, nausea, vomiting, and confusion to anosmia, ageusia, encephalitis and stroke. Coronaviruses are known pathogens with neuroinvasive potential. [8]

Patients in some countries have been found to suffer from Guillian barre syndrome.

Homeopathic medicines like Apis mellifica, Belladonna, Helleborus niger, Stramonium etc useful for inflammation of brain.

Pregnancy and Newborn: Initially COVID-19 was thought to be not affecting pregnancy and its outcome. But newer reports suggest that it increases preterm delivery and maternal death, especially in pregnant women having diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. There are reports of still births and neonatal deaths. There is evidence of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in women with COVID-19.

Homeopathic medicines like Caulophyllum, Chamomilla, Sepia are useful maintaining pregnancy for longer period of time and easy labour thereafter.

There are reports of involvement of other systems like stomach, liver, eyes memory etc. New understanding of the disease in the context of long term post recovery effects are still being reported. Apart from complications during the active phase of infection, long-term sequelae of the disease remain a possibility despite complete viral clearance. Previous epidemics from similar viruses can be informative in providing some clues for the long-term complications of COVID-19. [9]

Homeopathic medicines are helpful in increasing the immunity [10] , treatment from start of symptoms to treatment of diagnosed cases [11] and post recovery effects. A Homeopath studies the effects of disease in the patient and selects medicines according to that, there are chances of long term relief and greater patient satisfaction.

These enumerations are for creating awareness for the general population. We strongly advise to consult a qualified medical practitioner/Homeopath for covid support and treatment.

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.

Bibliography

Homeopathy, an effective alternative for Post-COVID Sequelae

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