Have you recovered from COVID-19 but find that you are experiencing COVID symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, headaches, memory problems, malaise and/or lethargy? You may be a COVID long hauler! “Wait,” you say, “I only had a mild to moderate case of COVID and I recovered. How can I be a long hauler?”

While mild to moderate COVID-19 lasts about two weeks for most people, there are some individuals who experience lingering symptoms and health problems even after they have recovered from an acute COVID-19 infection. COVID long haulers are individuals who experience lingering COVID symptoms. MIT Technology Review started a study in August of 2020 with “Slack groups and social media are connecting people who’ve never fully recovered from coronavirus to collect data on their condition.” View the CBS News story and video on this MIT Technology Review study here. 

While certain risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, obesity, and other conditions may make a person more likely to experience a more severe case of COVID, the link between long-term problems and risk factors remains unclear. Some individuals who experienced a mild case of COVID have also become COVID long haulers. Research suggests that capillary damage and inflammation may contribute to COVID long-hauler symptoms due to interference with blood and tissue oxygenation as well as brain function. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society published a report this year about how COVID-19 related capillary changes affect blood oxygenation. 

The Oxford Center’s Treatment for COVID Symptoms

The Oxford Center in Brighton, Michigan, a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center has had remarkable success in treating the symptoms from COVID-19 Long Hauler Syndrome. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a clinical treatment where the patient breathes 100% pure oxygen while enclosed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at a pressure greater than one atmosphere. HBOT has been shown to reduce inflammation, saturate plasma with oxygen, and increase stem cell circulation up to 800% which enhances the body’s ability to heal itself. HBOT treatment is a low-risk way to increase blood oxygen levels by non-invasively increasing the atmospheric pressure of oxygen external to the patient.  

Used regularly as a treatment of a variety of conditions such as carbon monoxide poisoning, brain injury or trauma, Lime Disease, Parkinson’s, and non-healing wounds. HBOT is being researched nationally and worldwide as a promising treatment option for the hypoxia and other long-term damage associated with COVID-19. The Oxford Center has had several patients treat through Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy that have experienced major improvements in their daily lives. Some patients saw improvements in their taste, smell, reduction in brain fog, decrease in headaches, and more within just a few treatments of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.