A Multimodal Approach in the Treatment of Persistent Post-COVID

Abstract

Background: Many patients suffer from the consequences of a COVID infection. The so-called long or post-COVID syndrome affects the quality of life of patients and can lead to severe physical impairments. There are currently no suitable therapies for the treatment of long/post-COVID. Case presentation: A 49-year-old patient with post-COVID was admitted to a specialized clinic to carry out a multimodal therapy approach in the event of a therapy-resistant course. In addition to pronounced fatigue, sleep disorders, inner restlessness, and depression were seen in the patients’ high levels of suffering. A naturopathic complex therapy including systemic whole-body hyperthermia was carried out. Well-being and physical well-being were recorded using the visual analog scale, and depression was recorded using the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression (PHQ-D). There was close monitoring of the vital parameters, and an evaluation of the therapy result was performed. Discussion and Conclusion: The implementation of a naturopathic complex therapy including systemic whole-body hyperthermia was able to significantly improve the mental state, physical well-being, and mood of the patient. Since there are still no evidence-based therapy recommendations for the treatment of long/post-COVID, clinical research is called upon to intensively deal with this topic and to examine treatment concepts.

Keywords

• post-COVID
• Long-COVID
• COVID-19
• complementary medicine
• whole-body hyperthermia
• treatment