THE VILLAGES, Fla. — It’s a post-pandemic issue that will effect millions of people.
The US Government Accountability Office estimates anywhere from 7.7 to 23 million people will have long COVID, which is returning or ongoing health problems after having COVID-19.
In July, researchers from Tel Aviv University released a study saying they found a successful treatment to heal the brain from damage from long COVID.
The only place it is available right now in the US is Florida at Aviv Clinics in The Villages.
Dr. Mohammed Elamir, lead clinical physician, says they found the leading area of damage from COVID-19 was in the brain, specifically the frontal lobe.
That area is responsible for cognitive skills, which is often why people with long COVID have brain fog, cognitive issues, anxiety and other symptoms.
Their study found patients' brains healed after given a certain type of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week over 8 weeks.
It’s something they say is needed after seeing the brain inflammation levels in long COVID patients were found to be thousands of times higher than patients of trauma.
The therapy, in layman's terms, administers the oxygen through a mask in a pressurized environment giving the patient 17 times the oxygen levels than in a normal environment.
“We know we can heal the brain especially when it comes to COVID and long COVID," Elamir said. "We’ve done it time and time again and hopefully more physicians will learn about this and prescribe it in this specific way.”
Elamir saw patients die from COVID-19 in the hospital in 2020 before he joined this research. He says the levels of inflammation the virus caused in the brain was thousands of times higher than trauma patients from crashes.
“One thing that was clear to myself and all my colleagues while we were in the hospital treating was the pandemic was here but the bigger pandemic was going to be after the effects," Elamir said. "Basically all the people that quote on quote survived, are going to have long lasting damage.”
The study involved 73 "post-COVID-19 patients with ongoing symptoms for at least 3 months after confirmed infection", according to the published study. Read it for yourself here.
Elamir says you can get a free consultation to see if the treatment is right for you. Reach out to Aviv Clinics for more information.