Post covid syndrome "long covid": Supporting treatment with hypnosis
For most people, the corona period is long gone and normal life has returned, but not for those with post covid. Or post covid syndrome. What is this syndrome? What symptoms do you have and what can you do about it? In this blog article, we take a closer look.
What is post-covid syndrome?
Post covid syndrome deals with symptoms that people may be left with after the acute phase of a covid infection and its consequences. It particularly affects older people. It is much less common in children and adolescents.
It is known to most people as "long covid."
If you have post-COVID, you have elevated inflammation levels caused by the virus, autoimmune symptoms , damage to the cells lining your blood vessels, and the virus just doesn’t seem to go away from your body.
Several organs are involved in this syndrome and symptoms vary from case to case.
Because it is a very new disease, there is still much uncertainty about it. What is clear, however, is that 10 to 20% of people who get a covid infection may have symptoms afterward that do not go away and thus have post-covid syndrome. This also occurs in people who initially had no symptoms at all from the corona infection.
How is post covid diagnosed?
One of the criteria by which lung covid is determined is that the symptoms are still there 12 weeks (3 months) after the infection and that they persist for at least 2 months.
It is especially important to rule out the possibility that the person has another condition, such as chronic fatigue syndrome.
How does post covid come about?
The covid virus binds to the ACE2 receptor found in numerous tissues of your body. For example:
- Lungs
- Kidneys
- Small intestine
- Cells for your sense of smell
- Heart
- Grow balls
- Muscles
- Pigmented nucleus of the middle part of the brain
If the virus stays put instead of being cleared by the immune system, it can cause problems.
You have a higher chance of getting long covid if:
- You are white/white/ethnic European.
- You are middle-aged.
- You are a woman.
- You suffered from asthma.
- You were suffering from mental health issues.
- You have diabetes.
- You have high blood pressure.
- You are overweight .
- You had more than 5 symptoms in the acute phase after infection with covid virus.
- You have relatively high levels of the virus in your body.
- You suffered from diarrhea due to the virus.
- You are not vaccinated against corona.
What does post covid feel like?
People with post covid, or long covid, often complain of fatigue, but that's not the only thing you can tell you have post covid syndrome by. In doing so, this symptom also fits a host of other health problems.
You can also experience all kinds of problems with your blood vessels, as it affects certain tissues; as a man, you may notice this through erectile dysfunction. In addition, you can suffer from muscle pain, arthritis at the joints, reduced functioning of your kidneys and inflammation of your veins.
Intestinal symptoms and complaints in your lungs, such as coughing and shortness of breath, can also be signs that you have post covid. These symptoms occur because the immune system becomes completely disrupted by the influence of the virus that just won't go away.
Also consider diarrhea, nausea, decreased appetite and abdominal pain.
Inflammation can still be present in the heart, nervous system and lungs 8 months after infection. As a result, you may suffer from chest pain, again tightness and fatigue. You may also have an oppressive feeling in your chest.
You can no longer smell good and your perception of taste is also lowered.
Also, your pancreas can be damaged to the point where you develop diabetes, this is a form similar to type I and not type II.
Mentally, you may experience drowsiness, “brain fog” (inability to think clearly), memory problems, concentration difficulties, a numb feeling (reduced emotional response), and, because it affects the nervous system, you may experience tremors.
Treatment post covid syndrome/lung covid
Treatment is mostly symptom-related and with fairly general advice, such as making sure to get enough minerals and vitamins to optimize physical functioning.
Because it is a new disorder, there is not 1 clear treatment yet[1].
Self-monitoring, meaning trying things and seeing how that works, is also important for treatment[2].
There is also supportive treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy, as symptoms can cause anxiety, depression, memory problems and insomnia.
Scientists also indicate that there should be a balance of what the doctor can do and self-care that the client can do something about, such as taking good care of yourself to begin with.
Eat healthy, keep exercising and relax regularly.
However, medications are available for specific organ-related problems, but more vitamin C is also recommended to combat fatigue, for example (source 2).
Hypnotherapy for self-care during lung covid
So despite the fatigue and other symptoms you may have, it is still important for people with lung covid to take good care of themselves, both physically and mentally.
Hypnotherapy can play a role here, as it can help you build self-confidence and reduce the impact of physical discomfort.
There are, in fact, other conditions where self-care is important. If you have diabetes, for example, it’s also important to adjust your lifestyle and monitor your blood sugar levels regularly. This can sometimes require a major behavioral change.
After all, you probably get advice from your doctor on how to take good care of yourself, but that implementation doesn't always go well for everyone. So it is with type II diabetes. A study that combined education with hypnotherapy found that it helped improve diabetes self-management. This made the overall treatment work better[3].
If it works well for diabetes self-care, why wouldn't it work for self-care for people with post-covid syndrome?
Another condition that can cause digestive issues is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Self-care is also important here to gain more control over the symptoms. A meta-analysis—a study that reviews multiple studies to draw a comprehensive conclusion—found that hypnotherapy, group hypnotherapy, and even self-hypnosis using an audio recording are effective in reducing IBS symptoms and improving self-care[4].
How does encouraging self-care with hypnosis work?
There may be all sorts of limiting beliefs that make it difficult for you to take good care of yourself. For example, you might think healthy food is too expensive. You might think it’s too expensive to go to the gym or hire a personal trainer.
This feeling that something is “too expensive” actually says something about your self-worth, or it may indicate how aware (or unaware) you are of certain prices. For example, you can also find plenty of healthy food at discount supermarkets.
Also, you may just not have certain habits and need help to pick up a habit quickly, so that you will be less affected by the symptoms of post covid as soon as possible.
When someone goes to a hypnotherapist with long covid, there will first be a preliminary conversation. In this conversation, you talk about the condition and its effect on your life and what feelings it gives you. By doing so, the client gives the hypnotherapist some guidance as to what may be addressed during therapy.
Limiting beliefs are often addressed using the regression technique. With this technique, you go back to the first moment in your life when you experienced a certain feeling that you still sometimes feel today. For example, if you avoid choosing fresh vegetables at the supermarket because they trigger a certain feeling in you.
In fact, by going to this first moment, you can fix the belief. Often beliefs are formed in childhood, but that doesn't always make for the most logical beliefs. This technique helps you use your adult knowledge to do something with that moment again for a moment, giving your unconscious belief an update.
Then it becomes a lot easier to put fresh vegetables in your shopping basket.
To develop new habits, a hypnotherapist can use visualizations. For example, you can visualize what your life is like when you take good care of yourself. How you then have more energy again and suffer less from physical complaints.
If you then also visualize the habits you need to do this, it ensures that you are more likely to demonstrate these behaviors in your daily life and thus better manage your post covid.
Learn Hypnosis
Do you want to help people with post-covid syndrome with the mental side of the disease and self-care? Then knowledge of hypnosis can be very helpful.
To become a hypnosis practitioner, it's important to take all of HIN's training courses, but if you just want to be able to do this to support your coaching or psychology practice? Then the other trainings are also good enough.
Training is available in class and live online.
Click here for our training courses.
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