For people grappling with long COVID, these evidence-based methods may help counter it

A PATIENT OF mine, once a marathon runner, now gets tired just walking around the block. She developed COVID-19 during the 2020 Christmas holiday and saw me during the summer of 2021. Previously, her primary care doctor had recommended a graded exercise program. But exercise exhausted her. After months of waiting, she finally had an appointment at our post-COVID-19 clinic at the University of Virginia.

She is hardly alone in her extended search for answers. Studies suggest that from 10 percent to 45 percent of COVID-19 survivors have at least one of the following symptoms three months after recovery: fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty sleeping, difficulty with daily activities or mental fogginess, otherwise known as “brain fog.”