Long Covid
What is Long Covid Syndrome?
What is Long Covid Syndrome?
Your body has a nervous system called the “sympathetic nervous system“.
This controls the body’s involuntary actions such as sweating and breathing. It also triggers our “fight or flight” response when the brain detects danger.
In response, your heart beats faster and your breathing increases to bring in more oxygen. The blood vessels increase in size to carry more blood and oxygen through the body. Your focus and tension (anxiety) increase to help you respond.
Unfortunately, sometimes the body gets “stuck” in this mode. This is found in those experiencing PTSD and persistent depression and anxiety. Medical professionals are now seeing this situation with long COVID patients.
We are finding that Stellate Ganglion Blocks can reboot the autonomic system, bringing the two opposing systems back into balance and helping the millions of people now suffering from Long COVID.
Acute illnesses like COVID-19 can cause this imbalance. We’ve known for years that certain viral illnesses can have long-lasting chronic symptoms afterwards, but we were never sure why. We are now starting to learn through some of the expansive research on Long COVID how that process works and how detrimental it can be to the autonomic nervous system. We are also finding that Stellate Ganglion Blocks can reboot the autonomic system, bringing the two opposing systems back into balance and helping the millions of people now suffering from Long COVID.
For the physicians who have used it for years, SGBs have proven to be an extremely effective treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), panic attacks, anxiety, stress-related disorders, insomnia, postpartum depression, and complex regional pain syndrome. Now, with these new studies, it’s showing promising signs of addressing many of the symptoms of Long COVID.
The World Health Organization attributes these problems to an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This impacts the release of hormones that control many body functions.
Symptoms of Long Covid
Individuals with long COVID may have side effect severity from mild to debilitating. These patients may experience:
Anxiety
Blood clots
Brain fog
Changes or lack of taste
Depression
Fatigue
Feeling faint due to a drop in blood pressure when moving from sitting to standing
Fevers
Gastrointestinal problems
Hair loss
Heart beating faster or slower than normal
Inability to sleep
Increased resting heart rate
Rashes
Shortness of breath
Trouble sleeping
Individuals who had prolonged hospitalization and were on ventilators may have emotional issues. This can include developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Extended time in the bed contributes to muscle weakness as well.
What Is a Stellate Ganglion Block?
The stellate ganglion is a bundle of nerves on the front of the spine where the neck and chest join. This almond-shaped group of nerves is part of the sympathetic nervous system.
It connects to the amygdala in the brain. This area controls the expression of emotions.
During a stellate ganglion block treatment for long COVID (SGB), ananesthetic is injected into this area. The goal is to decrease the stellate ganglion’s response and give time for the brain to reset.
This disruption resets the “fight or flight” mode that the body is stuck in. Thus, it’s proven beneficial in treating PTSD, depression, anxiety, and long COVID.
Treatment
How are Stellate Ganglion Blocks performed?
We cleanse the skin on your neck on either the right or left side depending on where we are performing the injection. Once sterile, we review the anatomy using ultrasound imaging including a Doppler scan of the blood supply to prepare for the injection. Once we isolate the upper cervical ganglion at C4 and the stellate ganglion at C6, we inject a small amount of anesthetic into the skin to numb the skin. We then slowly inject the anesthetic directly onto the stellate ganglion
using a small needle followed with a similar injection at C4.
What will I experience right after the injection?
A successful SGB causes a Horner’s syndrome – a group of temporary symptoms “on the side of the injection” that show that the procedure was done correctly. Horner’s syndrome can include drooping of the upper eyelid, constriction of the pupil, appearance of a sunken eye, lack of facial sweating, redness of the white part of the eye, stuffy nose and increased skin temperature on the side of the injection.
These symptoms will disappear shortly after the anesthesia wears off. Depending on the type of anesthesia used, it may be roughly 45 minutes to 4 hours before symptoms of a Horner’s response go away.
These symptoms are temporary and can include trouble swallowing, a lump in the throat, or hoarseness, and they go away just like Horner’s syndrome.
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