Patient K.P.

Condition Treated: Long-Covid Symptoms and Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction:
extreme fatigue, brain fog/memory issues, and shortness of breath.

The patient is a 75-year-old female who has had three separate cases of COVID-19. According to her, the first time she had COVID-19 was in 2020, and she experienced fatigue for about 4 weeks before feeling like she had recovered. In January 2021, she had a mild case of COVID-19 but never fully recovered from the fatigue. She had a full cardiac and pulmonary workup at the time and was diagnosed with Long Covid. In July 2022, she had her third case of Covid, and the fatigue became much worse. She also reports moderate brain fog and memory issues since her last case of Covid. Additionally, she had a more challenging time breathing than before and now requires supplemental oxygen. The patient had a history of asthma and sleep apnea and had been using a CPAP machine since 2014. 

Patient’s other more long-standing complaints were tight and sore neck and shoulder muscles. She also reported tightly clenched teeth and grinding her teeth at night. And she reported long standing moderate to severe digestive issues.

Treatment: This patient underwent 8 weeks of Photobiomodulation at our office, applied to her cervical spine, cervical vagus nerve branches as well as transcranially utilizing the Bioflex Low Intensity Laser Therapy System. Treatment was initially performed at 3x/week for the first 6 weeks and then reduced to 2x/week the final two weeks.

Outcomes: After 8 weeks of treatment, the patient reported that she felt “back to normal” with her energy levels and was very satisfied with the results. She also reported that her forgetfulness and brain fog had almost entirely disappeared and had gone from being a significant problem (rated at 8/10) to a minimal one (rated at 1/10). Furthermore, her shortness of breath had improved dramatically from being a severe issue (rated at 9/10) to a minor one (rated at 1/10). She noted that she feels better in this regard than she did even before contracting Covid-19. Her oxygen saturation levels also stabilized from SaO2 readings in the low to mid-70s to back into the 90s. 

She also reported a marked improvement with her teeth clenching, cold hands and feet, her
digestion, and her general anxiety.

And her neck and shoulder pain and tension had reduced from an 8/10 to a 4/10.

The patient elected to stop treatment at 8 weeks as her primary goals for treatment had been
achieved at that point. It is felt that had she continued the treatment for another month that
more of her chronic autonomic nervous system issues might have become more resolved (based on our other results). But a very good outcome was still obtained, especially with her Long Covid symptoms.

Conclusion: Photobiomodulation (Low Intensity Light/Laser Therapy) can be a good and safe course of treatment to help resolve many of the Long Covid symptoms, as research is showing that Long Covid may be a result of damage to the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) as well as to the endocrine system caused by the Covid-19 virus. By treating the ANS and the endocrine system with LILT, we are helping restore homeostasis to both systems and therefore reduce or eliminating the many symptoms that people experience with ANS dysfunction.

LILT helps improve mitochondrial health and function and increases DNA protein synthesis,
allowing the body to create new healthy cells and increases the formation of new neural
networks or neurogenesis. It also boosts the microglial cells in the brain and the macrophages of the white blood cells to enable increased removal of waste products and debris or scar tissue. It helps improve overall cellular health and functioning and reduces inflammation.

Autonomic Nervous System Questionnaire Results: K.P.

Dx: Long-Covid symptoms and other long standing ANS dysfunction

Initial Questionnaire (12/1/22)      Q-2 (1/10/23)     Q-3 (1/26/23)
8                                                                4                      4                   Sore Neck Muscles
8                                                                5                      2                   Tightly clenched teeth
9                                                                5                      5                   Grinding teeth at night
6                                                                0                      1                   Cold hands and feet
4                                                                0                      0                   Unwarranted sweating
4                                                                0                      0                   Dizziness
10                                                             10                     3                   Lack of energy (Covid)
4                                                                0                      0                   General anxiety
8                                                                3                      1                   Forgetfulness (Covid)
9                                                                4                      1                   Shortness of breath (asthma & altitude related, exacerbated by Covid)
7                                                                4                      4                   Poor digestion
3                                                                0                      0                   Excessive eating