20/09/2021
Mitochondrial based therapies are yielding successful outcomes for those suffering persistent symptoms, Post Covid 19.
In vaccine-hesitant South Africa, mistrust is a major factor in the medical treatment of COVID-19.
The mental impact of weeks in hospital fighting for your life as you witness death can make returning there feel insurmountable.
In any case, COVID-19 long-haulers (the narrative told time and again has developed its own eerie vocabulary and in some literature, this is referred to as COVID Syndrome) have milder, yet persistent pain, fatigue and other symptoms.
Emerging evidence reveals a growing number of people who contract COVID-19 cannot shake off the effects of the virus months after initially falling ill. Symptoms wax and wane. These may include breathlessness, chronic fatigue, “brain fog”, anxiety and stress in overlapping, inconsistent clusters. No system in the body is exempt.
Dave Jenkins, 58, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early June. He was hospitalised on day 12 and spent the next two weeks in hospital. After being discharged, he found himself on oxygen at home for another six weeks.
Bronwyn Griffith, 43, experienced the virus in December 2020. Being asthmatic she considered herself lucky to have not required hospitalisation. Instead, she nebulised at home, three times a day. Her symptoms were excessive fatigue, bad cough, shortness of breath and chest pain which resulted in sleepless nights and a cycle of exhaustion. She recalls taking copious amounts of cortisone.
The stories, each their own, echo the other. Often, when we think COVID-19 should be done with us, it comes back for more.
However, a fighting spirit and what may be considered unconventional therapy is what helped Jenkins and Griffith.
It was also what helped young La Lucia swimmer Jemma Tully, recover.
Tully, 19, is a seasoned swimmer.
She said when she contracted COVID-19, it fuelled her asthma. The agony lasted seven weeks and just when she thought she would never breathe easy again, her father took her in for laser.
To carry a pump wherever you go and then be told a few minutes under light would make you better is a mental shift, but with nothing to lose the Durban North athlete, submitted herself to the short daily sessions.
She said after just five sessions, her lungs were back to normal.
In fact, she went swimming straight after sessions as she got a kick out of how much better her performance in the pool was.
Linda Rethman at Bioflex Laser Therapy SA said the specific frequency of Red and Near Infra light acted on the DNA. In particular, it re-energised the mitochondrial cells.
Mitochondrial medicine is a massive field similar to the biologically targeted therapies we know best in relation to cancer and autoimmune diseases.
DNA therapy is treatment on a cellular level, explains Specialist Neurologist Dr. Ashleigh Bhanjan.
All of the tissue in your body is made up of cells. There are many different cell types and each type has a specific function.
Genes tell cells how to make proteins that keep the cell working. If the genes change, these proteins change, too. In cancer patients, we know cells are dividing abnormally or live too long. When this happens, the cells grow out of control and form a tumour.
Targeted cancer therapies are drugs or other substances that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecular targets that are involved in the growth, progression, and spread of cancer. Laser therapy is far removed but similar. For one, none of the side effects apply.
Another aspect of this therapy for your DNA is that it treats the brain, an organ we've never really, well, considered an organ.
You have a heart condition and you get heart surgery. You have a mental illness in South Africa and you may never get diagnosed, let alone be treated for it. However, patients who have Post COVID-19 Syndrome may have an ongoing level of inflammation in the brain, decreased blood flow and/or abnormalities of the autonomic nervous system or Mitochondrial Dysfunction, which is a difficulty making enough energy molecules to satisfy the needs of the brain and body.
Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT) or Low-Intensity Laser Therapy (LILT) has been shown to be effective.
It targets the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, particularly neuroinflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. It makes this form of therapy uniquely practical, and effective, without any potential side effects.
We already have much research in the realms of neuroinflammation concerning neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, and similarly, have success with patients presenting with a variety of symptoms in Post COVID Syndrome, particularly memory loss, brain fog, headache and sleep disturbances. Patients usually respond positively within the first 5 sessions, in this regard, said Dr Bhanjan.
In the absence of any proven pharmacological therapy for the Post COVID syndrome, anyone who presents with these symptoms should consider Photobiomodulation therapy, earlier rather than later.
In the dark moment in history, we find ourselves in, this safe, non-invasive therapy could literally be, light at the end of the tunnel.
