Acupuncture for Long Covid Calgary South (SW), Best, Near Me

Acupuncture for Long Covid

People with Long Covid (post Covid conditions) may experience many symptoms.They can have a wide
range of symptoms that can last more than four weeks or even months after infection. Sometimes the
symptoms can even go away or come back again.

General symptoms

Fatigue
Low grade fever

Respiratory and heart symptoms

Shortness of breath
Cough, usually dry cough
Chest pain or stuffiness
Heart palpitation: fast heartbeat

Neurological symptoms

Brain fog
Headache
Insomnia
Dizziness
Pins-and-needles feelings
Change in smell or taste
Depression or anxiety

Digestive symptoms

Diarrhea
Stomach pain

Other symptoms

Joint or muscle pain
Rash
Changes in menstrual cycles

How Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) view Long Covid

The pathology of Long covid in TCM is: Qi deficiency with Lingering of Heat and Toxin
Qi deficiency: during the fight between your immune system and the virus, your Qi (Vital
energy) becomes deficient or dysfunctional.

Lung Qi deficiency: chronic cough, shortness of breath
Spleen Qi deficiency: fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, diarrhea
Heart Qi deficiency: palpitation, insomnia
Kidney Qi deficiency: irregular menstruation
Liver Qi stagnation: headaches, depression, anxiety
Lingering of Heat/toxin: this refers to the toxins that virus releases when it is active.
- Heat and Toxins can deplete Yin energy and cause low grade fever
- Toxins can damage channels and collaterals and cause pain, tingling and changes in
  smell and taste
- Toxins can damage Shen (central nervous system) and cause brain fog, depression,
  anxiety and headaches

How can acupuncture help Long Covid

Acupuncture can promote blood circulation to the diseased area and help the body to recover
by itself.

Dr. Yan’s Brain Activating Acupuncture can bring more blood flow to the central nervous system. Some acupuncture points specially target the orbitofrantal cortex, where the
scientists think is the diseased area of Long Covid patients. With more blood flow to the brain, the damaged area can be recovered and help to relieve symptoms like brain fog,fatigue, insomnia, anxiety and depression.
Points selected in the problematic areas can help more blood flow moving there and repair damaged nerves, thus symptoms like loss of taste and smell and tingling or pain in the joints, can get relieved.
Some acupuncture points have the function of relieving heat and expelling toxins, so as to relieve symptoms like low grade fever and chronic cough.

Acupuncture is a very natural way to help the body to heal by itself. With the help of healthy diet and
exercises, patients usually feel different levels of improvement after 6 weekly treatments.

(Please note, the terms of Lung, Kidney, Spleen, Liver and Heart used here are not anatomical organs.
They are TCM terminology and refer to functional summary of internal organs.

Case studies

W.Z Female, 48 years old, first visit: 08/02/2022
Covid positive 2 months ago. Had insomnia since. Had been taking sleeping pills every day to fall asleep. She was going on a trip in two weeks, so we did biweekly treatment for 2 weeks. Sleep was improved by 60%. She used a couple of times of sleeping pills during her vacation. Had another two weekly treatments after she came back, and the sleep was much better, no need to use sleeping pills.

J.Y Male, 24 years old, first visit: 07/15/2022
Covid positive 7 months ago. Experiencing fatigue, brain fog and difficulty in concentration for around 6 months. He came to Calgary for a short stay. We did acupuncture once daily for 5 days. He felt better before he left Calgary. Had a phone follow up two weeks after, the patient reported 60% better.

G.C, Female, 80 years old, first visit: 07/26/2022
Covid positive 1 month ago. Had insomnia, brain fog, severe dry mouth making her wake up at night every day, dry cough and poor memory. We had weekly treatment for 6 weeks. The cough stopped
after 2 treatments. After the 3 rd treatment, brain fog and insomnia started to improve, dry mouth is 80% better. By the end of the 6 th , sleep is normal; brain fog is gone; dry mouth is 95% gone; memory went back to 70% of pre-covid level.

I.H Female 62 years old first visit: 03/16/2022
Covid positive 3 months ago. Loss of smell and taste since then. We did weekly treatment. By the 3 rd treatment, the smell and taste came back about 50%. At the last treatment: 04/27/2022, the smell and taste are back about 80 to 90% most of the time. Occasionally she feels different taste or something smells/tastes differently. Even though Long Covid is a very new disorder, with the guidance of TCM theories, we can still analyze and treat it with acupuncture. Dr. Yan’s master degree thesis is on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which shares lots of similarities with Long Covid. Her past expertise helped her to set up protocols to give relief to Calgary Long Covid patients.