Center of Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Psychedelic Medicine Expio

Opening Hours : Mon-Fri 10.00 - 19.00.

Tel. +380 7373 080 88

Treatment of psychological and neurological complications of Covid-19

covid_complications

Today, scientific evidence is accumulating more and more that after the disease caused by the Covid-19 virus, many people experience various complications and long-term consequences. According to the pooled data from several studies, approximately 53% of patients with mild illness who recovered from coronavirus disease complain of fatigue, 43% of shortness of breath, 27% of joint pain, 22% of chest pain. Another common consequence of a coronavirus infection is an increase in pressure that occurs due to a decrease in the elasticity of the vascular walls throughout the body.

In addition, coronavirus can lead to encephalopathy, strokes and other neurological complications, experts at Northwestern University in the United States warn. Neurological symptoms in one form or another occur in more than 80% of patients, and in young people in general more often than in the elderly.

These symptoms include a wide range of problems related to the nervous system. Most of them are not too severe and include muscle pain, headaches and dizziness, insomnia, loss of the ability to smell and taste food. According to the WHO, these symptoms persist for several weeks and even months after recovery.

Another relatively common complication was encephalopathy, a brain lesion that is fraught with confusion, problems with memory, concentration, and orientation in time and space. About 32% of hospitalized patients had this symptom. Cases of encephalopathy were associated with a higher risk of severe illness and death, regardless of the severity of other symptoms.

Previously, British experts have already reported on the danger of coronavirus for the brain. According to them, in 62% of patients with COVID-19 who received neurological and psychiatric complications, the blood supply system of the brain was damaged. At the same time, 31% were found to have confusion and prolonged unconsciousness. Other observations have shown that many patients with COVID-19 have temporary brain dysfunction or inflammation, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

This is due to the fact that the infection itself can damage the nerve fibers - the so-called polyneuropathy. Also, the central functions of the brain can be damaged due to the toxic effect of the infection, leading to toxic cerebral edema. And almost everyone is depressed.

Scholars from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge analyzed electronic health records of 69 million people in the US with 62,000 cases of COVID-19. Within three months of testing positive, one in five survivors was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or insomnia for the first time.

And if a patient was diagnosed with a mental disorder at least a year before COVID-19, their risk of getting covid is increased by 65% ​​compared to mentally healthy people. This indicates the need for timely treatment of neurosis, depression and anxiety as a prevention of Covid, since all these mental disorders contribute to a decrease in the activity of the immune system.

One of the likely consequences of coronavirus is premature aging of the body. According to Anchi Baranova, professor at the School of Systems Biology at George Mason University, “Even in people who had a very mild illness, 70% had pathology of some internal organs. Only the main pathology was not cardiac, but mainly fatty hepatosis (the liver suffers) and fatty degeneration of the pancreatic tissue. Typically, such diagnoses are made at the age of 60, and in the post-COVID group, already at 40.” According to Baranova’s observations, the coronavirus infection “takes away resources and brings old age closer.”

In addition, encephalopathy of any origin accelerates aging and contributes to the onset of dementia (age-related dementia). Scientists have already observed that the neurological complications of Covid create a high risk of developing dementia.

In the center "Expio", using our own developments and many years of experience of the neurological departments of the Research Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, on the basis of which we are based, an integrative multimodal brain rehabilitation program "Neurohelp" has been developed, designed to eliminate the consequences encephalopathycaused by Covid-19 and disease-related stress and depression. The program is also suitable for the prevention of coronovirus disease and for brain rehabilitation in case of mental disorders, chronic fatigue, burnout and other consequences of chronic stress.

It consists of a five-day block that includes:
– two sessions of psychotherapy to relieve stress,
– 5 sessions of transcranial electrical stimulation to restore the correct electrical activity of the brain,
– one session of ketamine therapy to eliminate deep mental stress and activate neurogenesis in the hippocampus,
- prescription of neurometabolic and neuroprotective drugs in the form of droppers (two procedures) and tablets.

The course is recommended for 2 - 3 weekly blocks, depending on the severity of the condition.

The cost of one block is 9000 UAH.

If you have the above symptoms but have not yet been tested, we offer a comprehensive neurological examination that includes:

  • electroencephalography is a non-invasive, painless study of the bioelectrical activity of the brain in order to diagnose various diseases. To do this, electrodes are placed on the head using a special gel, which record brain waves. The examination lasts from 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the specifics of the problem.
  • the study of evoked potentials of the brain - allows you to determine the parts of the nervous system in which the passage of impulses from the sense organs to the brain and vice versa is inhibited, to study the work of the autonomic nervous system. The method is an invaluable tool for the early detection and prognosis of neurological disorders in various diseases (stroke, brain tumors, consequences of traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, visual impairment, hearing impairment, motor coordination, hypertension, headaches, in the case of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases). and other disorders of brain activity.The study takes from 30 to 60 minutes.
  • neuropsychological diagnostics - examines all mental processes - memory, attention, thinking and imagination in order to recognize their possible changes in neurological diseases. Based on the results of the examination, it is possible to determine the mental state and quality of life of the patient. On average, the study takes an hour or more.

The cost of a comprehensive examination is 1500 UAH. It is also recommended to pre-make an MRI of the brain in any place convenient for you (there is also an MRI machine at the Institute of Gerontology).

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