Long COVID. Start with your capacity for activity.

Long COVID is more than ordinary tiredness

Symptoms and their course vary from person to person. You may experience limitations with work, thinking, social activities or movement. This does not mean fitness is the only explanation. Discuss persistent symptoms after COVID with your GP; other causes and associated problems also deserve attention.

Worsening after activity: PEM or PESE

In post-exertional malaise or symptom exacerbation, symptoms worsen after exertion. This can also follow mental or social activity and only become noticeable later. A good moment during an appointment therefore does not tell the whole story. The WHO recommends attention to energy management, including pacing, for PESE. A fixed schedule requiring you to keep doing more is then not the starting point.

What do we discuss before a possible programme?

We consider your limits, existing support and what is achievable without the conversation or treatment itself becoming too demanding.

• Which activities trigger symptoms, and how long afterwards?
• How do good and bad days differ?
• What advice have you received from your GP or other professionals?
• What would be a small, valuable change in your everyday life?

IHHT, NESA or red light for long COVID?

Complementary applications are being studied, but that does not prove our treatments cure long COVID. A session at rest is not automatically without exertion. An intensive combination package or exercise metabolic test is therefore not a standard recommendation. Read the IHHT explanation and research limitations and first discuss whether an application could be appropriate and worthwhile at all.

Also monitor what happens after the appointment

In any programme, we discuss not only your experience during the session but also the days afterwards. Deterioration is a reason to reconsider whether adjustment or stopping is necessary. You do not need to ignore symptoms to follow a schedule. In the long COVID knowledge library you can read more about pacing, preparation and evaluation.