Part 1: What is Long Covid? Is it real? What does it feel like? Do you have it? And how do you cure it? With fatigue and brain fog, you don’t want to spend hours scrolling through conflicting opinions. So we’ve got you covered with the wonderful and highly-respected pulmonologist and intensive care physician and Long Covid expert, Dr. Wes Ely. So tuck in, breathe deep and let’s load you up with true facts about what Long Covid is, how it differs from other post-viral illnesses, variants and Long Covid risk, why people say it’s not real, advice for caregivers, changing opinions in medicine, similarities to HIV, treatment options, auto-immune issues, POTS, post-exertional malaise, the best way to prevent it. Next week: Part 2 with even more info.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

TRANSCRIPT

Part 2: Treatments. Studies. Histamines. Hormones. POTS. Clots. Hearts. Hope. Highly-respected Long Covid expert, Dr. Wes Ely, is back for all of your listener questions. We also check in with Physics Girl Diana Cowern on her years-long struggle with the disease. So start with Part 1, and then finish up with this episode addressing all your straggling questions, and great advice for patients and caregivers.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

TRANSCRIPT

Follow Dr. Ely on GoogleScholar and Bluesky

Buy Dr. Ely’s book, Every Deep-Drawn Breath, on Bookshop.org or Amazon

A donation went to the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, And Survivorship (CIBS) Center, Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness, and Open Medicine Foundation – Diana Cowern’s favorite cause to support clinical trials

Links to things we discussed:

Plasma exchange therapy for the post COVID-19 condition: a phase II, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial

ACTRIMS 2025: Ketogenic diet alters immune cell function

‘We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’: long Covid patients on the fear of being forgotten

Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS): recent updates

Strengthening Partnerships to Address Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions

"The Spoon Theory" from But You Don't Look Sick by Christine Miserandino