In a new study from the University of California, Irvine, researchers found antihistamines may provide relief for the millions of people suffering from the painful, debilitating symptoms of long COVID-19 that impair daily functioning.
The effects of COVID-19 on individuals range from mild symptoms to several weeks of illness to ailments including brain fog, joint pain, exercise intolerance, and fatigue that last for months after the initial infection.
The clinical term for these lingering long COVID-19 effects is post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, for which there is no standard treatment.
In the study, the team reported two healthy, active middle-aged women with ‘long COVID’ who found, by chance, that antihistamines led to greatly enhanced daily function, now sustained for almost a year.
Both took over-the-counter antihistamines to treat other conditions—the first one had triggered her dairy allergy by eating cheese, and the other had run out of the allergy medication she usually took—and experienced improved cognition and much less fatigue the next morning.
The first woman’s long COVID-19 symptoms also included exercise intolerance, chest pain, headaches, a rash, and bruising, while the second coped with joint and abdominal pain, as well as the rashes and lesions known as “COVID toes.”
In the first case, the woman didn’t take another antihistamine for 72 hours; when her symptoms reappeared, she took the medication and again found relief.
With guidance from her primary health care provider, who prescribed her an antihistamine, she began a daily dosage that has strongly decreased her other long COVID-19 symptoms.
She reported that she has regained 90% of her pre-COVID-19 daily function.
In the second case, the woman took a different over-the-counter antihistamine as a substitute for what she had taken for years to manage her seasonal allergies.
After noting that her long COVID-19 fatigue and cognition had improved, she continued to take it daily along with other allergy medicine.
Her course of treatment, which now includes both over-the-counter medications, has also strongly reduced her additional long COVID-19 symptoms. She reported that she has regained 95% of her pre-illness functioning.
Previous studies have similarly shown the potential benefit of antihistamines as a treatment for long COVID
The team says if patients wish to try OTC antihistamines, I urge them to do so under medical supervision.
And because providers may not know about new potential treatments, they encourage patients to be active in their care and consider taking research and case reports to appointments with providers so they can help create a regimen that will work.
If you care about COVID, please read studies that more than one-third of COVID-19 patients suffer from ‘long-COVID’, and these existing drugs can kill the COVID-19 virus.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about new drug combo that could effectively treat COVID-19 infection, and results showing a new way to prevent many COVID-19 variants.
The study is published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners and was conducted by Melissa Pinto et al.
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