Help with post-covid and post-vaccination syndrome
Treatments for long-term effects following a Covid-19 infection or Covid vaccinations do not seem to work for all patients. The internist and gastroenterologist Harald Matthes speaks in a podcast about experiences with helpful treatments from Anthroposophic Medicine.
People suffering from the long-term effects of a Covid-19 infection or of vaccinations against Covid are often affected in two ways: firstly, their symptoms can be so severe that they are prevented from leading a normal life, and secondly, they often need to search for a long time before they find help. “We physicians first had to learn to diagnose these conditions,” says Harald Matthes, who is head of the [anthroposophic] Havelhöhe community hospital and endowed professor at the Charité, both in Berlin, Germany. Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic four years ago Matthes, an expert in Anthroposophic Medicine and integrative medical health research, has been supporting people who suffer from long Covid/post-covid or post-vaccination syndrome.
He says that sufferers often feel helpless. In Germany, costs for the complex diagnosis of specific autoantibodies and spike proteins that indicate long-term ‘post Covid’ effects is not covered by health insurers. In addition, conventional therapies have so far not helped against the multilayered symptoms. In collaboration with medical colleagues in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Hungary, Harald Matthes has compiled experiences with treatments from Anthroposophic Medicine and made them available on the specialist online portal Anthromedics. As well as medicines that alleviate individual symptoms and regulate and strengthen weakened organ systems, he mentions specific external applications such as compresses or baths and anthroposophic body and movement therapies. In a new, accessible podcast from the Medical Section at the Goetheanum entitled ‘Human Being and Health’, he also describes his view of the patients’ situation, the state of research into post-Covid and post-vaccination syndrome and the importance of integrative medical therapies.
English by Margot M. Saar
More Interview (German) ‚‘What helps with post-Covid and post-vaccination syndrome?’ in the podcast series ‘Mensch und Gesundheit’ (ca 45 minutes)
More Anthroposophic Medicine: treatment experiences (German, English)
Generic image Exhaustion (Photo: Kinga Howard/Unsplash)