Preventing Long COVID in Those With CFS/FMS

Low levels of vitamin D in patients discharged from the hospital were associated with a higher risk of contracting Long COVID (see "Could Vitamin D Supplementation Help in Long COVID?"). While this isn't proof that vitamin D helps protect against Long COVID, it does suggest that it may help, and supplementing with vitamin D each day is a good idea anyway (I recommend taking a multivitamin that includes 600-1,000 units of vitamin D daily).

There are a number of things you can do to help lower your risk of developing Long COVID. Unfortunately many of these don't have formal studies showing definitively that they work — the reason for that being that natural therapies have much less profit opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry, and so studies involving natural therapies are unlikely to be funded.

CFS and fibromyalgia can flare during a bout of COVID. Because of that, I recommend those with CFS/FMS who are infected with COVID consider the below as measures to help optimize their immunity:

1. Take a good multivitamin such as Clinical Essentials™ to supply most key nutrients.
2. Take zinc (20 mg) and bioflavonoids (500-1,000 mg, e.g. a quercitin supplement) daily to support immunity and blood vessel integrity.
3. Data from observational studies have suggested that patients who were receiving metformin as treatment for diabetes at the time of their COVID diagnosis had a lower risk of progressing to severe COVID. Other studies have suggested as much as a 50% reduced risk of Long COVID if metformin is taken within the first 4 days of illness (500 mg 2x day). I recommend beginning with a 250 mg dose, progressing to a 500 mg 2nd dose, and then 500 mg twice a day if not having uncomfortable digestive side effects. As with ivermectin, you should speak to your physician to learn the latest views of this as a treatment.