Widely available, over-the-counter antihistamines have the potential to restore daily function.
Antihistamines may provide relief for the millions of people suffering from the painful, debilitating symptoms of long COVID-19 that impair daily functioning. That’s the conclusion of a case report on the experiences of two such patients co-authored by nursing scholars at the University of California, Irvine.
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.
“Patients tell us they wish more than anything that they could work and do the most basic activities they used to before they got sick with long COVID. They are desperately searching for something to help them get back on their feet,” said the report’s corresponding author, Melissa Pinto, UCI associate professor of nursing. “Currently, there is no cure for PASC, only symptom management. A number of options are being tried, with antihistamines being one of them. The possibility that an easy-to-access, over-the-counter medication could ease some of the PASC symptoms should offer hope to the estimated 54 million people worldwide who have been in distress for months or even years.” ...
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