My Long COVID Treatment Strategy
February 17, 2024

This is an overview of what I have done to treat my long COVID. My main symptom is fatigue.

Dr. Michael Brode at UT Health Austin has two videos that describe long COVID and how he treats it. I am basically follow this plan.

A few weeks after COVID I was still very fatigued and my primary care physician (PCP) ordered some tests to make sure my fatigue wasn’t caused by something else. At that point my PCP was at a loss of how to help.

As Dr. Brode said, avoiding crashing through the wall is really important. Read more about about post-exertional malaise.

After a lot of digging, I found these guides from the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic in the UK, which look very good. There is a four-part video series about this on longcovid.org.

The CRESTA resources describe 4 Ps which are slightly different from Dr. Brode’s 4 Ps. I like the CRESTA Ps better:

  • Prioritize - I have to decide what really, really has to be done. Of those, what must be done by me? Taking care of myself is really important.
  • Plan - I look ahead on my calendar and try to plan for, minimize, or cancel large energy drains.
  • Pace - On a hourly & daily basis, I try to spend my energy relatively evenly over time and stay within my energy envelope. Read more
  • Pleasure - I can find enjoyment, despite the fact I’m sick. In fact, finding enjoyment is an important part of healing.

I recommend reading the entire CRESTA 4 Ps worksheet (3 pages).

I started by using this strategy and logging my activity and symptoms. I cut out all my activities until I could go two weeks without crashing. I chose two weeks because I noticed I was crashing once a week on the same day each week. Then I very, very slowly start adding activities back. It’s hard to pace perfectly, so I’ve done this cycle twice now.

The 4 Ps strategy has helped. However, you may not want to listen to me because I haven’t recovered yet. When I recover, I’ll update this page.