SHA has designed a health programme to treat long-term COVID-19 effects

At SHA we are always attentive to the needs of our guests. Therefore, as pioneers in preventive medicine, we felt an obligation to urgently address the treatment of the various long-term effects resulting from COVID-19. This ‘Post-COVID Syndrome’ affects 10-30% of people who have overcome acute infection and manifests itself in a wide range of symptoms including respiratory difficulties, immunological deficiencies, cardiac, endocrine and cognitive disorders, digestive disorders, and musculoskeletal, urological, ophthalmological, cutaneous, capillary, psychological and emotional issues.

As stated by doctor Vicente Mera, head of the Post-COVID programme at SHA Wellness Clinic, ‘Many people who overcome COVID-19 continue to experience symptoms or long-term effects after their initial recovery. Many of the documented cases suggest that patients are unable to return to daily activities that were once easy for them. Moreover, as it is a new illness, other consequences for our health are gradually being discovered’.

The most common persistent symptoms identified to date are fatigue, headache, attention deficit, muscle weakness, difficulty sleeping, arrhythmias, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, hair loss and the loss of smell and/or taste. And other less common yet serious ones include cardiovascular conditions, lung function abnormalities, kidney damage and skin rashes. In fact, as Dr. Vicente Mera confirms, ‘as many symptoms have been described as there are parts of the organism’. In order to treat the long-term effects of an illness that affects so many different individuals, an integrative and multidisciplinary approach was required to deal with such a wide range of symptoms.

Post-COVID programme

Lasting a minimum of one week, SHA’s new Post-COVID programme begins with a comprehensive assessment of the guest’s state of health by an internal medicine specialist. Based on the results obtained in the diagnostic tests, a medical team made up of experts in various disciplines designs a comprehensive and fully personalised action plan to treat each persistent symptom with the necessary rehabilitation therapies, clinical treatments, and nutrition and exercise plans. In this way, we can act on all levels: physical, immunological, respiratory, cognitive, digestive and emotional. To do this, we combine some of the most cutting-edge therapies, such as intravenous laser, cryotherapy and stem cell treatments, with proven natural methods, such as breathing techniques, reflexology, pressure therapy and specific nutrition plans to strengthen the immune system and reduce inflammation.

Of course, this is only the beginning; the programme will evolve and adapt as new scientific evidence comes out. As Dr. Vicente Mera assures, ‘The ultimate goal is not only to alleviate the possible long-term effects detected, but also to prevent others with greater repercussion caused by an inadequate functioning of the organism, in order to strengthen the individual so that they can once again enjoy their life to the fullest, both physically and emotionally’.