Long COVID Treatment Clinic & Chronic Fatigue

Discover Our Long COVID Centre Brisbane

Online and Face to Face

Our clinic has been helping people recover from Long COVID/CFS for 12 months. 92% of our patients rated us 9 or 10 out of 10 likelihood they would refer family or friends to our clinic. We have a number of strategies we have developed to help patients and find that most patients make significant improvements in their health. We can assist patients suffering from long COVID to better pace themselves and improve their recovery by helping them to take sick leave and work with their employer on a suitable return to work plan. In our clinic, we have several clinicians who have had Long COVID or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so we know what you are going through.

We want to help people to recover and improve their quality of life sooner. We also believe in helping patients understand their symptoms and the treatments we propose. All our patients are provided with information from reputable sources and our own thorough assessment. We use research-validated patient assessments such as the Symptom Burden Questionnaire which was co-developed with Long COVID patients by The University of Birmingham. We also incorporate cutting edge research from centres of research excellence around the world including the world leading Griffith University National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland.

We can provide care in person in Brisbane or virtually around Australia via video Telehealth. Rather than repeating tests you have had done before, we ask you to obtain these from your other clinicians and send them to us before your first appointment. If you are unable to be seen face-to-face at all, Medicare rebates generally do not apply due to Medicare rules.

Bodily systems affected by Long COVID

Image credit: Royal College of Nursing, Long-COVID: the range of symptoms and how to help your patients

What is Long COVID?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) ‘post COVID-19 condition, also known as “long COVID,” refers collectively to the constellation of long-term symptoms that some people experience after they have had COVID-19’ [Ref: WHO].

The CDC points out that this condition goes by a variety of names. ‘People call post-COVID conditions by many names, including: long COVID, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), long-term effects of COVID, and chronic COVID.’ For the purpose of this clinic we will call this condition Long COVID. [Ref: CDC]

Current estimates of the prevalence of Long COVID range from as many as 1 in 5 to a more conservative 1 in 20 people at 3 months to 1 in 40 people at six months.

Long COVID Symptoms List

What are the symptoms of long COVID?

General long COVID symptoms

Symptoms of long COVID can take many forms – however, the most commonly reported symptoms relate to ongoing fatigue and fever, as we detail below:

• Tiredness or fatigue that interferes with daily life
• Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental effort (also known as “post-exertional malaise”)
• Fever

Respiratory and heart symptoms

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Long COVID cough
• Chest pain
• Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)

Neurological symptoms 

• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)
• Headache
• Sleep problems
• Dizziness when you stand up (lightheadedness)
• Pins-and-needles feelings
• Change in smell or taste
• Depression or anxiety

Digestive symptoms

• Diarrhoea
• Stomach pain

Other symptoms

• Joint or muscle pain
• Rash
• Changes in menstrual cycles

What have we learned in our clinic?

If you have Long COVID or chronic fatigue you may find that you experience some improvements only to suffer subsequent setbacks. This is a common pattern – sometimes these flares seem to prolong the illness and hamper recovery. We have found that by supporting patients to recover, their setbacks seem smaller, shorter lived and do not seem to hamper their ultimate recovery. This is exciting for both us and our patients.

Many Long COVID or Chronic Fatigue patients experience a significant drop in their health and quality of life. They then seem to experience slight improvements and then slight setbacks, all the time suffering a worse quality of life. Many of them adjust their lives to accommodate for their poor health.

In our experience about 7-8/10 patients experience a significant improvement in the first few weeks of treatment. Then they gradually increase to about 90% of their normal/pre-illness state, with most long COVID symptoms subsiding in that time period. The last 10% of recovery can take longer and depends on how many other demands the patient has to deal with (work, family, education etc). In our view, these patients have a significant component of mitochondrial dysfunction compounded by persistent inflammation elsewhere in the body. We believe that mast cell activation and other immunologic processes such as microglia facilitated inflammation also play a role.

Some patients, about 1-2 out of 10, have a slower recovery profile and in our view these patients are probably suffering from more significant neurological inflammation which tends to respond more slowly. Fortunately, many of these patients are still experiencing improvements in their health. We continue to work with these patients and offer them new treatments as the scientific or clinical evidence of benefits emerges.

We are here to support your Long COVID recovery

The iHealth Centre Post-Acute and Long COVID Clinic will see patients aged over 16 years who are recovering from confirmed SARS-CoV-2 viral infection (positive RAT or PCR) but are still experiencing significant symptoms for at least four weeks after the date of their positive diagnosis. Children under 16 may be seen under certain circumstances after speaking to our nurse – however, we generally like these patients to also be seen by a paediatrician to ensure no other serious illnesses are missed.

The iHealth Care Long COVID clinic will assess you to see if you have any identifiable organ damage resulting from the acute SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. In our experience this is rare but requires management in collaboration with other medical specialists.

To assess you in the most comprehensive manner we use an assessment tool co-designed by patients and validated by researchers. We blend standard evidence-based treatment protocols with some low-risk interventions based around nutritional supplements, exercise and supportive counselling. All of our treatments are based on scientific research and clinical experience.

Our Doctors and Nurses are supported by a multidisciplinary team of allied health professionals. We believe in pacing and do not prescribe graded exercise therapy, as this contradicts current evidence-based guidelines. However, we do believe in supporting you to exercise once you reach about 90% of your normal state.

We believe Long COVID/CFS can be very stressful and harmful to your mental health, especially if you have prior mental health conditions. Pre-existing and concurrent psychological, physiological or immunological stress like repeated COVID or other infections can make Long COVID/CFS worse. This further supports the necessity for a multidisciplinary approach that is holistic and uniquely tailored to every individual patient to reduce the time spent unwell and to hasten the recovery process. We will work with you to find a team to support you. Thankfully, in our experience with our patients, most repeated infections and life stressors cause a setback in their recovery but patients generally do not decline to their pre-treatment levels.

In certain circumstances, we can arrange our nurses to check in with you weekly, and counsellors and psychologists to support your mental health. Your GP specialist in Long COVID care sees you fortnightly to monthly depending on your circumstances.

Our Long COVID approach

In our clinic we follow a standardised process to assess you in the most accurate and efficient way.

1. We assess your symptoms to work out what pattern of Long COVID applies to you. This helps us to determine how you might respond to our various treatment strategies.
2. We work out if you need any further investigations and arrange them as necessary.
3. We explain our long COVID diagnosis and management plan – with an iHealth Plan tailored to you. We also provide you with other useful pieces of information.
4. We pair you with a team of experts in mental health and stress management, healthy diet, and exercise when suitable.
5. We support you during any necessary sick leave and monitor your response and recovery.

Lifelong support for you and your family

If you have Long COVID or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome this can be a lifelong vulnerability depending on triggers such as certain viruses, severe illness or significant psychological stress or burnout. We work with you to identify strategies to make you healthier in the long term and to help you avoid future episodes of poor health.
Many of our strategies are linked to emerging science and treatments in the longevity field and may help your health and quality of life in the long term.

We also believe that Long COVID and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome go along with certain genetic vulnerabilities (and strengths). With that in mind, we are happy to support any of your family (or friends) with similar health issues.

Our Long COVID Clinic Brisbane – How It Works

With a 92% Net Promoter score, our goal is to prevent further disruption from long COVID and minimise any risk of severe illness.

In order to streamline the process and enable us to help as many people as we can we require long COVID patients to follow a set procedure and complete several forms before their first visit. You can break this job into several pieces and older patients may need to ask their family to help them to complete the forms.

Before you first consult

1 > Complete your symptom burden questionnaire

This screening tool helps us understand how you have been affected since your COVID illness.  It takes 15 – 20 minutes to complete. Please click on the following link to complete the questionnaire: https://bit.ly/iHealthLongCovid.

2 > Follow the email instructions to book an appointment with a nurse and doctor

Once we have received your completed symptom questionnaire, you will receive an email with a link to book an appointment.

3 > Complete your acute COVID illness history

In the email you will see a link to complete another short questionnaire asking you to describe your Acute COVID illness. This five minute questionnaire provides us with important information, so please fill this in prior to your first appointment.  If you don’t receive the email click the link here: https://ihealthindo.snapforms.com.au/form/acute-covid-illness-history

4 > Complete form asking your GP for existing results

In the email you will receive instructions on how to provide us with investigation or other test results relevant to your Long COVID – such as all specialist consults, recent blood tests, ECG, heart echo, MRI scans or Holter monitor. If you don’t receive the email click the link here – https://ihealthindo.snapforms.com.au/form/long-covid-request-for-records

Please let your GP or practice know we need this information before your first appointment. Alternatively, if you have copies, please email these to the Long COVID Clinic nurse at  LongCovid_Indo@ihealthcentre.com.au 

Your clinical care