Long-Covid: Healed and yet not healthy - How self-help groups help those affected

Created: 01/28/2022, 15:22

By: Elena Royer

Many corona patients are not healthy after surviving the disease.

Long-Covid affects their lives.

They support each other in self-help groups.

Nuremberg – An infection with the corona virus * can pass unnoticed.

Nevertheless, it is possible that the virus leaves damage in the body that has not yet disappeared months after the illness.

In such a case one speaks of long-Covid.

There is currently no standard therapy for these long-term effects.

Long-Covid: Corona long-term consequences - recovered and yet not healthy

What often helps those affected are self-help groups.

In the past few months, many such groups have been founded within Germany in which sick people can exchange information - such as in the Nuremberg region.

reports on this

.

Andreas Braune leads the group.

He joined her after his corona illness last year so as not to lose heart.

Climbing the stairs is still causing him great difficulty and he has been feeling exhausted for months.

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Long-Covid: How self-help groups help those affected

According to the

report, Braune's group meets virtually every four weeks.

Those who suffer would then report on their experiences such as headaches and muscle pain, shortness of breath, dizziness or difficulty finding words.

Mutual understanding and support in the group help those affected, even if their symptoms cannot always be alleviated.

Because: According to the Federal Center for Health Education (BzgA), there has so far been no uniform definition of a Long Covid disease.

Braune also sees this in his group: The recovery process is very individual and something different helps everyone.

The BzgA admits that the different symptoms and possible course of the disease have not yet been fully investigated.

This is because Corona has not been known for that long.

It is therefore currently not possible to estimate with certainty how long the effects of Covid-19 can last and how easily they can be treated. 

The BzgA website also refers to the self-help groups.

There is also an overview of all the self-help initiatives known to the BzgA in German-speaking countries.

By the way: Our Nuremberg newsletter regularly informs you about all the important stories from the Franconian metropolis.

Sign up here.

Also read: She used to be sporty and full of life, since her corona infection every day has been a struggle*.