The effects of COVID are very much still around today and while we may not see it in the news as much these days, people are still contracting it and are still suffering.
Long COVID has been a particular problem for many, but scientists have discovered that an addiction drug may well be the answer to lifting the fog that many suffer with from it.
Of course, down the years there’s been millions of dollars pumped into trying to cure addiction, and while addiction treatment is available, it’s still a long process that still requires mental strength and the knowledge that you aren’t cured, but rather are in recovery.
Naltrexone is a drug that is typically given to those suffering from addiction and researchers have found that it could also be a cure for long COVID, as one woman from Chicago, Lauren Nichols, found out.
She’d been suffering from impaired thinking and focus, as well as headaches, seizures and fatigue since contracting COVID in the Spring of 2020, and after being prescribed naltrexone by her doctor to treat it, a drug usually used to treat addiction to alcohol and opioids, she found that she could actually think clearly.
The breakthrough made for a significant moment, and now researchers are eager to learn as to whether it can be rolled out and work on mass. The drug has previously been used to some degree of success to treat people with other forms of fatigue and now there are a number of clinical trials set up to test naltrexone on those suffering from long COVID.
The treatment has also been added to a shortlist of treatments to be tested as part of the US National Institute of Health’s RECOVER Initiative, a $1billion scheme to uncover underlying causes and treatments for long COVID.
Many experts are now suggesting it should be at the top of the list for clinical trials and it will be interesting as the results of these tests come in as to just how effective it is on the majority of people.
Either way, while it may not be an important step in curing addiction, it certainly is for the thousands and thousands of people worldwide who are still struggling with long COVID as they look to “lift the fog” and get their lives back to some degree of normality.