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[article] Aphersis treatment LC UK patient - Dec 2021

godlovesatrier

Senior Member
Messages
2,545
Location
United Kingdom
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2...-6000-and-left-me-close-to-taking-my-own-life

A Dorset man says he had no option but to travel to Germany for specialist treatment for his Long Covid because there was no significant help available on the NHS.

Chris Witham, who runs a theatre school in Bournemouth, flew to Kempten near Munich to spend £6,000 on pioneering treatment.

Mr Witham has suffered from Long Covid since the beginning of the pandemic in March last year, experiencing flu-like symptoms and loss of feeling in his arms and legs.
He said: "The last eighteen months have been the hardest eighteen months of my life to date. I've felt close to suicide, to giving up."

Chris received a treatment called HELP Apheresis, which involved blood filtering, to get rid of any small, micro clots. Chris had three sessions during a week-long stay at a clinic.

Although there are reports that this has been a successful treatment for some people with Long Covid, it did not work for Chris.

He is now calling for a greater sense of urgency to find an effective treatment for Long Covid.

Chris said: "I'm feeling a little bit better since I got back from Germany - but unfortunately I haven't noticed any big improvements following the treatment.

"It has been a daily struggle to search and hope for anything that would improve my condition. I've had no luck in the UK from any sort of treatment.


"Long Covid seems to have created a whole community of sufferers and a whole myriad of ailments, that none of the medical profession is able to find out what is causing these symptoms."

Chris has now signed up for a new clinical trial taking place in Oxford.

NHS England told ITV Meridian it is taking "practical action to support those experiencing ongoing Long Covid symptoms."

That includes setting up 90 specialist clinics which are seeing around 4,000 new patients each month, the health service said.
 

SWAlexander

Senior Member
Messages
1,897
I am not aware that there is H.E.L.P Apheresis in Kempten near Munich. I know Heigl Health GmbH MVZ Kempten-Allgäu (https://mvz-kempten.de/unsere-kernkompetenzen/lipidologie-und-apherese) their primary treatment is Lipidologie und Apherese meaning Fettstoffwechselstörungen (Lipid metabolism disorders).
For this reason I ask if received truly treatment with Heparin as Dr. Jaeger provides. Could it be that he received CRP treatment?
 
Last edited:

Boba

Senior Member
Messages
332
I am not aware that there is H.E.L.P Apheresis in Kempten near Munich. I know Heigl Health GmbH MVZ Kempten-Allgäu (https://mvz-kempten.de/unsere-kernkompetenzen/lipidologie-und-apherese) their primary treatment is Lipidologie und Apherese meaning Fettstoffwechselstörungen (Lipid metabolism disorders).
For this reason I ask if received truly treatment with Heparin as Dr. Jaeger provides. Could it be that he received CRP treatment?
They offer HELP in Kempten and Augsburg. I contacted both clinics and will be treated in Augsburg soon. I don’t know if he followed the protocol Dr. Jaeger proposed to do before and during treatment. Maybe he didn’t and therefore the outcome. However I don’t know what to think about HELP but have no other option for treating my long covid.
 

SWAlexander

Senior Member
Messages
1,897
They offer HELP in Kempten and Augsburg. I contacted both clinics and will be treated in Augsburg soon. I don’t know if he followed the protocol Dr. Jaeger proposed to do before and during treatment. Maybe he didn’t and therefore the outcome. However I don’t know what to think about HELP but have no other option for treating my long covid.

Please tell us after the treatment how you feel. Sending much good thoughts.
BTW. I live 60 km from Augsburg.
 

SWAlexander

Senior Member
Messages
1,897
2022 Feb 22:
"Chronic anticoagulant treatment and risk of mortality in SARS-Cov2 patients: a large population-based study"
Abstract

Background: Hypercoagulability is often seen in Covid-19 patients and thromboembolic events appear frequent; antithrombotic treatment has been proposed therefore as part of standard treatment for Covid-19. Under these premises, prior-to-infection antithrombotic treatment may have a protective effect with respect to Covid-19 related thromboembolic events. Aim of the present work was to evaluate the impact of prior-to-infection anticoagulant or antiplatelet treatment on Covid-19 outcomes.

Methods: Beneficiaries of the Regional Health Service of the Lombardy region of Italy aged ≥40 years with a Covid-19 diagnosis made between February 21st and July 18th, 2020 were included in the present study. The impact on Covid-19 mortality of pre-existing and chronic therapy with anticoagulant drugs (vitamin-K antagonist or New Oral Anticoagulants) was evaluated. Analyses were repeated with antiplatelets drugs.

Results: Among 79,934 Sars-cov-2 patients beneficiaries of the Regional Healthcare System of the Lombardy Region who received a diagnosis between February 21st and July 18th, 2020, chronic preexisting anticoagulant assumption was present in 6.0% and antiplatelets in 12.7%. The overall unadjusted mortality rate was 20.6%, with male sex, age category and comorbidity burden being significantly associated to increased mortality risk. Anticoagulant chronic treatment was not associated with a reduction in mortality. Similar results were observed when repeating the analyses for pre-existing oral anti-platelet treatment.

Conclusions: In a large population-based study evaluating more than 79,000 Covid-19 patients, pre-existing antithrombotic therapy was not associated to a benefit in terms of mortality. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of antithrombotic therapy as standard treatment among Covid-19 patients.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35191294/
 

mitoMAN

Senior Member
Messages
625
Location
Germany/Austria
They offer HELP in Kempten and Augsburg. I contacted both clinics and will be treated in Augsburg soon. I don’t know if he followed the protocol Dr. Jaeger proposed to do before and during treatment. Maybe he didn’t and therefore the outcome. However I don’t know what to think about HELP but have no other option for treating my long covid.
Have you undergone treatment yet?
 

SWAlexander

Senior Member
Messages
1,897
Would you know If Kempten or Augsburg is using heparin?
Emails, Letters and phone calls (answering machine) and no answers from Dr. Jaeger yet since Oct. 28th.