My Experience of Long COVID and Changing Hormones, with Dr Marianne Tinkler
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Severe (mostly bedbound)
- Ill for
- 8 months
- Published
- Jan 2023
Summary
Topical estradiol gel, one pump daily increased to two pumps, started roughly 8-9 months after a March 2020 COVID infection when cyclical 28-day symptom flares began. She had been severely debilitated by long COVID: unable to work, sleeping most days, cognitively impaired, and unable to care for her three children normally. The estradiol alone did help a bit, with the higher dose giving a little more benefit, but the larger functional recovery came only after testosterone was added months later. By at least six months of combined HRT use she was working and functioning again, so estradiol is credited as a partial, contributing improvement rather than the whole story, with ongoing hormone use implied as necessary maintenance.
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