In a new case report published this week, medical practitioners in California claim that over-the-counter antihistamines provided significant and immediate relief from at least two of their patients' long COVID symptoms.
While the data is anecdotal, the extraordinary results aren't without precedent, and the authors hope that the anecdotes they've shared will offer patients hope and send researchers in the right direction for future research.
The report is on two middle-aged women who are thought to have contracted COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic. Both were typically healthy and exercised on a regular basis previous to their illness, and both acquired a range of lasting symptoms after their initial bout of illness.
Fatigue, cognitive impairment (often referred to as "brain fog"), and an inability to tolerate exercise were among the chronic symptoms, and one patient even appeared to develop "COVID toes," which are discoloration and pain along a person's toes and fingers and have been seen in some patients post-COVID.
Despite seeking medical help, neither patient's symptoms improved significantly over the following months. However, both had a history of allergies and used antihistamines to treat them on occasion.
In one case, six months after her initial symptoms began, the woman (who had a history of dairy allergies) ate a slice of cheese, prompting her to take an antihistamine. Soon after, she felt "considerable relief of fatigue and improved ability to concentrate," which returned when she stopped taking the medication for three days.
In the second case, 13 months into her long COVID, the woman switched to a different antihistamine medicine than normal, and she had the same pattern of virtually rapid relief. Both ladies have since continued to take antihistamines on a daily basis, and both have reported a near-complete remission of their symptoms, even allowing them to resume regular exercise.
Both patients' near-complete recoveries are extraordinary, but they are not the first of their sort.
The symptoms of long COVID are remarkably similar to those of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a medical disorder that affects up to 24 million individuals globally but is understudied and underfunded.
Researchers are finally paying attention to the identical symptoms of both disorders now that lengthy COVID or PASC cases are growing in tandem with the current coronavirus pandemic.
Antihistamines are routinely used by ME/CFS patients, despite the fact that a small trial in 1996 indicated no benefit for all 30 participants.
Long-term COVID research will be required to fully put antihistamines to the test, but two promising case reports from California may help jumpstart the process.
The study was published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners.
