Former NHL hockey player Sean Bergenheim fought a long struggle with his opponent Long Covid.
Sean Bergenheimthe host of a fresh welfare clinic, seems to be in the iron, almost in the condition of its top hockey years.
The smile has returned to the face.
A couple of years ago the situation was completely different.
Korona stumbled in the body.
– For a year and a half, I felt like I was on my death, Bergenheim sighs.
– It felt like the body had basically extinguished. Even now, when I think about it, it is difficult to realize that being so bad can survive.
Bergenheim, 41, first suffered from Korona in Miami in January 2022.
– I had a really high fever, two or three days almost forty, he times.
– The abdomen or liver area was really sore. Headed and the eye pain was completely freezing.
Less than a week, the fever dropped and the symptoms eased but only for a moment.
– I couldn’t breathe. It felt like the right side of the lungs just didn’t work, Bergenheim describes.
– There were really many symptoms, really strange. That’s where it left, it’s Long Covid.
Vaccine problem
In fact, Bergenheim’s corona speech started half a year earlier, with the first and only dose of vaccine.
– I got the vaccination on my left shoulder. Immediately the muscle cycle began, and the feeling of pressure began to spread to the left of the upper body, he describes.
– During the week, the condition worsened, and then heart problems began. I woke up in the middle of the night when it felt like the heart was stopping.
Bergenheim searched for hospitalization. The rhythm of the heart was abnormal, but no significant problem in research was found.
Bergenheim says he has reported a adverse effect on the vaccine but feels that he has been left alone with his problem.
– There is still a muscle span that started vaccination, he mentions.
– After all, I took the vaccination just like many others, but if something comes, such people should find help.
FIMEA, or Center for Pharmaceutical Safety and Development website According to the latest information, some 28,500 interest -making effects have been made in Finland.
Abroad
Sean Bergenheim is a former professional hockey player. Today, he runs a welfare clinic he set up. Atte Kajova
Long Covid is a post -virus infection. The National Institute for Health and Welfare by “Symptoms last for at least two months and these symptoms cannot be explained by other diagnosis”.
The THL website’s symptom is long. The most common symptoms are brain fog, shortness of breath and severe fatigue.
Bergenheim says he has been diagnosed in the private side in the summer of 2022.
– Even though Long Covid had been talked about, somehow I didn’t think it could be, he remembers.
– This one private doctor was the only one in Finland who already took it seriously and supported at that point. Some drugs were tried, but they didn’t really help me.
Illness continued and continued. Symptoms came and went.
The worst torment was caused by respiratory problems.
– As I walked the stairs, I realized to leave. Life was really difficult, such survival, Bergenheim recalls.
– I tried that the child would not notice my feeling. I took him to hockey to support, but it took a couple of years before I could go to the ice with him.
In the end, Bergenheim became painful in his ever -impaired well -being. He went on to seek expert assistance and treatments from Switzerland and the United States.
– Abroad, I was able to test more extensively and also certain treatments that are not available in Finland. In the United States, I received nutrition directly into the vein, in Switzerland the treatment of immunoadsorption, and in the private side of Ivig treatment in Finland.
“Completely absurd”
Sean Bergenheim played ten NHL seasons. His clubs were New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild. Zumawire / mvphotos
Bergenheim feels that he has been left with his Long Covid suffix.
– When the doctors did not receive an answer that was wrong, it was even suggested that this was mental. It is absolutely absurd that Long Covid would be mental, he snarls.
– I’m a former professional athlete and I know when my body doesn’t work for the physical thing. I had visible symptoms and answers from tests abroad.
According to Bergenheim’s experience, many Finnish doctors “hands got too easily in the air” in front of Long Covid.
– How could we support those with Long Covid? He asks.
– I would like us [suomalaiset] We are the best here, but it’s made very difficult. One of the biggest reasons has been the attitude.
Three strokes
Sean Bergenheim fought a long battle with Long Covid. Atte Kajova
The worst kurmus lasted for a couple of years.
– At some point, I felt like five minutes that I could breathe again. Then it went away. Then the time was half an hour, Bergenheim times.
– The treatments began to become better moments that went on and increased over the next year.
Korona made a total of three strokes before finally eased his grip last year.
– I really got my life back. Again, I can be a faiy, and work is great.
Big investment
Sean Bergenheim established a welfare clinic in Espoo last year. Atte Kajova
During the Koronic years, the idea of my own company was refined.
– when [peli]During my career, I used a lot of different devices and worked with top therapists, it was great to have a great physiotherapy clinic at the end of my career. During the corona time I then studied health, Bergenheim said.
– This is now the end result: a welfare clinic.
BioHealth’s office includes a cold treatment cabinet, an infrared sauna and an electromagnetic muscle stimulator, as well as so -called mild overpressure chambers. Laboratory tests are also available.
Bergenheim says the price range of the treatment equipment is between € 5,000 and € 80,000. Some of the devices have been purchased from Germany, some in Finland.
– After all, this has been an investment.
Bergenheim emphasizes that he does not have medical training and that BioHealth treatments do not improve illness.
-We are not a so -called Long Covid clinic, by no means, but a wellness clinic. We want to promote the well -being of Finns with these equipment and, among other things, with our specialty of overpressure therapy, Bergenheim sums up.
– Our clients want to support their own well -being and prevent themselves to take care of themselves. Many people want help to recover from sports, others support the recovery process, for example after illness.
Senior tennis
Even though life is smiling right now, Bergenheim physically is not in the stroke of his peak years.
“It is pretty good all the time, but if I went to run for ten times, some stairs,” he would be bad the next day, he estimates.
– However, it always feels like the condition is improving.
The target is not in the stairwell, but in the senior tennis competitions – and specifically in the grateful singles game.
-The first post-illness senior tennis match is already behind, says Bergenheim.
– The goal is that, after a year or two, I would be able to get a senior tennis in the former model.
“Most of the prediction is good”
– For Long Covid’s biological reason, there are a lot of different theories, none of which are really better. It is so diverse that it is a bit strange if it is only one disease.
This is what tells you Markus PerolaTHL research professor.
Perola emphasizes that Long Covid is not a new thing about “infectious diseases”.
– Other bacterial and viral diseases also have long-term syndromes.
Is there already research information, who is probably a long covid struck or strikes?
-There is some epidemiological research evidence that the illness of the hard -hearted interest rate has become more and more difficult cases of long coovid. If there was a bad wit and got a severe disease before vaccinations, they had more [long covidia]Perola answers.
– Vaccinations also seem to protect against Long Covid. There is still a bit of a controversial whether the boots are affected.
How many in Finland did Long Covid received?
– The brief answer is that long -term symptoms come to a few percent, and normal daily coping with work ability is likely to be less than one percent.
Will everyone improve – though slowly?
– Most of the prognosis is good. It can take half a year, a year, but in due course it recovers. Then there are these unfortunate cases that remain in the syndrome for one reason or another.
Also HUS Chief Medical Officer Helena Liiran According to the Long Covid patients, “shows good healing.”
– When patients were divided into three groups according to the difficulty of symptoms, the good news was that there was a healing in all groups. Our clinic shows that about a third improves a year, and in the second third, the situation will be significantly easier.
Liira recalls that many patients also have other illnesses: asthma, anxiety, depression, sleep apnea, blood pressure …
– If there is sleep apnea, it is quite difficult to say which symptoms come from Long Covid, which of the sleep apnea.
How is Long Covid treated?
– There are no precision drugs so far, but symptoms can be used. There is mainly evidence of rehabilitation treatments, says Liira.
– It is difficult to give an accurate estimate of the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatments. It also depends on how severe Long Covid is talked about.
According to THL statistics, the Long Covid peak was in 2022.
“The good thing about this is that this Long Covid is going down at a fast pace,” Liira emphasizes.
– Long Covid is still being treated at HUS outpatient clinic, but there are fewer referrals.
Liira estimates that Long Covid has gained more visibility.
– This is not as big a thing as you could imagine based on the media. The more you write and talk, the more people start to think that these strange symptoms are now certainly this Long Covid.
Perola and Liira are Finland’s leading Long Covid experts.
Perola led the Nordforsk Post -Covid Condition Working Group. Liira was a chief physician of the long -term outpatient clinic in HUS and is involved in the HUS -led Long Covid research project led by HUS.