Has anyone been a part of any of the Mayo Clinic studies?

Posted by joshcreaturepreacher @joshcreaturepreacher, Nov 30 11:45am

I’m Joshuah, known as The Creature Preacher online. I would like to share my story, so you can understand my question . The Onset and Initial Battle (2021)
In 2021, my wife and I both fell sick. After a few weeks of illness and testing negative for COVID, we flew to Alaska to visit her family. On the return trip, the moment we got home, we felt as though we had suddenly come down with the flu. Given the severity, we quickly realized it had to be COVID. We were not vaccinated; we didn't have the opportunity, and at the time, we weren't sure if it was worth getting the vaccines, as I was in my mid-thirties and my wife was in her early twenties, and we were both younger, healthier individuals. We were both very sick for a couple of months, and I remember thinking this stuff was changing me from the inside out: I developed rashes, pain, vision disturbances like visual snow, fatigue, and brain fog.
After about seven months, we both started to mysteriously and slowly get a bit better. In the meantime, I went through doctor after hospital visit trying to figure out what was wrong with me before I was finally diagnosed with Long COVID. The virus brought on a cascade of medical issues: Hospital visits led to neurological tests where a slight Chiari malformation in my brain was found; heart exams showed mitral valve regurgitation and bradycardia (a very low heartbeat), as well as POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which causes me to feel faint when I stand up too quickly. My doctors suspect that I have had an underlying autoimmune disorder my whole life that COVID made worse, though I still lack a definitive diagnosis. Along the way, I was also diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, something I had surgery for when I was a young man.
Relief and Relapse (2022–2024)
For about a year and a half, my symptoms slowly dropped away one by one until only manageable remnants of POTS, visual snow, and lack of sleep were left. However, a series of stresses in 2024 initiated the process of getting sick all over again. My dog went missing, I had some issues elsewhere, and poor eating and not working out took a toll. I started getting sick with everything: colds, flu—I was sick with seven different things last year alone. My wife and I went to Georgia on vacation and got sick with what I suspect was COVID because for the next six months I felt horrible. I eventually got to about 85 to 90 percent better and started traveling again.
While I was doing some work in Naples, at Kowiachobee Zoo. I’m a traveling Zoologist when healthy, my friend started feeling poorly on the second day and tested positive for COVID, so I immediately left for the nine-hour drive home. When I arrived, I was very sick for about two weeks, but I started to bounce back. However, at about the three-month mark, I still wasn't better, and things took a mysterious turn for the worse. My vision became very blurry at times; I developed muscle aches and pains, and a horrible headache starting in my neck creeped through my brain with terrible pressure. The brain fog is the most crippling aspect. I can't work, I can't remember anything, and I am constantly afraid.
The Search for Understanding
I finally broke down and went to the Emergency Room again last night for this latest flare-up. They told me what all the other doctors pretty much tell me: my heart and brain look okay on paper, and there is nothing they can do for me. The only hope I have now is potentially the Mayo Clinic taking part in some studies, or a local doctor whom I've been told has experienced Long COVID himself and truly understands. I'm trying desperately to get in with him now because I believe it might save my life. I'm just tired of being sick all the time. In the meantime, people around me who truly know me understand that I'm telling the truth, but others think I'm a liar, a lunatic, or a hypochondriac. Even doctors and nurses still treat me like a leper when I say Long COVID. If they were forced to live for just one week in my shoes, they would understand the sheer horror of this. Oddly enough, although COVID stole my ability to work and left me with lingering effects, I've tried to focus on the positives. I've always been a natural storyteller and maintained a heavy presence on social media. The virus changed my voice into a deep, mellow voice for about seven months; I believe this was due to vagal nerve damage sustained during the initial infection. Even now, some of that deep quality remains. Because I lost my previous job, I was able to focus on my social media presence, and when I am able, that is what I do now for a living. However, I haven't been feeling well for the last few weeks, and I haven't been able to work. I am currently unable to recall facts or put a story together on the fly the way I used to so easily. If you took the time to read this, thank you. And if you have taken part in a study, I would love to hear what study? If it is open? And how it helped you forever in your debt - Josh-

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.

Profile picture for homemarcy @homemarcy

Hi Josh!

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. Pretty much all of us here can relate to your frustrations. I won't strain your mental focus by telling you my whole story - anyway it would strain mine too . . .

I ended up going to Mayo's LC Clinic. It took several months to actually get in, but it was absolutely worth the wait. (I figured I was going to be sitting there anyway, so I might as well be waiting while I was sitting . . . .) They know as much about LC as pretty much anyone else around. The doctor who met with me, Dr. Grach, specializes in dealing with the kind of things we face. She wrote up a document about 16 pages long, summarizing all the most current treatment options for various symptoms and symptom groupings. (The intent of the document is that you take it back to your local doctor and tell them about her findings and recommendations, and together you and your doctor work out a plan. ) She also recommended I go through their 8-hour class on LC and the post-class consultations with a wellness coach and the nurses. This was also very valuable in giving me everyday strategies to cope with and minimize my symptoms. If the class has been all there was, it would have felt patronizing, but in conjunction with the many recommendations for medicines and supplements, it was helpful.

She also recommended additional testing and meeting with several specialists at Mayo. The most helpful was a neurologist who also specializes in LC/ autonomic dysfunction/ chronic fatigue/ neuropathy. The neurologist was able to correctly diagnose what was going on with my autonomic dysfunction, and that helped the physical therapist I was seeing locally know how to help. That doctor also gave me additional recommendations to help with some of the issues she discovered in testing and in talking with me.

I've also participated in a number of Mayo and Mayo- connected studies. I'll be honest - I don't think the studies themselves will help you. They are pretty much trying anything any researcher thinks will work, and most of the studies are placebo-controlled, so you might go through the whole study process and end up with the placebo. In my opinion, having done both, I think at this point in your journey you're better off trying to get into the Mayo LC Clinic. In my own case, I was finding that though my local doctors were very kind and caring and sympathetic, they really had no idea what to do for me. When I went to Mayo and came back with a plan, they were more than happy to help me try the different recommendations and see what worked for me. (Oh, and in case you are wondering, I live in the Denver area. I am nowhere near Mayo and it was a royal pain having to go there - but it was worth it.)

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@homemarcy I also went to Mayo and saw Dr Grach. She's amazing! It was really helpful.

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Profile picture for sailorswimmers @sailorsrwinners

@homemarcy I want to enthusiastically second your success with Mayo. I also saw Dr. Grach there. She was so helpful and gave her findings to my PCP who is now monitoring my care according to Mayo's findings and recommendations. I am very lucky that I live in Minneapolis which is only 2 hours from Mayo in Rochester. Thank you for your very detailed and informative story of your experience. Good luck to all!

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@sailorsrwinners
What did MayoClinic actually do that you found so beneficial?

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I have to say I'm a bit struck by the fact that you say you were initially "too young" to have gotten vaccinated, and then had several bouts with acute Covid, yet make no mention of having ever gotten vaccinated even in following years, despite lots of travel! I know there are people on this forum that feel that vaccinations make their LC worse, but OTOH you have to balance that against the damage that another Covid infection might do to you, as it indeed sounds like it (they) did.
To your actual question, I don't believe that there is any particular cure on the immediate horizon. People have tried a myriad of approaches, and some people have some success with some of them while others do not. It appears at this point to be a matter of throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, and yes, I do feel it is pretty much that random. There had supposedly been over a BILLION dollars set aside to study this particular illness at the NIH, but with its current politicization at the hands of this administration and subsequent disembowelment, it's unclear to what extent we can look in that direction for answers.
Sorry I don't have anything more positive or constructive to offer, but that's the way I truly see things. You may just have to wait it out and try to not over-do things.
I had what felt like the identical syndrome back in the eighties ("CFS"), and for me it just mysteriously went away after two years, so I hope that repeats for me in about six months.
Best of luck, and I'm truly sorry about your dog.

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Profile picture for kabowen87 @kabowen87

@homemarcy I also went to Mayo and saw Dr Grach. She's amazing! It was really helpful.

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@kabowen87

Which mayo was Dr Grach at? Its strange that there is such a big difference between the treatments you get at different Mayo clinics......

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Profile picture for bermuda8 @bermuda8

@kabowen87

Which mayo was Dr Grach at? Its strange that there is such a big difference between the treatments you get at different Mayo clinics......

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@bermuda8 Rochester

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Hi Josh, hang in there! As we know, this long Covid is no joke! It’s been five years for me. I am getting better. But it’s been quite the journey trying LDN, different diet, supplements, etc. Covid definitely goes in and attacks whatever weakness individuals have. My Covid reactivated Epstein-Barr virus that I got back in college 35 years ago in the form of Mono. So I’m dealing with chronic fatigue and migraines plus brain fog . Nova South eastern University has a Neuro immune department that helps people with CFS, long Covid, pots and other things. Worth looking into they’re very helpful.

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Profile picture for bermuda8 @bermuda8

@kabowen87

Which mayo was Dr Grach at? Its strange that there is such a big difference between the treatments you get at different Mayo clinics......

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@bermuda8 yes, Dr. Grach is at Rochester. But timing may also have made a difference. I only went at the beginning of this year (2025), and they are improving all the time.

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Profile picture for homemarcy @homemarcy

@bermuda8 yes, Dr. Grach is at Rochester. But timing may also have made a difference. I only went at the beginning of this year (2025), and they are improving all the time.

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@homemarcy

Thanks - I went to Jacksonville at the end of 2024 so it was in a relatively close timeframe.

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Profile picture for julesmango @julesmango

Hi Josh, hang in there! As we know, this long Covid is no joke! It’s been five years for me. I am getting better. But it’s been quite the journey trying LDN, different diet, supplements, etc. Covid definitely goes in and attacks whatever weakness individuals have. My Covid reactivated Epstein-Barr virus that I got back in college 35 years ago in the form of Mono. So I’m dealing with chronic fatigue and migraines plus brain fog . Nova South eastern University has a Neuro immune department that helps people with CFS, long Covid, pots and other things. Worth looking into they’re very helpful.

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@julesmango How is reactivated EB treated? I suspect that has happened with me. Glad you got some help. Going on six years for me come March.

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Profile picture for homemarcy @homemarcy

@colleenyoung Can you provide info on how to get into the Mayo Long Covid Clinic? I've forgotten now exactly how I got the link to the application . . . It was months ago and my brain fog . . .

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@homemarcy, the first step is to submit a request for an appointment with Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic. You can start here: https://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

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