I found this, before I had COVID in October this year, that Lidocaine patches work almost instantly on specific areas of pain. I’d had knee pain and a knee replacement surgery in March, these worked well. Of course, you should check with your doctor to see if these are safe to use along with your current medications. You can buy them at your grocery store. As for long haul covid, a lot of my symptoms have disappeared and I pray that they stay away!