Covid Recovery: How can I manage GI issues?

Any one out there with long haul covid ulcerative colitis. This has been going on for a year now. Oral medication does not work. Two hospitalizations and I have so much inflammation in my colon, lab tests come back off the scale. They want to start IV infusions ENTYVIO which I am very nervous about. The fatigue is unreal, and I sleep so much. I have to work to support myself because this long haul covid has caused me to miss so much work and this has become a financial chaos for me. I do not do any activities with friends, as I fear getting Covid again. There is so much of it at work again. If anyone has any suggestions it would help. I live in Minnesota, Minneapolis area. The inflammation has also affected my back with a lot of pain and discomfort. Thank you in advance and Happy Holidays to all of you. Sincerely, Kitty2

Greetings, I hope that everyone is making progress to recovery! I had GI covid and 15 months of long covid: GI symptoms and cognitive decline. Supplements and diet recommended by a functional medicine MD have helped my gut a lot. QUESTION: I have completely avoided any form of sugar, thinking that it is a trigger for GI symptoms. I have no basis for that idea!! Has anyone found that sugar is a trigger? I should have asked that a month ago, LOL! Thank you!

Hi..saw your post..what are you doing as far as diet and supplements. I am desperate for any help you can offer. I have been told to watch the sugar as it can cause inflammation. I try to follow a low residue low fiber plan as much as I can, if I eat forbidden foods , I pay for it dearly. I eat at home, make my food here, and do not eat out at all, it is not worth it . I ate some other food last week at work, and was ill christmas eve and all day Christmas. Can you tell me about the supplements you take and your diet plan. Happy New Year..Sincerely kitty2..hope your christmas was peaceful.

I'd be interested in what diet and supplements are working. My 17yo had Covid in July and has been struggling with severe stomach and abdominal pain, nausea, heart burn and acid reflux, and now lightheadness and dizziness. Nothing helps and so far all tests, labs and scans show nothing. She's scheduled for an endoscopy and colonoscopy next week, but I'm running low on hope. She's missing so much school and life and it just feels like she will never feel well again.

It is hard to know what is a trigger. If sugar seems to be your trigger,
avoid it in excess amounts. I still consume Activia, and if I do not eat
it twice daily, I get mild gi bloating, cramping, lightening-like pains in
my gut. But nothing like the first 6 weeks. I just feel the spike protein
is still cycling, periodically.
Don't overeat. Eat 6 small meals. Lots of water, again in small, steady
amounts. Get your rest. Keep exercising, at least 30 min a day. Just
treat your body kindly. It will heal.

I am dealing with fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation, some nausea and reflux. At times I feel dizzy and lightheaded. I had covid in Jan for 2 wks and a very, very mild case in July . I have all shots and boosts. Taking a high quality probiotic and prebiotic for the past 2 months has helped as well an enzyme to aid in digestion etc. I continue to watch what I eat...nothing spicey or rich... some of it is trial and error so keeping a food diary is helpful. FODMAP may be helpful too....google it to understand better. I am still doctoring but after a lot of blood tests, ct scan with dye contrast and numerous tests on stool samples there is nothing. It is frustrating and it has changed my quality of life.

Thank you for your comments! A couple of people asked what has helped my gut symptoms. I can share some diet and supplement recommendations that I received. But, of course, I am not recommending them to you. I suggest you might do research on them. Diet: --More plant based foods, less highly processed foods. -- Increase foods that foster good bug growth in gut, especially avocados & chick peas each day [huge help for me]. --High quality probiotic, I settled on Garden of Life. --Include two probiotic strains: Bif. Longum and Bac. Subtilis, might need to buy separately. --Prebiotic during flareups, I like Heather’s. –Pepcid [its antihistamine properties are found in some long covid studies]. –NMN to reduce inflammation [also in lots of studies, but be careful, high doses might cause stomach upset!] plus Trans-resveratrol. Other supplements were recommended to me to repair ACE2 and mitochondria, that might help gut. But, I suggest doing research on these. Be well!
PS I can tell you what did not help: Tums, Prevacid & other PPI's. All the lab tests I did have been negative, which I think everyone has experienced!

Watch sugar intake and get a prescription for xifaxan
Good priobotic and an inflammation medication
Watch your nitrate intake also in foods

I’ve had similar issues for the past 17 months. I’ve had just about every test out there done to discover very little until…my GI doctor did a gastric emptying test & discovered I have gastroparesis. Simply stated…Covid caused some neuropathy in my stomach thus
making 25% of it not properly moving the food out of my stomach as it should. This has caused nausea, weight gain, dizziness, etc…I now have to eat smaller meals & easily digestible foods (no raw veggies, etc)… If nothing is found next week, ask her GI DR to consider this test…Having a diagnosis, although annoying & disappointing, still helps. Best of luck & please keep us posted

Quercitin - over the counter 500mg/day and cromolyn 200 mg 3X/day have helped me- the cromolyn requires a script-- it helped my heart burn- anticacids did nothing.