An estimated 17 million Americans are afflicted with long covid. The story I am about to tell is the true story of a 3 year nearly fatal downward spiral from long covid, despite numerous health interventions, before stem cell treatment intervened and finally ended the disorder; and is the subject of a 50’ video where the subject tells his story in his own words. I would encourage you to view it here.
However I will summarize below his amazing journey. The patient to be described is happy for his story to be told in the hope that it can bring awareness and possibly help others similarly affected.
He was an athletic prodigy. A national junior champion golfer and collegiate standout who was already playing professionally in his early 20’s. He qualified for the US open in 2019. In the summer of 2021 he was vaccinated against covid and had definite but manageable gut and digestive symptoms. However is early 2022 he actually contracted Covid – 19 and his symptoms became much worse. He became intolerant of gluten and dairy and had difficulty keeping food, and even water, down. He had been a workout warrior, a muscular 6’1” tall and 205 pounds. However he began to lose weight and also contracted mysterious musculoskeletal problems: most notably shoulder pain and also sciatica. While my practice is centered on stem cell treatment, my lifelong career has been as a board certified orthopaedic sportsmedicine specialist focusing on knee and shoulder disorders. For this reason I was consulted about his shoulder. However, after an extensive workup it became clear that the shoulder had no structural orthopaedic problem and resisted all treatment. Combined with his gut issues I believed that the shoulder and sciatic issues were all likely the results of a secondary autoimmune problem from the covid-19 infection, and perhaps vaccination, causing inflammation of both his gut and his joints.
He was seen by prominent national specialists but all treatment failed. Meanwhile his weight gradually dropped over the next 18 months to 185 lbs, then 165 lbs, then 140 lbs at each of his visits. He was treated for lyme disease, mold, Epstein barr and long covid with medicines for each, but nothing reversed the disorder. Hyperbaric oxygen was the only treatment that worked over a course of 60 treatments during which he put some weight back on. However when he stopped the disease quickly took hold again and the weight gain disappeared.
I had hypothesized that his disorder was autoimmune long covid. The stem cell treatments we provide are often successful in treating other autoimmune diseases, such as MS and rheumatoid arthritis. But experience with long covid had been limited. For this reason I encouraged him to exhaust other options before trying it. The doctors he saw told him they thought they could help so he went along with treatment. However when it became clear that none of the other options were working, and as his weight dropped to dangerous levels, 126 pounds at our final consult, I suggested he try stem cell treatment. He was barely able to tolerate even drinking water and had to sip small amounts to keep his kidneys working. His medical team was considering admitting him to the hospital for hyperalimentation – feeding him nutrients as well as fluid iv – so dire had his condition become – just to keep him alive. I believed his condition was life threatening and feared he would die without treatment.
While I could not be certain stem cell treatment would help – and this would be simple intravenous infusion of umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells – I knew that the treatment was completely safe and I believed had a good likelihood of helping him. As his condition was continuing to deteriorate we made the decision for him to travel to our center in Antigua – where we have licensure to treat with FDA approved cells from Vitro Biopharma in Golden Colorado – for infusion in January of 2024.. When he arrived in Antigua the team immediately started an iv and treated him with 250 million stem cells over several hours. He tolerated the infusion without incident. The next day he noticed slightly greater tolerance for water. Each day he tolerated more fluid and then introduction of simple food such as crackers. He stayed on the island for only 2 days and then returned home to convalesce. I kept close tabs on him by phone and was thrilled at his steady, albeit slow progress. After one month he had put on significant weight as his calorie count increased from a few hundred to a thousand calories.
He then began using prebiotics, which greatly helped him. Previously he had used them without success. But now, with the gut inflammation quieted down they acted synergistically with the stem cell treatment and allowed him to greatly accelerate his intake and calorie count. It is important to point out that Noah and his parents were partners with us in this therapeutic journey, and especially his mother, made significant contributions to his care on the dietary and supplement side.
He also noticed that his musculoskeletal complaints – shoulder pain and sciatica – had largely disappeared without any further treatment. We talked regularly every few weeks over the course of the year. His calorie count increased to over 3500 per day and his strength gradually increased. Eventually by the end of 2024 he had increased his weight to a chiseled 185 and he was even stronger than he had pain at 205 pounds before his health nightmare began. In addition he was swinging a gold club and preparing to enter a golf tournament. He had no physical restritions as he trained hard to retain his prior elite athletic status. He still was mindful of his diet but was having no GI symptoms. His story was so remarkable that I asked him if he felt comfortable sharing it. Patient privacy is pre-eminent in our practice and I did not want him to be uncomfortable. However he said he would be happy to share it in the hope that others similarly afflicted might see it and reach out and be helped. Therefore in January we filmed the aforementioned video and now I am telling his story here.
We think his prognosis is excellent. I believe recurrence is unlikely, however it his problem does recur, we now know that we have a simple safe tool that should be able to effectively treat him again if need be.
We have treated other long covid patients with a variety of symptoms, including gut, and cognitive issues, hypertension, and in most cases – fatigue. The results have been excellent in almost all patients. Most patients, as with the patient here, had been treated for – usually – lyme disease, covid infection with ivermectin, Epstein barr and mold. Most doctors had assured patients they could help, but at least with the patients we have seen, these treatments were ineffective, and the diagnoses mistaken. Stem cell i.v. treatment is completely safe, we have never had a serious adverse event. Treatment is completed in just a few hours and has only occasionally needed to be repeated. And, as with the patient here, the results are usually dramatic. We are anxious to expand our treatment pool, to help others in need of help.
About Dr. Chadwick Prodromos
Chadwick C Prodromos, M.D. is the Medical Director and CEO of The Prodromos Stem Cell Institute and also Medical Director of the Foundation for Orthopedics and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Chadwick Prodromos is a global leader in the use of advanced therapies, including stem cell and platelet-rich plasma, for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and has done extensive research in these areas.
Dr. Prodromos obtained his Bachelor's degree with honors from Princeton University and his MD degree education from the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He served a surgical internship at the University of Chicago, after which he completed his residency training in Orthopedic Surgery at Rush University. He went on to obtain a fellowship in Orthopedics and Sportsmedicine at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery, Dr. Prodromos served as an assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Rush University for nearly three decades and has extensive publications and research in both orthopedics and stem cell treatment.
To learn more about stem cell therapies for autism at the Prodromos Stem Cell Institute, click here. Call 847-699-6810 for a preliminary treatment evaluation and assessment with Dr. Prodromos at zero cost.
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