When Kai Störring listens to Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto one day in April 2023, a bit of energy seeps back into him. And hope for recovery begins to emerge after months of desolation. At the time of this spring-like musical experience, it was not many weeks ago that the clatter of dishes coming from the kitchen into his darkened bedroom almost drove him mad. For months, his activities were manageable: lying down, gasping for breath, staring at the ceiling, on good days his gaze wandered into the garden. He could only get a good night’s rest with sleeping pills. “It was like torture,” says Störring.
Dr. Kai Störring is a 47-year-old ENT doctor in Cologne who has tried to cure himself of post-Covid. He is currently at “80 to 100 percent recovery.” Since he is fit enough to work again, he has also been trying to help other post-Covid patients get back on their feet. Around five people a week visit his post-Covid consultation and are grateful that someone has acquired so much knowledge about the disease from their own personal experience that it can now improve their condition. This is not a given. Even four years after the first people in Germany were infected with Corona, research into the disease still has a lot of room for improvement. “The money invested in researching multiple sclerosis is about four times as much as that invested in post-Covid – with the same number of people currently affected,” says Störring. Efforts urgently need to be intensified.
The most insidious symptom: post exertion malaise
According to the definition, anyone who does not recover after a corona infection will end up in post-Covid condition after three months. The symptoms are often non-specific and variable: physical and mental exhaustion, sleep disorders, nerve and muscle pain, but also neurological impairments such as difficulty concentrating, reading or word-finding difficulties, physical impairments such as weight loss, sweating, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath.
The most critical is post exertion malaise (PEM). The technical term refers to an ailment that many sufferers find particularly insidious. Physical or mental exertion is followed by a crash, a complete breakdown. However, this occurs at a later time, sometimes hours, sometimes days later. Störring calls this “pulling the plug”. When he experienced his first breakdown, the doctor still thought he was suffering from a neglected infection. Cold hands, cold feet, Störring had to stop his consultation at Ebertplatz from one moment to the next, and suddenly could only lie down. His wife picked him up. Many months of darkness followed. Later, in rehab, he also suffered a serious PEM. “I had to sort files there for 45 minutes; that was part of the therapy. After that I suffered a three-week crash.” Unplug, feet up, eyes closed, lights out.
Störring was not thinking about post-Covid in November almost two years ago. He had tolerated all vaccinations well, and his first Covid infection in the summer of the same year had given him some cold symptoms. “But after just one week I was able to work normally again.” It was not until December 2023 that Störring diagnosed, after his own research of specialist literature and blog entries and together with his family doctor, that he must have suffered from post-Covid.
Worry about occupational disability and family income overshadowed everyday life
Störring pulls out a sheet of paper from the Berlin Charité. Under the heading “Canadian criteria” you can tick off what you are missing and then evaluate whether you have myalgic encephalomyalgia – the most serious clinical picture that can result from post-Covid. “Clear case,” says Störring, drawing crosses. “The symptoms can be made worse by any kind of physical or mental exertion or stress,” “sleep does not lead to recovery,” “weight loss” – for example. Störring lost ten kilograms at the beginning of the illness. One every week. The cause of this is a disorder in the nervous system. “The sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive and uses an incredible amount of energy,” says Störring.
I used to be very ambitious. Nowadays I take time for myself, especially for my children. I have a lot of catching up to do
Kai Störring, ENT doctor from Cologne
The months of illness weigh on Störring’s everyday life like a sticky chewing gum. His family is also affected, as the doctor has three children, the youngest of whom is four years old, and a wife. “They had to do without me a lot for a year.” Added to this are fears for his existence. Because working in the practice is out of the question. At first, a stroke of luck helps: a doctor who has just sold his practice promises to step in for a few months. When Störring has his last severe relapse to date in October 2023, he has to deal with completely new thoughts. “Inability to work, sales talks, worry about the family income.”
Störring has also tried nicotine patches for self-therapy.
But, like in the spring before, his strength returns. Not just like that. But Störring is a doctor, he has isolated his own illness, ambushed it, and put it to the test. He has read study after study, tried out the few things that affected bloggers on the Internet recommend on himself. In the end, an atypical neuroleptic that he prescribed himself helped him. He also took a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, which is actually taken for depression – and nicotine. “That sounds strange, but I had read about the successes of a patient who suffered from myalgic encephalomyalgia and was able to improve his condition significantly with it. So I tried it.” Störring works with nicotine patches, slowly increasing the dose as a non-smoker, but after the first patch he is suddenly able to hold a short conversation again, he manages 4000 steps a day and listens to Beethoven. His autonomic nervous system is getting back into balance.
Störring can read again, ride a bike, play with the children, work
Life is returning. Trips to the Rheinpark with the children are possible again. Today the doctor is cycling again, and he and his family traveled to Sardinia and Normandy during the summer holidays. He can read again and concentrate on a film. Störring has now stopped taking the nicotine patches, but he is still taking the neuroleptic. His condition has stabilized since the beginning of the year. Störring has started working in his practice again.
However, he has forbidden himself the path to overexertion. Pacing is now the heading under which his life operates. Three and a half days a week, he sees patients for consultations – including post-Covid patients. For them, he is a stroke of luck. A doctor who has experienced what he is talking about. And, as a mostly recovered patient, can spread hope. And perhaps also a bit of worldly wisdom. “I used to be very ambitious. Now I make time for myself, especially for my children. I have a lot of catching up to do.” Störring’s constant companion is a feeling of gratitude. “I am really happy every day that I am doing so well.” And that his love of music has returned. On free afternoons, Störring now sits down at the piano himself. And practices patiently.
